More than 1,200 genetic variants have been linked to the Big Five personality traits, and many of the same variants are also associated with health, longevity, careers, income, and everyday habits. The findings reveal a surprisingly wide genetic connection between personality and life outcomes while showing that environment still plays a powerful role.
Could math help explain why some relationships survive life’s inevitable stresses while others slowly fall apart? Researchers have spent decades developing mathematical models that treat romantic feelings as changing systems, revealing patterns in attraction, emotional reactions, conflict, and recovery.
Ancient teeth and human DNA are revealing a surprising history of insect eating. Modern humans in northern Eurasia appear to have eaten insects only occasionally, while Neanderthals may have consumed them much more regularly. Populations near the tropics also retained genes that make insect exoskeletons easier to digest.
Three forgotten Assyrian kings may have been hiding in plain sight for more than 2,700 years. By piecing together clues from tablets, inscriptions, and an ancient statue, researchers argue that these rulers were omitted from the famous Assyrian King List.
The human family tree may be due for a major rewrite. Researchers argue that Australopithecus and Paranthropus should be folded into the genus Homo because new fossils have blurred many of the traits once used to separate them. The proposed shake-up could provide a simpler, more accurate picture of our surprisingly complicated evolutionary past.
Nearly 800,000 years ago, early humans living beside a lake in what is now Israel may have chosen the location for one surprisingly practical reason: firewood. Researchers discovered that these ancient people regularly gathered driftwood washed up along the shoreline, giving them an easy, reliable fuel source for cooking fish, processing large animals, making tools, and organizing daily life arou…
