2+ week, 5+ day ago   (1705+ words) DNA stored in ancient scat shows the Yukon rodents ate their way through the food chain Researcher Danielle Grant studies ancient genomes. Here, she loads fecal samples into a centrifuge — a spinning device that separates materials — to extract ancient DNA…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago   (838+ words) Ancient trash heaps offer rare glimpses into day-to-day life of ancient people or animals Studying the discarded shells of this ancient dump site — called a midden — in Tasmania, Australia, helped modern archeologists learn about the diets of ancient Aboriginal people....

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (748+ words) Cave dirt suggests one of our ancestor species had been using fire nearly 1.8 million years ago New evidence of early fire use comes from South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave, which was inhabited by groups of Homo erectus between 1.8 million and 900,000 years…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago   (1433+ words) A special wax in the ‘crib’ seems to help larvae develop into royals A queen honeybee clings to the peanut-shaped wax of her cell. New research finds that this wax helps shape whether a bee becomes a commoner or a…...