Squid-like creature that looked like a giant paperclip lived 200 years
An ancient squid-like animal with a shell that looked like a 1.5-metre-long paperclip may have typically lived for 200 years. Image: Linda Invany
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Author: Colin
Earth’s tectonic plates may have sped up three times in its past
At three moments in the past, Earth’s geological activity picked up the pace. Its tectonic plates moved 30 to 50 per cent faster than normal, and there were bursts of volcanic activity and mountain building that helped create supercontinents. Image: NASA Johnson
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Drought once shut down Old Faithful—and might again
Old Faithful wasn’t always so faithful. The geyser, in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, is famous because it blasts hot water tens of meters into the air at regular intervals. Now, geologists examining petrified wood from the park have found evidence that 800 years ago, Old Faithful stopped erupting entirely for several decades. Image: Photomatt28
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3000-year-old leather balls found in graves may be for ancient sport
The first ball games in Eurasia may have been played 3000 years ago, according to a new analysis of three leather balls unearthed in an ancient cemetery in northern China. One of the men buried with a leather ball also sported the world’s earliest known pair of trousers, which he may have worn while playing. Image: Patrick Wertmann
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500-year-old remains may be first African woman to reach the Americas
A 15th-century skeleton buried at the first European settlement in the Americas probably belonged to an unknown African woman, an analysis of her teeth suggests. The woman died in her mid-20s, within about five years of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas. Image: smashz
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