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An improvement in the dating of fossils suggests that the Neanderthals, a heavily muscled, thick-boned human species adapted to living in ice age Europe, perished almost immediately on contact with the modern humans who started to enter Europe from the Near East about 44,000 years ago. Until now bones from several Neanderthal sites have been dated to as young as 29,000 years ago, suggesting there was extensive overlap between the two human species. This raised the question of whether there had been interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals, an issue that is still not resolved. RSS Feed RSS Get Science News...

The first modern people evolved in southern Africa more than 60,000 years ago - and not in the east of the continent as most scientists believe, a study concludes. After analysing DNA samples from 27 populations in modern-day Africa, researchers say the most likely location for the 'cradle of humanity' is the Kalahari desert region of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The modern-day click-speaking bushman from the desert show the greatest genetic diversity of any Africans - suggesting that their home was the birthplace of the first true Homo sapiens. Originators: The home of the modern day click-speaking bushman in...

Humans, versus other great apes, are built for running fast and long as opposed to very impressive strength, but what about Neanderthals? If a modern human and a Neanderthal competed in a marathon, who would win? (Comparison of Neanderthal and Modern Human skeletons. Credit: K. Mowbray, Reconstruction: G. Sawyer and B. Maley, Copyright: Ian Tattersall) In a short sprint, the Neanderthal might have had a chance, but most fit humans would always win longer races, suggests new research accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Evolution. Anthropologist David Raichlen of the University of Arizona and his colleagues determined that...

A new University of Florida study following the evolution of lice shows modern humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago, a technology which enabled them to successfully migrate out of Africa. Principal investigator David Reed, associate curator of mammals at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, studies lice in modern humans to better understand human evolution and migration patterns. His latest five-year study used DNA sequencing to calculate when clothing lice first began to diverge genetically from human head lice. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study is available online and appears in this...

Genetically modified crops may have once been cutting edge, but now there is a new frontier - genetically modified animals.

Scientists say an entirely separate type of human identified from bones in Siberia co-existed and interbred with our own species.The ancient humans have been dubbed "Denisovans" after the caves in Siberia where their remains were found. There is also evidence that this population was widespread in Eurasia. A study in Nature journal shows that Denisovans co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our species - perhaps around 50,000 years ago. An international group of researchers sequenced a complete genome from one of the ancient hominins (human-like creatures), based on nuclear DNA extracted from a finger bone.

Harvard scientists were surprised that they saw a dramatic reversal, not just a slowing down, of the ageing in mice. Now they believe they might be able to regenerate human organs Scientists claim to be a step closer to reversing the ageing process after rejuvenating worn out organs in elderly mice. The experimental treatment developed by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies. The surprise recovery of the animals has raised hopes among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat...

A new study published in the peer reviewed journal Climate Change revealed that the phenomenon of global warming is likely to lead to lower human death rates. The research by professors Christidis, Donaldson, and Stott found that 0.7 deaths per million persons per year could be attributed to higher temperatures in the hottest areas, while 85 deaths per million persons per year could be attributed to lower temperatures in the coldest areas. For every one life lost due to increased heat 121 lives are saved. Climate guru Al Gore challenged the premises of the research as “possibly racist and most...

Obama Admin Okays Second Trial of Embryonic-Like Stem Cells in Humans Washington, DC -- The Obama administration today approved the second trial involving the use of human embryonic stem cells on patients despite significant problems in animal studies. http://LifeNews.com/bio-3216

Humans were problem for Discovery Channel attackerBy Gary Harmon Sunday, September 5, 2010 Well, that’s one way to reduce the surplus population. Al Gore acolyte James J. Lee managed to get himself offed by a police sharpshooter after taking over the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., on Wednesday. No word on whether the sharpshooter used EPA-approved ammunition in the job, not that it should matter. In some quarters, though, such issues weigh heavily. Wouldn’t want the lethal projectile to harm the environment, after all. Lee, it turns out, might be one who would have wished to be ushered...

Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with. In an experiment involving lab rats, sex was correlated with adult brain growth. Since previous studies have shown that stressful, unpleasant situations can hinder brain growth, researchers from Princeton University wanted to see if stressful but pleasurable situations -- like sex -- would achieve the opposite effect. So, they divided male lab rats into three groups: The rats in one group were given sex partners daily, the second group got set up with female companionship once every two weeks and the third group got nothing at all. The rats that...

FDA OKs First Embryonic Stem Cell Research Trial on Humans, Despite Concerns Washington, DC -- The Obama administration has approved the bid by cloning company Geron to undertake the first trial involving the use of embryonic stem cells in humans. They have never been used before in people because the cells cause tumors and have immune system rejection issues when tried in animals. http://LifeNews.com/bio3137.html

This video is from Russia, but I cannot say what city it is in. What you will see is a pack of wild dogs going after a women. Worry not though, because just when it seems there will be no hope for her, a man comes out with a shovel to save her from the dogs. Follow the link below to see the incredible video of a Woman Getting Attacked by Pack of Wild Dogs, Then Saved by Man

It will go down as a landmark decision. U.S. District Judge OIiver W. Wagner ruled this week that people have rights. That may sound a bit daffy but in the wacky world of California water politics people take second class citizen status behind fish and even vegetation. In a nutshell, Wagner ruled that federal water officials must consider humans along with fish when it comes to divvying up how California’s most precious resource – water – is discharged or moved through the Delta. The judge also directed the federal government to stop using what he termed “guestimations” instead of precise...

The new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the two-million-year-old skeleton of a child is unveiled this week. Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis. Experts who have seen the skeleton say it shares characteristics with Homo habilis, whose emergence 2.5 million years ago is seen as a key stage in the evolution of our species. The new discovery could help to rewrite...

Link only - Humans must be to blame for climate change, say scientists

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have sequenced the DNA from four frozen hairs of a Greenlander who died 4,000 years ago in a study they say takes genetic technology into several new realms. Surprisingly, the long-dead man appears to have originated in Siberia and is unrelated to modern Greenlanders, Morten Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues found. "This provides evidence for a migration from Siberia into the New World some 5,500 years ago, independent of that giving rise to the modern Native Americans and Inuit," the researchers wrote in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Not only can...

Bird influenza viruses have a variety of strategies to cross the species barrier and spreadThe 2009 H1N1 influenza virus used a new strategy to cross from birds into humans, a warning that it has more than one trick up its sleeve to jump the species barrier and become virulent. In a report in this week's early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, researchers show that the H1N1, or swine flu, virus adopted a new mutation in one of its genes distinct from the mutations found in previous flu viruses, including...

We are currently the only human species alive, but as recently as 24,000 years ago another one walked the earth — the Neanderthals. These extinct humans were the closest relatives we had, and tantalizing new hints from researchers suggest that we might have been intimately close indeed. The mystery of whether Neanderthals and us had sex might be solved if the entire Neanderthal genome is reported soon as expected. The matter of why they died and we succeeded, however, remains an open question. Maybe not nasty and brutish, but still short Why did Neanderthals go extinct? Roughly 30,000 years ago,...

Humans are unusual animals by any stretch of the imagination, ones that have changed the face of the world around us. What makes us so special when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom? Some things we take completely for granted might surprise you. -