When imagining what archaeologists find during excavations of ancient human remains, we might think only of bones — dry, silent, and skeletal clues to our past. But under ideal conditions, internal organs can survive thousands of years as well, preserving biological data that bones alone can't reveal.Now, researchers at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine have developed a groundbreaking method to extract and analyze proteins from ancient soft tissues. This new approach ...read more

Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has long been one of the most exciting targets in the search for life beyond Earth. Many scientists believe that an ocean lies below its icy surface, potentially hosting geologic activity capable of supporting life, but what happens on the moon’s seafloor is still largely a mystery. Although discussions on Europa are mostly centered around this hidden ocean, the shell of ice that envelops the moon has its own surprises. A study recently published in The Planetary Sc ...read more

For a few months of the year, the Alaskan Arctic becomes flooded with birds. From shorebirds to waterfowl, these avians arrive in the spring to breed, nest, and raise their young, and to take advantage of the ample plants and prey (invertebrates and other animals) that thrive in Alaska’s short summers. They do it today, and they did it around 73 million years ago, too. Documenting the earliest evidence ever discovered of birds breeding and nesting in the Arctic, a new study in Science describe ...read more

The Campi Flegrei (the Phlegraean Fields) area in Italy is no stranger to volcanic activity. One of the largest eruptions in the area took place around 40,000 years ago, covering the area in ash and blasting open a caldera 9 miles wide. A recent study in Communications Earth and Environment discusses another massive volcanic eruption that occurred in the area 109,000 years ago, known as Maddaloni/X-6. However, this area is now inhabited by about 400,000 people, and with an uptick in seismic act ...read more

From Hadrian’s Wall to the Great Wall of China, ancient fortified structures have been the subject of interest for centuries. When archaeologists come across these walls, they often categorize them as military structures used to defend and protect communities. A recently excavated wall in Mongolia is proving that the military assumption isn’t always true. The new study, published in Antiquity, suggests that this wall was an important part of frontier life and provides a more complex picture ...read more

It’s been more than two decades since scientists finished sequencing the human genome, providing a comprehensive map of human biology that has since accelerated progress in disease research and personalized medicine. Thanks to that endeavor, we know that each of us has about 20,000 protein-coding genes, which serve as blueprints for the diverse protein molecules that give shape to our cells and keep them functioning properly.Yet, we know relatively little about how those proteins are organized ...read more

There could be a ninth planet in our Solar System after all — and no, it’s not Pluto. Instead, it’s the theoretical Planet X, also called Planet Nine, a wide-orbit planet that would circle the Sun from far beyond Neptune, and far beyond Pluto, too. Planet X has been hypothesized for years, but how such a planet could have appeared in the outer Solar System has long stumped scientists. A new study in Nature Astronomy reveals a novel theory, however. The research suggests that wide-orbit pla ...read more

Bed bugs are a nuisance that often infect travelers in hotel rooms or used furniture that's brought into a new home. For thousands of years, bed bugs have enjoyed living off their human hosts, and it may have all started when the bugs spread from bats to our Neanderthal ancestors. According to a new study published in Biology Letters, some 60,000 years ago, bed bugs leapt off their bat hosts and onto some unsuspecting Neanderthals that were leaving a cave. Since then, bed bugs that began a rela ...read more

Whales are the largest mammals on Earth and have been living alongside us for millennia. These majestic sea creatures play an especially important role for humans, both modern and ancient, who live in coastal regions. Thanks to an international team of scientists, we now know that coastal hunter-gatherer groups have been using whale bones for practical purposes for 20,000 years.A new study, published in Nature Communications, reveals that the oldest whale bone tools have been discovered in Europ ...read more

We hear it everywhere — from doctors, family members, and the media: reduce stress! Mounting evidence shows how chronic stress takes a toll on both physical and mental health. But before we can tackle it, we need to measure it and that’s easier said than done.A new innovation from researchers at Tufts University might change that. Their experimental study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces displays a special dental floss that detects cortisol levels in saliva, potentially ma ...read more