Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Students discover new species of raptor dinosaur
A new species of dinosaur, a relative of the famous Velociraptor, has been discovered in Inner Mongolia by two PhD students.
Root or shoot
The first order of business for any fledgling plant embryo is to determine which end grows the shoot and which end puts down roots. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute...
Royal Institution Leadership Showdown Looms
The spat over the leadership of the Royal Institution (RI) of Great Britain continues,...
Tiny shelled creatures shed light on extinction and recovery 65 million years ago
An asteroid strike may not only account for the demise of ocean and land life 65 million years ago, but the fireball's path and the resulting dust, darkness and toxic...
Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
A rare, ancient polar bear fossil discovered in Norway in 2004 is yielding a treasure trove of essential information about the age and evolutionary origins of the species whose future...
Scientists at UCSB discover 600 million-year-old origins of vision
By studying the hydra, a member of an ancient group of sea creatures that is still flourishing, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a discovery in understanding the origins...
Bringing bison back to North American landscapes
The next 10 to 20 years could be extremely significant for restoring wild populations of American bison to their original range, including the Canadian Rockies; but for this to happen,...
The Mystery Of Cursed Bread & A CIA Agent's Death
(PhysOrg.com) -- For 60 years, the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit has been famous for the events of a few days in August, 1951, when dozens of villagers were struck with...
Hollywood and Bollywood join arms to fight piracy
(AP) -- Hollywood and Bollywood linked arms Thursday to fight piracy, with the announcement of a coalition among the Motion Picture Association of America and seven Indian companies to...
Why everything you've been told about evolution is wrong
What if Darwin's theory of natural selection is inaccurate? What if the way you live now affects the life expectancy of your descendants? Evolutionary thinking is having a revolution . . .The story,...
Mind Hacks Over Stacks Of Facts
Textbooks are not mere non-fiction books. Whereas you can feel free to doubt what ispresented in a typical non-fiction book (mine excluded), textbooks are a record of the true facts...
Exhibition Review | Hall of Human Origins: In the Smithsonian’s Newest Hall, a Big Family Tree
Long-term hominin evolution is the main concern of the impressive David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opened this week at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
Probing Question: How and why was Stonehenge built?
From the grassy deserted plains of southern England rises a circle of standing stones, some of them up to 24 feet tall. For centuries they have towered over visitors, offering...
Farming's rise cultivated fair deals
Market economies may owe more to cultural evolution than to Stone Age instincts
Sperm wars illuminated
Insect sperm fight one another with brute force and chemical weapons.
Ancient Reptile Dined on Dinosaurs
A giant crocodile-like animal that lived during the Dinosaur Age left bite marks on sea turtle shells and dinosaur bones.
Research reveals frequency and cost of copying college homework
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The history of students who copy homework from classmates may be as old as school itself. But in today's age of lecture-hall laptops and online...
Elite English universities gain in 2010 funding round
But other institutions left with a smaller slice of the pie.
'Seeing' through paint
(PhysOrg.com) -- When light passes through materials that we consider opaque, such as paint, biological tissue, fabric and paper, it is scattered in such a complex way that an image...
Phylogenetic analysis of Mexican cave scorpions suggests adaptation to caves is reversable
Blind scorpions that live in the stygian depths of caves are throwing light on a long-held assumption that specialised adaptations are irreversible evolutionary dead-ends. According to a new phylogenetic analysis...
Climate may keep beautiful killer plant in check
The flowering plant - purple loosestrife - has been heading north since it was first introduced from Europe to the eastern seaboard 150 years ago. This exotic invader chokes out...
Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future
For centuries, seafarers were plagued by wood-eating gribble that destroyed their ships, and these creatures continue to wreak damage on wooden piers and docks in coastal communities...
Plants discover the benefits of good neighbours in strategy against herbivores
Scandinavian Scientists have discovered that a species of tree defends itself from herbivore attack by using chemicals emitted by neighbouring plants. The study, published today in New Phytologist, reveals how...
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Sixty-seven million years ago, when dinosaur hatchlings first scrambled out of their eggs, their first - and last - glimpse of the world might have been the open jaws of...
Modern man found to be generally monogamous, moderately polygamous
Did women and men contribute equally to the lineage of contemporary populations? Did our ancestors, Homo sapiens, lean more toward polygamy or monogamy? To answer these questions, Dr Damian Labuda,...
Utah palaeontologist part of international team to discover oldest known dinosaur relative
Until now, palaeontologists have generally believed that the closest relatives of dinosaurs possibly looked a little smaller in size, walked on two legs and were carnivorous. However, a research team...
Meet the beetles
Behind the scenes with the Natural History Museum's unsung heroes, who collect and classify new species of animals and insectsLike most young men, Henry Walter Bates sought adventure. Unlike most, he was also...
Feature: Lessons from living on the edge
Strategies used by animals, plants and nomadic humans to survive in harsh desert environments can be adapted to modern life, according to a latest book.