Where did Homo erectus first appear?
The antedating of two fossils of Homo erectus -- our immediate ancestors -- has shaken a long-held belief that humans originated in Africa
Evolution with full stops and commas
Darwinian sapience takes a beating as the notion of 'punctuated equilibrium' - which postulates that evolution occurred in sudden fits and starts -…
Ancestral relations
The recent discovery of 800,000-year-old fossils may provide an insight into the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals
Faking history
Most fossils, repositories of early life on Earth, may not be fossils at all. Existing evolutionary theories stand to lose ground
The last fetter
-- involving use of symbolic communication -- there is evidence that our ancestors could speak.
What would it mean to decolonise palaeontology? Here are some ideas
Nobody knows what decolonised palaeontology will look like but part of it must acknowledge Africa’s original fossil hunters, without&…
Scientists find nine-million-year-old ape fossils in Himachal Pradesh
Scientists discovered the surprise fossil during an excavation in Haritalyangar in Shiwalik hills region in Himachal Pradesh
Fossil evidence reveals that cancer in humans goes back 1.7 million years
Cancer is not the modern disease many believe it to be. New fossil evidence from two South African caves suggests that its origins lie deep in …
Happy threesome?
Three human species which scientists earlier believed came one after the other, may have actually coexisted in Java
The heart says it all
Scientists stumble upon a dinosaur fossil that could change theories of the animal's physiology
Fossil footprints give glimpse of how ancient climate change drove the rise of reptiles
A set of fossils that lay forgotten in a museum are revealing new secrets about Britain's prehistoric wildlife
Rock stars
Book>> Written in Stone, the Hidden Secrets of Fossils and the Story of Life on Earth • by Brian Switek • Icon Books • Rs 5,499
Miniature mammoths
Smaller version of mammoths may have inhabited Egypt long after they were thought to have become extinct
Bees before blossoms
A new finding suggests that bees may have been around about 100 million years before flowering plants appeared
Pre-history revisited
The discovery of fossil tracks in Madhya Pradesh by an Indian scientist may turn back life's clock by 500 million years
Tales in stone
Palaeontologists have found what they had been looking for: a near-perfect dinosaur fossil from the Jurassic Age. They might finally be able to …
The missing link
Why do humans have such large brains? Switching over to eating meat may have been responsible
The feather link
A recently found dinosaur fossil reinforces the theory that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs
Did dinosaurs go extinct due to malaria?
A new research shows that the first vertebrate hosts of malaria were reptiles including dinosaurs
Biological Big Bang was briefer than believed
New fossils discovered in Siberia indicate that marine life evolved over much less time than thought by scientists.
Bear truths
THE CAVE BEAR STORY: LIFE AND DEATH OF A VANISHED ANIMAL Bjorn Kurten - Columbia University Press - Unpriced
Greenland fossil find may force rethink on origin of life
Discovered four years ago, the finds were not publicised at that time as geologists led by Allen P Nutman of the University of Wollongong in …
Enigmatic human fossil jawbone may be evidence of an early Homo sapiens presence in Europe — and adds mystery about who those humans were
In contrast to earlier analyses, the Banyoles jawbone was found to be most similar to Homo sapiens fossils, not Neandertals
How do you weigh a dinosaur? There are two ways, and it turns out they’re both right
An animal’s body mass is a fundamental property of its biology. It dictates what an animal can eat, how far and fast it can move, and how …
Did scientists just discover the world’s oldest fungi?
It is an indication that life-forms evolved to survive deep under the sea, without access to either light or oxygen
