Line up human and chimpanzee DNA and the first surprise is how little separates us. We share more than 96% of the sequences used to make proteins, the molecules that build and run a living body. And yet the human brain is roughly three times the size of a chimpanzee’s, and it does things a […]

Around 30 million years ago, a heavily built animal prowled the area that is now Vallbona de les Monges, in Lleida province (Catalonia, northeastern Spain). It had a long head, prominent cheekbones and formidable jaws lined with large, sharp teeth. Paleontologists call it the hell pig. The nickname misleads. Its kinship with modern pigs is […]