Early hominins were known to have cross-bred when they crossed paths, and now the most direct evidence of those meetings has been found. By sequencing the genome of a hominin bone from a Siberian cave, anthropologists have discovered the direct descendant of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan.
Continue Reading
Scientists have developed a method that reduces discarded denim to the building blocks for artificial cartilage, something that, with further development, could become an advanced tool for performing joint reconstructions in humans.
Continue Reading
Paleontologists have long wondered about the skeletons of a strange, ancient fish family called heterostracan. But now UK scientists say they’ve cracked it, declaring the 400 million-year-old fossils to be the oldest examples of bone ever found.
Continue Reading
Archaeologists have discovered ancient tools and bones in China that, once again, shake up the timeline of the human origin story. The items are more than two million years old, indicating that early hominins had spread much further east earlier than previously thought.
Continue Reading
Scientists are coming up with some creative ways to fight cancer. Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed new kinds of nanoparticles that can infiltrate, heat up and kill cancer cells more effectively and efficiently than similar methods.
Continue Reading
Many of the many people who receive artificial hips will require replacement surgery. This is due to a condition called osteolysis, in which the adjacent bone deteriorates, causing the implant to loosen. Soon, however, it may be possible to determine who will develop the condition, via a urine test.
Continue Reading
A team of researchers has uncovered a new approach to grow synthetic mineralized materials. This exciting breakthrough points to a future of regenerative medicine where doctors could mimic the regrowth of hard tissues including dental enamel and bone.
Continue Reading
Aarchaeologists excavating a new site in Pompeii have uncovered a new victim of the disaster, who has quite a story to tell. The skeleton was found with its head crushed beneath a huge stone block that was thrown by the force of the volcanic cloud.
Continue Reading
Dental resin composites may be used to fill cavities in teeth, but when it comes to surgically fixing broken bones, metal plates and screws are still standard. That may not be the case for much longer, though, if a new dental-inspired adhesive bone patch enters use.
Continue Reading
Dinosaurs are famous for their size, but the largest known animal to have ever existed is still with us today: the blue whale. Now a new study reports the discovery of a huge fossilized jawbone belonging to an unknown species of ichthyosaur that may have measured up to 26 m (85 ft) long.
Continue Reading
See the stories that matter in your inbox every morning