Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Video: Newsweek to go all-digital
Newsweek has decided to end its print magazine and pursue an all-digital, subscription-only approach. Charles Osgood looks back on the print history of the newsweekly.
Prehistoric human populations prospered before the agricultural boom
Researchers from China's Fudan University have found major prehistoric human population expansions may have begun before the Neolithic period, which probably led to the introduction of agriculture.
Tropical collapse in Early Triassic caused by lethal heat: Extreme temperatures blamed for 'Dead Zone'
Scientists have discovered why the 'broken world' following the worst extinction of all time lasted so long -- it was simply too hot to survive. The end-Permian mass extinction, which...
Poachers gun down iconic ibis
Set back for researchers as illegal hunters kill rare birds.Nature News doi: 10.1038/nature.2012.11621
When Buddhists Attack: the Curious Relationship Between Zen & the Martial Arts
What does a religion known for teaching non-violence have to do with martial arts disciplines designed to cripple or kill? A great deal, it turns out.
The evolution of our smile
A study found that the first jawed fish had teeth. The results have put an end to the ongoing debate on the origin and evolution of teeth.
Urban languages archive is world's largest
A University of Manchester archive set up in 2010 to document, protect and support the languages spoken in one of Europe's most diverse cities, is now the world's largest. The...
MPs highlight raptor slaughter
Hundreds of birds of prey are deliberately killed each year with poisons that have no legal use, according to a comittee of MPs.
Fla. man charged in NY dinosaur fossils case
MIAMI (AP) -- A Florida man was charged Wednesday with smuggling dinosaur fossils into the United States, including a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton from Mongolia,...
Tiny critter hitchhiked on mayflies, fossil reveals
Creatures about the size of a grain of salt could apparently ride winged insects by using prehensile antennas, researchers say.
Mayfly with springtail hitchhiker: Amber specimen -- 16 million years old -- reveals unknown animal behaviors
Stunning images from a CT scan of amber have revealed the first evidence of any creature using an adult mayfly for transport. Researchers say this 16-million-year-old hitchhiker most likely demonstrates...
Trekkie Dating helps Star Trek fans find love
The latest in a long line of niche dating websites, Trekkie Dating connects fans of the Star Trek franchise in hopes that they will love long and prosper.
Evolutionary origins of our pretty smile
It takes both teeth and jaws to make a pretty smile, but the evolutionary origins of these parts of our anatomy have only just been discovered, thanks to a particle...
ScienceShot: Ancient Jaws Had Real Teeth
But first jawed vertebrates didn't grow their chompers like the rest of us
Grim exhibition shows role of grave robbers in medical science
Museum of London exhibition opens this week with findings uncovered from the London Hospital's burial groundIt was the skeletons that apparently had four legs or three arms that startled the archaeologists, not the...
Misogyny: pass notes No 3,266
Australian PM Julia Gillard's outspoken condemnation of opposition leader Tony Abbott's sexism has forced a change in one dictionary's definition of the wordAge: Ancient but generously renewed every generation in slightly different form.Appearance:...
Male perception bias a survival mechanism, study says
People who encounter the dark silhouette of a stranger are more likely to decide it's a man, a gender bias which is a survival reflex, U.S. researchers say.
Aztec Imperialism's Impact On Mexico's Mitochondrial DNA
In 1428 AD, while King Alfonso V was ordering Sicilian Jews into conversion sermons and the Ottomans were consolidating in Europe, the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formed the Triple Alliance,...
Row, row, row your shells
The Harvard men’s and Radcliffe women’s rowing crews will be out in full force during this year’s Head of the Charles Regatta, taking place Oct. 20-21 along the Charles River. The men’s...
Ancient 'Predator X' sea monster named
It's official: A giant, marine reptile that roamed the seas roughly 150 million years ago is a new species, researchers say. The animal, now named Pliosaurus funkei, spanned about 40...
English city to show off Roman gold coins find
(AP)—The English city of St. Albans will be displaying a large batch of late Roman gold coins found by an amateur using a metal detector.
How do you cope with not being Felix Baumgartner? | Natasha Bell
The cynical side of our nature says: 'We didn't do it, so let's deflect from the accomplishment of someone who did'There was something comically audacious about that step. About his nonchalant salute to...
Extreme 'housework' cuts the life span of female Komodo Dragons
Extreme 'housework' cuts the life span of female Komodo Dragons
Eastern Eurasian archaic humans featured a bi-level nasal floor as seen in Neandertals
In an assessment of the nasal floor configurations of the available and sufficiently intact, if still incomplete, paleoanthropologists from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences,...
Did Tyrannosaurus rex have feathers?
Could the tyrant king really have been...fluffy?Palaeontology is about more than just finding out basic facts of the past such as identifying new species and restoring ancient ecologies, it's an opportunity to trace...
New Study Reveals the Causes of Extinction From Global Warming
A new study, published online today in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, reviewed 136 case studies to determine the underlying causes of why many populations have gone extinct...
Online sleuthing casts doubt on 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife'
A copied error from an online translation of the Gospel of Thomas may be the "smoking gun" that strongly suggests the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, a controversial papyrus fragment that...
Chupacabra: Facts about the Mysterious Vampire Beast
The mystery of the "goat sucker" was solved fairly quickly and easily.