Latest science news in Paleontology & Archaeology
Killing cats to restore island backfires as rabbits take over
In the 1800s, sailors brought rats, then cats, then rabbits to sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, hurting native species. Attempts to reverse the damage failed. Now it's all-out scientific war. ...
A case of mistaken dino-identity
The official State Dinosaur of Texas is up for a new name, based on Southern Methodist University research that proved the titleholder has been misidentified.
Trophy heads culled from Nazca's own people
The ancient South American people who carved the enigmatic Nazca Lines across the Peruvian desert some 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, literally lost their heads over spreading their puzzling culture,...
Scientists Bring Painted Warrior 2,000 Years Old To Virtual Life
A 2000-year-old painted statue is being restored to her original glory by scientists with a conservation project.
'Big picture' pest control works best
New research supporting a 'big picture' method of pest management has cited Macquarie Island's ill-fated cat eradication as an example of what not to do.
Pre-human clues found in ancient bird dung
Researchers have managed to get a peek into pre-human New Zealand after finding feces of giant extinct birds buried in caves and rock shelters in remote areas across southern New...
While the cat's away: How removing an invasive species devastated a World Heritage island
Removing an invasive species from sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, a World Heritage Site, has caused environmental devastation that will cost more than A$24 million to remedy, ecologists have revealed. Writing in...
DNA testing may unlock secrets of medieval manuscripts
Thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe still exist today, but scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of these works originated. Now...
Physicists Show that Correlated Environmental Variations Can Quicken Extinctions
(PhysOrg.com) -- In general, population extinction is a natural process. For one reason or another, an estimated 99.9% of all species that have lived on Earth are now extinct. However,...
Bird Watching: Contrasting fortunes of Britain's ringed plovers
Two closely related species of wading bird have experienced contrasting fortunes lately thanks to the effect
Dinosaur fossil reveals creature of a different feather
New view is first evidence of feather type before only theorized
How monkey murder brought British coastal towns together
(PhysOrg.com) -- How two British coastal communities, hundreds of miles apart, came to be associated with a centuries-old tale of monkey murder has been investigated as part of a new...
King tides -- a glimpse of future sea level rise
(PhysOrg.com) -- Tomorrow, beach-goers will get a glimpse of what our coastlines may look like in 50 years, when New South Wales and South East Queensland experience the highest daytime...
Microscopic morphology adds to the scorpion family tree
Modern microscopy technology has allowed two scorpion biologists, Carsten Kamenz of the Humboldt University in Berlin and Lorenzo Prendini of the American Museum of Natural History, to study and document...
VIDEO: "Sea Monsters" Surfacing in Utah
Some 93 million years ago, dinosaur-era "sea monsters" swam the seas above what is now Utah. Thanks to paleontologists, more evidence of the ancient beasts is now surfacing.
Reverse evolution in real-time
In his book, Wonderful World, Stephen Jay Gould writes about an experiment of 'replaying life's tape', wherein one could go back in time, let the tape of life play again...
Medicinal plant extinction 'a quiet disaster'
Almost a third of medicinal plants could become extinct, risking lives and highlighting the need to provide incentives for protecting them.
Armenian cave yields ancient human brain
Excavations have produced roughly 6,000-year-old relics of a poorly known culture existing near the dawn of civilization
Nearly a century later, new findings support Warburg theory of cancer
CHESTNUT HILL, MA (January 12, 2009) - German scientist Otto H. Warburg's theory on the origin of cancer earned him the Nobel Prize in 1931, but the biochemical basis for...
Early chemical warfare comes to light
Remains of a Roman garrison in Syria document a third-century battle and offer a glimpse of a grisly tunnel fight
World's leading astronomers and geophysicists honoured by Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society, the UK's voice for professional astronomers and geophysicists, announced the recipients of the Society's medals and prizes for 2009. The medal and prize winners honour a...
TierneyLab: How Many Planets Do You Want?
The crux of the continuing debate about Pluto’s status is that there is still not a satisfying definition of planet.
Shipwrecks harbor evidence of ancient sophistication
New research on excavated shipwrecks indicates that a transition to sophisticated frame-based hull construction occurred 500 years earlier than scientists thought
Don't Take Out The Trash, Live With It!
How far would you go to demonstrate your concern for the environment? One California man is so concerned about how much garbage we generate that he's decided to live with...
A 4-D View Of Fido In The Womb
If you've ever wonder what your pet might have looked like in the womb, 4-D technology is now making it possible. The National Geograpic Channel is planning to air a...
Brown’s Anatomy
In this novel, Pietro Brnwa, contract killer, becomes Dr. Peter Brown.
Rare 'dinky' bird migrates to US for first time
CHOKE CANYON, Texas (AP) -- Birders with binoculars and cameras are flocking to a remote state park in search of a small yellow-chested bird that apparently...
Announcing Origins, Science's New Evolution Blog
Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth with a series of essays on evolution