Gemma Tarlach
Unraveling the genetic mystery of Skeleton Lake, an ancient Indian site filled with hundreds of human bones
At the mysterious Skeleton Lake in northern India, the dead are talking, revealing surprises through centuries-old DNA. And it’s not ...
Mushrooms protect honey bee from disease-carrying Varroa mite, study shows
It’s not easy being a bee these days. Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee, is crucial to agriculture worldwide but faces ...
Jack of all environments: Is this why Homo sapiens survived and thrived?
When paleoanthropologists and archaeologists define what makes our species unique, they usually focus on our use of symbolism and language, ...
What genetics tell us about the evolution of wolves to dogs
Who’s a good dog? The very first dogs, apparently, as a new genetic study reveals the sequence of events, begun ...
Humans have always been overwhelmingly right-handed. We still aren’t sure why.
Nine out of 10 humans are considered right-handed. “It doesn’t matter where you find them, humans have that ratio,” says ...
Preserved fatty tissues found in 48-million-year-old bird fossil
[R]esearchers have confirmed that fatty tissues were still identifiable in the partial fossil of a 48-million-year-old bird. The new research hints ...
Oldest African DNA found in Malawi cave fills some of human ancestry’s ‘crucial gaps’
A great irony about Africa is that, even though it’s the birthplace of our species, we know almost nothing about ...
To acquire all blood diet, vampire bats lost genes for bitter taste
Vampire bats have lousy taste. But they’re not bitter about it. According to research published today in Proceedings of the ...
Mitochondria may be impaired in vets with Gulf War Sydrome
Doctors have struggled for decades to find a cause for a host of debilitating health problems experienced by veterans of ...
Virologists study H7N9 flu family tree to predict pandemic threat
Influenza virus H7N9 may be the next virus most likely to cause a pandemic. Earlier this year, the previously unknown avian ...