Category Archives: Evolution

Humans and Neanderthals ‘co-existed in Europe for far longer than thought’

Posted on by

Cave objects suggest modern humans and Neanderthals shared continent for several thousand years

Modern humans were present in Europe at least 46,000 years ago, according to new research on objects found in Bulgaria, meaning they overlapped with Neanderthals for far longer than previously thought.

Researchers say remains and tools found at a cave called Bacho Kiro reveal that modern humans and Neanderthals were present at the same time in Europe for several thousand years, giving them ample time for biological and cultural interaction.

Continue reading...

Scientists digitally reconstruct skulls of dinosaurs in fossilised eggs

Posted on by

Research on Massospondylus carinatus embryos sheds new light on animals’ development

The fossilised skulls of dinosaur embryos that died within their eggs about 200m years ago, have been digitally reconstructed by scientists, shedding new light on the animals’ development, and how close they were to hatching.

The rare clutch of seven eggs, some of which contain embryos, was discovered in South Africa in 1976, with the developing young found to be a species of dinosaur called Massospondylus carinatus.

Continue reading...

Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say

Posted on by

Discovery adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals were very similar to modern humans

Neanderthals made extensive use of coastal environments, munching on fish, crabs and mussels, researchers have found, in the latest study to reveal similarities between modern humans and our big-browed cousins.

Until now, many Neanderthal sites had shown only small-scale use of marine resources; for example, scattered shells. But now archaeologists have excavated a cave on the coast of Portugal and discovered a huge, structured deposit of remains, including from mussels and limpets, dating to between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago.

Continue reading...

Fossil hunters find evidence of 555m-year-old human relative

Posted on by

Ikaria wariootia is half the size of a grain of rice and an early example of a bilateral organism

It might not show much of a family resemblance but fossil hunters say a newly discovered creature, that looks like a teardrop-shaped jellybean and is about half the size of a grain of rice, is an early relative of humans and a vast array of other animals.

The team discovered the fossils in rocks in the outback of South Australia that are thought to be at least 555m years old.

Continue reading...

‘Wonderchicken’: oldest fossil of modern bird discovered

Posted on by

Tiny creature, half the size of a mallard, found in rocks dating back to dinosaur age

Experts have discovered a fossil of the world’s oldest known modern bird – a diminutive creature about half the size of a mallard duck.

Dubbed the Wonderchicken, the remains were found in rocks dating to about 66.8m to 66.7m years ago, revealing that the bird was active shortly before the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 66m years ago.

Continue reading...

Bad luck may have caused Neanderthals’ extinction – study

Posted on by

Homo sapien invasion may not have prompted Neanderthals’ demise 40,000 years ago

Perhaps it wasn’t our fault after all: research into the demise of the Neanderthals has found that rather than being outsmarted by Homo sapiens, our burly, thick-browed cousins may have gone extinct through bad luck alone.

The Neanderthal population was so small at the time modern humans arrived in Europe and the Near East that inbreeding and natural fluctuations in birth rates death rates and sex ratios could have finished them off, the scientists claim.

Continue reading...

Who’s the daddy? Paternity mixed up in cities, study finds

Posted on by

Illegitimacy more likely over past 500 years among urban poor, say geneticists

The Romans had a phrase that summed it up nicely: mater semper certa est, pater semper incertus est. The mother is always certain, the father is always uncertain.

Now, researchers have found that some people have more reason to doubt their fathers than others, or at least have had over the past half millennium.

Continue reading...

Ancient Australia was home to ‘strange’ marsupial giants, scientists find

Posted on by

Researchers are building a picture of palorchestids, which had tapir-like skulls and large scimitar-like claws

The “strange” anatomy of a family of giant marsupials that roamed eastern Australia and Tasmania for much of the past 25m years has been revealed in a new study.

Scientists had already figured out that palorchestids had tapir-like skulls and large “scimitar-like claws”, but little was known about the limbs of one of the “strangest marsupial lineages to have existed”, according to the paper published by a group of Australian researchers.

Continue reading...

Neanderthal footprints found in France offer snapshot of their lives

Posted on by

Scientists find 257 prints that were preserved in wind-driven sand 80,000 years ago

Scientists have found hundreds of perfectly preserved footprints, providing evidence that Neanderthals walked the Normandy coast in France.

The prints suggest a group of 10-13 individuals, mostly children and adolescents, were on the shoreline 80,000 years ago.

Continue reading...

New species of stegosaurus uncovered in Moroccan dig

Posted on by

Scientists believe dinosaur dates back to 168m years ago during the middle Jurassic period

A new species of one of the most recognisable types of dinosaur is also the oldest of its kind ever discovered, British scientists believe.

Remains of a stegosaurus, an armoured dinosaur instantly recognisable by the plate-like bones protruding from its spine and spikes on its tails, were studied by a team from the Natural History Museum and belong to a new genus that walked the earth around 168m years ago.

Continue reading...

Piece of skull found in Greece ‘is oldest human fossil outside Africa’

Posted on by

Remains discovered on Mani peninsula could rewrite history of Homo sapiens in Eurasia

A broken skull chiselled from a lump of rock in a cave in Greece is the oldest modern human fossil ever found outside Africa, researchers claim.

The partial skull was discovered in the Apidima cave on the Mani peninsula of the southern Peloponnese and has been dated to be at least 210,000 years old.

Continue reading...

Exploding stars led to humans walking on two legs, radical study suggests

Posted on by

Scientists say surge of radiation led to lightning causing forest fires, making adaptation vital

It was the evolutionary leap that defined the species: while other apes ambled around on all fours, the ancestors of humans rose up on two legs and, from that lofty position, went on to conquer the world.

The benefits of standing tall in the African savannah are broadly nailed down, but what prompted our distant forebears to walk upright is far from clear. Now, in a radical proposal, US scientists point to a cosmic intervention: protohumans had a helping hand from a flurry of exploding stars, they say.

Continue reading...

‘Spectacular’ jawbone discovery sheds light on ancient Denisovans

Posted on by

Scientists extract proteins from a molar to uncover details of mysterious species’ origins

A human jawbone found in a cave on the Tibetan plateau has revealed new details about the appearance and lifestyle of a mysterious ancient species called Denisovans.

The 160,000-year-old fossil, comprising a powerful jaw and unusually large teeth, suggests these early relatives would have looked something like the most primitive of the Neanderthals. The discovery also shows that Denisovans lived at extremely high altitude and, through interbreeding, may have passed on gene adaptations for this lifestyle to modern-day Sherpas in the region.

Continue reading...

New species of ancient human discovered in Philippines cave

Posted on by

Homo luzonensis fossils found in Luzon island cave, dating back up to 67,00 years

A new species of ancient human, thought to have been under 4ft tall and adapted to climbing trees, has been discovered in the Philippines, providing a twist in the story of human evolution.

The specimen, named Homo luzonensis, was excavated from Callao cave on Luzon island in the northern Philippines and has been dated to 50,000-67,000 years ago – when our own ancestors and the Neanderthals were spreading across Europe and into Asia.

Continue reading...

‘Mindblowing’ haul of fossils over 500m years old unearthed in China

Posted on by

Thousands of fossils date back to huge burst in diversity of life on Earth known as Cambrian explosion

A “mindblowing” haul of fossils that captures the riot of evolution that kickstarted the diversity of life on Earth more than half a billion years ago has been discovered by researchers in China.

Paleontologists found thousands of fossils in rocks on the bank of the Danshui river in Hubei province in southern China, where primitive forms of jellyfish, sponges, algae, anemones, worms and arthropods with thin whip-like feelers were entombed in an ancient underwater mudslide.

Continue reading...

Why the zebra got its stripes: to deter flies from landing on it

Posted on by

Pattern seems to confuse flies, researchers who dressed horses up as zebras find

The mystery of how the zebra got its stripes might have been solved: researchers say the pattern appears to confuse flies, discouraging them from touching down for a quick bite.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, involved horses, zebras, and horses dressed as zebras. The team said the research not only supported previous work suggesting stripes might act as an insect deterrent, but helped unpick why, revealing the patterns only produced an effect when the flies got close.

Continue reading...

Ancient rock wiggles could be earliest trace of moving organism

Posted on by

Scientists say 2.1bn-year-old fossils may show evidence of self-propelled motion

A collection of short wiggly structures discovered in ancient rocks could be the earliest fossilised traces of organisms able to move themselves, scientists say.

If scientists are correct, the 2.1bn-year-old structures point to an earlier origin than generally thought for eukaryotes – cells with a membrane-bound nucleus and which make up plants, animals and fungi – previouslybelieved to have first emerged about 1.8bn years ago. It also pushes back the earliest evidence of self-propelled movement of eukaryotes by 1.5bn years – scooping the title from far younger multicellular lifeforms – and would be the first clear signs of motility for any type of organism.

Continue reading...

‘Like finding a sneeze’: fossil identified as 100m-year-old hagfish

Posted on by

Discovery of slimy sea creature could help settle row over early evolution of vertebrates

The fossilised remains of a foot-long slimy sea creature dating from 100m years ago suggest that the last common ancestor of all vertebrates looked less like a squishy eel and more typically “fish-like”, researchers claim.

They say the fossil, unearthed around eight years ago in Lebanon, is an early hagfish, a peculiar creature that has no jaws, eyes or true vertebrae but that boasts the ability, when threatened, to squirt out a mixture that turns into an expanse of slime.

Continue reading...