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The human family tree may be due for a major rewrite. Researchers argue that Australopithecus and Paranthropus should be folded into the genus Homo because new fossils have blurred many of the traits once used to separate them. The proposed shake-up ...

The "Asian Water Tower" is losing roughly 24.2 billion tonnes of groundwater every year, with some of the worst declines hitting densely populated farming regions. Glacier melt may temporarily soften the crisis around the 2060s, but without changes . ...

Spain's total solar eclipse delivered an unexpected sight: a corona glowing gold instead of its usual pearly white. Because the Sun was setting, its light passed through more atmosphere, while smoke from nearby wildfires filtered out even more blue . ...

Honeybees can apparently detect when their food has the wrong balance of essential nutrients and adjust how much they eat to avoid potentially harmful excesses. They also transform pollen into remarkably well-balanced "baby food" for their larvae, .. ...

Miocene South America was packed with giant prey--and the predators hunting them were just as spectacular. Fossil bite marks suggest crocodylians, especially the enormous Purussaurus neivensis, were more important predators than mammals in this ...

A tomb in Egypt's Theban Necropolis reveals a surprisingly organized story of burial, reuse, and changing beliefs spanning hundreds of years. Researchers found 16 mummified people, the remains of at least four more, and a mummified dog, with burials ...

Silver nanoparticles can precisely slice DNA and create longer "sticky ends," helping genetic fragments join up to five times more efficiently than conventional methods. The breakthrough could eventually simplify the construction of large DNA ...

A newly discovered Arctic process can dramatically boost the number of particles that help form clouds. Near melting sea ice, sunlight reacts with chemicals released by the ocean, algae, and ice, causing cloud-seeding particles to multiply by as much ...

Scientists are searching some of Earth's oldest rocks for tiny fossils that could reveal how simple microbial life made the extraordinary leap toward plants, animals, and other complex organisms. Solving that ancient mystery may also help determine . ...

Nature invented biodegradable plastic long before humans did--and animals may have been feeding on it for hundreds of millions of years. Researchers discovered that dozens of animal species possess enzymes capable of breaking down microbial ...