713 results
- Archaeology
Ancient ‘smellscapes’ are wafting out of artifacts and old texts
In studying and reviving long-ago scents, archaeologists aim to understand how people experienced, and interpreted, their worlds through smell.
- Humans
How wielding lamps and torches shed new light on Stone Age cave art
Experiments with stone lamps and juniper branch torches are helping scientists see 12,500-year-old cave art with fresh eyes.
- Physics
Nuclear clocks could outdo atomic clocks as the most precise timepieces
Better clocks could improve technologies that depend on them, such as GPS navigation, and help test fundamental ideas of physics.
- Life
Michelle O’Malley seeks greener chemistry through elusive fungi
Michelle O’Malley studies anaerobic gut fungi, microbes that could help make chemicals and fuels from sustainable sources.
- Anthropology
The earliest known humans in Europe may have been found in a Bulgarian cave
New finds from Bulgaria point to a relatively rapid expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia starting as early as 46,000 years ago, two studies suggest.
- Archaeology
Food residues offer a taste of pottery’s diverse origins in East Asia
Clay pots emerged in different places and for different reasons, starting at least 16,000 years ago, a study suggests.
- Archaeology
Neandertals’ extensive seafood menu rivals that of ancient humans
Finds from a coastal cave in Portugal reveal repeated ocean foraging for this European hominid.
- Archaeology
Baby bottles may go back millennia in Europe
Europe’s early farmers used spouted vessels to wean infants, an analysis of residue from animal milk left in the containers suggests.
- Animals
Cheap, innovative venom treatments could save tens of thousands of snakebite victims
Momentum is building to finally tackle a neglected health problem that strikes poor, rural communities.
- Archaeology
Tooth plaque shows drinking milk goes back 3,000 years in Mongolia
The hardened plaque on teeth is helping scientists trace the history of dairying in Mongolia.
- Anthropology
Africa’s first herders spread pastoralism by mating with foragers
DNA unveils long-ago hookups between early pastoralists and native hunter-gatherers in Africa.
- Life
Russian foxes bred for tameness may not be the domestication story we thought
Foxes bred for tameness also developed floppy ears and curly tails, known as “domestication syndrome.” But what if the story isn’t what it seems?
