Scotland’s Stone Age graves reveal ‘web of descent’ between male relatives

Stone Age people in northern Scotland buried related men, rather than women, together in the same graves, creating a “web of descent” at several Neolithic sites, new DNA research has revealed. In the study, published in the journal Antiquity on Tuesday (April 14), researchers analyzed DNA from 22 people taken from five graves in Caithness […]

Preservative-resistant bacteria spread through hospital air, early research suggests

Common disinfectants used to clean the skin of hospitalized patients can remain on surfaces for hours, creating a breeding ground for bacteria to become resistant to or become resistant to chemicals that would normally kill them. When bacteria develops “resistance,” they can survive certain concentrations of chemicals more easily than other bacteria, but can usually […]

Homo erectus’ tools contained impressive geodes and fossils, perhaps as a way to connect with the universe, study finds

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed 10 “very unusual” prehistoric stone hatchets that were intentionally made to incorporate fossils, geodes and other geological features, a new study has found. The researchers suggested that the hatchets were probably created by Homo erectus between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago, because our ancestors believed these objects were imbued with potency […]