Friday, March 27, 2015

In the News: Secrets in the Soil


Fig.1. This cast of the 'Nariokotome Boy' (Homo ergaster) might inform us on why early human relatives migrated to Eurasia (Credit: Jay Stock)

This week’s #FollowFriday brings us underground and into the world of soil samples and fossil studies. Read to learn about the future of antibiotics, a mysterious group of mammals, motivations behind human migration, and more:


  • In addition to classifying Darwin’s mysterious fossils, these scientists are using ancient proteins to study samples which date back much further than ancient DNA has ever reached: “Mystery Of Darwin’s ‘Strange Animals’ Solved,” Nature (18 March 2015)


  • The discovery of a plaza dating to about 950 B.C. challenges previously held beliefs on how a society transitions from hunting and gathering to a sedentary, agrarian lifestyle: “Archeologists Discover Maya ‘Melting Pot,’” EurekAlert (23 March 2015)

  • Skeletal measurements of ancient human relatives and modern hunter-gatherers reveal that diverse body types arose much earlier than expected in human evolution: “Earliest Humans Had Diverse Body Types Too,” Science Codex (27 March 2015)

No comments :

Post a Comment