The human evolutionary tree is looking more tangled than ever: as many as six species of human-like apes were around during the crucial period from 2.5 to 1.8 million years ago when the first upright apes with relatively large brains evolved – and the one that gave rise to modern humans may have lived not in East Africa but in the south. Image: Lee Berger
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Rice could be fertile territory for battery development. The silica-rich husks left over when rice is harvested are normally turned into fertiliser additives, but there is a better solution. The abundant waste product could be converted into electrodes with the power to extend the lifetime of the next generation of batteries. Image: offal goat
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Orang-utans may be perfectly adapted for swinging through trees, but new observations suggest they also spend a surprising amount of time hanging out on the ground. The finding could have implications for conserving the endangered species – and perhaps help efforts to understand why our ancient ancestors left the trees. Image: Brent Loken
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Not content with being the fastest mover on the planet, the Anna’s hummingbird is also the fastest shaker. An ultra-slow-mo camera that can shoot at up to 650,000 frames per second has caught the birds performing a micro-shimmy that is 10 times faster than a dog shakes after a bath. Image: David Hofmann
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Flowers have gone hand in hand with death for at least 13,000 years. The remains of colourful and fragrant blooms have been found in Stone Age Natufian graves, providing the latest evidence that the eastern Mediterranean culture marked a turning point in the birth of the modern society. Image: E. Gernstein
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