Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
In praise of … Neanderthal man
It seems we have all been guilty of defaming Neanderthal man. Research by a team based at the University of Bristol suggests that, far from being a lumbering, witless no-hoper, he was...
New research suggests Sierra Nevadas older than previously thought
The Sierra Nevada mountain range reached its present height 50 million years ago -- 30 million years earlier than geologists once believed, according to a new study.
Coal from mass extinction era linked to lung cancer mystery
The volcanic eruptions thought responsible for Earth's largest mass extinction -- which killed more than 70 percent of plants and animals 250 million years ago -- is still taking lives...
Bird decline not caused by gray squirrels
LONDON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Invasive gray squirrels are not responsible for the 40-year decline of some bird populations in Britain, orthinologists said.
Iran, Iraq still feud over oil fields
BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Iraq and Iran are still feuding over an abandoned oil field along their poorly defined border weeks after Iranian troops briefly occupied one of...
Sweden holds first wolf hunt in 45 years
GAVLE, Sweden, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A wolf pair with pups may have been among the 27 wolves killed in Sweden's first wolf hunt in 45 years, officials said.
Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered, scholar says
An inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign) has been deciphered, showing that it is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest...
30,000-year-old child's teeth shed new light on human evolution
The teeth of a 30,000-year-old child are shedding new light on the evolution of modern humans, thanks to new research.
Cleopatra's heavy make-up 'was good for eyes'
The heavy eye make-up favoured by ancient Egyptians such as Cleopatra might have had medical as well as aesthetic benefits, research suggests.
Experts debate Ohio's 1-drug lethal injection
LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Another successful execution using a lethal injection of just one drug instead of the traditional three has fueled debate over whether the...
Study: Suffering boosts anti-Semitism
BONN, Germany, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- German students said they became more anti-Semitic after reading about ongoing suffering brought on by the Holocaust, a university study found.
SDSU scientists 're-discover' switchgrass moth
(PhysOrg.com) -- South Dakota State University scientists have `re-discovered` an insect that was first described by a scientist in the year 1910, but hasn`t been studied since.
Fossil footprints give land vertebrates a much longer history
The discovery of fossil footprints from early backboned land animals in Poland leads to the sensational conclusion that our ancestors left the water at least 18 million years earlier than...
San Fran's famous sea lions now in Oregon
FLORENCE, Ore., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- About 2,000 sea lions spotted off the central Oregon coast may be the popular marine mammals that disappeared from San Francisco's piers, wildlife...
Astrophysicists Explain How The Earth Survived Birth
Researchers at the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Cambridge have developed models they say explain how earth survived its birth. Presenting their findings at the 2010...
Wild Iberian horses contributed to the origin of the current Iberian domestic stock
The earliest known domestic horses are around 4,600 years old. They were originated in the steppes between modern Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Using this evidence, two different hypotheses have been...
Ancient Four-Legged Beasts Leave Their Mark
Tracks dating back nearly 400 million years ago change ideas on how early land animals evolved [Read more]
EU to hand out Galileo contracts
The first contracts will be awarded on Thursday to build an operational satellite-navigation system for Europe.
Royal Ontario Museum displays its fakes
For the Fakes and Forgeries exhibit opening Saturday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, curators often had difficulty distinguishing between the real artifacts in its collection and the phoneys.
Tracing the Roots of Discrimination
(PhysOrg.com) -- María Elena Martínez`s book, Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2008), the first in-depth study of the purity of blood...
Oldest Land-Walker Tracks Found--Pushes Back Evolution
The first animals to walk the Earth emerged from the sea almost 20 million years earlier than previously thought, say scientists who have discovered footprints from an eight-foot-long prehistoric creature.
Four-footed animals emerged earlier than thought: researchers
The water-dwelling ancestors of modern-day mammals, reptiles and birds emerged onto land millions of years earlier than previously believed, according to Polish researchers.
Earliest four-limbed animals left mud tracks
The world's first four-limbed animals, called tetrapods, crawled on land much earlier than scientists thought, judging by tracks left behind by some of the animals in a prehistoric Polish lagoon. ...
Footprints could push back tetrapod origins
Newly discovered trackways much older than previous evidence for sea-to-land transition
First steps on land, giant leap for evolution | Adam Rutherford
The discovery of fossil footprints of the first known walking land creature proves us wrong – and that couldn't be more excitingLife on Earth began in the seas, around 4bn years ago....
B.C. doctor accused of faking credentials
Police on Vancouver Island are combing through the past of a Victoria man accused of lying about his medical credentials and fabricating several diplomas.
Body scanners coming to Canadian airports
Body scanners will be installed in several Canadian airports, including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, to comply with new U.S. security protocols.
How people work ... and the fingerprint mystery
Why do we chew our food? Research has shown that it is not, as has long been presumed, to make chunks of food small enough to swallow without choking. ...