Buried microbes exist at limit between life and death
Sediment 30 metres below the Pacific seafloor is so nutrient-poor that microbes barely fuel their cellular functions – yet they may be thousands of years old. Read more…
Image: Hans Røy/Science/AAAS
Will our technology kill humanity?
Fred Guterl tries to kill off humankind in a series of apocalyptic thought experiments in The Fate of the Species, but falls short of annihilation. Read more…
Image: Razza Mathadsa
read moreThe scars of size in Australopithecus
Australopithecus africanus had a small brain, but a new finding suggests it might already have adopted some of the characteristics of the bigger-brained Homo genus. Read more…
Image: M. Ponce de León and Ch. Zollikofer, University of Zurich
read moreChimp beds hint how early humans ditched tree-sleeping
Evidence that some chimps routinely eschew the safety of treetops to sleep on the ground raises the possibility that some early hominins did too. Read more…
Image: Martin Pettitt
read moreAsh traces hint at cave cuisine 1 million years ago
The record of our ancestors’ earliest fires has been pushed back, reigniting the debate over whether human anatomy was changed by cooking. Read more…
Image: M. Chazan
Fossil raindrops reveal Earth’s early atmosphere
Analysis of a fossilised rain shower suggests air density on early Earth was similar to now, confounding explanations for the “faint sun paradox”. Read more…
Image: John-Morgan