Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Last-ditch push on climate deal
World leaders are locked in talks as they attempt to deliver a last-minute deal at the Copenhagen climate summit.
Among apes, teeth are made for the toughest times
The teeth of some apes are formed primarily to handle the most stressful times when food is scarce, according to new research performed at the National Institute of Standards and...
Human Ancestors Were Homemakers
Early humans were dividing their living spaces into kitchens and work areas much earlier than previously thought, a new study found.
‘Jesus-era’ cloth casts doubt on Turin Shroud
An international team of researchers has found fragments of a burial shroud that cast serious doubt on the Shroud of Turin, the controversial linen cloth venerated by many Catholics as...
Ahmadinejad arrives in Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left for Denmark on Thursday as foreign leaders arrive to take part in final talks on global climate change.
Ancient origins of modern opossum revealed
Scientists have traced the evolution of the modern opossum back to the extinction of the dinosaurs and found evidence to support North America as the center of origin for all...
Soil DNA study revises some paleontology
EDMONTON, Alberta, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- An international team of scientists, including University of Alberta researchers, are using DNA samples from dirt to revise some paleontological history.
Best ever atlas of 'iron planet'
The pictures from the Mariner 10 and Messenger probes are stitched together to make an atlas of Mercury.
More than a jump to the left
Despite the fact that physical space follows similar laws everywhere across the globe, cultures vary as to how space is encoded in their language. Some, for example, do not use egocentric terms such...
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought. After plucking ancient DNA from frozen soil...
See-through goldfish shows clear benefits for science, research
With Christmas around the corner, a see-through goldfish might make a nice Christmas present for the ichthyologist who has everything.
Bronze Age People Left Flowers at Grave
(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists from the Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen have found proof that pre-historic people laid flowers at the graves of their dead.
Soup can reopens mystery of doomed Franklin Expedition
(PhysOrg.com) -- Lead levels that are "off the scale" have been confirmed after tests were done this morning on the lid of a soup can dating back more than 150...
'Happy housewife' myth debunked by new book
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many believe that 1950s cinema portrayed women as complacent, conservative housewives who liked nothing better than to rustle up a three-course meal for their hardworking husbands, but a...
World's first skeletal mount of Paluxysaurus jonesi reveals new biology
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Early Cretaceous sauropod Paluxysaurus jonesi weighed 20 tons, was 60 feet long and had a neck 26 feet long, according to scientists who prepared the world's first...
Meat may be the reason humans outlive apes
Meat - Food - Business - Vegetarianism - Meat and Seafood
Gravestones Talking through Time
A visit to your local graveyard can provide not only a history lesson, but a science lesson as well. Historians have long scoured old burial sites to piece together the...
Story of 4.5 million-year-old whale unveiled in Huelva
In 2006, a team of Spanish and American researchers found the fossil remains of a whale, 4.5 million years old, in Bonares, Huelva. Now they have published, for the first...
Microsoft Suspends China Site
Code-Theft Charges By Rival Leads To Temporary Site Closure
Books on Science: A Deluge of Data Shapes a New Era in Computing
A new book is a tribute to a Microsoft researcher, lost at sea in 2007, who argued that computing was transforming science.
Viking Weapon-Recycling Site Found in England?
Today's recyclers can now conceivably lay claim to a rich, bloody, brawny heritage, if a new discovery is any indication.
Whose Tattoo Is It Anyway?
(PhysOrg.com) -- An infra-red digital camera could be a crucial tool in the fight against crime when trying to identify suspects by their tattoos, according to new University of Derby...
Ancient pygmy sea cow discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- The discovery of a Middle Eocene (48.6-37.2 million years ago) sea cow fossil by McGill University professor Karen Samonds has culminated in the naming of a new species....
Fossils on the Edge of Forever
Astrobiologists have not yet found alien life on other planets. But the fossil record has evidence of aliens of another sort: the Ediacarans that lived on Earth millions of years...
Scientist uncovers relics of ancient cosmos
(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Manchester scientist, working as part of an international team, has uncovered an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos.
Blair sold Iraq on WMD, but only regime change adds up | Hans Blix
The PM seems to have deployed arguments as they suited him. Our weapons inspections were telling another storyBefore the Iraq war was launched in March 2003 the world was given the impression...
Scientists grow real human bones
HOUSTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- University of Houston scientists, studying the best way to prevent bone fractures, say they have created a process that grows human bones in tissue...
Prehistoric Pygmy Sea Cow Discovered in Madagascar
The fossil "water bushpig"—as the locals call it—fills in a gap between primitive land-dwelling mammals to today's aquatic sea cows, a new study says.