Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Gun-related deaths spike in U.S. for second straight year, report says
For the second straight year, gun violence killed more people than ever before in the United States as a new report finds firearms kill about 134 people every day --...
2 mourners shot at cemetery burial of 10-year-old gun violence victim
Two mourners were shot, including one who died, at Washington National Cemetery in Maryland on Tuesday, as they attended the burial of a 10-year-old girl who was also the victim...
'Virgin birth' recorded in crocodile for 1st time ever
The American crocodile had been isolated in a reptile park enclosure for 16 years when she laid a clutch of eggs.
How a geneticist led the effort to free a mother convicted of killing her kids
Carola Vinuesa woke up early yesterday in London, around 3 a.m., when colleagues from Australia called the clinical geneticist with big news: Kathleen Folbigg, who on only circumstantial evidence was famously convicted of...
Researchers dig deep to unveil causes of decline for North America's smallest falcon
The American kestrel, a colorful and charismatic falcon, has kept researchers scratching their heads for years. Population declines are confirmed across North America, but who or what to blame has...
Unraveling the historic journey of the mung bean: A tale of evolution, migration and climate adaptation
The mung bean, commonly known as green gram, has played a pivotal role as a cheap protein source in regions where access to meat is limited. Spanning over 4,500 years,...
2,300-year-old Buddhist elephant statue from India is one of the oldest known
Archaeologists in eastern India have unearthed an elephant statue thought to date to the third century B.C., when the region was mainly Buddhist.
Tool to launch new North American tour in fall
Rock band Tool will perform across North America on a new arena tour.
The Darkness to bring 'Permission to Land' 20th anniversary tour to North America
The Darkness announced U.S. dates for its "Permission to Land" 20th anniversary tour.
The world's first flowers were pollinated by insects, says new study
Plants existed on Earth for hundreds of millions of years before the first flowers bloomed. But when flowering plants did evolve, more than 140 million years ago, they were a...
How India's 'slum-free' redevelopment fails residents by ignoring their design insights and needs
I'm in Ahmedabad, India, standing where families once built their homes under the shade of large trees. Today, those houses are a flattened dust bowl at the edge of a...
20 books to read this summer
If you’re looking for the perfect beach book, Harvard’s library staff is here to help. This summer, staffers are recommending gripping memoirs, epic fantasies, heartfelt graphic novels, and introspective essay collections. We link...
Extinct human cousins may have beat us to inventing burial rituals
An entrance to the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave system, part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site near Johannesburg, South Africa. Newly found grave sites and wall engravings have...
Utah tribe says state conspired to stop purchase of ancestral land
The Ute Indian Tribe of the Ouray and Uintah Reservation has filed a lawsuit alleging Utah state agencies conspired to stop it from buying Tabby Mountain, a 28,500-acre piece of...
U.S. military leaders honor WWII veterans on 79th anniversary of D-Day
Hundreds of representatives from around the world gathered at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, to commemorate the largest military invasion in history that led to the end to World...
Native populations survived the Younger Dryas by switching from big game to fishing
Research led by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks has delved into the freshwater fishing practices of ancient Native Americans. In the paper, "Freshwater and...
Man survives crocodile attack by prying its jaws off his head. How did he escape such a powerful bite?
In Australia, a man recently survived a crocodile attack. An expert explains how the man likely escaped.
Orcas rip rudder off boat and follow it all the way to port, in 1st known attack of its kind
Previous reported interactions between orcas and sailboats followed a clear pattern, with the animals losing interest and swimming away once they had broken the rudder.
Skeletal remains found on Virginia construction site belong to child from 1800s
The skeletal remains of a child, found buried last month in Virginia during the construction of a new home, date back more than 100 years, according to the medical examiner.
Germany returns 'stolen' dinosaur fossil to Brazil
A fossil from a rare dinosaur that roamed South America 110 million years ago has been returned to Brazil from Germany, ending a diplomatic spat triggered by charges that researchers...
South Africa's Lee Berger, palaeontology action hero
Donning Indiana Jones hats and astronaut-like suits, Lee Berger is something of a paleontology action hero.
Extinct human relative buried their dead 100,000 years before modern humans did, study claims
Homo naledi, an extinct human relative with one-third the brain size of ours, buried and may have memorialized their dead, controversial research suggests.
World's oldest-known burial site found in S.Africa: scientists
Paleontologists in South Africa said Monday they have found the oldest known burial site in the world, containing remains of a small-brained distant relative of humans previously thought incapable of...
The other side of the story: How evolution impacts the environment
The story of the peppered moths is a textbook evolutionary tale. As coal smoke darkened tree bark near England's cities during the Industrial Revolution, white-bodied peppered moths became conspicuous targets...
The role of people in preserving nature, according to America’s National Parks docuseries
An elk grazing in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. National Geographic/Justin Grubb The quote “take only memories, leave nothing but footprints” is most often attributed to Duwamish Chief Si’ahl, or Chief Seattle....
Homo naledi may have dug cave graves and carved marks into cave walls
An extinct, small-brained hominid known as Homo naledi intentionally buried its dead in two underground cave chambers 160,000 years or more before the earliest evidence of deliberate interments by Homo sapiens or Neandertals,...
Was a small-brained human relative the world’s first gravedigger—and artist?
A trio of papers posted online and presented at a meeting today lays out an astonishing scenario. Roughly 240,000 years ago, they suggest, small-brained human relatives carried their dead through a labyrinth of...
Look: Princess Eugenie gives birth to second child, son Ernest
Princess Eugenie announced the birth of Ernest George Ronnie, her second son with husband Jack Brooksbank.