ancient, dna, gum, hunter-gatherers, new discoveries, new tech, scandinavia

Giant Eagles and Scavenging Vultures Shared the Skies of Ancient Australia

Today, Australia is home to 17 species of hawks and eagles. But the fossil record shows some other, rather special raptors were present in the relatively recent past. Tens of thousands of years ago, Australia was home to species such as Dynatoaetus gaffae, the largest eagle ever to have lived in Australia, and Cryptogyps lacertosus, ...

Troy Oakes

Eagles and vultures in ancient Australia.

Tilting of Earth’s Crust From Ancient Megafloods

As ice sheets began melting at the end of the last ice age, a series of cataclysmic floods called the Missoula megafloods scoured the landscape of eastern Washington, carving long, deep channels and towering cliffs through an area now known as the Channeled Scablands. They were among the largest known floods in Earth’s history, and ...

Troy Oakes

Sunrise beginning to show on Earth.

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Bone Artifact

The discovery of a rare bone artifact near the Lower Murray River casts more light on the rich archaeological record of Ngarrindjeri country in southern Australia. Details of the Murrawong bone point, dated between c. 5,300 and 3,800 years old, have been described by Flinders University, Griffith University, and other experts in a new paper ...

Troy Oakes

Dr. Christopher Wilson.

Ancient Tree Points to a Turning Point in Earth’s History 42,000 Years Ago

An ancient tree shows the temporary breakdown of Earth’s magnetic field 42,000 years ago that sparked major climate shifts that led to global environmental change and mass extinctions, a new international study co-led by UNSW Sydney and the South Australian Museum shows. This dramatic turning point in Earth’s history — laced with electrical storms, widespread ...

Troy Oakes

A brilliant green aurora.

Inks Containing Lead Likely Used as Drier on Ancient Egyptian Papyri

Analyzing 12 ancient Egyptian papyri fragments with X-ray microscopy, University of Copenhagen researchers were surprised to find previously unknown lead compounds in both red and black inks and suggest they were used for their drying properties rather than as a pigment. A similar lead-based “drying technique” has also been documented in 15th-century European painting, and ...

Troy Oakes

Ancient Eqyptian papyrus.

DNA From an Unidentified Ancestor Was Passed Down to Humans Living Today

A new analysis of ancient genomes suggests that different branches of the human family tree interbred multiple times, and that some humans carry DNA from an archaic, unknown ancestor. Melissa Hubisz and Amy Williams of Cornell University and Adam Siepel of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory report these findings in a study published in PLOS Genetics. Roughly 50,000 ...

Troy Oakes

Dna strand with rays of light.

New Fossil Shows Ancient ‘Hell Ants’ Hunted With Killer Headgear

A fossil recently recovered from the age of the dinosaurs is giving scientists the most vivid picture yet of how one of the most enigmatic and fearsome groups of ants to exist, the “hell ants,” once used their uncanny tusk-like mandibles and diverse horns to successfully hunt down victims for nearly 20 million years, before ...

Troy Oakes

An ant on a rock.