Cutting through ancient evidence of human tool use

The earliest evidence of human tool use may be written on the bones of other animals, but in order to produce reliable conclusions, researchers are calling for improved tools and analysis, including an easy-to-access large ...

Analytical standards needed for 'reading' Pliocene bones

Researchers studying human origins should develop standards for determining whether markings on fossil bones were made by stone tools or by biting animals, Indiana University faculty member Jackson Njau writes in an article ...

Exploding dinosaur hypothesis implodes

Exploding carcasses through putrefaction gases - this is how science explained the mysterious bone arrangements in almost fully preserved dinosaur skeletons for decades. Now a Swiss-German research team has proved that these ...

Mechanism for Burgess Shale-type preservation

The Burgess Shale of British Columbia is arguably the most important fossil deposit in the world, providing an astounding record of the Cambrian "Explosion," the rapid flowering of complex life from single-celled ancestors. ...

Tree resin captures evolution of feathers on dinosaurs and birds

Secrets from the age of the dinosaurs are usually revealed by fossilized bones, but a University of Alberta research team has turned up a treasure trove of Cretaceous feathers trapped in tree resin. The resin turned to resilient ...

Handier than Homo habilis?

The versatile hand of Australopithecus sediba makes a better candidate for an early tool-making hominin than the hand of Homo habilis.

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