The ancient seafaring fauna of Madagascar
Three hundred miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, Madagascar is a land of mystery. There is such a rich diversity of vertebrates found only on the island that is so unlike anything seen elsewhere in the world that any evolutionary biologist h.....»»
Data analysis navigates lookalikes to try to pin down the true number of mouse lemur species
In some parts of the world, animals are going extinct before scientists can even name them. Such may be the case for mouse lemurs, the saucer-eyed, teacup-sized primates native to the African island of Madagascar. There, deforestation has prompted th.....»»
Curiosity rover provides new insights into how Mars became uninhabitable
NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life—with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface—to a surface that is.....»»
Scientists offer a detailed look at the skeleton of an ancient predator that thrived in extreme conditions
Imagine a world on the brink of collapse: volcanic eruptions spewing toxic gases, oceans turning acidic, and up to 90% of Earth's species vanishing in the blink of an eye. This was the reality at the end of the Permian Period, around 252 million year.....»»
Centuries ago, the Maya storm god Huracán taught that when we damage nature, we damage ourselves
The ancient Maya believed that everything in the universe, from the natural world to everyday experiences, was part of a single, powerful spiritual force. They were not polytheists who worshipped distinct gods but pantheists who believed that various.....»»
Ancient protein structure may have enabled early molecular evolution and diversification
In a finding that offers fresh insights into the early evolution of life on Earth, two RIKEN biologists have conducted lab experiments that have revealed a previously unknown protein fold, which is completely absent in modern proteins......»»
Study traces wild cat eye color diversity to ancient ancestor
Fans of Clementine, the cat who recently captivated TikTok with her rare eye color, should take note. The piercing golden gaze of cheetahs, the striking blue stare of snow leopards, and the luminous green glare of leopards are all traits that can be.....»»
Webb telescope detects unusual gas jets from Centaur 29P
Inspired by the half-human, half-horse creatures that are part of Ancient Greek mythology, the field of astronomy has its own kind of centaurs: distant objects orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has mapped.....»»
Iron nuggets in the Pinnacles unlock secrets of ancient and future climates
Small iron-rich formations found within Western Australia's Pinnacles, which are part of the world's largest wind-blown limestone belt spanning more than 1,000km, have provided new insights into Earth's ancient climate and changing landscape......»»
Madagascar"s mining rush has caused no more deforestation than farming, study finds
If tens of thousands of miners turned up in the middle of a protected rainforest to mine for sapphires, you might expect that to cause lots of deforestation and harm local wildlife......»»
Ancient Peru throne room points to possible female ruler, archaeologists say
Ancient Peru throne room points to possible female ruler, archaeologists say.....»»
Retracing walrus ivory trade of Viking Age reveals early interactions between Europeans and Indigenous North Americans
By examining ancient walrus DNA, an international research team led by Lund University in Sweden have retraced the walrus ivory trade routes of the Viking Age. They found that Norse Vikings and Arctic Indigenous peoples were probably meeting and trad.....»»
Geologists discover mysterious subduction zone beneath Pacific, reshaping understanding of Earth"s interior
University of Maryland scientists uncovered evidence of an ancient seafloor that sank deep into Earth during the age of dinosaurs, challenging existing theories about Earth's interior structure. Located in the East Pacific Rise (a tectonic plate boun.....»»
How old is beer?
Humans are no strangers to kicking back with a cool pint of beer. The Ancient Egyptians, for example, had a hankering for beer that was a little bit tart, almost like a modern-day gose, a lemony beer from Germany. Homer, the Ancient Greek poet, spoke.....»»
Frozen in time: Rock fossils hint at Mars"s ancient climate
Long ago, flowing wind and water shaped Mars's malleable sand and sediment into dunes, ripples and other landscape patterns, called bedforms. Over billions of years, some of these landforms hardened into rock—scientists then call them paleo-bedform.....»»
Study shows that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids dodged extinction—at least temporarily
Will modern coral reefs go extinct? The answer is uncertain, but some of their ancient counterparts managed to dodge a bullet—for a while, at least......»»
Medicinal tree successfully grown from 1,000-year-old seed found in cave
An international team of botanists, agriculturists and historians has successfully grown a mature tree from an ancient seed found in a cave in Israel. In their paper, published in the journal Communications Biology, the group describes where the seed.....»»
Afar mantle plume study offers new insight into deep Earth processes
Sophisticated analysis of tiny bubbles of ancient gas trapped in volcanic rocks, combined with new geophysical modeling, has cast new light on long-held assumptions about the deep Earth......»»
Ancient DNA helps uncover the Iberian lynx"s potential secret weapon against extinction
Many large mammals have lost genetic diversity, often thanks to the actions of people shrinking their populations. The implications can be severe because without genetic diversity, a population does not have a "genetic database" to fall back on to ad.....»»
1,000-year-old textiles reveal cultural resilience in the ancient Andes
Archaeologists have analyzed textiles from the ancient city of Huacas de Moche, Peru, showing how the population's cultural traditions survived in the face of external influence......»»
Enigmatic archaeological site in Madagascar may have been built by people with Zoroastrian origins, research suggests
At the turn of the first millennium AD, an unknown group of people lived in the inland Isalo massif of southern Madagascar. Here, they built vast terraces and carved large stone chambers and small hollow rock niches. The architecture is unlike anythi.....»»