Anatomy News

Sep 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have long treated the brain as a single organ that grows from one pool of early cells. Stanford University neuroscientist Kyle Loh and colleagues challenge this view, arguing that the human brain is two distinct nervous systems that evolved separately and were joined together over hundreds of millions of years. The discovery could also help explain why researchers have struggled for decades to grow certain types of brain cells in a lab,...

Aug 25, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

An enduring debate in paleoanthropology asks what kind of foot the last common ancestor (LCA) of humans and chimpanzees had: one built like a modern ape’s...

Aug 18, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A Neanderthal pelvis — the basin-shaped ring of bones at the base of the spin — discovered decades ago may help explain an unusual feature...

Aug 10, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of three skull fragments unearthed at the Gran Dolina cave site in Spain indicates that Homo antecessor had bone thickness closer to that...

Mar 3, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Beyond their value for classification and evolutionary relationships, changes in the size and shape of the hominin face through time can reflect important...

Aug 27, 2025 by News Staff

The pelvis is often called the keystone of upright locomotion. More than any other part of our lower body, it has been radically altered over millions...

Jul 22, 2025 by News Staff

Interbreeding between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals thousands of years ago may be responsible for Chiari Malformation Type 1, a serious...

Jun 2, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found evidence of a previously unrecognized soft tissue structure in the cheek region of many dinosaur species, which they’ve called...

May 20, 2025 by News Staff

Australopithecus sediba — a small hominin species that lived about 2 million years ago — had a mix of ape-like and human-like features, while...

Feb 20, 2025 by News Staff

This bottleneck event happened between 130,000 and 50,000 years ago, according to new research led by scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona...

Jan 31, 2025 by News Staff

If you can wiggle your ears, you can use the auricular muscles, which helped our distant ancestors listen closely. These muscles helped change the shape...

Jul 30, 2024 by News Staff

Our given name is a social tag associated with us early in life. Prior research has shown that individuals’ facial appearance can be indicative of their...

Nov 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleoanthropologists have reconstructed the face of a Neanderthal man whose 56,000-year-old remains were found at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in south-central...

Oct 13, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Anthropologists in Greece have used facial reconstruction techniques to show how Homo heidelbergensis, a poorly understood relative of Neanderthals that...

Sep 7, 2023 by News Staff

Early humans and apes likely evolved free-moving shoulders and flexible elbows to slow their descent from trees as gravity pulled on their heavier bodies,...

Jun 14, 2023 by News Staff

Soft tissues rarely preserve in the fossil record, rather scientists are mostly left with just the skeletal material. Yet, muscles animate the body. They...

Jun 13, 2023 by News Staff

In a new study, paleontologists from the United Kingdom and Sweden reviewed the fossil evidence of locomotion of kangaroos and their relatives (wallabies,...

Aug 12, 2022 by News Staff

Human speech and language are highly complex, consisting of a large number of sounds. The human larynx (voice box) has acquired the capability to create...

Aug 8, 2022 by News Staff

Living birds have bodies substantially modified from the ancestral reptilian condition. The bird pelvis (hip bone) in particular experienced major changes...

Oct 21, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Our body contains a pair of previously overlooked and clinically relevant nasopharyngeal salivary glands, according to new research led by the Netherlands...