As The Jungle Book’s King Louie knows all too well, the ability to control fire is what sets humans apart from apes, fueling our cultural and biological evolution and rocketing us into the space age.

Living on Mars, humans would experience just 38% the gravity of Earth and would be exposed to much more radiation. These two ...

New research suggests fire was key to making our bodies successful in evolution – but not in the ways we previously thought.

Human evolution is a long and winding tale that goes back millions of years, but one aspect of our anatomy shaped up quickly compared to other mammals: our large brains and flat faces. As these ...

The chin is one of our most familiar features, yet scientists still debate why we evolved it. Here’s a breakdown of what we ...

The human body is a machine whose many parts – from the microscopic details of our cells to our limbs, eyes, liver and brain ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like ...

How did humans become human? Understanding when, where and in what environmental conditions our early ancestors lived is central to solving the puzzle of human evolution. Unfortunately, pinning down a ...

At some point in the deep past, humans may have come frighteningly close to disappearing altogether. Here’s what we know, ...

For thousands of years, humans have selectively bred dogs to fulfill specific roles, ranging from guarding and hunting to herding and companionship. This deliberate shaping of traits has resulted in ...

In 1758, Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus gave humans a scientific name: Homo sapiens, which means "wise human" in Latin. Although Linnaeus grouped humans with other apes, it was English biologist ...