White-handed Gibbons Now Presumed 'Extinct' In China, Forest Survey Shows

China's fauna exhibits a unique diversity of apes. Unfortunately, the apes are more strongly endangered by extinction in China than in any other country. A research team assembled by anthropologists...

Multiple New Species Of Fruit Flies With Overlapping Niches Discovered

Evidence of physically similar species hidden within plant tissues suggest that diversity of neotropical herbivorous insects may not simply be a function of plant architecture, but may also reflect the...

Sulfur In Marine Archaeological Shipwrecks: The 'Hull Story' Gives A Sour Aftertaste

Advanced chemical analyses reveal that, with the help of smart scavenging bacteria, sulfur and iron compounds accumulated in the timbers of the Swedish warship Vasa during her 333 years on...

Evolution of St. Louis encephalitis traced

NEW YORK, May 19 (UPI) -- U.S. geneticists say they have traced the evolution of St. Louis encephalitis and determined the origin of the disease.

China, Myanmar: Why we do or don't help

The dire situations in cyclone-battered Myanmar and quake-tossed southwestern China and the impulse of many to offer relief have a lot to do with human nature. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors likely...

Science Weekly podcast: the RI, the embryology Bill, and kebabs

The pod is joined by two of the of RI's most distinguished members. We hear from the opponents and supports of the embryology bill. And astrobiologist David Catling tells us...

Explorers marvel at 'Brittlestar City' on seamount in powerful current swirling around Antarctica

Census of Marine Life-affiliated scientists, plumbing the secrets of a vast underwater mountain range south of New Zealand, captured the first images of a novel “Brittlestar City” established against daunting...

VIDEO: Primates Climb Treadmill

The tree-dwelling creatures were put on a specially built treadmill of ropes and pulleys as part of new research into how much energy the animals expend.

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Giant Bug, Rocket Man, Baby Croc, More

See "Fusion Man" fly via a jet-powered wing on his back, a giant beetle escape a smuggler, volcanic ash falling eerily, and more.

PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Rare Bust of Wrinkled Caesar Found

The marble bust of the Roman emperor—possibly the oldest ever found—was discovered by divers in a French river.

55 Million Year Old Parrot Fossil Discovered In Scandinavia

Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots dating back 55 million years. The fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark. Parrots...

Mixed Results For Late-talking Toddlers

New research findings from the world's largest study on language emergence have revealed that one in four late-talking toddlers continue to have language problems by age seven.

MIT solves gravity-defying bird beak mystery

As Charles Darwin showed nearly 150 years ago, bird beaks are exquisitely adapted to the birds' feeding strategy. A team of MIT mathematicians and engineers has now explained exactly how...

PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Myanmar's Jeweled Temple Damaged

Cyclone Nargis stripped gold panels and precious gems from parts of the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Paya temple complex, one of the world's largest Buddhist sites.

New study reveals hidden neotropical diversity

Evidence of physically similar species hidden within plant tissues suggest that diversity of neotropical herbivorous insects may not simply be a function of plant architecture, but may also reflect the...

Bones found in Brandon likely a century old; belong to aboriginals

Human bones found at a construction site in Brandon earlier this week were more than a century old and could be from more than one person, officials said Wednesday.

Museum displays big and small family jewels

Sigurdur Hjartarson is missing a human penis to display at the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which offers close-up looks at the long and the short of the male reproductive organ.

'Iron Man,' 'Baby Mama' and more: Exhibit showcases set decorators

"PULLING Back the Drapes," a new exhibition at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Fourth Floor Gallery, looks to shed some light on an individual who ...

Bite marks as evidence: Advance claimed

Attorneys and even some forensic experts have ridiculed the use of bite marks to identify criminals as sham science and glorified guesswork. Marquette researchers say they're wrong.

Mysterious Ailment Could Wipe Out U.S. Northeast Bats

Scientists hope the summer emergence of pregnant females can shed some light on the enigmatic white-nose syndrome—before time runs for the animals and their environment.

Vatican scientist says OK to believe in aliens and God

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets that is perhaps...

Israel Museum puts Dead Sea scroll on rare display

(AP) -- One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls is going on display in Jerusalem this week - more than four decades after it was last seen by...

Indiana Jones: The Bad Boy of Archaeology

Indy breaks the rules and probably would be an Archaeological Institute of America member.

Observatory: Seaweed Suggests First Humans in America Took the Coastal Route

New findings support the idea that humans spread southward along the Pacific Coast after entering the Americas.

Archaeologist Uses Satellite Imagery To Explore Ancient Mexico

Satellite imagery obtained from NASA will help archaeologists peer into the ancient Mexican past. In a novel archaeological application, multi- and hyperspectral data will help build the most accurate and...

Henry Moore sculpture could be re-erected thanks to 21st century science

A dismantled Henry Moore sculpture could be re-erected in Kensington Gardens, London, thanks to the latest rock engineering techniques, says a team of experts today.

'Indiana Jones' would make a bad archaeologist

Ancient protein offers clues to killer condition

More than 600 million years of evolution has taken two unlikely distant cousins - turkeys and scallops - down very different physical paths from a common ancestor. But University...