Primates are an order (Primates) of eutherian mammals characterized by a suite of derived traits associated with arboreal locomotion and enhanced sensory and cognitive capacities. Defining features include grasping extremities with opposable thumbs and, in many taxa, opposable great toes; nails instead of claws on most digits; a postorbital bar or plate; forward-facing orbits enabling stereoscopic vision; and a relatively enlarged brain, especially in regions mediating vision and complex behavior. The order encompasses strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises), tarsiers, and haplorhine simians (monkeys and apes, including humans), and is a core model group in evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, neurobiology, and behavioral ecology.
UC Berkeley researchers have identified regions of DNA that humans inherited from two unknown ancestors as a result of long-ago interbreeding among modern humans and at least four other archaic human relatives.
Evolution
19 hours ago
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319
Analyzing ancient DNA from more than 500 mammoth bones, an international team of researchers found that Ice Age humans selectively targeted female woolly mammoths. The results of the study, published in Current Biology, show ...
Paleontology & Fossils
22 hours ago
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44
In many animal tissues, stem cells continually divide to create new cells that replace old or damaged ones. However, this capacity requires strict regulation, as uncontrolled stem cell proliferation can disrupt tissue homeostasis ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 29, 2026
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5
What happens after death? An international study led by the University of Granada (UGR), involving Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), argues ...
Evolution
Jul 29, 2026
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7
Why do humans keep pets? A new international study suggests that some of the behavioral foundations of human-animal companionship may have much deeper evolutionary roots than previously thought.
Evolution
Jul 29, 2026
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253
Evolution is a fact of life. So much so that even the theory of evolution is evolving. Lately, a centuries-old discredited idea has been making a strong comeback. It helps us explain scientific observations that, according ...
Evolution
Jul 28, 2026
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179
Archaic human parents had to look after helpless infants like modern-day parents do, according to new research. Human babies are born less developed than those of other great apes and are therefore unable to move as freely. ...
Evolution
Jul 28, 2026
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82
Apoptosis is the natural process by which damaged or no longer needed cells are eliminated from the body. Researchers have long investigated how this mechanism might be manipulated to treat cancer and other serious diseases.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 28, 2026
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3
Every human cell has millions of ribosomes that make proteins. For decades, biologists thought of ribosomes as tiny, uniform machines. But now a Stanford Medicine team is showing that ribosomes are much more interesting and ...
Biotechnology
Jul 28, 2026
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11
Human color vision depends on three types of cone cells in the retina. Although all three contain the same light-absorbing molecule, 11-cis-retinal, differences in the surrounding protein determine sensitivity to red, green ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 27, 2026
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7
