Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Neanderthals were more promiscuous than modern humans, fossil finger bones suggest
Fossil finger bones of early human ancestors suggest that Neanderthals were more promiscuous than human populations today, researchers have found.
The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History
Jill Lepore, David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History, tells the story of the centuries-long struggle over the meaning of the nation’s founding, including the battle waged by the...
Scientists Close to Displaying Live Video in 3D
See Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Scientists Report Progress Toward Live, 3-D Video A La 'Star Wars'
Plight of farmland birds: Poorer, less 'brainy' fare worse, study shows
Farmland birds that are poorer parents and less "brainy" are faring worse than other farmland bird species, a new study has found.
The magic of the mummies
The Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a spell that turns the speaker into a snake"I am the Sata-snake, long of years, who sleeps and is reborn each day. I am the...
Pompeiians Flash-Heated to Death—"No Time to Suffocate"
Ash may not have killed most of Vesuvius's victims after all. "There was no time to suffocate," says the lead scientist of a recent study.
Boa constrictor produces fatherless babies
Researchers have discovered a female boa constrictor that can produce offspring without mating - so-called virgin births - a rare phenomenon among vertebrates.
Main squeeze not needed for boa mom
In a finding that upends decades of scientific theory on reptile reproduction, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that female boa constrictors can squeeze out babies without mating...
19th century artifacts unearthed in Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Bones and bottles found near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge could offer a picture of how the city's residents lived 150 years ago,...
Scientist at Work: The Rush of Amazon Geology, and Stingrays
Though often upstaged by stingrays and other living creatures, the work of geologists can be mysterious and compelling.
The developmental dynamics of the maize leaf transcriptome
Photosynthesis is arguably the most impressive feat of nature, where plants harvest light energy and convert it into the building blocks of life at fantastically high efficiency. Indeed modern civilization...
Newly discovered walls buffered sphinx from Egypt's sand
A routine excavation has uncovered ancient walls surrounding the Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced.
Mystery Bird: Cliff swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
This migratory North American mystery bird is a rare vagrant to western Europe.Cliff swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (formerly; Hirundo pyrrhonota), photographed at Lake Thompson, Kingsbury County, South Dakota, USA. Image: Terry Sohl, 2 May...
Indonesians flee after volcano erupts
Indonesia's Mount Merapi has its biggest eruption yet, shooting searing ash into the sky, and forcing the hasty evacuations of panicked villagers and emergency shelters near the base.
Don't put us on the Google map, says German village
A day after a small town became the first in Germany to welcome Google's controversial Street View service with open arms and cake, a tiny northern village responded Wednesday with...
Identity of Pompeii's mystery horse revealed
(PhysOrg.com) -- The identity of a mysterious breed of "horse" which has baffled experts since its remains were uncovered at Pompeii has been resolved by a Cambridge University researcher ...
Raise Your Glass: 10 Intoxicating Beer Facts
Happy birthday, Oktoberfest. LiveScience proposes a toast to beer, that sudsy beverage humans have brewed for millennia.
Tracing the history of Earth
Although scientists have a general idea of when major events occurred during Earths 4.5-billion-year history, geologists would like to be able to pinpoint the exact dates of those events. Precise...
British Twins Are World's Oldest
At nearly 101 years old, the gals say the secret to living a long life is laughter.
Mole mystery solved
The Australian marsupial mole and the African Cape golden mole look alike, but a new fossil find shows their evolutionary differences.
DNA shows remains are Romania ex-dictator Ceausescu
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - DNA tests confirmed Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was buried in a grave in Bucharest, forensic experts said on Wednesday, lifting doubt over the ruler's burial place.
Well: Phys Ed: Will Training in the Heat Improve Your Performance?
That question, the answer to which intuitively would seem to be a resounding no, became the inspiration for a new study by scientists at the University of Oregon.
As a Turkey Runs, Maybe So Did a Winged Dinosaur
Like turkeys, proto-bird dinosaurs may have used their feathered forelimbs for running.
On God and evolution
Theater is not typically associated with naturalist Charles Darwin, or science at all, for that matter. But on a small stage at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s (HMNH) Geological Lecture Hall, Darwin’s...
A focus on British art
Nestled in a small enclave on the Arthur M. Sackler Museum’s fourth floor is an intimate art display that subtly illuminates both present and past. The prints and engravings by several British artists...
Arnold Arboretum announces T-shirt contest
The Arnold Arboretum invites artists of all ages to submit their T-shirt designs for Lilac Sunday 2011. Lilac-themed T-shirts have been a tradition at Lilac Sunday for many years, and...
Reading the Quran in Germany
German scholar Stefan Wild on Tuesday (Oct. 26) delivered the first of his three H.A.R. Gibb Arabic and Islamic Studies Lectures, a series sponsored by Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The talk...
Scientists seek to 'polish' a technique
BALTIMORE, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The chore of polishing the family silver may become a thing of the past, as U.S. scientists say they may have banished tarnish to...