Newsdesk Archive

Millions of years ago, unlucky animals settled in the sticky resin of trees, only to be trapped and preserved until we humans found them. Fossils of the distant future, however, will probably be a whole lot weirder than bugs in tree sap.

Its name may translate as ‘king of the tyrant lizards’ but Tyrannosaurus Rex could not have outrun a speedy human, scientists have concluded, making a mockery of Jurassic Park. Although it was previously thought the dinosaur could sprint at around 45mph, German scientists have discovered that the lumbering beast was so massive it would have struggled to accelerate beyond a medium trot.

During the construction of what was intended to be a new baseball stadium in the capital city of Nicaragua, construction workers didn't expect the debris and earth they cleared to have the thousand-year-old remains of a society untouched by Spanish conquistadors.

After being hidden for centuries, the secrets within medieval manuscripts might soon come to light. By fusing two imaging techniques—visible hyperspectral imaging and x-ray fluorescence—an interdisciplinary team of Northwestern University researchers has developed a new, non-destructive technology that gives access to medieval texts hidden inside of ancient bookbindings.

A large team of researchers from France, Madagascar, Indonesia, Germany and Australia has conducted a genetic study of the native people that live on Madagascar. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group outlines their study, which involved obtaining genetic material from people across the island and what their analysis efforts revealed.

According to accepted accounts, the Viking Age began in 793 AD off the coast of northern England when the first raid of Scandinavian warriors is recorded to have taken place. The Vikings emerged suddenly and expanded rapidly across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The library at St. Catherine's Monastery is considered one of the most important for ancient texts. New research examining a manuscript from the 6th century shows that it is not just the visible writing that holds value, but also the letters hidden underneath them. A copy of a medical recipe linked to the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, is just one text that was waiting centuries to be uncovered.

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery in Australia’s north has extended the known length of time Aboriginal people have inhabited the continent to at least 65,000 years. The findings on about 11,000 artefacts from Kakadu national park, published on Thursday in the Nature journal, prove Indigenous people have been in Australia for far longer than the much-contested estimates of between 47,000 and 60,000 years, the researchers said. Some of the artefacts were potentially as old as 80,000 years.

People and pooches may have struck up a lasting friendship after just one try, a new genetic study suggests. New data from ancient dogs indicates that dogs became distinct from wolves between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago

Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered what they speculate was a dwelling where Aztecs of the higher socioeconomic classes that fought against the Spanish conquistadors tried to preserve their customs and traditions.

A new Neanderthal mitochondrial genome supports a remarkable hypothesis – that there was interbreeding with an extremely early migration of African hominins

There was a lot of excitement when scientists reported the discovery of an entirely new hominin species, Homo naledi, in 2015. Since then, we are gradually learning more about them. For example, earlier this year, researchers found that they lived sometime between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago.

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and … diabetes. That’s right. The metabolic condition is about as American as you can get, according to a new national report card on diabetes released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Consumption of artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose and stevia, is widespread and increasing. Emerging data indicate that artificial, or nonnutritive, sweeteners may have negative effects on metabolism, gut bacteria and appetite, although the evidence is conflicting. Related: Eating at 'wrong time' affects body weight, circadian rhythms

Physical strength might stem as much from exercising the nervous system as the muscles it controls. The findings could explain why those who lift heavier weights enjoy greater strength gains than low-load lifters despite similar growth in muscle mass.

Cells push out tiny feelers to probe their physical surroundings, but how much can these tiny sensors really discover? A new study led by Princeton University researchers and colleagues finds that the typical cell's environment is highly varied in the stiffness or flexibility of the surrounding tissue, and that to gain a meaningful amount of information about its surroundings, the cell must move around and change shape.

If you lean in for a kiss on the left you may be in the minority. A new study from an international team of psychologists and neuroscientists suggest that humans are hardwired to favour leaning to the right while kissing romantic partners, which may have wider implications for neuroscience and cognitive sciences.

The question of whether monkeys could ever talk like humans has been debated in scientific circles since the 1950s and now scientists from the U.S., Austria and Belgium claimed to have the answer—yes, physically they could, but they lack the cognitive abilities to do so.

A UK zoo is taking part in a radical plan to save the world's last three northern white rhinos from extinction. At Longleat safari park, scientists have collected eggs from southern white rhinos - a closely related sub species - to use for IVF.

No wild cat has ever been observed nursing a cub from another species – the event may be the result of the Tanzanian lioness having lost her own litter

A recent issue of Interface Focus examined the idea of convergent minds, which pertains to how distantly related species can think about problem solving in very similar ways.

Squirrels can remember problem-solving techniques for long periods and can apply them to new situations, researchers have discovered. University of Exeter scientists found grey squirrels quickly remembered how to solve a problem they had not seen for almost two years.

Ravens can solve puzzles, trick other animals into helping them out, and communicate with each other at a level even apes can’t match. And now we know they can hatch plans. Alt: Ravens can plan for future as well as 4-year-old children can

Water bears may be Earth’s last animal standing. These tough little buggers, also known as tardigrades, could keep calm and carry on until the sun boils Earth’s oceans away billions of years from now, according to a new study that examined water bears’ resistance to various astronomical disasters.

News that a slight dietary change could dramatically reduce the amount of environmentally harmful methane gas released by cattle has been given an enthusiastic welcome by Irish farmers. Researchers at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, found the addition of less than 2 per cent dried seaweed to a cow’s diet could reduce their methane emissions by as much as 99 per cent.

Regulators, take note: a new international study shows that modern diesel passenger cars emit fewer carbonaceous particulates than gasoline-powered vehicles. Related: Self-fueling boat sets off from Paris on 6-year world trip

Traffic pollution in cities can stall children's brain development and stop them from reaching their full potential, according to a Spanish study that measured air pollution in 300 classrooms.

Do we have a fundamental right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food? The idea of environmental human rights is receiving growing attention worldwide, driven by our global ecological crisis. But the United States has lagged behind in codifying these rights into laws and in successfully furthering them. Related: 'Make new rules' to save the oceans Related: Stalagmites from Iranian cave foretell grim future for Middle East climate Related: Melting ice may be making mountains collapse in Greenland Related: Warmer Arctic harms crops in US, Canada: study

When most people hear the term "CO2 emissions," they probably think of several negative things: greenhouse gas, pollutant, climate change, political discord, economic burden. But a team of researchers led by Stuart Licht, a chemistry professor at George Washington University, has a vision for transforming CO2 emissions from a pollutant into a valuable resource—all while making a potentially large net profit.

The celestial music released from the sun suggests that its outer layer has grown weaker over the years, according to new research from the United Kingdom.

NASA's Van Allen Probes have observed a new population of space sound waves, called plasmaspheric hiss, which are important in removing high-energy particles from around Earth that can damage satellites.

Scientists aren’t yet certain that electrons and their relatives are violating the Standard Model of particle physics, but the evidence is mounting For decades physicists have sought signs of misbehaving particles—evidence of subtle cracks in the “Standard Model” of particle physics

One of the most well-accepted physical theories makes no logical sense. Quantum mechanics, the theory that governs the smallest possible spaces, forces our human brains to accept some really wacky, uncomfortable realities. Maybe we live in a world where certain observations can force our universe to branch into multiple ones.

You’ve probably heard about Schrödinger’s cat, which famously is trapped in a box with a mechanism that is activated if a radioactive atom decays, releasing radiation. The act of looking in the box collapses the atom’s wave function—the mathematical description of its state—from a “superposition” of states to a definite state, which either kills the cat or lets it live another day. But did you know that if you peek into the cat box frequently—thousands of times a second—you can either delay the fateful choice or, conversely, accelerate it?

Human presence in closed habitats that may one day be used to explore other planets is associated with changes in the composition of the fungal community - the mycobiome - that grows on surfaces inside the habitat Related: NASA Just Announced They Can’t Afford to Get Humans to Mars Related: Florida Woman Finds Secret NASA Documents In Trash Outside Her Home

Pitted terrains inside fresh complex craters on Ceres are similar to terrains seen Mars and Vesta, and are likely formed through the rapid evaporation of subsurface H2O, a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Hanna G. Sizemore says. Related: Alien ice on Earth: Scientists discover how dense, extraterrestrial ice can form in just billionths of a second

The spacecraft, scheduled to launch in October 2018, will investigate the existence of water ice at Mercury’s poles and its volcanoes, and attempt to explain the surprising discovery that the solar system’s smallest planet appears to be shrinking.

Scientists have discovered mystery signals coming from a star 11 light-years away. The “very peculiar” pulses appear to be unique to the red dwarf, scientists say, with observations of similar nearby stars showing no similar behavior. Alt: Very peculiar signals are coming from a nearby star, scientists at Arecibo Observatory say

Dark stars may not just be for Grateful Dead fans anymore. In a new paper uploaded to arXiv, Rutgers University astrophysics professor Matthew R. Buckley puts forth a truly wild hypothesis: It might be possible to build worlds out of dark matter.

Pluto’s moon Charon is the best sidekick a dwarf planet could hope for: unwavering in its loyalty, content to be a minor character in somebody else’s narrative. But two years after the New Horizons flyby, the largest of Pluto’s five moons is finally getting some well-deserved time in the spotlight.

A permanent robotic mining outpost on the moon could be on the cards as early as 2020. The Florida-based company Moon Express has raised over $45 million in funding for three expeditions that will culminate in a mission to mine moon rocks and return them to Earth.

A company headed by one of the most decorated astronauts in history has proposed using nuclear-heated plasma to reach Mars. While it has been funded by NASA, is the idea viable? Elon Musk doesn't think so Related: Future Space Colony? Maybe We Should Look Beyond Mars to Saturn's Titan Moon

Scientists have identified patterns in the Earth's magnetic field that evolve on the order of 1,000 years, providing new insight into how the field works and adding a measure of predictability to changes in the field not previously known.

Scientists are rising the dead. Well, almost. Plants discovered in “ghost ponds” are being revived after lurking underground as dormant seeds for up to 150 years. These so-called ghost ponds are formed when agricultural land expansion means that existing ponds are filled in, and literally buried alive, says Emily Alderton, at University College London (UCL), who led the study.

An international team of scientists digging in a sea cave in Indonesia has discovered the world's most pristine record of tsunamis, a 5,000-year-old sedimentary snapshot that reveals for the first time how little is known about when earthquakes trigger massive waves. Related: Shells record West Antarctic glacier retreat

No viable methods exist to clean up oil from ice and drilling would occur in incredibly remote areas The warning comes as Congress prepares to open up more drilling in a region quickly being transformed by climate change.

'There comes a point when we either have to accept that the Biblical account is entirely fictional, or that we may be looking in the wrong location and for the wrong things'

There is a remarkable discovery that has not yet emerged from our renewed interest in ancient civilization. Yet few remark upon this glaring omission from the relics and records we dig up and discover. I first recognized its absence at a visit to the British Museum, and made a point of going back a few years later for another check. Their Mesopotamian rooms begin at 6500 BC, and as you wander through the exhibits and look at the artifacts and depictions of their culture there are none depicting warriors or warfare, chariots or combat, clubs or swords – for nearly four thousand years. As for kings and rulers, there was a single image thought to be a king because it looks like he’s wearing a crown. And what is this king doing? He is feeding flowers to sheep. Related: The State is Out of Date: We Can Do It Better, an interview with Gregory Sams

The ancient city of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan is considered to be the most important site connected with the great Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan civilization. When it was first discovered just under a century ago, its significance was not fully realized.

Greek authorities closed the ancient Acropolis in Athens to visitors for several hours Wednesday along with other popular archaeological sites around the country due to a heatwave.

They say the linen cloth, believed to have been used to wrap Christ's body after crucifixion, contains 'nanoparticles' which are not typical of the blood of a healthy person. Related: Could the Ark Described at Edessa Be the Biblical Ark of the Covenant?

In 1310, Malian explorers led by Mansa (King) Abubakari set sail to discover new lands across the Atlantic. A mysterious statuette was left by these ancient explorers in the Brazilian jungle. Eventually linked to the famed explorer Percy Fawcett, the artifact known as the Brazil Tablet provides intriguing evidence for a possible colony set up centuries ago by the forgotten seafarers.

To save on parchment, monks would overwrite older documents to create new ones—but a new tool can reveal what lies beneath Centuries ago medieval monks typically used iron gall ink to copy texts onto parchments made from sheepskin or cowhide.

Although the best-known mummies are the cloth-wrapped Egyptian variety so often seen in horror movies, many kinds of mummies have been found all over the world. And it’s not only the human bodies that have been preserved during the process of mummification–often human parasites are, too

Poor diet and a lack of physical activity are major contributors to the world's obesity epidemic, but researchers have also identified common environmental pollutants that could play a role. Now one team reports that small amounts of house dust containing many of these compounds can spur fat cells to accumulate more triglycerides, or fat, in a lab dish. Related: Is Your Home Too Clean for Your Child's Health? Related: Everyday chemicals linked to chronic disease in men

New research reveals that sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to air pollution, is removed from the air by concrete surfaces. Stony Brook University researcher Alex Orlov, PhD, and colleagues discovered how concrete interacts and eliminates sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Their findings, published in the July edition of the Journal of Chemical Engineering, could be a significant step toward the practice of using waste concrete to minimize air pollution. Related: How Air Pollution Is Being Turned Into Ink

Scientists have designed and constructed a prototype for a new solar cell that integrates multiple cells stacked into a single device capable of capturing nearly all of the energy in the solar spectrum. The new design converts direct sunlight to electricity with 44.5 percent efficiency, giving it the potential to become the most efficient solar cell in the world. Related: Rooftop Solar Dims Under Pressure From Utility Lobbyists

We will have to wait until the second half of the century for fusion reactors to start generating electricity, experts have announced. A new version of a European "road map" lays out the technological hurdles to be overcome if the processes powering the Sun are to be harnessed on Earth.

"The Encephalophone is a musical instrument that you control with your thoughts, without movement," explains Thomas Deuel, a neurologist at Swedish Medical Center and a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, and first author of the report.

It was one of the very first motion pictures ever made: a galloping mare filmed in 1878 by the British photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who was trying to learn whether horses in motion ever become truly airborne. Related: Gold remembers: 'shape memory' effect demonstrated in gold particles

An aspect of artificial intelligence that’s sometimes overlooked is just how good it is at creating fake audio and video that’s difficult to distinguish from reality. The advent of Photoshop got us doubting our eyes, but what happens when we can’t rely on our other senses? Related: This Wearable MRI Device Could Help Us Read Minds

A Japanese blogger has refuted a key piece of evidence in a recent History Channel documentary about the aviator's disappearance

Bone-sniffing dogs may have found the lonely spot on an deserted island where Amelia Earhart died as a castaway after she crash landed in 1937. Four border collies sniffed out the lingering scent of human remains on an uninhabited island south of her intended flight path - and researchers believe they could belong to the missing aviator or her navigator Fred Noonan.

Three years after he started to study telepathy, on August 20, 1922, Bernard Bernardovich Kazhinskiy arrived as part of a four-man delegation at the labs of Vladimir L. Durov, Russia’s most famous animal trainer. Related: Study to Prove Human Mind Not Made of Matter

Here’s one for the “It didn’t happen if there’s no video” crowd. A video making the rounds is claimed to be of a ‘we’re pretty sure it’s extinct but maybe not’ Tasmanian tiger Related: Rob Lowe Claims He and His Sons Saw Bigfoot in the Ozarks

The most recent strange 'smoke vortex' was spotted above the M62 near Birkenshaw in Yorkshire. Related: Bizarre diamond-shaped 'UFO' swallows another unidentified flying object in the night sky Related: What are they hiding? MoD finally releases UFO alien X-Files… but mystery three held back Related: Air Force Captain Claims UFO Deactivated 10 Nukes in Silos Related: 'I spoke to aliens' Woman tells of bizarre encounter after UFO 'tailed her car' Related: An alien signal? Incredible ‘rectangular moon’ sighting caused by the mixing of cold and warm air sparks conspiracy theories Related: Scientists make 'squarest' ice crystals ever

Europe has approved the launch of a deep-space observatory to sniff out habitable planets in other star systems, along with any life forms they may host.

Does humanity exist to serve some ultimate, transcendent purpose? Conventional scientific wisdom says no. As physicist Lawrence Krauss puts it in his latest book, our evolution on this planet is just a “cosmic accident”. If you believe otherwise, many would accuse you of suffering from some kind of religious delusion.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have unveiled the probe they're sending to study Mercury in 2018, tasked with figuring out why the smallest planet in the Solar System appears to be shrinking.

Scientists reveal the first detection of a molecule from Enceladus with a ground-based telescope, with implications for the search for life. Saturn's moon Enceladus has piqued scientists' interest since water-rich plumes were discovered gushing from around its south pole. The discovery was made by the Cassini spacecraft, which has since flown through the plumes and sampled organic compounds.

The planet Uranus just keeps getting weirder. The icy gas world that strangely orbits the sun on its side may also have a wonky magnetic field that constantly flickers on and off, new research suggests.

A cache of 25 Roman letters has been found at Vindolanda, the fort below Hadrian’s Wall where the most famous documents from the Roman world were discovered in 1992, first-person accounts of cold feet, beer running short, and jolly birthday parties at the northernmost edge of the empire.

Discoveries of ancient shipwrecks are always exciting, but a small number of them are truly unique in the artifacts they yield, offering up items from the past that have been preserved for centuries at the bottom of the sea. The finding of a 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck, known as the Relitto del Pozzino, which had sunk off the coast of Tuscany in Italy was one of these cases. Tucked away safely inside a sealed tin, were 5 perfectly preserved medicinal pills.

An investigation by an architectural researcher from Kumamoto University, Japan has revealed the high possibility that a wooden stage existed in the theater of the ancient Greek City of Messene during the Greek Classical period (ca. 369 BC).

Hundreds of ancient stone tombs, some made with towering, flattened rocks, have been discovered in Jebel Qurma, a desert region in Jordan that is so desolate that one early explorer called it a land of "dead fire."

Early Cornish kings feasted on a diet of oysters, roast pork and fine wine, eating and drinking from bowls imported from Turkey and glass goblets from Spain, a new dig at Tintagel Castle has suggested.

Scientists have officially verified that copper used to make Otzi the Iceman’s axe blade did not come from the Alpine region as was initially suggested, but instead it came from southern Tuscany in Italy.

A sound night's sleep grows more elusive as people get older. But what some call insomnia may actually be an age-old survival mechanism, researchers report. A study of modern hunter-gatherers in Tanzania finds that, for people who live in groups, differences in sleep patterns commonly associated with age help ensure that at least one person is awake at all times. Alt: Lark or night owl? Blame your ancestors

The secret to a good night’s sleep later in life is having a good reason to get up in the morning, according to US researchers who surveyed people on their sleeping habits and sense of purpose.

The French essayist Michel de Montaigne was apparently afraid of death until he had a near-death experience of his own. One day, he was thrown off his horse after colliding with another rider. He ended up unconscious for several hours and believed himself to be dying. Then, as he recovered from his accident, Montaigne realized that dying might not be so bad. He’d felt no pain, no fear. The limbo state of being alive while feeling dead is what he found to be most intolerable.

People who drink around three cups of coffee a day may live longer than non-coffee drinkers, a landmark study has found. Related: How alcohol during pregnancy ups baby’s addiction risk

Contemporary historians have been debating for a few years now if they should open the Speyer wine bottle, which is believed to be the world’s oldest bottle of wine. The Pfalz Historical Museum in Germany has been home to the legendary 1,650-year-old bottle that is sealed with wax and contains a white liquid. Related: Sip Like a Sumerian: Ancient Beer Recipe Recreated from Millennia-Old Cuneiform Tablets

The author of a new book titled Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Recreated is an alcohol archeologist who reveals the secrets to making some of the earliest know beers, wines and fermented alcoholic beverages. Alt: Ancient Humans Liked Getting Tipsy, Too

There's perhaps no doctor in history more famous than Hippocrates. Many medical students today still swear the ancient doctor's oath to adhere to ethical medical principles. While the details of his life are murky (it's even debated whether he wrote the oath or some of the other manuscripts that bear his name), Hippocrates is widely regarded as the "father of Western medicine."

The face of a man who died in England around 4,500 years ago has been reconstructed, revealing a "striking" image that should help humans alive today feel a personal connection, researchers said.

Hypnosis can help people stop smoking, sleep better and even undergo dental treatment without pain. But what exactly is hypnosis and what precisely happens in the brain of a hypnotised person? These questions are currently being studied by psychologists. The aim is to find comprehensive scientific answers to the questions.

A new study on decision-making in people with autism spectrum conditions has found that they are more consistent in their choices when evaluating product options.

In the late 1960s, a team of researchers began doling out a nutritional supplement to families with young children in rural Guatemala. They were testing the assumption that providing enough protein in the first few years of life would reduce the incidence of stunted growth. It did. Related: Changes in brain regions may explain why some prefer order and certainty

The are a number of reasons for this, say the report’s authors, including the ability of richer individuals to re-train for new jobs; the rising importance of “soft skills” like communication and confidence; and the reduction in the number of jobs used as “stepping stones” into professional industries.

A computer has been created that understands the body poses and movements of multiple people from video in real time -- including, for the first time, the pose of each individual's fingers.

An electric glove which can convert sign language into text messages has been unveiled by scientists. The $100 (£77) device will will allow deaf people to instantly send messages to those who don't understand sign language, according to its inventors.

Scientists have created an artificially intelligent system that is capable of producing cutting edge paintings that some consider to be better than works created by humans. How do the paintings, and other AI creations, relate to seminal criticisms of modern art?

Hiring a lawyer can be expensive, but a new robot could allow you to access the same advice for free. DoNotPay, a robot that has been helping people to dispute around 160,000 parking tickets since 2015, has expanded its capabilities this month.

From wire to finished product in less than 13 minutes: a new robot-builder is faster than most takeaways. It works by bending wire that already has motors attached into different shapes, using a process its designers call 1D printing. Once the robot has performed its job, it can simply be flattened and fed back into the system to be recycled into a new type of robot.

On Friday, 122 countries voted in favour of the "Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". This new treaty sets the international norm that nuclear weapons are no longer morally acceptable. Alt: Nations of the world agree to ban nuclear weapons – now what? Alt: The UN Passes the First-Ever Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Worldwide

While fighting climate change and providing health care are both just too economically burdensome for America, members of the House believe there’s still enough cash to fund a space army that would fight off... the space enemies?

Sealed behind the steel doors of two bunkers in a Beijing suburb, university students are trying to find out how it feels to live in a space station on another planet, recycling everything from plant cuttings to urine.

Researchers in China have teleported a photon from the ground to a satellite orbiting more than 500 kilometers above Teleportation has become a standard operation in quantum optics labs around the world. The technique relies on the strange phenomenon of entanglement. This occurs when two quantum objects, such as photons, form at the same instant and point in space and so share the same existence. In technical terms, they are described by the same wave function.

The sunspot, dubbed AR2665, is 74,560 miles (120,000 kilometres) wide – big enough to be seen from Earth. Experts have warned that the spot is large enough to produce 'M-class' solar flares, which can cause radio blackouts on Earth, knock out communications satellites and create radiation storms.

Corals that live up to hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface have worked out a special arrangement with algae that’s mutually beneficial for the two.