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Categories: Anthropology: Early Humans, Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published What's new under the sun? Offering an alternate view on how 'novel' structures evolve


New research provide evidence that the crustacean carapace, along with other plate-like structures in arthropods (crustaceans, insects, arachnids, and myriapods) all evolved from a lateral leg lobe in a common ancestor more than 500 million years ago. This work further supports their proposal for a new concept of how novel structures evolve -- one which suggests that they aren't so novel, after all.
Published Cloud study demystifies impact of aerosols


Aerosol particles in the atmosphere have a bigger impact on cloud cover -- but less effect on cloud brightness -- than previously thought, new research shows.
Published Taking your time makes a difference


Researchers find that stem cells in the developing brain of modern humans take longer to divide and make fewer errors when distributing their chromosomes to their daughter cells, compared to those of Neanderthals.
Published Ancient DNA clarifies the early history of American colonial horses


A newly identified 16th century horse specimen is among the oldest domestic horses from the Americas known to date, and its DNA helps clarify the history of horses in the Western Hemisphere, according to a new study.
Published Early hunting, farming homogenized mammal communities of North America


Whether by the spear or the plow, humans have been homogenizing the mammal communities of North America for 10,000-plus years, says a new analysis of 8,831 fossils representing 365 species.
Published New method can improve explosion detection


Computers can be trained to better detect distant nuclear detonations, chemical blasts and volcano eruptions by learning from artificial explosion signals, according to a new method.
Published When did the genetic variations that make us human emerge?


The study of the genomes of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, has opened up new research paths that can broaden our understanding of the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens. A new study has made an estimation of the time when some of the genetic variants that characterize our species emerged. It does so by analyzing mutations that are very frequent in modern human populations, but not in these other species of archaic humans.
Published DNA from ancient population in Southern China suggests Native Americans' East Asian roots


For the first time, researchers successfully sequenced the genome of ancient human fossils from the Late Pleistocene in southern China. The data suggests that the mysterious hominin belonged to an extinct maternal branch of modern humans that might have contributed to the origin of Native Americans.
Published Shockwave caused by Tonga underwater eruption may help scientists predict future tsunami


Using data from the eruption of the underwater volcano near Tonga in 2022, researchers used disturbances in Earth's upper atmosphere to track the airwaves that cause tsunami. Their findings may lead to speedier predictions of these giant waves.
Published The importance of elders


In a new paper, researchers challenge the longstanding view that the force of natural selection in humans must decline to zero once reproduction is complete. They assert that a long post-reproductive lifespan is not just due to recent advancements in health and medicine. The secret to our success? Our grandparents.
Published Fiber optic sensing detects tremor from Icelandic subglacial volcano


Researchers used a fiber optic cable on the ice cap of an Icelandic subglacial volcano to detect low-frequency volcanic tremor, suggesting this technology could be useful in monitoring other ice-covered volcano systems.
Published Volcano's eruption will help scientists plot weather, climate


As it captivated people around the world, the January eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano gave scientists a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study how the atmosphere works, unlocking keys to better predict the weather and changing climate.
Published How placentas evolved in mammals


The fossil record tells us about ancient life through the preserved remains of body parts like bones, teeth and turtle shells. But how to study the history of soft tissues and organs, which can decay quickly, leaving little evidence behind? In a new study, scientists use gene expression patterns, called transcriptomics, to investigate the ancient origins of one organ: the placenta, which is vital to pregnancy.
Published New genetic research on remote Pacific islands yields surprising findings on world's earliest seafarers


New genetic research from remote islands in the Pacific offers fresh insights into the ancestry and culture of the world's earliest seafarers, including family structure, social customs, and the ancestral populations of the people living there today.
Published Tonga volcano eruption among the most powerful ever observed, triggering atmospheric gravity waves that reached the edge of space


The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai submarine volcano in January 2022 was one of the most explosive volcanic events of the modern era, a new study has confirmed.
Published Iceland volcano eruption opens a rare window into the Earth beneath our feet


The recent Fagradalsfjall eruption in the southwest of Iceland has enthralled the whole world, including nature lovers and scientists alike. The eruption was especially important as it provided geologists with a unique opportunity to study magmas that were accumulated in a deep crustal magma reservoir but ultimately derived from the Earth's mantle (below 20 km).
Published Ice Age wolf DNA reveals dogs trace ancestry to two separate wolf populations


An international group of geneticists and archaeologists have found that the ancestry of dogs can be traced to at least two populations of ancient wolves. The work moves us a step closer to uncovering the mystery of where dogs underwent domestication, one of the biggest unanswered questions about human prehistory.
Published Fossils in the 'Cradle of Humankind' may be more than a million years older than previously thought


For decades, scientists have studied these fossils of early human ancestors and their long-lost relatives. Now, a dating method developed by geologists just pushed the age of some of these fossils found at the site of Sterkfontein Caves back more than a million years. This would make them older than Dinkinesh, also called Lucy, the world's most famous Australopithecus fossil.
Published The heat is on: Traces of fire uncovered dating back at least 800,000 years



Scientists reveal an advanced, innovative method that they have developed and used to detect nonvisual traces of fire dating back at least 800,000 years -- one of the earliest known pieces of evidence for the use of fire. The newly developed technique may provide a push toward a more scientific, data-driven type of archaeology, but -- perhaps more importantly -- it could help us better understand the origins of the human story, our most basic traditions and our experimental and innovative nature.
Published Many human genomes shaped by past events that caused sharp dips in the population, study finds


The genomes of many human populations show evidence of founder events, which occur when a small number of initial members start a new population, and can lead to low genetic diversity as well as increase the risk of certain genetic diseases in the new population.