Extreme heat could cause animals to shrink (again)
More than 50 million years ago, when Earth experienced a series of extreme global warming events, early mammals responded by shrinking in size.
While this...
Neanderthals didn’t give us red hair but they certainly changed the way we sleep
Geneticists have now firmly established that roughly two percent of the DNA of all living non-African people comes from our Neanderthal cousins.
It’s difficult to...
Ancient DNA results end 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy mystery
Using 'next generation' DNA sequencing scientists have found that the famous 'Two Brothers' mummies of the Manchester Museum have different fathers so are, in...
Ancient Easter Island inhabitants had early contact with Native Americans?
Maybe not.
Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) has long been a source of intrigue and mystery.
How did such a small community of people build so...
Mystery solved: 6-inch skeleton isn’t an alien after all
New research stamps out any remaining questions about a tiny, mysterious skeleton’s home planet—it’s without a doubt human.
And, more than that, the analysis answers...
Fossil of ancient spider attack only one of its type ever discovered
Researchers have found what they say is the only fossil ever discovered of a spider attack on prey caught in its web – a...
Scientists find earliest intact mushroom fossils
Paleontologists from China, New Zealand and the United States have found four intact mushroom fossils, sources from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said Friday.
The...
5.5-million-year-old fossil turtle species sheds light on invasive modern relatives
A University of Pennsylvania paleontologist has described a 5.5 million-year-old fossil species of turtle from eastern Tennessee.
It represents a new species of the genus...
Neanderthals were artistic like modern humans
Scientists have found the first major evidence that Neanderthals, rather than modern humans, created the world's oldest known cave paintings - suggesting they may...
Brain size of human ancestors evolved gradually over 3 million years
Modern humans have brains that are more than three times larger than our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos.
Scientists don't agree on when and...