Odd Creatures: Fossils & Ruins

August 20, 2016

Pre-Hispanic Mexicans Bred and Managed Rabbits

Mayans Made Major Discovery in Math, Astronomy

Checking out Competition Enlarged Our Brain

Unearthed: Cannibal Sharks of a Forgotten Age

Latest Headlines

updated 11:32am EDT

The Hunt for War Treasure in the Philippines Has Hidden Meanings

Aug. 10, 2016 — Many believe that enormous quantities of gold lie buried somewhere in the Philippines. According to a popular account, Japanese soldiers used the Philippines as a base to hide treasures they had ... read more

Ancient Feces Provides Earliest Evidence of Infectious Disease Being Carried on Silk Road

July 21, 2016 — Intestinal parasites as well as goods were carried by travelers on the iconic route, say researchers examining an ... read more

Blood of King Albert I Identified After 80 Years

July 22, 2016 — The death of King Albert I of Belgium in 1934 -- officially a climbing accident -- still fuels speculation. Forensic geneticists have now compared DNA from blood found on the ... read more

After the Age of Dinosaurs Came the Age of Ant Farmers

July 20, 2016 — Soon after the demise of the dinosaurs, ants learned how to farm. The story of the mutualism between leafcutter ants and their fungal crop culminates in industrial-scale ... read more

Real Reason Turtles Have Shells: Burrowing Tool

July 15, 2016 — Scientists have discovered the real reason turtles have shells. While many thought turtle shells were for protection, new findings show that the shells were actually for ... read more

Soot May Have Killed Off the Dinosaurs and Ammonites

July 15, 2016 — A new hypothesis on the extinction of dinosaurs and ammonites at the end of the Cretaceous Period has been proposed by a ... read more

Bird Research Suggests Calling Dinosaurs May Have Been Tight-Lipped

July 11, 2016 — Dinosaurs are often depicted in movies as roaring ferociously, but it is likely that some dinosaurs mumbled or cooed with closed mouths, according to a ... read more

Terrified Insect Escapes a Permanent Tomb -- 50 Million Years Ago

July 14, 2016 — Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type -- the one that ... read more

Monkeys in Brazil 'Have Used Stone Tools for Hundreds of Years at Least'

July 11, 2016 — New archaeological evidence suggests that Brazilian capuchins have been using stone tools to crack open cashew nuts for at least 700 years. Researchers say, to date, they ... read more

Robot Helps Study How First Land Animals Moved 360 Million Years Ago

July 7, 2016 — When early terrestrial animals began moving about on mud and sand 360 million years ago, the powerful tails they used as fish may have been more important than scientists ... read more

Can Inequality Be Traced To Ritualistic Killings?

'Hellboy ' Dinosaur Revealed

Evolution Opponent Discovers Prehistoric Fossils

Well, That Earthquake Nostradamus Predicted Didn't Happen

Postcards Provide Link to Edwardian Social Media

July 26, 2016 — A new public searchable database provides access to a unique and inspirational treasure trove of amazing stories and pictures through what researchers term the 'social media' of the ... read more

The Secret to an Oesia Life: Prehistoric Worm Built Tube-Like 'Houses' on Sea Floor

July 7, 2016 — The fossilised remnants of tube-like 'dwellings' which housed a primitive type of prehistoric sea worm on the ocean floor have been identified in a new study. According to researchers, the ... read more

Ostrich Relative Lived in North America About 50 Million Years Ago

July 5, 2016 — The new species is named Calciavis grandei -- with "calci" meaning "hard/stone," and "avis" from the Latin for bird, and "grandei" in honor of famed ... read more

Infant Bodies Were 'Prized' by 19th Century Anatomists, Study Suggests

June 30, 2016 — A study of the University of Cambridge anatomy collection dating from the 1700s and 1800s shows how the bodies of stillborn fetuses and babies were valued for research into human development, and ... read more

A 6,000 Year Old Telescope Without a Lens: Prehistoric Tombs Enhanced Astronomical Viewing

June 29, 2016 — Astronomers are exploring what might be described as the first astronomical observing tool, potentially used by prehistoric humans 6,000 years ago. They suggest that the long, narrow entrance ... read more

Fire Discovery Sheds New Light on 'Hobbit' Demise

June 29, 2016 — Crucial new evidence has revealed modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago, narrowing the time gap between the last hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and the first ... read more

Ancient 'Deep Skull' from Borneo Full of Surprises

June 27, 2016 — A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the 'Deep Skull' -- the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia -- has revealed this ancient person was not related to ... read more

Insects Were Already Using Camouflage 100 Million Years Ago

June 24, 2016 — Those who go to a masked ball consciously slip into a different role, in order to avoid being recognized. Insects were already doing something very similar in the Cretaceous: They cloaked themselves ... read more

The World's Oldest Farmers Were Insects

June 22, 2016 — An international team of researchers has discovered the oldest fossil evidence of agriculture, not by humans, but by ... read more

Massive Vertebrae Sheds New Light on Alamosaurus Sanjuanensis

June 21, 2016 — The discovery nearly two decades ago of nine beautifully articulated vertebrae at Big Bend National Park sheds new light on a 66 million-year-old sauropod dinosaur native to Texas and the North ... read more

One Snake's Prey Is Another's Poison: Scientists Pinpoint Genetics of Extreme Resistance

June 9, 2016 — Scientists have found that the ancestors of garter snakes gained toxin-resistant nerves almost 40 million years ... read more

Sea Snakes Have Extra Sense for Water Living

June 8, 2016 — The move from life on land to life in the sea has led to the evolution of a new sense for sea snakes, an Australian study ... read more

Electric Eels Make Leaping Attacks

June 6, 2016 — A biologist has accidentally discovered that electric eels can make leaping attacks that dramatically increase the strength of the electric shocks they deliver and, in so doing, has confirmed a ... read more

Underwater 'Lost City' Found to Be Geological Formation

June 2, 2016 — New research reveals how an underwater 'lost city' has been found to be a geological formation.The ancient underwater remains of what was thought to be a long lost Greek city, found close ... read more

Tiny 'Vampires': Paleobiologist Finds Evidence of Predation in Ancient Microbial Ecosystems

May 25, 2016 — A paleobiologist has found evidence of predation in ancient microbial ecosystems dating back more than 740 million years. Using a scanning electron microscope to examine minute fossils, Porter found ... read more

New Horned Dinosaur Species With 'Spiked Shield'

May 18, 2016 — A chance fossil discovery in Montana a decade ago has led to the identification of an audacious new species of horned dinosaur. What sets Spiclypeus shipporum apart from other horned dinosaurs such ... read more

Ancient Irish Musical History Found in Modern India

May 13, 2016 — An archaeologist studying musical horns from iron-age Ireland has found musical traditions, thought to be long dead, are alive and well in south India.The realization that modern Indian horns are ... read more

New Evidence Connects Dung Beetle Evolution to Dinosaurs

May 4, 2016 — Researchers have found an evolutionary connection between dinosaurs and dung beetles. Scientists uncovered the first molecular evidence indicating that dung beetles evolved in association with ... read more

Medieval Women Better Dressed Than Men

May 3, 2016 — Women in the Middle Ages often wore better quality clothes than men, concludes an expert who studied textile remnants from the period from 400 to 1000 ... read more

Endangered Venomous Mammal Predates Dinosaurs' Extinction, Study Confirms

May 2, 2016 — Biologists have completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, filling in the last major branch of placental mammals on the tree of life. The study confirmed that the ... read more

Tuesday, July 26, 2016