Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Cosmic Log: The year in science
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The unveiling of the 4.4 million-year-old skeleton of a human ancestor, 15 years after it was unearthed, ranks as Science's top breakthrough of the year. ...
Slow progress at Copenhagen talks
Talks remain deadlocked at the climate summit in Copenhagen as world leaders start arriving to try to seal a deal.
Late-surviving megafauna exposed by ancient DNA in frozen soil
Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought. After plucking ancient DNA from frozen soil...
Climate Talks Near Deal on Preservation of Forests
Negotiators were closing in on a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests and other natural landscapes.
Their infinite wisdom
Hotel guests come and go. But in the first decade of the 1900s, a pair of frequent Russian visitors to the Hotel Parisiana, near the Sorbonne on Paris’ Left Bank, stood out...
Video: Coconut shelters prove octopuses use tools
Scientists film octopuses building shelters from coconut shells, citing it as the first evidence of invetebrate creatures using tools
Study: Looking young may mean living longer
LONDON (AP) -- Those baby-faced people now have another reason to be smug: a new Danish study says looking young apparently means a longer life....
Blair sold Iraq on WMD, but only regime change adds up | Hans Blix
The PM seems to have deployed arguments as they suited him. Our weapons inspections were telling another storyBefore the Iraq war was launched in March 2003 the world was given the impression...
Scientists grow real human bones
HOUSTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- University of Houston scientists, studying the best way to prevent bone fractures, say they have created a process that grows human bones in tissue...
Prehistoric Pygmy Sea Cow Discovered in Madagascar
The fossil "water bushpig"—as the locals call it—fills in a gap between primitive land-dwelling mammals to today's aquatic sea cows, a new study says.
This is bigger than climate change. It is a battle to redefine humanity | George Monbiot
It's hard for a species used to ever-expanding frontiers, but survival depends on accepting we live within limitsThis is the moment at which we turn and face ourselves. Here, in the plastic corridors and...
Bacteria survive millennia nibbling on salad
Imagine you were trapped in a room for weeks with nothing to eat but a single leaf of lettuce. For microscopic bacteria holed up in ancient buried salt flats in...
Good dentistry may have saved the dinosaurs
Infectious diseases can be transmitted by sneezing, touching, or - for Tasmanian devils - biting each other on the face, a habit that may have driven the dinosaurs to extinction...
Researchers Reveal That Environmentally Devastating Zebra Mussels Can Be Controlled
Cloaked in a delicate brown and cream striped shell and measuring a mere inch in length, the zebra mussel certainly doesn`t look ominous. This tiny invasive species, however, has wreaked...
Understanding apples' ancestors
A species of wild apples that could be an ancestor of today's domesticated apples are native to the Middle East and Central Asia. A new study comparing the diversity of...
Fury at Copenhagen police tactics
Climate activists criticise Danish police for heavy-handed tactics after they detained 968 people at a Copenhagen summit rally.
Nuclear Site Finds Money Can Bring Headaches
The Savannah River Site was given $1.6 billion to clean up radioactive waste. But the pressure to spend the money has led to bitter disputes.
'Extreme' genes shed light on origins of photosynthesis
While most school children understand that green plants photosynthesize, absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, few people consider the profound global-scale effects that photosynthesis has had on Earth. One of...
"Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."
"Not really," I answered honestly, instead of pretending to be normal like everyone else. I was still trying to dislodge the stupid feeling of suspicion, and I couldn't concentrate. "You don't...
Ancient Book of Mark Found Not So Ancient After All
A biblical expert, together with experts in micro-chemical analysis and medieval bookmaking, has concluded that one of the University of Chicago Library's most enigmatic possessions is a forgery.
Sydney's latest hostel has fabulous harbour views
Sydney's new YHA has budget rooms with harbour views in the historic Rocks district – and it comes with its very own archaeological digThe meaning of life, as Australian playwright David Williamson once...
Where The Bones Are: The Evidence Of Early Cannibals In Western Europe
December 8 SPIEGEL ONLINE has two articles posted on skulls. The former covers a stone age mystery in a town called Herxheim in Germany. We read a graphic description of cannibalism during the demise of a...
Did ancient Sicilians build temples to ‘fit in’?
Ancient Greeks living in Sicily built their sacred temples to face the rising sun, new research suggests. AncientGreece - Sicily - History - Art - Architecture
Europe Pledges Billions in Climate Aid for Poor Nations
The offer of about $3 billion is an attempt to help the chances of reaching a deal next week at climate talks.
Crypt searched for Caravaggio's bones
PORTO ERCOLE, Italy, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A crypt in the Tuscan town of Porto Ercole, Italy, could contain the 400-year-old bones of artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, anthropologists...
Roots of Polynomial Produce Beautiful Pictures
Can you imagine what it looks like to draw a picture with the roots od polynomials? Actually you are able to produce a fascinating and beautiful gallery of paintings with...
Evolution may take giant leaps
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of thousands of species of plants and animals suggests new species may arise from rare events instead of through an accumulation of small changes...
Bones of T. rex to make museum debut in Oregon
(AP) -- The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex will make its museum debut at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry along the banks of the Willamette River.