Europa’s ice shell secrets unlocked by ground radar study
Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has become high-value real estate for astrobiologists and the search for life beyond Earth.
This is because the small moon, which is...
Hidden museum fossil solves a 5-million-year-old saber-toothed cat mystery
A fossil that sat unnoticed in a museum drawer for decades has turned out to be one of the most important discoveries about the...
Europe’s last Neanderthals were more diverse than scientists ever imagined
A new study has revealed that the last Neanderthals living in Western Europe were far more connected and genetically diverse than scientists once believed.
The...
3-billion-year-old asteroid crater offers rare window into Earth’s violent past
Scientists have confirmed the age of the oldest known asteroid impact crater on Earth, revealing that a huge space rock struck our planet about...
Scientists find 1,000s-year-old human DNA hidden in cave walls
Scientists have made an exciting discovery that could change the way we study human history.
For the first time, researchers have shown that ancient human...
Earth’s oldest crater really is more than 3 billion years old
In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth's oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years.
They are dark,...
Did gravitational tides cause Earth’s extinctions?
Life on Earth took a long evolutionary journey that eventually created us, the purportedly intelligent species that dominates the planet.
But there was no grand...
Scientists discover a new walking shark species in a tiny corner of Papua New...
Scientists studying unusual sharks that can "walk" along the seafloor have made an exciting discovery—a completely new species that was previously unknown to science.
The...
Ancient plague was already deadly 5,500 years ago, study reveals
Plague is often linked to medieval Europe, crowded cities, and rats carrying infected fleas.
However, a new study published in the journal Nature shows that...
Microbes destroyed an ancient pterosaur’s wingbone, then preserved it for 100 million years
More than 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called a pterosaur flew over the oceans hunting squid and fish.
Much more recently, one of...