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Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
 Genome ResearchBen-Gurion U. researchers reveal connection between cancer and human evolution Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have discovered that gene mutations that once helped humans survive may increase the possibility for diseases, including cancer. The findings were recently the cover story in the journal Genome Research. Contact: Andrew Lavin
Public Release: 29-Jun-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesDino tooth sheds new light on ancient riddle Scientists discover that a major group of dinosaurs had unique way of eating unlike anything alive today. Contact: Dr. Mark Purnell
Public Release: 25-Jun-2009
Taxpayer Alliance applauds bill to broaden access to federal research results Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John Cornyn today introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act, a bill to ensure free, timely, online access to the published results of research funded by 11 US federal agencies. The proposed bill is welcomed by the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a coalition of research institutions, consumers, patients and others formed to support open public access to publicly funded research. Contact: Jennifer McLennan
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
Knowledge Exchange ShowcaseShowcasing the secrets of Caistor Roman town In December 2007 a team of experts, led by the University of Nottingham, unveiled an extraordinary set of high-resolution images that gave an insight into the plan of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St. Edmund in Norfolk. Contact: Dr. William Bowden
Public Release: 23-Jun-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesNotre Dame study describes evidence of world's oldest known granaries A new study co-authored by Ian Kuijt, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, describes recent excavations in Jordan that reveal evidence of the world's oldest known granaries. 
Notre Dame, National Science Foundation, British Academy
Contact: Ian Kuijt
Public Release: 22-Jun-2009
Journal of Archaeological ScienceObsidian 'trail' provides clues to how humans settled, interacted in Kuril Islands Archaeologists have used stone tools to answer many questions about human ancestors in both the distant and near past and now they are analyzing the origin of obsidian flakes to better understand how people settled and interacted in the inhospitable Kuril Islands.
National Science Foundation.
Contact: Joel Schwarz
Public Release: 22-Jun-2009
Underground cave dating from the year 1 A.D. exposed in Jordan Valley An artificial underground cave, the largest in Israel, has been exposed in the Jordan Valley in the course of a survey carried out by the University of Haifa. Professor Adam Zertal, who headed the excavating team, reckons that this cave was originally a large quarry during the Roman and Byzantine era and was one of its kind. Various engravings were uncovered in the cave, including cross markings, and it is assumed that this could have been an early monastery. Contact: Rachel Feldman
Public Release: 18-Jun-2009
NOAA report finds threats to California's Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary A new NOAA report on the health of Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary indicates that the overall condition of the sanctuary's marine life and habitats is fair to good, but identifies several emerging threats to sanctuary resources.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Contact: David Hall
Public Release: 17-Jun-2009
Geological JournalNew discovery suggests mammoths survived in Britain until 14,000 years ago Research which finally proves that bones found in Shropshire, England, provide the most geologically recent evidence of woolly mammoths in northwestern Europe publishes today in the Geological Journal. Analysis of both the bones and the surrounding environment suggests that some mammoths remained part of British wildlife long after they are conventionally believed to have become extinct. Contact: Ben Norman
Public Release: 16-Jun-2009
CU-Boulder study shows Maya intensively cultivated manioc 1,400 years ago A University of Colorado at Boulder team has uncovered an ancient and previously unknown Maya agricultural system -- a large manioc field intensively cultivated as a staple crop that was buried and exquisitely preserved under a blanket of ash by a volcanic eruption in present-day El Salvador 1,400 years ago.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Payson Sheets
Public Release: 8-Jun-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesArcheological evidence of human activity found beneath Lake Huron More than 100 feet deep in Lake Huron, on a wide stoney ridge that 9,000 years ago was a land bridge, University of Michigan researchers have found the first archeological evidence of human activity preserved beneath the Great Lakes.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Nicole Casal Moore
Public Release: 8-Jun-2009
Journal of PaleontologyFossil teeth of browsing horse found in Panama Canal earthworks Rushing to salvage fossils from the Panama Canal earthworks, Aldo Rincon, paleontology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, unearthed a set of fossil teeth. Bruce J. MacFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida in Gainesville, describes the fossil as Anchitherium clarencei, a three-toed browsing horse, in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Paleontology.
University of Florida, National Science Foundation, Panama Canal Authority
Contact: Beth King
Public Release: 4-Jun-2009
American Journal of Human GeneticsNew 'molecular clock' aids dating of human migration history Researchers at the University of Leeds have devised a more accurate method of dating ancient human migration -- even when no corroborating archaeological evidence exists.
European Union, Bradshaw Foundation
Contact: Jo Kelly
Public Release: 4-Jun-2009
ScienceHigh population density triggers cultural explosions Increasing population density, rather than boosts in human brain power, appears to have catalyzed the emergence of modern human behavior, according to a new study by University College London scientists published in the journal Science. High population density leads to greater exchange of ideas and skills and prevents the loss of new innovations. It is this skill maintenance, combined with a greater probability of useful innovations, that led to modern human behavior appearing at different times in different parts of the world. Contact: Jenny Gimpel
Public Release: 2-Jun-2009
PLoS ONEUF study finds that ancient mammals shifted diets as climate changed A new University of Florida study shows mammals change their dietary niches based on climate-driven environmental changes, contradicting a common assumption that species maintain their niches despite global warming. Contact: Jen Laloup
Public Release: 24-May-2009
Oceans Past IIOcean life in olden days: Researchers upend modern notions of 'natural' animal sizes, abundance Using such diverse sources as old ship logs, literary texts, tax accounts, newly translated legal documents and even mounted trophies, Census of Marine Life researchers are piecing together images -- some flickering, others in high definition -- of fish of such sizes, abundance and distribution in ages past that they stagger modern imaginations. They are also documenting the timelines over which those giant marine life populations declined. Contact: Terry Collins
Public Release: 19-May-2009
Proceedings of the Royal Society AFire and water reveal new archaeological dating method Scientists at the University of Manchester have developed a new way of dating archaeological objects -- using fire and water to unlock their "internal clocks."
Leverhulme Trust, Engineering and Physical Science Research Council
Contact: Alex Waddington
Public Release: 18-May-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesThe first evidence of pre-industrial mercury pollution in the Andes The study of ancient lake sediment from high altitude lakes in the Andes has revealed for the first time that mercury pollution occurred long before the start of the Industrial Revolution. University of Alberta Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. student Colin Cooke's results from two seasons of field work in Peru have now provided the first unambiguous records of pre-industrial mercury pollution from anywhere in the world.
National Geographic Society
Contact: Colin Cooke
Public Release: 14-May-2009
American Journal of Human GeneticsResearchers gain genome-wide insights into patterns of the world's human population structures Through sophisticated statistical analysis and advanced computer simulations, researchers are learning in greater detail about the genomic signatures of human population structures around the world. Looking at seven continental groups -- Africa, America, Central and Southeast Asia, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and Oceania, they found 18 axes of variation, some of which distinguished particular populations. They found variation patterns that correlated with geography in nearly every continental group.
National Institutes of Health, Sloan Research in Compuational Biology, NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute
Contact: Leila Gray
Public Release: 12-May-2009
Palaeogeoraphy, Palaeocilmatology, PalaeoecologyNew dinosaur species possible in Northwestern Alberta The discovery of a gruesome feeding frenzy that played out 73 million years ago in Northwestern Alberta may also lead to the discovery of new dinosaur species in Northwestern Alberta. University of Alberta student Tetsuto Miyashita and Frederico Fanti, a paleontology graduate student from Italy, made the discovery near Grande Prairie, 450 kilometers northwest of Edmonton. Contact: Brian Murphy
Public Release: 4-May-2009
ArchaeologyeBay has unexpected, chilling effect on looting of antiquities, archaelogist finds Archaeologists held their breath more than a decade ago when the launch of eBay theoretically increased the market for looted archaeological treasures. In fact, writes the director of UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology in the latest issue of Archaeology magazine, eBay hasn't increased looting, as originally feared. By creating a market for increasingly sophisticated fakes, eBay has actually had a dampening effect on the market for looted antiquities, writes UCLA archaeology professor Charles Stanish. Contact: Meg Sullivan
Public Release: 4-May-2009
Journal of the Geological Society of LondonPrinceton geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaurs A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position. Gerta Keller, whose studies of rock formations at many sites in the United States, Mexico and India have led her to conclude that volcanoes, not a vast meteorite, were the more likely culprits in the demise of the Earth's giant reptiles, is producing new data supporting her claim.
National Science Foundation, Swiss National Fund
Contact: Kitta MacPherson
Public Release: 28-Apr-2009
Molecular Biology and EvolutionNative Americans descended from a single ancestral group, DNA study confirms After comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of scientists has provided robust evidence to support the theory that all Native Americans and Western Beringians trace a large portion of their ancestry to a single founding population, and that this population may have been isolated from other Asian groups prior to expanding into the Americas.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Contact: Liese Greensfelder
Public Release: 27-Apr-2009
New blow for dinosaur-killing asteroid theory The enduringly popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with some 65 percent of all species 65 million years ago, is challenged in a paper to be published in the Journal of the Geological Society on April 27, 2009. Contact: Cheryl Dybas
Public Release: 23-Apr-2009
ScienceIndus script encodes language, reveals new study of ancient symbols Scholars have recently question whether ancient Indus inscriptions code for language. American and Indian scientists used statistics to show that the 4,500-year-old Indus symbols' pattern follows that of other spoken languages.
Packard Foundation, Sri Jamsetji Tata Trust
Contact: Hannah Hickey
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