Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Snowball Earth To Thank For Evolution Of Life On Earth, Says Study
Biogeochemists say new evidence linking glacial events during the "Snowball Earth" period to the rise of early animals. The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis, which originated in 1964 due to the discovery...
Observatory: Asia to Africa, or Vice Versa: New Clues to Primates’ Origins
The recent discovery of fossils of two previously unknown anthropoid species in southern Libya adds to the debate about where primates’ ancestors arose.
Modern humans emerged far earlier than previously thought, fossils from China suggest
An international team of researchers has discovered well-dated human fossils in southern China that markedly change anthropologists perceptions of the emergence of modern humans in the eastern Old World.
Assassin bugs trap spiders by mimicking prey (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Australia have described how assassin bugs lure spiders to their deaths by plucking the silken threads of the spiders web with their legs to replicate the...
Study: Human ancestors not 'out of Africa'
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- New research suggests Africa was not the birthplace of the ancestors of monkey, apes and humans as long believed, U.S. scientists say.
Furor Over Giant Stag Killing in U.K.
Animal Lovers Mourn Giant Stag Dubbed The Emperor, Believed Britain's Largest Wild Animal
Pocahontas' wedding site found
A team of archaeologists believe they may have finally discovered Pocahontas' wedding site, a mystery that has long vexed scholars.
In the footsteps of dinosaurs
(PhysOrg.com) -- A geosciences grad student is piecing together evidence about dinosaurs from fossilized footprints.
Making bone in the laboratory
Researchers in the Netherlands have succeeded in mimicking the process of bone formation in the laboratory, and in visualizing the process in great detail.
Innotech Solar builds new plant in Germany
HALLE, Germany, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Norway's Innotech Solar on Wednesday launched construction of a $28 million solar cell processing plant in eastern Germany.
Iraq, Iran face off in oil power struggle
BAGHDAD, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- As Iran seeks to establish its supremacy in Iraq, its ancient enemy, they are also clashing in OPEC where Iraq's re-emergence as a leading...
Introducing the ‘A-Train’
Mention the "A-Train" and most people probably think of the jazz legend Billy Strayhorn or perhaps New York City subway trains -- not climate change. However, it turns...
Scientist at Work: Into a New Sea of Green
Scientists arrive at a second research site during a two-week biological inventory of a remote corner of Amazonian Peru.
Headless Dragonfly, Footless Lizard: Grisly Scene Preserved
Ancient scuffle preserved in amber.
Columbus cleared of bringing syphilis to Europe
(PhysOrg.com) -- A long-held theory has it that Christopher Columbus and his crew returned to Europe in 1493 from their trip to the Americas bringing syphilis with them, and research...
Fifth of vertebrates face extinction: study
NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters) - About a fifth of the world's vertebrates are threatened with extinction, a major review has found, highlighting the plight of nature that is the focus of...
Japan looks to ancient wisdom to save biodiversity
Four decades ago the oriental white stork became extinct in Japan, the victim of rapid industrialisation and modern farm practices and heavy pesticide use that destroyed its habitat.
Scientists: Asteroid could destroy ozone
TUCSON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- An asteroid colliding with Earth could wipe out the ozone layer forcing humans into a vampire-like life of hiding indoors during daylight hours, scientists...
Fossils double age of humans in Asia
BEIJING, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- New fossil evidence suggests modern humans could have reached East Asia much earlier than previously believed, researchers say.
Halloween horror story -- tale of the headless dragonfly
In a short, violent battle that could have happened somewhere this afternoon, the lizard made a fast lunge at the dragonfly, bit its head off and turned to run away....
Did Neanderthals make jewellery after all?
The theory that later Neanderthals might have been sufficiently advanced to fashion jewelery and tools similar to those of incoming modern humans has suffered a setback. A new radiocarbon dating...
Honor Frost obituary
Pioneer of underwater archaeology fascinated by the MediterraneanHonor Frost had many talents – as artist, ballet designer, scholar, writer and publicist, to name a few – but her consuming passion was the world...
Birds' pecking behavior unchanged since dinosaurs
Very early shorebirds that pecked the ground alongside dinosaurs were already behaving exactly like their modern counterparts, according to 110 million-year-old rock fossils.
Huge amber deposit discovered in India
Those who are proud to have a piece of amber that holds a little animal trapped in it maybe should not continue to read this. For what can be seen...
Pre-Columbian societies in Amazon may have been much larger and more advanced than thought
The pre-Columbian Indian societies that once lived in the Amazon rainforests may have been much larger and more advanced than researchers previously realized. Together with Brazilian colleagues, archaeologists from Sweden have found the remains of approximately 90 settlements in an area South of the city of Santarém, in the Brazilian part...
David Attenborough's big dig
Silbury Hill is as ancient and enigmatic as Stonehenge. David Attenborough tells Jonathan Jones why he set out to crack it'The past," says David Attenborough, "is a haunting and fascinating place." The great...
5 Days Of Halloween Movies: "5 Million Years To Earth"
You may not know the name Hammer Films, but if you have watched movies at all you have probably heard of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In 1957 they...
Remarkable Creatures: Good to Be King in Snake-Eat-Snake World
What gives the king cobra its title is that it eats other snakes. But how does the king cobra maintain such an apparently high-risk lifestyle?