By accessing the genomes of past populations, researchers have revealed how migrations have been at the origin of major cultural changes for our societies. Some of them have shaped Europe's modern genetic heritage. In France, this type of study had only been carried out on... click to read more

Around 350 B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle asserted that our hand is the "tool of tools." Our hands and fingers help us to work, to create, to communicate. But when did these anatomical structures appear in our distant ancestors? For the past 530 million years... click to read more

There are more than 400,000 known beetle species - and perhaps one million more species left to discover. This makes beetles one of the most diverse groups of animals on Earth. However, the causes for their extraordinary diversity are widely debated. Many claim that herbivory... click to read more

Snakes are incredibly crucial in each ecosystem to which they are native, despite the fact humans often dislike them. Additionally, when conducting community-level studies, snakes can serve as a conservation model for more secretive or rare animals, like some birds and mammals. In the past couple... click to read more

Fossils of Neanderthals were first discovered in western Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. Since then, the behaviours and activities of our closest evolutionary cousins, the regions of the world that they inhabited, and their evolutionary history have been the subject of much scientific enquiry and... click to read more