The mode and tempo of extinctions and extirpations after the first contact phase of human settlements is a widely debated topic. As the last major landmass to be settled by humans, New Zealand offers a unique lens through which to study interactions of people and biota. By analyzing ancient DNA …
ABOUT 2 million years ago, deep in the tropical jungles of Africa, a humanoid creaked into an upright posture. This was Homo erectus, our most immediate ancestor; it soon learnt to chip stones into useful tools and weapons, such as handaxes. A million years later, armed with these tools, the …
SCIENTISTS have recently discovered it took only 5 to 10 million years to create the immense diversity of life in the earth's oceans. Earlier, they had thought this biological explosion lasted some 20 to 40 million years, during the Cambrian period. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have dug …
SOME 1,000 dinosaur eggs found in China have become a bone of contention between scientists and commercial collectors (Science, Vol 261, No 5122). Scientists covet these beautiful and undamaged eggs because they could provide an insight into the Cretaceous period (140-65 million years ago) when dinosaurs roamed the earth. But …
THE JUNGLES of Vietnam hide a hitherto undescribed mammal. Basing their claim on remains such as skins, skulls and teeth recovered from local hunters, zoologists reckon an adult specimen of the mysterious mammal -- named Pseudoryx nghetnhensis -- weighs about 100 kg, is 80-90 cm high at the shoulder and …
LIFE IMITATES art more than art imitates life, said Oscar Wilde. His statement was borne out recently when US scientists re-enacted in their laboratory the plot of Steven Spielberg's latest film, Jurassic Park, which shows dinosaurs being re-created from their DNA, procured from the blood sucked by mosquitoes and preserved …
A RECENT find of fossils may help geologists break through the ice obscuring Antarctica's past. David Harwood of the University of Nebraska and his colleagues have collected fossils of marine molluscs, microscopic organisms and leaves and twigs, all from the Eocene period of 35 to 55 million years ago (Science, …
SCIENTISTS from the University of Michigan in the US have discovered that stony lumps of calcium carbonate, known as otoliths, found in the ears of most fishes, can offer clues to seasonal temperatures thousands or even millions of years ago (Science, Vol 258 No 5085). The finding has given a …
