6February2012

A new CNN/ORC poll on evolution

A new CNN/ORC poll included a question about evolution, with few surprises in the results. Asked “Do you believe that the theory of evolution is definitely true, probably true, probably false, or definitely false,” 21% of respondents [...]

A new poll on evolution and climate change

A new poll asked respondents about their views on evolution and climate change, what they regard the scientific consensus on those topics to be, and whether it matters to them whether candidates for president share their views. The poll (PDF) [...]

Old bones ignite fresh debate

This skull belonging to Australopithecus sediba is part of a controversial fossil find that has scientists debating humans’ early ancestors. Credit: Brett Eloff, courtesy L. Berger/University of the Witwatersrand Scientists recently discovered [...]

Biggest Fossil Spider Found

The 165-million-year-old species is a relative of today’s large web weavers. The largest fossil spider uncovered to date once ensnared prey back in the age of dinosaurs, scientists find. The biggest known fossil spider named Nephila jurassica, [...]

‘Walking cactus’ rewrites arthropod odyssey

FOSSILS of a bizarre animal dubbed the ‘walking cactus’ have shed light on the evolution of crabs and spiders, Chinese researchers reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday. Specimens found in 2006 in rocks in the Jianshan area [...]

2 new dinosaur species discovered in southern Utah

Scientists said Wednesday they’ve discovered fossils in the southern Utah desert of two new dinosaur species closely related to the Triceratops, including one with 15 horns on its large head. The discovery of the new plant-eating species [...]

Animals can be gay

Darwin negatedNew research suggests that animals can be gay too, defying Darwin’s theory that the sexual impulses of animals are designed to cause reproduction and are therefore necessarily heterosexual. The research, conducted on [...]

Who came first? Hen or Egg?

The answer is “Hen!” “Yes, Chicks before eggs!”. You have read it correctly: The Chicken may have come before… British researchers may have uncovered a partial answer to the age-old question, “what came first [...]

Galápagos giant tortoise saved from extinction by breeding programme

Reintroduction of species that Charles Darwin saw raises conservation hopes for other wildlife Scientists have successfully reintroduced giant tortoises to a Galápagos island where the species once teetered on extinction, raising conservation [...]

New hominid moves back date of walking upright

Scientists may have found the great, great, great, etc., grandfather of the famous fossil Lucy. A new partial skeleton of an early hominid known as Australopithecus afarensis was discovered in a mud flat of the Afar region of Ethiopia. Dated [...]