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 …
It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth's terrestrial surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence, knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited. We show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from the …
best space songs: The European Space Agency is holding a contest to see who can come up with the best playlist for astronauts on the International Space Station. The winner will have their 10 songs sent up to the Internatonal Space Station on an iPod when the Jules Verne Automated …
new fossil finds in the Vindhyan basin in central India have, for the first time, fixed the age of the evolutionarily significant mountain basin, not very long ago considered palaentologically dead. In the first record of extensive fossil assemblage unearthed from the basin, Chirananda De of the Geological Survey of …
Strong indicators Plans are underway to install lightning detector on Mount Cleveland this summer. Researchers at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA, have found that lightning is a good indicator of volcanic activity. Their paper documents the electrical activity that occurred during the January 2006 eruption of Mount Augustine. While …
numbers phobia: Children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have particular difficulty understanding numbers and sequences, a University of Alberta study shows. An assessment of 50 Canadian children diagnosed with FASD, a condition caused by the mother's alcohol consumption while a foetus is still in the womb, revealed that the …
A collection of fossil bones, some dating back 40,000 years, jut out of the natural asphalt at Tar Pit 91, the only active urban excavation site in the world at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. It remains open for two months a year, …
A 4,500 year-old skeleton of a man recently discovered in Mexico could be the earliest example of dental work in the Americas, claim scientists. The skeleton, dating back to around 2,500 BC, was found buried in volcanic ash in a remote mountain of western Mexico. The man's upper and front …
Dinosaur fossils found in Germany belong to a species (Europasaurus holgeri), of small dinosaurs, say scientists. Over 1,000 fossils dating about 150 million years have been excavated from the Harz mountains. The fossils were thought to be of juvenile sauropods
round salt: In what may be a boon to consumers and industry, a group of chemists in India has reported a method to make round salt. Scientists have been striving for years to smoothen the shape of common salt, which forms as cube-shaped crystals, to make it free flowing. Pushpito …
the proponents of creationism are reeling. Science has finally landed a vital clue that will help it demolish the argument that the theory of evolution cannot be valid, because it has not been able to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts. In the first week of April, …
dinosaurs, especially the herbivorous ones, have been the largest land animals ever. It seems natural that they would have fed on trees and huge cycads to satiate their gargantuan appetites. But would they have deigned to feast on the lowly grass? Yes, is the surprising answer from the latest research. …
a recent discovery of fragments of fossilised bones from the Narmada basin has once again brought to the fore the question of the antiquity of the first humans on the Indian subcontinent. Anek Ram Sankhyan, a senior anthropologist with the Kolkata-based Anthropological Survey of India (asi), had unearthed collarbones and …
An important find at Gona in Ethiopia's Afar region, about 500 kilometres from Addis Ababa, is likely to fill a major gap in the story of human evolution. Fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus, one of the earliest humans who lived about 4.5 million years ago, are expected to provide insights into …
marine boom: An unprecedented census of marine life is reporting three new fish species a week on an average. In the first interim report of the census, an international team of scientists predicts that as many as 5,000 unknown fish species may be lurking in the waters. By the time …
A 40-foot blob of slimy flesh that was washed up on the shores of a beach in Chile has confounded scientists who are trying to identify its origins. Some say it could be a rare giant octopus or squid while others believe it to be discarded blubber from a whale …
remains of Neanderthal human skeletons and their tools have been recently found in Germany's Neander valley. The discovery was made by paleontologist Fred Smith of the Chicago-based Loyola University and his colleagues. The remains were earlier dug up in 1856 from a valley cave by quarry workers. But the workers …
A seven-million-year-old nearly complete skull of the earliest human ancestor yet found was unearthed by anthropologists in the desert of northern Chad. The discovery has set back the origin of human race by one million years. As the attempt offers the first opportunity to study a human fossil from the …
scientists have discovered the fossilised remains of a marine animal, perhaps a sponge or coral, which they say lived nearly 550 million years ago. The creature's hard, shelly parts are far more complex than anything else found from this time. It gives researchers an insight into a period of Earth …
