Newsdesk Archive

High up in the high Andes mountains of Argentina, researchers have identified the first-ever evidence of a population uniquely adapted to tolerate the toxic chemical arsenic.For thousands of years, in some regions of the Andes, people have been exposed to high levels of arsenic, a naturally occurring phenomenon that happens when arsenic in the volcanic bedrock is released into the groundwater.

A partial human skull unearthed in 2008 in northern Israel may hold some clues as to when and where humans and Neanderthals might have interbred. The key to addressing this, as well as other important issues, is precisely determining the age of the skull. A combination of dating methods, one of them performed by Dr. Elisabetta Boaretto, head of the Weizmann Institute's D-REAMS (DANGOOR Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) laboratory, has made it possible to define the period of time that the cave was occupied and thus the skull's age. The combined dating provides evidence that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis could have lived side by side in the area.

Aboriginal legends could offer a vast untapped record of natural history, including meteorite strikes, stretching back thousands of years, according to new UNSW research.Dr Duane Hamacher from the UNSW Indigenous Astronomy Group has uncovered evidence linking Aboriginal stories about meteor events with impact craters dating back some 4,700 years.

Light bullets are not the deadly things their names make them out to be. They are, however, decidedly weird. To make a light bullet, researchers have to make a pulse of laser light that is continuously re-focusing itself.When you turn on a flashlight, or even a laser beam, and shine it across the room, what happens to the beam as it travels? It fans out.

Quantum mechanics tells us that light can behave simultaneously as a particle or a wave. However, there has never been an experiment able to capture both natures of light at the same time; the closest we have come is seeing either wave or particle, but always at different times. Taking a radically different experimental approach, EPFL scientists have now been able to take the first ever snapshot of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle.

It gives me quite a feeling of deja vu reading this 25 Feb 2015 article in Scientific American since this is pretty much exactly the theory I proposed to explain the Mars dichotomy in my 1998 book The Mars Mystery. The researchers cited by Scientific American believe the impact which lowered the land elevation in the northern hemisphere of Mars happened in the south of the planet and this is what I also suggested in the Mars Mystery 17 years ago where I wrote "The lowering of Mars's northern hemisphere is... likely to have been a 'knock-on effect' of devastating impacts in the south." The major differences from the Scientific American article are that I implicate a giant comet, not an asteroid, in the Mars cataclysm -- a giant comet that fragmented explosively right beside Mars. I think it happened recently, not 4.5 billion years ago but within the last 20,000 years. I also think Earth, has interacted with the debris stream of the same comet on at least two occasions, namely 12,800 years ago and 11,600 years ago. More in due course in my forthcoming book Magicians of the Gods.

On Feb. 16, an international group of researchers proposed new hypotheses about some unusual plumes spotted by amateur astronomers on Mars in 2012. The plumes were seen rising to altitudes of over 250 km above. By comparison, similar features seen in the past have never exceeded 100 km. Now, new conclusions presented by scientists still raise more questions about the mysterious plumes, than they answer. "We tentatively explored two scenarios that might help explain the observed phenomenon: a cloud of condensed CO2 or H2O, or even dust, and an aurora. After elaborating the details of these two hypotheses, we came to the conclusion that none of them provided a fully satisfactory answer".

Venus is covered by a dense layer of clouds which does not display any noteworthy characteristic. However, when looked in the ultraviolet wavelength, it presents conspicuous dark structures. The biggest one, which practically covers the entire planet, is shaped like a "Y" and it has been a mystery since its discovery more than half a century ago. Recently, a study led by astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), in collaboration with the university of the Basque Country and the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences of Portugal, has described the mechanism that sustains this structure and has for the first time succeeded in reproducing its evolution in the course of one month.

New research leaves little doubt about it: Fitness is powerful. A new study shows it's also a powerful predictor of whether an individual will live or die in the next decade.Put a person on a standard-issue treadmill, crank up the speed and the incline, measure the maximum metabolic equivalents of task she achieves and the percentage of maximum predicted heart rate she can endure, and you have two key bases on which to predict a patient's 10-year survival prospects, says a study published Monday in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Now you can enjoy your third daily cup of coffee and feel healthy while you do it: According to a new study, that third cup of joe may be good for your heart.Researchers found that people who drink between three and five cups of coffee a day are likely to have less coronary artery calcium (CAC) than those who drink no coffee at all.Related: Tired of spilling your coffee? Try a latte instead, scientists say

Archaeologists found a lead coffin buried in the ruins of an English medieval church, just feet from the grave of British King Richard III. When they opened the tomb, they expected to find the skeleton of a knight or a friar. But instead, they found the bones of an elderly woman.Alt: Coffin-Within-a-Coffin Opened at Richard III Grave

DNA analysis has revealed evidence for a massive migration into the heartland of Europe 4,500 years ago.Data from the genomes of 69 ancient individuals suggest that herders moved en masse from the continent's eastern periphery into Central Europe.

French police are looking for thieves who swiped a Siamese crown and other Asian artifacts from the Château de Fontainebleau this past weekend.Located some 35 miles (55 kilometers) outside of Paris, the Château de Fontainebleau was the royal residence of French monarchs since the Middle Ages. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is now open to visitors who can tour its sprawling gardens, chapels and galleries.

An expedition to Honduras has emerged from the jungle with dramatic news of the discovery of a mysterious culture's lost city, never before explored. The team was led to the remote, uninhabited region by long-standing rumors that it was the site of a storied "White City," also referred to in legend as the "City of the Monkey God."Archaeologists surveyed and mapped extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds, and an earthen pyramid belonging to a culture that thrived a thousand years ago, and then vanished. The team, which returned from the site last Wednesday, also discovered a remarkable cache of stone sculptures that had lain untouched since the city was abandoned.

Revellers at solstice celebrations should be banned from getting close to Stonehenge in order to prevent "annual vandalism", a heritage group has said.The Heritage Journal said the monument was daubed with graffiti, stuck with chewing gum and marked with oil.

Japanese and Mongolian archaeologists said Feb. 26 that they have discovered the remains of a 13th-century military outpost established for Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan (c. 1162-1227) in southwestern Mongolia.Related: Found Islamic Coins Hidden Inside Viking Age Shield Boss

A 1,800-year-old tombstone was discovered at a Roman cemetery in England this week. Because of its inscription, archaeologists know who was buried in the grave: a 27-year-old woman named Bodica."It's incredibly rare," said Neil Holbrook, of Cotswold Archaeology.Related: Cathedral Grave May Have Belonged to a Medieval Knight

The oldest human footprints found outside Africa, dated at between 850,000 and 950,000 years old, have been discovered on the storm-lashed beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk, one of the fastest-eroding stretches of the British coast. Within a fortnight, the sea tides that had exposed the prints last May destroyed them, leaving only casts and 3D images made through photogrammetry (stitching together hundreds of photographs) as evidence that a little group from a long-extinct early human species had passed that way.

A study of how climate change has affected emperor penguins over the last 30,000 years found that only three populations may have survived during the last ice age, and that the Ross Sea in Antarctica was likely the refuge for one of these populations.The Ross Sea is likely to have been a shelter for emperor penguins for thousands of years during the last ice age, when much of the rest of Antarctica was uninhabitable due to the amount of ice.

The activity of the Sun is an important factor in the complex interaction that controls our climate. New research now shows that the impact of the Sun is not constant over time, but has greater significance when the Earth is cooler.There has been much discussion as to whether variations in the strength of the Sun have played a role in triggering climate change in the past, but more and more research results clearly indicate that solar activity - i.e. the amount of radiation coming from the Sun - has an impact on how the climate varies over time.

People who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to have diabetes, regardless of how much they weigh, according to a new study. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and maintain bone and muscle health. The skin naturally produces this vitamin after exposure to sunlight. People also absorb smaller amounts of the vitamin through foods, such as milk fortified with vitamin D. More than 1 billion people worldwide are estimated to have deficient levels of vitamin D due to limited sunshine exposure.Related: Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D may control brain serotonin, affecting behavior and psychiatric disorders

The modern schedule is infamously frantic, leaving many of us feeling constantly pressed for time. But that feeling may not have much to do with time itself, according to a new study. "Feeling pressed for time impacts how consumers spend time, and how much they are willing to pay to save it. From a consumer standpoint, feeling pressed for time can have many harmful consequences such as poorer health, trouble sleeping, and depression. By pausing to breathe or envision the source of stress in a more positive light, people can enjoy the time they actually have in a healthier and happier way,"Related: Meditation can reduce chronic neck pain, study shows

Japanese researchers have developed a pair of time-keeping devices that are so accurate, they'll lose one second every 16 billion years, so, more than three times the age of the Earth, and 3 billion years older than the Universe itself.Created by physicists led by Hidetoshi Katori from the Riken Research Institute, these 'cryogenic optical lattice clocks' are so accurate, they beat the caesium atomic clocks that are currently being used to define what a 'second' is.

A bionic eye implant is now allowing a blind man to see the outlines of his wife after 10 years in darkness.The implant, called a retinal prosthesis, consists of a small electronic chip that is placed at the back of the eye to send visual signals directly into the optic nerve. This bypasses the damaged cells in the man's retina.

IQ is rising in many parts of the world. What's behind the change and does it really mean people are cleverer than their grandparents?It is not unusual for parents to comment that their children are brainier than they are. In doing so, they hide a boastful remark about their offspring behind a self-deprecating one about themselves. But a new study, published in the journal Intelligence, provides fresh evidence that in many cases this may actually be true.

New observations of a star-forming nebula have revealed four stellar embryos, providing clues as to how multiple star systems evolve.The majority of stars in our galaxy come in pairs, triplets or even quadruplets, but our sun appears to be a loner. This fact poses an interesting question: if our star is alone, and yet contains a rich multiplanetary system, how do planetary systems evolve in multi-star systems?

A quasar is what you get when a supermassive black hole is actively feeding on material at the core of a galaxy. The region around the black hole gets really hot and blasts out radiation that we can see billions of light-years away.Our Milky Way is a galaxy, it has a supermassive black hole at the core. Could this black hole feed on material and become a quasar?Related: Scientists shocked by far-out star clusters on fringes of Milky Way

A trio of astrophysicists has found that differences between observational data and solutions brought about through mathematics regarding the mechanism involved in heat transfer from the suns center to its outer parts, can be resolved by plugging dark matter into equations.Related: Elusive 'Dark Photons' Still Lurking in the Shadows

Can we expect a time when aircraft will be directly controlled by the human brain? And what about mind-controlled drones? Imagine that, using an EEG (electroencephalogram) cap tracking neural activity, a man flies a drone with his brain.Related: Volvo to test autonomous cars with ordinary drivers on public roads by 2017

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown for the first time that insects, too, can create false memories. Using a classic Pavlovian experiment, co-authors Kathryn Hunt and Lars Chittka determined that bumblebees sometimes combine the details of past memories to form new ones.Related: Manx queen bees 'in demand' after disease-free ruling

Washington DC has become the latest place in the United States to legalise the possession of small amounts of marijuana.As of midnight on Thursday (05:00 GMT), people who use the drug in private no longer face prosecution.Related: Alaska becomes third US state to legalise recreational marijuana use

This isn't another story about that dress, or at least, not really.It's about the way that humans see the world, and how until we have a way to describe something, even something so fundamental as a color, we may not even notice that it's there.Until relatively recently in human history, "blue" didn't exist, not in the way we think of it.

In Florida, archaeologists are investigating a site that a century ago sparked a scientific controversy. Today, it's just a strip of land near an airport.Initially dismissed as a hoax a century ago, scientists have found evidence in Florida of humans living 14,000 years ago. If the findings hold up, they will help rewrite the history of early man.

A small red alligator clip connects to one of the plant's leaves. Another "grounding" cord is wedged into the soil, at the plant's roots. Both cords connect to a biofeedback machine, which is more typically used to measure changes in the body, such as heart rate, via electrical sensors.Today, that machine is synced with a synthesizer, which supposedly translates the plant's energy levels, as measured through biofeedback, into audible tones, which are then played through speakers.

A duet for slime mould and piano will be premiered at an arts festival this weekend, giving new meaning to the term "culture".Festival director and musician Eduardo Miranda has put the decomposition into composition: his new work uses cultures of the fungus Physarum polycephalum.

A number of companies have explored the idea of humanoid robots as future home-helpers for elderly people. The latest experiment from Japan is distinctly more bear-shaped, though.Meet Robear, an experimental nursing-care robot developed by the RIKEN-SRK Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research and Sumitomo Riko Company.Related: In Japan, robot dogs are for life - and death

In a series of three studies, researchers tested whether there is a link between personality and an aspect of physical ecology: flat terrain versus mountainous terrain. The study found that only one of the Big Five personality traits predicted terrain preference -- extraversion.Related: Brain scans show extroverts come in 2 types

New research suggests that anger can trigger a heart attack. Researchers at the University of Sydney found that the risk of a heart attack is 8.5 times higher in the two hours following a burst of intense anger."Our findings confirm what has been suggested in prior studies and anecdotal evidence, even in films -- that episodes of intense anger can act as a trigger for a heart attack,"Related: Frequent sauna use protects men against cardiac death

The internet has been divided into two warring tribes by a picture of a dress functioning as an accidental colour perception experiment.Alt: What colour is the dress? Here's why we disagreeAlt: The optical illusion dress that's divided the internet: Celebrities join fierce debate over whether this frock is white and gold or blue and black... so which colours do YOU see?

If a new theory turns out to be true, the universe may not have started with a bang.In the new formulation, the universe was never a singularity, or an infinitely small and infinitely dense point of matter. In fact, the universe may have no beginning at all.

Most of the laws of nature treat particles and antiparticles equally, but stars and planets are made of particles, or matter, and not antiparticles, or antimatter. That asymmetry, which favors matter to a very small degree, has puzzled scientists for many years.New research by UCLA physicists, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, offers a possible solution to the mystery of the origin of matter in the universe.Related: New theory could prove how life began and disprove God

A new type of methane-based, oxygen-free life form that can metabolize and reproduce similar to life on Earth has been modeled by a team of Cornell University researchers.Taking a simultaneously imaginative and rigidly scientific view, chemical engineers and astronomers offer a template for life that could thrive in a harsh, cold world - specifically Titan, the giant moon of Saturn. A planetary body awash with seas not of water, but of liquid methane, Titan could harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells.

The tunable laser spectrometer in the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument of the Curiosity robot has unequivocally detected an episodic increase in the concentration of methane in Mars' atmosphere after an exhaustive analysis of data obtained during 605 soles or Martian days.This puts an end to the long controversy on the presence of methane in Mars, which started over a decade ago when this gas was first detected with telescopes from Earth.

A unique study of frozen ice cores from the Tibetan Himalayas has shown that international agreements on phasing out the use of toxic persistent organic pollutants are working.Related: Trade in Shark Fins Takes a Plunge - "An analysis of trade statistics suggests that efforts to educate shark-fin soup consumers is working"

Humans and the cities we build are driving evolutionary changes in the creatures and plants around us faster than previously thought, new research shows.The signs are small but striking: Spiders in cities are getting bigger. Salmon in rivers are getting smaller. Birds in urban areas are growing tamer and bolder, outcompeting their country cousins.

Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it's rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden - and they bring her gifts in return.Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, and clicks the lid open. This is her most precious collection.

Music that incorporates everything from purrs to meow-like sounds is gaining feline fans, according to a new study that suggests cats enjoy tunes that are crafted just for them.The study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavioral Science, adds to the growing body of evidence that many animals respond favorably to species-specific music. This is music that takes into account a particular animal's favorite sounds, hearing range, commonly used tones and other factors.

Love may be intoxicating. But when mixed with alcohol, the hormone that love spurs in humans seems to have the opposite effect: It's downright sobering.A new study finds the much-ballyhooed "love hormone," oxytocin, appears to dampen the effects of alcohol, and suggests it could someday play a role in treating alcohol dependence and withdrawal.Related: Heavy Drinkers Have Lowest IQs

How was human evolution and migration influenced by past changes in climate?This question has led Aberystwyth University researchers to drill day and night to great depths in a dried up lake in east Africa.The Chew Bahir Drilling Project, in a remote part of south Ethiopia, will provide a sedimentary record of changes in rainfall, temperature and vegetation, spanning the last 500,000 years of human evolution.

Earth's worst mass extinction may have created ideal conditions for preserving the ancient footprints of giant reptiles on the muddy ocean floor, according to a new study.Researchers found a spike in fossilized tracks of tetrapods (these early four-limbed vertebrates include amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) during the early Triassic period, roughly 250 million years ago. This increase may be the result of a mass extinction at the end of the Permian period that wiped out worms and other tiny creatures that typically churn up ocean sediments, leaving behind sticky seafloor conditions that preserved the wading and swimming habits of ancient giant reptiles, the scientists said.

At an ancient ritual complex in Bolivia, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a room where dead bodies were dissolved down to their bones in sizzling pots of caustic chemicals.People traveling in llama caravans may have brought their deceased relatives to be "defleshed" in this way at the complex (on purpose) so they could leave with the plaster-coated bones as relics, according to a new study.

New research into central Australia's ancient lakes has found evidence that climate change contributed to the extinction of the continent's megafauna.Dr Joshua Larsen from The University of Queensland's School of Geography Planning and Environmental Management, said water resources I Australia were changing significantly about 48,000 years ago when humans arrived and megafauna became extinct.

An ancient relative of the hippopotamus likely swam from Asia to Africa some 35 million years ago, long before the arrival of the lion, rhino, zebra and giraffe, suggests a new study.Analysis of the previously unknown, long-extinct animal also confirms that cetaceans -- the group to which whales, dolphins and porpoises belong -- are in fact the hippo's closest living cousins.Related: Baby Woolly Rhino Discovered In Siberia Is The First Ever Found

The ancient Babylonians may not have had Yelp or customer service call centers, but they still recorded their complaints. They just had to do it on clay tablets, like this one, in which a buyer complains about receiving the wrong grade of copper ore.

DNA evidence suggests the hunter-gatherers of Britain were importing wheat from their agrarian neighbors on mainland Europe as much as 8,000 years ago.Alt: DNA recovered from underwater British site may rewrite history of farming in Europe

In its 7000 years of history, no event changed Egypt more profoundly than the construction of the Aswan High Dam.It was an engineering project to rival any of the works of the Pharaohs. Upon its completion in 1970, the Aswan High Dam forever changed the heartbeat of the river Nile. The cycle of floods and unpredictable famines came to an end, and for the first time Egypt appeared to have something that had previously seemed unimaginable: water security.

When Carr started to piece together where the 1860s-era bricks were found - about a foot below the water table - and what he knew about construction, he came to a surprising conclusion: the artifacts provided proof that sea level in the area had risen more than a foot in the last century. Neither the bricks nor coconut palms would have existed on submerged land.Related: Sea levels along the northeast coast of the US rose by record levels during 2009-2010, a study has found.

Respected Moscow scientist Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky has called for 'urgent' investigation of the new phenomenon amid safety fears.Until now, only three large craters were known about in northern Russia with several scientific sources speculating last year that heating from above the surface due to unusually warm climatic conditions, and from below, due to geological fault lines, led to a huge release of gas hydrates, so causing the formation of these craters in Arctic regions.

We all know and love the moon. We're so assured that we only have one that we don't even give it a specific name. It is the brightest object in the night sky, and amateur astronomers take great delight in mapping its craters and seas. To date, it is the only other heavenly body with human footprints.What you might not know is that the moon is not the Earth's only natural satellite.Related: Pluto a Planet Again? It May Happen This Year

The discovery of a supermassive black hole from the early cosmos is set to rewrite physics, say scientists.An international team of astronomers detected a black hole 12 billion times the mass of our Sun, they report today in the journal Nature.Related: Could classical theory be just as weird as quantum theory?

A team of researchers from Italy, Israel and the United Kingdom has succeeded in generating mature, functional skeletal muscles in mice using a new approach for tissue engineering. The scientists grew a leg muscle starting from engineered cells cultured in a dish to produce a graft. The subsequent graft was implanted close to a normal, contracting skeletal muscle where the new muscle was nurtured and grown.Related: Watch a blind man use a bionic eye to see his wife for the first time in a decade

Where did our species come from, and how did we get from there to everywhere?Genetic studies have supplied a convincing answer to the first question: Our modern human ancestors evolved in Africa, then swept across Eurasia beginning some 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. Now, a pair of American archaeologists claim to have uncovered the route those early Homo sapiens took on their way to populating the planet.

Isis militants have reportedly ransacked Mosul library, burning over a hundred thousand rare manuscripts and documents spanning centuries of human learning.Initial reports said approximately 8,000 books were destroyed by the extremist group.Related: Oregon police seize Native American relics headed for black market

Forensic experts rely on a surprising level of gut instinct to accurately match fingerprints to catch criminals, according to a new study"Gut feeling is responsible for a lot more of the accuracy than many people think, even the experts themselves," says Dr Matthew Thompson of the University of Queensland School of Psychology.

Black rats may not have been to blame for numerous outbreaks of the bubonic plague across Europe, a study suggests.Scientists believe repeat epidemics of the Black Death, which arrived in Europe in the mid-14th Century, instead trace back to gerbils from Asia.Alt: Asian tree rings explain historical plague outbreaks in Europe

In 1972, animal behaviorist John Calhoun built a rat paradise with beautiful buildings and limitless food. He introduced eight mice to the population. Two years later, the mice had created their own apocalypse. Here's why.Universe 25 was a giant box designed to be a rodent utopia. The trouble was, this utopia did not have a benevolent creator.

Previous studies have shown that the extracts from seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification. In a new study, researchers from Uppsala University show that the Moringa seeds can also be used for separation of different materials. Separation processes are very important in mining industries and the new knowledge could contribute to reduce the needs for expensive synthetic chemicals.Related: Environmentally friendly procedure developed for extracting silver

Great, wonderful, wacky things can come in small genomic packages.That's one lesson to be learned from the carnivorous bladderwort, a plant whose tiny genome turns out to be a jewel box full of evolutionary treasures.Related: Tiny bat makes home in a carnivorous plant

Throw me a line here! Or how about a nanotube? In a new study, biologists discovered that hungry E. coli bacteria are able to request food from their neighbors by sending a tiny tube over to them. Other E. coli bacteria, or even bacteria of a different species, respond by piping nutrients into the tube, over to the requester. Efficient!

The use of genetically engineered animals could revolutionise whole areas of public health and agriculture, according to advocates. But is the world ready for modified mosquitoes and GM salmon?Back in the 1950s, two American scientists came up with a revolutionary idea to eliminate a longstanding scourge of livestock farming.Related: What Did Charles Darwin Put In His Mouth? Pretty Much Everything.

A UK-led initiative to scan the Amazon rainforest for new signs of ancient settlements was announced at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose, California. The project, which has already been awarded $1.9m grant from the European Research Council, will include conducting laser scans via drone.Related: Christ the Redeemer mapped by drone to create first ever accurate model

Four new mysterious giant craters have appeared in the Siberian permafrost in northern Russia, sparking fears that global warming may be causing gas to erupt from underground.Scientists spotted the new holes, along with dozens of other smaller ones, in the same area as three other enormous craters that were spotted on the Yamal Peninsula last year.The craters are thought to be caused by eruptions of methane gas from the permafrost as rising rising temperatures causes the frozen soil to melt.

During the upper Palaeolithic (that is, between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago), prehistoric people in Europe and Asia (and elsewhere) depicted the animals they saw in thousands of piece of cave art. They drew, sculpted and painted rhinos, mammoths, giant deer and lions, but they also produced illustrations of less exotic beasts, like owls, mustelids and rabbits. Comparisons made with living animals and fossils reveal that these depictions are, on the whole, biologically accurate and often result from informed observation. The greatest concentration of cave art occurs in southern France and northern Spain where horses and bison are the most frequently depicted animal.

A few years ago, film director James Cameron spent hours scouring the world's deepest ocean canyon for any sign of life. He found a few bizarre animals, but it turns out the real action in the Mariana Trench happens beyond the reach of a submersible's camera.Researchers from Japan discovered microscopic bacteria thrive in the canyon called Challenger Deep, which is the lowest point on Earth's surface and the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the team reports today (Feb. 23) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In particular, they found an unusual community of bacteria there called heterotrophs, or microbes that cannot produce their own food and must eat what they find in the water.

Fluoride could be causing depression and weight gain and councils should stop adding it to drinking water to prevent tooth decay, scientists have warned.A study of 98 per cent of GP practices in England found that high rates of underactive thyroid were 30 per cent more likely in areas of the greatest fluoridation.Alt: Water fluoridation in England linked to higher rates of underactive thyroid

Sweating it out on a regular basis in saunas is something that the Finns, Russians and many other people particularly of cold climate cultures have sworn by for centuries. And now science has proven there may in fact be some life-extending benefits to the temperature extremes of the sauna.For the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, followed a group of 2,315 middle-aged men (42 to 60 years old) from eastern Finland. They then checked in on the men after 21 years to learn how many had died and from what causes.

Moms and dads -- grab a sponge and step away from the dishwasher.A new study suggests that hand-washing dishes (and leaving some microbes on a fork, bowl, or plate in the process) may help reduce the risk of allergy development in young children.

Babies at high risk for becoming allergic to peanuts are much less likely to develop the allergy if they are regularly fed foods containing the legumes starting in their first year of life.That's according to a big new study released Monday involving hundreds of British babies. The researchers found that those who consumed the equivalent of about 4 heaping teaspoons of peanut butter each week, starting when they were between 4 and 11 months old, were about 80 percent less likely to develop a peanut allergy by their fifth birthday.

The hair of 2,000-year-old mummies, long locks adorned with embroidered textiles, is helping researchers determine what these ancient people ate in the weeks and months before their deaths, a new study finds.A chemical analysis of the mummies' hair suggests these ancient individuals, who once lived on the southern coast of modern-day Peru, likely ate corn, beans, and marine plants and animals, the researchers found.Related: Healers Once Prescribed Chocolate Like Aspirin

Chocolate lovers take heart: a steamy greenhouse near London is helping to ensure that cocoa crops globally remain disease-free and bountiful to cope with the growing appetite for sweet treats.The centre's aim is to reduce the amount of disease affecting cocoa plants by quarantining them before sharing them with different countries to produce new, more resistant varieties.Related: New Anti-Aging Chocolate May Make Skin Look 30 Years Younger

Exciting research has revealed some plants have the ability to alter soil types, suggesting opportunities may exist to re-engineer WA's hostile soils to better suit agricultural purposes.The study is at odds with previous scientific research advocating that vegetation occurs in certain environments only as a direct result of soil type.Related: Huge, hollow baobab trees are actually multiple fused stems

Things are starting to look up for the rarest big cat on the planet: The critically endangered Amur leopard, which is indigenous to southeastern Russia and parts of northeastern China, has doubled in population since 2007, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).Census data from Russia's Land of the Leopard National Park, which covers about 60 percent of the Amur leopard's habitat, puts the number of these wild cats at 57. That's up from the 30 leopards counted in the area in 2007.

Dogs are certainly no dummies when it comes to understanding humans. Now a study from Japan suggests that dogs can tell when a human is trying to dupe them.Related: What is this dog thinking? Scientists now have some fascinating answersRelated: Dog Escapes From Home, Sneaks Into Hospital 20 Blocks Away To Comfort Sick Owner

Winds blasted out by the giant black holes found at the centre of galaxies are strong enough to stunt the birth of new stars, astronomers have found.By training two space telescopes on a supermassive black hole with the mass of a billion Suns, they measured the strength of its ferocious winds.

Should we beam messages into deep space, announcing our presence to any extraterrestrial civilizations that might be out there? Or, should we just listen? Since the beginnings of the modern Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), radio astronomers have, for the most part, followed the listening strategy. In 1999, that consensus was shattered. Without consulting with other members of the community of scientists involved in SETI, a team of radio astronomers at the Evpatoria Radar Telescope in Crimea, led by Alexander Zaitsev, beamed an interstellar message called 'Cosmic Call' to four nearby sun-like stars.

A long-lost Sherlock Holmes story has been rediscovered more than a hundred years after it was first published.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the story, titled Sherlock Homes: Discovering the Border Burghs and, by deduction, the Brig Bazaar, in 1904 to raise money for a bridge in Selkirk, Scotland.

Some tests show that reading from a hard copy allows better concentration, while taking longhand notes versus typing onto laptops increases conceptual understanding and retention.Related: Tracing languages back to their common ancestors through the statistics of sound shifts

A piece of human skull could prove that early humans were incredibly diverse. The 22,000-year-old skull fragment, found at a site in Kenya, suggests that early humans living in Africa were much more varied than previously thought.It appears the skull is not a new species, as it is clearly that of an anatomically modern human. However, it displays marked differences from skulls from the same time found in Africa and Europe.

Considerable debate surrounds the migration of human populations out of Africa. Two predominant hypotheses concerning the timing contrast in their emphasis on the role of the Arabian interior and its changing climate. In one scenario, human populations expanded rapidly from Africa to southern Asia via the coastlines of Arabia approx. 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Another model suggests that dispersal into the Arabian interior began much earlier (approx. 75,000 to 130,000 years ago) during multiple phases, when increased rainfall provided sufficient freshwater to support expanding populations.

A team of Spanish researchers theorizes, based on grooves and nicks on the teeth of Neanderthals, that gender roles among that species were similar to gender roles of modern Homo Sapiens. Neanderthal men prepared the cutting tools and weapons, while women saw to the leather garments and clothing.But there was at least one duty that men and women may have shared: Neanderthal women, these researchers think, hunted big game with the men.

An ancient Maya mural found in the Guatemalan rainforest may depict a group portrait of advisers to the Maya royalty, a new study finds.Most Maya murals depict life within the royal sphere, but the newfound mural, uncovered in the Guatemalan rainforest in 2010, shows a vibrant scene of intellectuals consulting with the royal governor, who is dressed as the Maya wind god.

A project has been launched to record the archaeological heritage of the Middle East and North Africa, arguably the most significant region in the world for its archaeological remains. It is under increasing threat from massive and sustained population explosion, agricultural development, urban expansion, warfare, and looting.Related: Ancient Peruvian Site Damaged by Landowner

This is no ordinary Buddha statue. As the CT scan at the right clearly shows, there's a mummy concealed inside!This fascinating artifact is currently on display as part of a mummy-themed exhibit at the Netherlands' Drents Museum (link also offers a glimpse of a particularly rad cat mummy).

Strange and surprising findings have been reported from ongoing excavations at Alepotrypa Cave, a site in the Peloponnesus that one archaeologist called "a Neolithic Pompeii," the Greek Ministry of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs announced.The most striking discovery was a burial from roughly 5,800 years ago containing two well-preserved adult human skeletons, one male and one female, with arms and legs interlocked in an embrace.

A fossil stored in a Doncaster museum for 30 years and thought to be a plaster copy has turned out to be a new species of ancient reptile.A young palaeontologist working with the University of Manchester found the fossil in 2008, in the collections of Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery.Related: How Did Long-Necked Dinosaurs Drink Without Getting Dizzy?

Is it a snake? No, it's a caterpillar in disguise, sporting fake eyes and a counterfeit forked tongue. When erected, as seen in this photo, the bright, double-pronged protrusion secretes smelly chemicals to repel predators.Related: Pumas Kill More, Eat Less When Humans Are NearRelated: Great White Sharks Are Late Bloomers

A new project at Glasgow University aims to help resolve why robins are up all night singing in cities.Dr Davide Dominoni believes that city lights convince the birds there is no end to the day.

The damage the sun inflicts on your skin may be even more insidious than was previously thought, according to new research.A study published Thursday in Science finds that the effects of sun exposure can continue to wreak havoc on your DNA -- even in the dark.

As a clinical geneticist, Paul James is accustomed to discussing some of the most delicate issues with his patients. But in early 2010, he found himself having a particularly awkward conversation about sex.A 46-year-old pregnant woman had visited his clinic at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia to hear the results of an amniocentesis test to screen her baby's chromosomes for abnormalities.

A new study sheds light on how exoplanets in tightly-packed solar systems interact with each other gravitationally by affecting one another's climates and their abilities to support alien life.Because the exoplanets are so close to one another in these compact solar systems, they have tidal influence, much like the Earth and the Moon have on each other. The tides modify the spin rates, axial tilts and orbits of these planets over time, and therefore alter their climates.