News
60,000-year-old poison arrows from South Africa are the oldest poison weapons ever discovered
1+ day, 3+ hour ago (524+ words) Five quartz arrowheads found in a South African cave were laced with a slow-acting tumbleweed poison that would have tired prey during long hunts. A handful of 60,000-year-old arrow tips unearthed in a South African rock shelter are the oldest…...
Pumas in Patagonia started feasting on penguins — but now they're behaving strangely, a new study finds
3+ week, 21+ hour ago (429+ words) Pumas in Patagonia, Argentina are eating penguins in a national park " and it's changing how the big cats are interacting with each other. Pumas in Patagonia are preying on penguins " and it's changing how the big cats interact with each…...
First of its kind 'butt drag fossil' discovered in South Africa — and it was left by a fuzzy elephant relative 126,000 years ago
2+ mon, 6+ day ago (690+ words) The first hyrax fossil tracks and traces ever to be discovered were identified on South Africa's coast. Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as "dassies," are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend…...
Rare half-pink rough diamond with 'astounding' weight of 37.4 carats discovered in Botswana
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (468+ words) Experts at a laboratory in Botswana managed by the Gemological Institute of America recently examined an extraordinary natural diamond with two distinct color zones. Miners have unearthed a rare, two-colored natural diamond in Botswana " and experts say it likely formed…...
Pair of 'holy' islands in eerily green African lake hold centuries-old relics and mummified emperors — Earth from space
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (393+ words) Where is it? Dek and Daga, Ethiopia [11.907552854, 37.285011102] When was it taken? Jan. 2, 2017 Lake Tana was formed around 5 million years ago when volcanic activity dammed a group of ancient rivers. It is now the major source of the Blue Nile " a…...
Jane Goodall revolutionized animal research, but her work had some unintended consequences. Here's what we've learned from them.
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (1044+ words) Following Jane Goodall's death, chimp experts explain how her early observations still influence our understanding of our ape cousins. Two weeks on from Jane Goodall's death, many have been reflecting on her life, including her scientific legacy and how she…...
Some naked mole rats are designated toilet cleaners, study suggests
3+ mon, 9+ min ago (533+ words) Naked mole rats may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest naked-mole-rat colonies are even more complex than we thought. Naked mole rats may have specific roles,…...
Divers recover more than 1,000 gold and silver coins from 1715 'Treasure Fleet' shipwreck in Florida
3+ mon, 5+ day ago (363+ words) Salvage work on the 1715 shipwrecks brought over 1,000 coins to the surface this summer. Divers have recovered over 1,000 coins from a shipwreck off the east coast of Florida. The coins were discovered this summer within the historical "Treasure Fleet" of Spanish…...
Fossil of huge penguin that lived 3 million years ago discovered in New Zealand — what happened to it?
3+ mon, 1+ week ago (712+ words) The newly-discovered penguin species went extinct when the ice age hit, but researchers don't think the cold was to blame for their demise. Three million years ago, an extinct relative of todays's great penguins " emperors and kings " lived in Aotearoa…...
Never-before-seen cousin of Lucy might have lived at the same site as the oldest known human species, new study suggests
4+ mon, 3+ week ago (877+ words) An unidentified early hominin fossil that might be a new species confirms that Australopithecus and Homo species lived in the same region of Africa in the same time frame. Roughly 2.6 million-year-old fossilized teeth found in Ethiopia might belong to a…...