Latest stories from the News Desk

Fossil trove sheds light on ancient antipodean ecology

The oldest known animals and plants preserved in amber from Southern Gondwana are reported in Scientific Reports this week. Gondwana, the supercontinent made up of South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Antarctica and Australia, broke away from the Pangea supercontinent around 200 million years ago.
Ease rules on research into psychedelic drugs, urges David Nutt

Restrictions on the use of psychedelic drugs in research should be relaxed to help find new treatments for conditions including mental health disorders, the former government adviser Prof David Nutt has said.
Bizarre life-forms found thriving in ancient rocks beneath the seafloor

Scientists broke open bits of oceanic crust and found them full of microbes—suggesting similar life could survive on other planets.

Image by USGS – Earthquake Glossary 2019
Three human-like species lived side-by-side in ancient Africa

Two million years ago, three different human-like species were living side-by-side in South Africa, a study shows. The findings underline a growing understanding that the present-day situation, where one human species dominates the globe, may be unusual compared with the evolutionary past.
Modern humans, Neanderthals share a tangled genetic history, study affirms

A new study reinforces the concept that Neanderthal DNA has been woven into the modern human genome on multiple occasions as our ancestors met Neanderthals time and again in different parts of the world

Image by “© 2004 Public Library of Science.