Peppered moths and copycat butterflies owe their wing color-changing abilities to a single gene, two independent studies suggest. “This begins to unravel exactly what the original mutation was that ...

The darkening color of the peppered moth during the nineteenth century, often used by high school textbooks as a case study for adaptation, was confirmed as an accurate example of natural selection in ...

William Feeney receives funding from the University of Queensland and the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. Changing wildlife: this article is part of a series looking at how key species such ...

The peppered moth was the most diagrammatic example of the phenomenon of industrial melanism that came to be recognised in industrial and smoke-blackened parts of England in the mid-nineteenth century ...

The peppered moth has long been one of the most popular stories in all of evolution—for Darwinians and creationists alike. The Darwinians have always treated the sudden appearance in the mid-19th ...

Most of us know that as living things evolve, they take on traits that help them thrive in their home environments. But how are certain traits "chosen" for future generations, and how are others cast ...

Light- and dark-colored peppered moths. The black variety is thought to have evolved to camouflage moths on sooty surfaces during the Industrial Revolution. Wikimedia Commons Want to learn more about ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

Open almost any textbook dealing with biological evolution and you’ll probably find photographs of peppered moths resting on tree trunks—illustrating the classic story of natural selection in action.

“Of Moths and Men” can serve as an elegant introduction to the method of science and the ways of scientists. Judith Hooper tells the intricate tale of how a British scientist’s supposed “proof” of ...