Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Today's mystery bird for you to identify
In preparation for Christmas, here's an African mystery bird sitting in a treeMystery Bird photographed at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]Image: Dan Logen,...
Sombre mood at UN climate talks
This year's round of UN climate talks opens on Monday, with little expectation of significant progress.
Engineer provides new insight into pterodactyl flight
Giant pterosaurs - ancient reptiles that flew over the heads of dinosaurs - were at their best in gentle tropical breezes, soaring over hillsides and coastlines or floating over land...
Egyptian artifacts recovered from bank
CAIRO, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A collection of Egyptian artifacts found in the vault of the national bank has been given to the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, officials...
Ancient astronomy: Mechanical inspiration
The ancient Greeks' vision of a geometrical Universe seemed to come out of nowhere. Could their ideas have come from the internal gearing of an ancient mechanism?
Southern Sudan revamps pharmaceutical supply system
Southern Sudan is rebuilding its pharmaceutical supply system, destroyed after years of civil war.
Thanksgiving 2010 Myths and Facts
Before the big dinner, debunk the myths—for starters, the first "real" Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and get to the roots of Thanksgiving 2010.
'Tunnel of truth' for air travelers is a long way off
Travelers and transportation screeners alike dream of a day when people will no longer have to spread their legs and lift their arms for intimate pat-downs or see-through body scanners.
Wind Tunnel Tests Reveal Pterosaurs Could Soar for Hours
The ancient pterosaur was a slow flier that coasted on light air currents and could soar for hours. Colin Palmer, a graduate student at the University of Bristol, arrived at this conclusion...
Pouched killers not poor cousins of carnivores
(PhysOrg.com) -- Marsupial predators are not the poor cousins of the carnivore world, as has long been thought: new research shows that they have been just as diverse as placental...
How Science Is Changing Your Thanksgiving Meal
Tasty Turkey Bridget Coila via FlickrThanks to biotechnology and widespread genetic modification, this isn't your grandma's feast Since they were introduced 15 years ago, genetically modified foods have taken astonishing hold in North...
Scientists find psyllid populations in the Americas are genetically distinct
(PhysOrg.com) -- Asian citrus psyllid populations in North and South America are genetically distinct, according to research conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and cooperators.
Mystery bird: Verreaux's eagle-owl, Bubo lacteus
The European cousin of this bird has a part in the Harry Potter filmsVerreaux's eagle-owl, Bubo lacteus, also known as the giant eagle-owl, photographed on a night drive at Lake Manyara National Park,...
Study: Orangutans survived 'squeeze' event
ZURICH, Switzerland, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Orangutans in Borneo are descended from a small number of ancestors who survived a population "bottleneck" about 176,000 years ago, Swiss researchers say.
They All Look The Same To Me! Countering The Own-race Bias.
Do you find it harder to recognise people of different races to your own? Have you ever said the phrase "They all look the same to me!" If so, you're...
Horse-dragon and colossal iguana: Scientists identify new beaked herbivorous dinosaurs
(PhysOrg.com) -- Paleontologists from the University of Pennsylvania and the Utah Geological Survey have described two skeletons representing two new species of beaked herbivorous dinosaurs, known as iguanodonts, from Utah....
Elizabeth Cutter obituary
Research botanist with a worldwide reputationElizabeth Cutter, who has died of cancer aged 81, had an international reputation for her extraordinarily precise, microsurgical approach to her studies of the structure and develop- ment...
British Museum takeover safeguards buried treasure agencies as quango goes
Schemes for checking finds by amateurs face 15% cuts as Arts Council gets responsibility for regional museumsThe agencies that handle archaeological finds, many from amateurs with metal detectors, will become part of the...
For your teeth, Thanksgiving dinner is a real food fight
If you're lucky, it will all be kisses and hugs around the Thanksgiving dinner table, with friends and family near and dear gathered about, and puppies gathered around your feet...
Imported trees deliver deadly mushrooms
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The roots of decorative trees being imported from East Asia have introduced the most poisonous mushroom to humans in Vancouver, British Columbia,...
125 Glorious Years of Popular Science in One Giant Picture
125 Years of Popular Science William Huber/Lev Manovich Software Studies LabHey look, it's us! And us and us and us! Lev Manovich, a new-media theorist and professor, has lately been constructing a few...
Pezoporus Flaviventris - New Species Of Ground Parrot Discovered
It used to be that broader understanding of zoology meant intuitively that new species would be harder to find and so it followed that there would be fewer of them...
Google backs Turing papers bid
Technology giant donates $100,000 to help put computing pioneer's second world war papers on display at Bletchley ParkSecond world war papers published by the UK's most famous codebreaker, Alan Turing, are to go...
Sidelined scientist who came close to discovering DNA is celebrated at last
Exhibition, blue plaque and BBC slot for William Astbury, a populariser interested in permed hair and poached eggsA scientist who enlisted Britain's hairdressers in the early hunt for DNA has emerged from the...
A Darwinian theory of beauty
This lovely video is a collaboration between TEDTalks and animator Andrew Park, who illustrates Denis Dutton's provocative argument about beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in...
Kilt wearers urged to put on skivvies
EDINBURGH, Scotland, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A Scottish organization dedicated to upholding traditions says underwear should be worn under kilts for "common sense and decency."
Pictures: Best Underwater Views of 2010 Announced
See a diver exploring an deep trench, a seahorse being born, an eel baring its teeth, and more in winners from an undersea photo contest.
An Exhibition That Gets to the (Square) Root of Sumerian Math
Cuneiform clay tablets from Mesopotamia are being exhibited in New York City until Dec. 17.