To make sense of some characteristics that species exhibit from birth, you have to turn to an old discredited theory known as Lamarckism.
Articles on Charles Darwin
Displaying 1 - 20 of 103 articles
Science itself isn’t ‘truth,’ but it is an activity with the goal of getting closer to the truth.
Scientists have long been confused about ‘missing’ animal fossils.
Charles Darwin used peacock trains to support his theory of sexual selection, but new research indicates that it’s a bit more complex.
A biography of scientists Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis LeClerc explores the complex, disparate lives of two brilliant men who shaped the study of natural history.
Fundamentalists don’t necessarily examine evolution and then reject it; they tend to start with the conclusion that it must be false and work backwards.
The tools that feminist science studies have developed are critical to the sciences because they ask new questions, and develop new methodologies.
Ever since Charles Darwin, scientists have assumed species facing the same problem often evolve similar traits. But that’s not always the case.
A decade of fieldwork is revealing how one of biology’s fundamental principles works in real time.
Without being able to get into the heads of animals, it’s hard to say for sure. But instances of pig painters, whale crooners and bird sculptors certainly make it seem plausible.
A specific set of chemical conditions led to the emergence of life on Earth. But can life emerge from other chemistries?
New research reveals how parrots and finches develop their extraordinary colours – and shows that evolution is an ongoing process.
Researchers have discovered a new extinct species of coelacanth that lived 380 million years ago.
Plants don’t just grow straight up. They can move in loopy and zigzagging ways to get more sunshine. And studying these movements goes all the way back to Darwin in the 19th century.
Reduced to its essence, the process of natural selection would look a lot like play.
Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin built on the work of Acosta, a pioneering Spanish Jesuit missionary, scientist and naturalist.
New research on cuckoos suggests the battle between exploiters and victims may be a key reason for life’s enormous diversity.
An insect’s physical shape and characteristics indicate which species it belongs to, but sometimes species appear remarkably similar. DNA technologies can help identify and discover species.
The origin of life on Earth is one of the biggest mysteries in science.
My passion for earthworms and ecology led me to continuing Darwin’s experiments in his own ‘back garden’
Top contributors
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Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath
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Lecturer in History of Medicine/Life Science, The University of Melbourne
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Paul Braterman is a Friend of The Conversation.
Hon. Research Fellow; Professor Emeritus in Chemistry, University of Glasgow
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Emeritus reader in science education and communication, University of Sussex
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Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Honorary Professor, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University
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Associate Professor of History, The University of Queensland
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Emeritus Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Senior Lecturer, Zoology, University of Aberdeen
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Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland
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Associate professor in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Directeur de recherche CNRS, systématicien, directeur de l’Institut de systématique, évolution, biodiversité (ISYEB), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
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Research Officer, CQUniversity Australia
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Adjunct Lecturer, Archaeology, Flinders University
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Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement, University of East Anglia