Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Report: Climate change is taking a toll on U.S. bird populations
North American bird species are "facing a new threat--climate change--that could dramatically alter their habitat and food supply and push many species towards extinction," said Secretary of the...
What happened next? Zebra puts head in hippo's mouth
A zebra at Zurich Zoo appeared doomed when visitors saw its head in the mouth of a hippo, but it was only cleaning its teeth.
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 specialized adaptations are irreversible evolutionary dead-ends. According to a new phylogenetic analysis...
Headless Man's Tomb Found Under Maya Torture Mural
The tomb of a headless Maya man has been discovered beneath an ancient chamber famously painted with scenes of torture.
Farm chickens' DNA traced back to red jungle fowl
Genetic mutations that have occurred over thousands of years have made today's domesticated birds meatier and able to breed year-round. ...
Foiling an attack on general relativity
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity explains gravity in terms of the curvature of space by mass. Dating from the second decade of the 20th century, after more than 90 years...
New U.N. Climate Change Group is All Male
A group of women are upset that a new United Nations climate change financing group has 19 members, but no women.
Public Roundtable: "Quest for a Living World"
Join Discover magazine and author-blogger-astronomer Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy fame) as they bring together the new breed of planet hunters to debate what's next in the search for earthlike...
Women on the pill may live longer
(AP) -- Women who took the birth control pill beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than those never on the pill, a new study says.
Everest expedition to find Mallory's camera
George Mallory's camera may contain photographic evidence of whether he and Andrew Irvine were the first to summit Everest. George Mallory - Mount Everest - Andrew...
Low-Fat Diets Outlast Low-Carb Diets
(PhysOrg.com) -- Time to try Atkins again? Not so fast.
Schizophrenia no defence in man's murder
A man with schizophrenia has been found guilty of second-degree murder following the beating of a 74-year-old man at the Marentette Rest Home in Windsor, Ont., where they lived.
Decapitated skeletons were Vikings: scientists
Dozens of decapitated skeletons have been unearthed in southern England believed to be those of 1,000-year-old Vikings, scientists said Friday.
Mummy of monotheist pharaoh heading home
The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt's enduring mysteries — the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten's mummy. The discovery...
Tropical Storm Tomas calls for alerts in south Pacific
System 97P was looking pretty impressive on NASA satellite imagery early today, March 11, and by 10 a.m. ET, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Tomas.
New study debunks myths about Amazon rain forests
(Boston) -- A new NASA-funded study has concluded that Amazon rain forests were remarkably unaffected in the face of once-in-a-century drought in 2005, neither dying nor thriving, contrary to a...
Scientists 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 have made a discovery in understanding the origins of human vision.
Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog's site fidelity may lead to further decline
USDA Forest Service researchers found that site fidelity, the tendency to return to previously occupied habitats, is strong in the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. Research showed how the cumulative effects...
Men, not ladies, first: We're still sexist in writing
Putting male names before female names in writing is a remnant of sexist thinking, new research suggests.
Stolen Sarcophagus Handed Over to Egypt
Confiscated in Miami, a brightly painted, 3,000-year-old sarcophagus was handed over to Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, on Wednesday. Video.
Students' perceptions of Earth's age influence acceptance of human evolution, says study
High school and college students who understand the geological age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) are much more likely to understand and accept human evolution, according to a University...
Leonardo's anatomical sketches fascinate modern-day anatomist
Sketched at a time when few dared oppose prevailing medical dogma, the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci display his rare and courageous curiosity, says a Texas anatomist who co-authored...
Australian archaeologists uncover 40,000-year-old site
Australian archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the world's southernmost site of early human life, a 40,000-year-old tribal meeting ground, an Aboriginal leader said Wednesday.
Google to digitize old books from Rome, Florence
(AP) -- Google says it will scan up to 1 million old books in national libraries in Rome and Florence, including works by astronomer Galileo Galilei, in what's being...
Pottery leads to discovery of peace-seeking women in American Southwest
A researcher believes pottery found throughout the North American Southwest comes from a religion of peace-seeking women in the violent, 13th-century American Southwest. These women sought to find a way...
Chimps Talk with Their Hands
The origins of language have long been a mystery, but mounting evidence hints that our unique linguistic abilities could have evolved from gestural communication in our ancestors. Such gesturing may...
Ancient Corpses Ritually Dug Up, Torn Apart, Reburied
For 4,500 years in what is now Mexico, decomposing bodies were pulled apart and reburied, according to what may be the first evidence for ritual "double burials."
Buried alive: Half of Earth's life may lie below land, sea
While astronomers scour the skies for signs of life in outer space, biologists are exploring an enormous living world buried below the surface of the Earth.