Evolution and Tree of Life

Human Evolution: A Timeline of Early Hominids [Infographic]

Since about 4 million years ago, humans have evolved from early hominids to modern humans. Here are 14 species examples from human evolution now extinct.

Endosymbiosis: The Origin of Eukaryotic Cells

Endosymbiosis sparked the origin of eukaryotic cells. It’s the idea that a prokaryote engulfed a bacteria and became mitochondria part of eukaryotic cells.

Human Timeline: How Long Have Humans Existed?

The earliest anatomically modern human fossil found was dated at about 200-300,000 years old in Morocco, Africa. They had modern faces and used stone tools.

Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection

In flesh and blood, you have been genetically fine-tuned as a product of natural selection. Without evolution, complex beings like humans wouldn’t exist.

LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor

All living things originated from a common ancestor called the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). The origin of life existed before LUCA (3.5 – 4.1 bya)

The Dinosaur Era: When Dinosaurs Dominated

If you rewind the clock 230 million years back, dinosaurs dominated the land. Not just for a short span of time. But they lived for over 175 million years!

Carbon Dating: How Radioactive Isotopes Estimate Age

All life contains types of carbon. When an organism dies, carbon dating examines the ratio between carbon-14 (C14) and carbon-12 (C12) to estimate age.