News
African archaeology has neglected Namibia's deserts, but scientists now know when an ancient lake supported human life in the Namib Sand Sea
5+ mon, 6+ hour ago (647+ words) Desert regions in northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have been well studied by archaeologists as the home of early humans and as routes of migration along "green corridors. The archaeology of southern Africa's west coast desert belt has not…...
No animal alive today is "primitive" " why are so many still labeled that way?
3+ mon, 2+ week ago (588+ words) We humans have long viewed ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution. People label other species as "primitive" or "ancient" and use terms like "higher" and "lower" animals. This anthropocentric perspective was entrenched in 1866, when German scientist Ernst Haeckel drew one…...
Tiny fossils found in 1. 7 billion-year-old mud yield clues to the evolution of complex life
6+ day, 18+ hour ago (825+ words) Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores of rock. They are from drill holes bored hundreds of metres below the surface by mineral exploration companies decades ago. Some of these cores…...
Rare 567-million-year-old fossils refine our understanding of early animal evolution
6+ day, 22+ hour ago (865+ words) From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting stories in the history book of life…...
New DNA evidence shows dingoes are almost 90% pure " and fall into eight distinct groups
1+ week, 5+ day ago (584+ words) Ancient and modern dingo DNA reveals eight genetically distinct groups of dingoes " and the limited influence of domestic dog genes....
What it would have been like to experience the dinosaur-killing asteroid armageddon: a blow-by-blow account
2+ week, 2+ day ago (1742+ words) A great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks over and strips…...
Why did "Tyrannosaurus rex" have such short arms?
2+ week, 2+ day ago (987+ words) What did the T. rex use its little arms for? " Aurora, age 11, Pemberton Township, New Jersey One of the most famous dinosaurs to ever roam across Earth, Tyrannosaurus rex, has filled people's minds with wonder since the first skeleton was discovered…...
Could warming seas bring great white sharks back to the North Sea? A 5-million-year-old shark tooth may provide clues
1+ mon, 3+ day ago (476+ words) As the Earth shifts to climates not seen for several hundred thousand years, we may need to look at ancient environments for clues about what could happen next. Our new study of two whale fossils, with preserved fragments of shark…...
Bird and tortoise fossil tracks on South Africa's coast " latest findings are world firsts
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (841+ words) The south coast of South Africa's Western Cape province is a rich source of fossil tracks and traces " clues suggesting what this environment may have been like many thousands of years ago. Most have been dated to the Pleistocene era,…...
Species on east-west coastlines are more likely to go extinct than those on north-south shores " new study
3+ mon, 1+ week ago (632+ words) As the Atlantic warms, many fish along the east coast of North America have moved northwards to keep within their preferred temperature range. Black sea bass, for instance, have shifted hundreds of miles up the coast. In the Mediterranean, the…...