The ancient North American city of Cahokia had as its focal point a feature now known as Monks Mound, a giant earthwork surrounded on its north, south, east and west by large rectangular open areas. These flat zones, called plazas by archaeologists since the early 1960s, were thought to serve as communal areas that served the many mounds and structures of the city. The study focused on the north plaza, an expanse at a low elevation that is almost always inundated with water [Credit: Caitlin Rankin] New paleoenvironmental analyses of the north plaza suggest it was almost always unde ..read more

Maritime archaeologists from Bournemouth University have uncovered the remains of a medieval ship and its cargo dating back to the 13th century off the coast of Dorset. The survival of the vessel is extremely rare and there are no known wrecks of seagoing ships from the 11th to the 14th centuries in English waters. The discovery makes this the earliest English designated wreck site where hull remains can be seen. Diver viewing a decorated Purbeck stone gravestone on the 13th century 'Mortar Wreck', Poole Bay, Dorset [Credit: Bournemouth University] The ship was discovered in Poole ..read more

Endothermy, or warm-bloodedness, is the ability of mammals and birds to produce their own body heat and control their body temperature.  A warm-blooded mammal ancestor breathing out hot hair in a frigid night [Credit: Luzia Soares] This major difference with the cold-blooded reptiles underpins the ecological dominance of mammals in almost every ecosystem globally. Until now, it was not known exactly when endothermy originated in mammalian ancestry. A team of international scientists, including researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesbu ..read more

Evolution has long been viewed as a rather random process, with the traits of species shaped by chance mutations and environmental events -- and therefore largely unpredictable. Similar leaf types evolved independently in three species of plants found in cloud forests of Oaxaca,  Mexico and three species of plants in similar environment in Chiapas, Mexico. This example of  parallel evolution is one of several found by Yale-led scientists and suggests that evolution may be predictable [Credit: Yale University] But an international team of scientists led by researchers from ..read more

It took several hundred million years after the formation of Earth some 4½ billion years ago for the initially fiery globe to cool down, allowing the first oceans and land masses to form. The land was barren rock for the next three billion years. The diversity of flora and fauna as we know them today and the substrate on which they thrive are  thanks to a single species of algae that first went ashore more than 500 million years ago. This and all other drawings in the publication are by the paper’s first author, Dr. Mona Schreiber [Credit: HHU/Mona Schreiber] The blue planet w ..read more

An international team of 40 researchers analyzed the genomes—the complete set of DNA—of all living and recently extinct penguin species and combined this with the fossil record to gain new insights into the key events and processes that shaped the evolution of these iconic birds. The study, published in Nature Communications, is the first comprehensive genetic study involving extinct and extant (living) penguin species. Adelie penguin at Rothera Research Station [Credit: Billy Thursfield] The study revealed that penguin evolution was driven by changes in climate, and ocean currents ..read more

The evolution of the brain and nervous system in animals has been wound back more than 400 million years, thanks to the examination of fossil remains of ancient lungfish providing a missing link in the emergence of land-living, four-legged animals on Earth. Cranial endocast of a Palaeozoic lungfish [Credit: A Clement, Flinders University] An international study, led by Flinders University in Australia, has compared detailed 3D models of cranial endocasts from six Paleozoic lungfish (Dipnoi) fossils to the brain spaces of the surviving sister group of land vertebrates, to better und ..read more

A new study describes the formation of the body axis in the immortal freshwater polyp Hydra. It is controlled by the so-called hippo signalling pathway, a molecular biological process that, among other functions, ensures that our organs do not continue to grow indefinitely. The study was led by the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto and the Washington University School of Medicine. The Department of Zoology of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, was significantly involved in the research and provided important data. A Hydra with a faulty Hippo pathway, leading to defor ..read more

Fossils discovered in Scotland represent some of the world's oldest salamanders, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Artist's impression of Marmorerpeton wakei [Credit: Brennan Stokkermans] The research team analyzed 166-million-year-old fossils of a type of animal called Marmorerpeton, found in Middle Jurassic rocks on the Isle of Skye. They found that it has several key salamander traits, but is not part of the modern group of salamanders. Their results are reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The specimen is believed to be the oldest salaman ..read more

The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly in modern Iraqi Kurdistan was one of the major regional centres of the Parthian Empire, which extended over parts of Iran and Mesopotamia approximately 2,000 years ago. This is a conclusion reached by a team of archaeologists led by Dr Michael Brown, a researcher at the Institute of Prehistory, Protohistory and Near-Eastern Archaeology of Heidelberg University. Together with Iraqi colleagues, Brown studied the remains of the fortress. Their work provides important insights into the settlement structures and history of the Parthians, about whom there is ..read more