Fossils & Ruins News

December 24, 2024

Top Headlines

Massive Volcanic Eruptions Did Not Cause the Extinction of Dinosaurs

Dec. 18, 2024 — While volcanism caused a temporary cold period, the effects had already worn off thousands of years before the meteorite, the ultimate cause of the dinosaur extinction event, ...

Butchered Bones Suggest Violent 'Othering' of Enemies in Bronze Age Britain

Dec. 16, 2024 — Analysis of the remains of at least 37 individuals from Early Bronze Age England finds they were killed, butchered, and probably consumed before being thrown down a 15m-deep shaft. It is the largest-scale example of interpersonal violence from ...

A New Timeline for Neanderthal Interbreeding With Modern Humans

Dec. 12, 2024 — Neanderthal genes make up 1-2% of the genomes of non-Africans. Scientists analyzed the lengths of regions of Neanderthal DNA in 58 ancient Eurasian genomes of early modern humans and determined that the introgressed genes result from interbreeding ...

Oldest Modern Human Genomes Sequenced

Dec. 12, 2024 — Few genomes have been sequenced from early modern humans, who first arrived in Europe when the region was already inhabited by Neanderthals. An international team has now sequenced the oldest modern human genomes to date. The genomes were recovered ...

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updated 7:28pm EST

Dripstones Offer Insights Into Climate Dynamics in Europe

Dec. 20, 2024 — Investigations into precipitation patterns in eastern Central Europe since the end of the last ice age have shown that dynamic processes in atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic jet ...

Water and Gruel -- Not Bread: Discovering the Diet of Early Neolithic Farmers in Scandinavia

Dec. 20, 2024 — At a Neolithic settlement on the Danish island Funen dating back 5,500 years, archaeologists have discovered both grinding stones and grains from ...

A Festive Flying Reptile Family Reunion 150 Million Years in the Making

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study finds nearly 50 hidden relatives of Pterodactylus, the first pterosaur. Joined by its newly discovered relatives, Pterodactylus's 'family' now encompasses tiny flaplings, a host of ...

Researchers Identify a Mysterious Fossil Seed to Reveal New Chapters in Climate History of Los Angeles

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance ...

Chart of Life Extended by Nearly 1.5 Billion Years

Dec. 19, 2024 — Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a new analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago. The ...

Lost Score Revives Sound of Music and Voices from Centuries Past

Dec. 18, 2024 — A fragment of 'lost' music found in the pages of Scotland's first full-length printed book is providing clues to what music sounded like five centuries ago. Scholars have been investigating the ...

Prehistoric Rock in Japan Reveals Clues to Major Ocean Anoxic Event

Dec. 17, 2024 — Researchers analyzed radioisotopes in layers of fossilized volcanic ash. Decay of uranium to lead within tiny crystals enabled scientists to precisely pinpoint dates for certain events. They ...

Unique Motor Control System of Anglerfish's Specialized 'Fishing Rod' Discovered

Dec. 12, 2024 — Researchers have uncovered in anglerfish a specialized motor neuron population for the first dorsal fin used for 'fishing'. When the first dorsal fin ...

Buried Landforms Reveal North Sea's Ancient Glacial Past

Dec. 13, 2024 — Glaciologists used sound waves to reveal Ice Age landforms buried beneath almost 1 km of mud in the North Sea. The results suggest that the landforms were produced about 1 million years ago, when an ...

Study Sheds Light on the Origin of the Genetic Code

Dec. 12, 2024 — Nearly all living organisms use the same genetic code, a complicated mechanism by which genetic information is translated into proteins, the building blocks of life. A new study suggests conventional ...

Floods, Insufficient Water, Sinking River Deltas: Hydrologists Map Changing River Landscapes Across the Globe

Dec. 12, 2024 — A new study has mapped 35 years of river changes on a global scale. The work has revealed significant effects on both downstream (44% decrease in water flow) and upstream (17% flow increase) rivers, ...

Unique Insights Into Lives of People Who Lived Over 5,600 Years Ago Near Kosenivka, Ukraine

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study sheds light on the lives of people who lived over 5,600 years ago near Kosenivka, Ukraine. Researchers present the first detailed bioarchaeological analyses of human diets from this area ...

Biological Diversity Is Not Just the Result of Genes

Dec. 11, 2024 — How can we explain the morphological diversity of living organisms? Although genetics is the answer that typically springs to mind, it is not the only explanation. By combining observations of ...

Australia's Extinction Tally Is Worse Than We Thought

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study estimates that more than 9000 insects and other native invertebrates have become extinct in Australia since European arrival in 1788 and between 1-3 additional species become extinct ...

New Research Unlocks Jaw-Dropping Evolution of Lizards and Snakes

Dec. 11, 2024 — A groundbreaking study has shed light on how lizards and snakes -- the most diverse group of land vertebrates with nearly 12,000 species -- have evolved remarkably varied jaw shapes, driving their ...

Antarctica's Irregular Heartbeat Shows Signs of Rapid Melting

Dec. 10, 2024 — Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously ...

Earliest Deep-Cave Ritual Compound in Southwest Asia Discovered

Dec. 9, 2024 — A cave in Galilee, Israel, has yielded evidence for ritualistic gathering 35,000 years ago, the earliest on the Asian ...

Bad Weather Led Dutch Ship Into Western Australian Coast

Dec. 9, 2024 — The Dutch East India Company ship, the Zuytdorp, likely crashed into the shore of Western Australia due to a storm and not bad navigation, new research has found. Archaeologists analyzed ship logs, ...

Getting to the Bottom of Things: Latrine Findings Help Researcher Trace the Movement of People and Disease

Dec. 6, 2024 — A researcher has uncovered evidence of intestinal parasites in a 500-year-old latrine from Bruges, Belgium, and while the finding may induce queasiness in some, it is expected to provide important ...

Genetic Study of Native Hazelnut Challenges Misconceptions About How Ancient Indigenous Peoples Used the Land

Dec. 6, 2024 — By decoding the DNA of the beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), a native plant that thrives in British Columbia, a team of multidisciplinary scientists is providing new insight into how ancestral ...

Tyrannosaur Teeth Discovered in Bexhill-on-Sea, England

Dec. 5, 2024 — Research has revealed that several groups of meat-eating dinosaur stalked the Bexhill-on-Sea region of coastal East Sussex 135 million years ...

Iberian Neolithic Societies Had a Deep Knowledge of Archery Techniques and Materials

Dec. 5, 2024 — A research team has made exceptional discoveries on prehistoric archery from the early Neolithic period, 7,000 years ago. The well organic preservation of the remains of the Cave of Los Murcielagos ...

Chimpanzees Perform the Same Complex Behaviors That Have Brought Humans Success

Dec. 5, 2024 — A new study suggests that the fundamental abilities underlying human language and technological culture may have evolved before humans and apes diverged millions of years ...

DNA of 1,000 Year-Old Maize Sheds Light on Origins of Globally Important Food Crop

Dec. 5, 2024 — Researchers have tested ancient DNA from corn found at archaeological sites in Arkansas, shedding new light on the dispersal of one of the world's most important food ...

Mammoth as Key Food Source for Ancient Americans

Dec. 4, 2024 — Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of ...

How Did Humans and Dogs Become Friends? Connections in the Americas Began 12,000 Years Ago

Dec. 4, 2024 — A new study sheds light on how long humans in the Americas have had relationships with the ancestors of today's dogs -- and asks an 'existential question': What is a ...

We Might Feel Love in Our Fingertips But Did the Ancient Mesopotamians?

Dec. 4, 2024 — A multidisciplinary team of researchers studied a large body of texts to find out how people in the ancient Mesopotamian region (within modern day Iraq) experienced emotions in their bodies thousands ...

New Hydrogel Could Preserve Waterlogged Wood from Shipwrecks

Dec. 3, 2024 — From the RMS Titanic to the SS Endurance, shipwrecks offer valuable -- yet swiftly deteriorating -- windows into the past. Conservators slowly dry marine wooden artifacts to preserve them but doing ...

Insect Fossil Find 'Extremely Rare'

Dec. 2, 2024 — Newly discovered insect fossils are so small they can barely be seen by the human eye but have been preserved in an 'extraordinary' ...

Deep-Sea Marvels: How Anglerfish Defy Evolutionary Expectations

Dec. 2, 2024 — A groundbreaking study sheds light on the extraordinary evolution of anglerfish, a group of deep-sea dwellers whose bizarre adaptations have captivated scientists and the public alike. The research ...