Evolution
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How is a mouse like a giraffe?
16 April 2018
They may certainly look different, but mice and giraffes are more similar than you might think.
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OCEANS
Survival at the ocean's hot springs
12 April 2018
Oceans are crucial for life on Earth - but did it begin at a hydrothermal vent?
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9 April 2018
This large extinct mammal proved a puzzle for Charles Darwin when he first came across it.
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SCIENCE NEWS
245-million-year-old reptile finally gets a name
29 March 2018
Scientists have formally given an ancient reptile a name, over 80 years since its fossils were found in Tanzania.
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SCIENCE NEWS
Ancient human DNA recovered from the oldest cemetery in Africa
16 March 2018
Museum archaeologists have helped to uncover clues to the people who lived in North Africa 15,000 years ago.
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SCIENCE NEWS
Plant life on Earth is much older than we thought
26 February 2018
Plants appeared on Earth 100 million years earlier than scientists previously thought.
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SCIENCE NEWS
The Beaker people: a new population for ancient Britain
22 February 2018
Ancient DNA reveals that the British population was all but wiped out and replaced roughly 4,400 years ago.
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HUMAN EVOLUTION
Bringing a Neanderthal to life: the making of our model
17 February 2018
Discover the science and art involved in making the Museum's Neanderthal and early modern human models.
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Charles Darwin: history's most famous biologist
9 February 2018
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) transformed the way we understand the natural world with ideas that, in his day, were nothing short of revolutionary.
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HUMAN EVOLUTION
Cheddar Man: Mesolithic Britain's blue-eyed boy
7 February 2018
What did humans in Britain look like 10,000 years ago?
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SCIENCE NEWS
Humans left Africa 40,000 years earlier than we thought
25 January 2018
A newly-discovered fossil jawbone has revealed that Homo sapiens had already left Africa 180,000 years ago.
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NEWS
Documentary to reveal surprising face of Britain’s oldest complete human
24 January 2018
A television documentary will follow Museum scientists as they help deduce the astonishing facial appearance of Britain's oldest complete skeleton, Cheddar Man.
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Alice Roberts: How the Museum has inspired me
11 January 2018
TV presenter, author and academic Alice Roberts shares memories of the Museum and how it influenced her fascination with human evolution.
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Who was Alfred Russel Wallace?
8 January 2018
An intrepid explorer and brilliant naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace co-published the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin.
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HUMAN EVOLUTION
15 December 2017
Unearth the one-million-year story of humans in Britain and their struggle to survive in a changing land.
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HUMAN EVOLUTION
15 December 2017
Discover how the changing climate of the past million years affected Britain's coastline and the presence of humans.
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HUMAN EVOLUTION
15 December 2017
Dr Silvia Bello tells us about the gruesome yet fascinating behaviour of people living in a Somerset cave 14,700 years ago.
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SCIENCE NEWS
How did birds become so colourful? Find out.
13 December 2017
The public can help scientists study how the colours in bird plumages evolved.
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NEWS
The venomous animals on your plate
8 November 2017
Venomous creatures are everywhere - including in your dinner.
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OCEANS
3 November 2017
What was the ocean like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth?
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Dinosaur Q&A: What was Chilesaurus diegosuarezi?
17 August 2017
This dinosaur has a strange combination of body parts. Museum expert Prof Paul Barrett explains why.
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NEWS
Fossil teeth suggest earlier entry of modern humans into SE Asia
10 August 2017
New dating of teeth from a cave in western Sumatra, Indonesia, suggests that modern humans were present in tropical southeast Asia earlier than previously thought.
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NEWS
Carved bone reveals rituals of prehistoric cannibals
9 August 2017
A patterned prehistoric human bone from an archaeological site in Somerset has revealed that the practices of ancient cannibals were ritualistic, and not simply about survival.
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OCEANS
When whales walked on four legs
8 August 2017
Early ancestors of the ocean's biggest animals once walked on land. Follow their extraordinary journey from shore to sea.
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NEWS
Oldest known Homo sapiens fossils discovered in Morocco
7 June 2017
Prof Chris Stringer comments on new research that has identified the earliest known fossils of our species, Homo sapiens.
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Analysing the bones: what can a skeleton tell you?
31 May 2017
How scrutinising a person's bones and teeth can disclose who they were, how they lived and even how they died.
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NEWS
Early human Homo naledi lived surprisingly recently
9 May 2017
Museum human origins expert Chris Stringer comments on the implications for palaeoanthropology of new research suggesting Homo naledi lived relatively recently.
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NEWS
Broken bones may rewrite history of humans in America
27 April 2017
Museum human origins expert Chris Stringer comments on research that suggest humans arrived in the Americas much earlier than previously thought.
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NEWS
Why some toads don't have tadpoles
31 March 2017
African toads that give birth to live young evolved the strategy to cope with mountainous regions lacking suitable areas of water for tadpoles to develop in.
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NEWS
Dinosaur family tree radically rearranged
22 March 2017
Scientists have proposed a significant reorganisation of the dinosaur family tree, with major implications for our understanding of dinosaur origins and evolution.
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NEWS
Bird lovers help researchers uncover secrets of beak evolution
2 February 2017
Citizen scientists around the world have helped researchers uncover new insights into the evolution of bird beaks using Museum specimens.
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NEWS
Skulls show lone wolf is more of a jackal
12 January 2017
Convergent evolution and a broad carnivorous diet are what led the warrah, or Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis), to resemble a jackal, Museum scientists have found.
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Rainbow nature: life in bold black and white
24 October 2016
Black or white, or combinations of both, adorn some of nature's most charismatic creatures.
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Colour in the collections: reindeer eye
10 October 2016
Discover one of the more unusual colourful specimens at the Museum: a colour-changing marvel that transformed with the seasons.
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Can you spot the hidden animals that use cunning camouflage?
5 October 2016
Take a look at these photos and see whether millions of years of evolution will outwit you.
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NEWS
Study sheds light on snake vision
15 September 2016
The first major study into the genes that control vision in snakes has found that the reptiles match their vision to their lifestyles.
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Rainbow nature: life in majestic purple
12 September 2016
An exotic colour at the far end of our visible spectrum and often associated with royalty, purple is relatively rare in nature.
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A caterpillar's medicine cabinet
18 August 2016
One caterpillar is thought to be the first recorded self-medicating insect.
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Rainbow nature: the glory of green
15 August 2016
Green is the quintessential colour of nature - of parks, gardens and forests, and a reminder of the life-giving power of plants.
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NEWS
Piltdown Man hoax findings: Charles Dawson the likely fraudster
10 August 2016
New forensic methods have brought researchers a step closer to confirming the man behind an infamous scientific hoax.