Early Celts from the Heuneburg settlement may have enjoyed Mediterranean wine well before they began importing Mediterranean drinking vessels — and this special drink may have been available to all in the community, according to a new study.
Read moreThere are over 500,000 plant species in the world today. They all evolved from a common ancestor. How this leap in biodiversity happened is still unclear. Researchers now present the results of a unique project on the evolution of plants. Using genetic data from 1,147 species the team created the most comprehensive evolutionary tree for green plants to date.
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The evolution of dietary and hygienic habits in Western countries is associated with a decrease in the bacteria that help in digestion. These very bacteria were also found in the Iceman, who lived 5300 years ago, and are still present in non-Westernized populations in various parts of the world. The depletion of the microbiome may be associated with the increased prevalence, in Western countries, of complex conditions like allergies, autoimmune and gastrointestinal diseases, obesity.
Scientists have found a new species of choanoflagellate. This close relative of animals forms sheets of cells that 'flip' inside-out in response to light, alternating between a cup-shaped feeding form and a ball-like swimming form. The organism could offer clues about animals' early evolution.
Read moreAn engineering professor and her former Ph.D. student share a new, more accurate method for modeling evolutionary change.
Read moreResearchers discovered that the human diet — a result of increased meat consumption, cooking and agriculture — has led to stark differences in the saliva of humans compared to that of other primates.
Read moreAn international research team led by scientists from McMaster University has unearthed new evidence in Greece proving that the island of Naxos was inhabited by Neanderthals and earlier humans at least 200,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years earlier than previously believed.
Read moreResearchers present new insights into the development of the human brain and differences in this process compared to other great apes. The study reveals features of brain development that are unique to humans, and outlines how these processes have diverged from those in other primates.
Read moreThe human brain is about three times the size of the brains of great apes. This has to do, among other things, with the evolution of novel brain structures that enabled complex behaviors such as language and tool production. A study by anthropologists now shows that changes in the brain occurred independent of evolutionary rearrangements of the braincase.
Read moreAn international team of researchers has published a new study examining a 430,000-year-old cranium of a human ancestor that was previously described as deaf, representing the oldest case of deafness in human prehistory.
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