Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
More than three million Austrians tuned in live to Austrian space jumper
More than three million television and internet viewers in Austria tuned in live to watch Austrian Felix Baumgartner jump from the edge of space on Sunday and become the first...
When humans broke off Neanderthal sex
Neanderthals apparently last interbred with the ancestors of today's Europeans after modern humans with advanced stone tools expanded out of Africa, researchers say.
Archaeologists return to ancient Greek 'computer' wreck site: official
A new search has begun at a Greek island where an ancient device known as the world's "oldest computer" was found over a century ago, an official said Thursday, adding...
Fake Toes Found In Ancient Egyptian Tombs Could Be The World's Oldest Prostheses
The (Possible) Oldest Prosthesis Known to Man University of Manchester There is a documented history of ancient Egyptians creating fake body parts to augment bodies headed for burial, but a...
For some women, genes may influence pressure to be thin
Genetics may make some women more vulnerable to the pressure of being thin, a new study has found.
Quantum causal relations: A causes B causes A
One of the most deeply rooted concepts in science and in our everyday life is causality; the idea that events [...]
Payoff lacking for casino comps
A study of widely used complimentary offers at Atlantic City casinos finds that common giveaways such as free rooms and [...]
Morocco mission to rescue last of the Atlas lions
Almost a century after a French colonial hunter put a bullet in what came to be viewed as the last Atlas lion living in the wild, a Moroccan zoo is...
Rare Birds, Real and Imagined
The illustrator Ralph Steadman has produced a whimsical compendium of drawings of birds. Some are extinct, and some were never alive.
Sea Creature Fossils Reveal Prehistoric Division of Labor
Primitive animals worked together, study suggests.
Prehistoric builders reveal trade secrets: Long-overlooked museum fossil is clue to vanished skills of prehistoric animal architects
A fossil which has lain in a museum drawer for over a century has been recognized by a geologist as a unique clue to the long-lost skills of some of...
Amazonian tribal warfare sheds light on modern violence, anthropologist says
(Phys.org)—In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri...
OPINION: 3D printing? Make mine a mollusc
High-tech tools such as 3D printing can helps us better understand fossils and long-dead organisms, writes Russell Garwood.
In Mexico, the ajolote's fate lies in troubled waters
The salamander, long a metaphor for the Mexican soul, risks extinction unless its sole habitat, the canal system of Xochimilco, can be restored.MEXICO CITY — Somewhere underneath the hull of...
MacArthur Fellows Named for 2012
Fields as diverse as teaching, ecology and filmmaking were represented among the winners of the latest round of MacArthur Fellows.
Skulls Engineered to Take Hard Knocks
Creatures that do strangely violent things to their heads — rams and woodpeckers among them — have very dense skulls, small brains and little fluid, all of which help reduce...
Giant salamanders strolled onto land using long limbs
Modern giant salamanders live only in water, but their earliest, largest known ancestor, which had a burly head and lengthy limbs to boot, may have ventured onto land, researchers say.
Video: Carnivorous plant captures insect in "mouth"
A group of German scientists used high-speed cameras to observe a carnivorous plant trapping prey in action.
FOR KIDS: Icy inns at Earth’s end
Intrepid researchers discover icebergs host large and lively communities of life
English museum and gallery visitors - which place was most popular in 2012?
How popular are England's museums and galleries? Which attract the most visitors? The latest monthly figures out today show how many people visit each place and how it's changed over the years•...
How Tradition and Tribal Courts Can End War
Papua New Guinea's Enga tribes fought with bows and arrows until 1990, when their young people and mercenary "Rambos" began using shotguns and semiautomatics, igniting 20 years of warfare that...
Studying clam shells for clues to the Atlantic's climate history
(Phys.org)—Two Iowa State University graduate students are just back from the Gulf of Maine with another big catch of clam shells.
Isaac Newton's Death Mask and Xbox | video | @GrrlScientist
The first-ever 3D scan of Isaac Newton's death mask, courtesy of The Royal Society, Microsoft Cambridge and our friends, videographer Brady Haran and Professor Martyn PoliakoffI received an email from the Royal Society's...
Historian Eric Hobsbawm dies aged 95: daughter
Eminent British historian Eric Hobsbawm, who chronicled the extremes of the 19th and 20th centuries from a Marxist perspective, died on Monday at the age of 95, his daughter said.
Preparing fossils: the fine art of extracting bones from the rocks
Rarely appreciated is the fundamental part of palaeontology that is preparation, removing the fossils from the rocks that entomb themIt is easy to marvel at a beautiful fossil specimen that is illustrated in...
DNA evidence exonerates 300th prisoner nationwide
A Louisiana man is released from death row after his murder conviction is overturned. He said he was coerced into giving a false confession.A Louisiana man has been released from...
Bomber jackets - in pictures
When The Great British Bake Off's Mary Berry wore a floral bomber jacket to present the show, she drew the attention of millions of viewers to a growing trend. From...
How I came face to face with my punk past
Terry Macalister is the energy editor of the Guardian. But when he took his son to an exhibition, he was shocked to see himself – on the cover of a punk fanzine...