Ancient DNA News

October 3, 2023

Top Headlines

DNA from Discarded Whale Bones Suggests Loss of Genetic Diversity Due to Commercial Whaling

Oct. 2, 2023 — Commercial whaling in the 20th century decimated populations of large whales but also appears to have had a lasting impact on the genetic diversity of today’s surviving whales, new research ...

A Hygiene Program for Chromosomes

Oct. 2, 2023 — Researchers identified and characterized a new cellular compartment in vertebrate cells that might be a precursor of today's eucaryotic nucleus. The study reveals that mammalian cells recognize, cluster, sort and keep extrachromosomal DNA -- like ...

A Turtle Time Capsule: DNA Found in Ancient Shell

Sep. 28, 2023 — Paleontologists discover possible DNA remains in fossil turtle that lived 6 million years ago in Panama, where continents ...

Probing the Deep Genetic Structure of Africa

Sep. 22, 2023 — Using ancestry decomposition techniques an international research team has revealed a deeply divergent ancestry among admixed populations from the Angolan Namib desert. This unique genetic heritage brings the researchers closer to understanding the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:13am EDT

Dinosaur Feathers Reveal Traces of Ancient Proteins

Sep. 21, 2023 — Palaeontologists have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather ...

RNA for the First Time Recovered from an Extinct Species

Sep. 19, 2023 — A new study shows the isolation and sequencing of more than a century-old RNA molecules from a Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in a museum collection. This resulted in the ...

Nature's Great Survivors: Flowering Plants Survived the Mass Extinction That Killed the Dinosaurs

Sep. 12, 2023 — A new study by researchers from the University of Bath (UK) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico) shows that flowering plants ...

St Helena's 'Liberated' Africans Came from West Central Africa Between Northern Angola and Gabon

Sep. 7, 2023 — Between 1840 and 1867, thousands of enslaved Africans who had been 'liberated' from slave ships intercepted by the British Royal Navy were taken to ...

Europe's Very Own Dinosaurs -- The Enigmatic Late Cretaceous Rhabdodontids

Aug. 30, 2023 — A new study brings together intriguing details about the little-known Rhabdodontidae dinosaurs of Late Cretaceous Europe. These gregarious herbivores, characterized by robust builds and beaks ...

Three-Eyed Distant Relative of Insects and Crustaceans Reveals Amazing Detail of Early Animal Evolution

Aug. 29, 2023 — Scientists use cutting edge scanning technology to reconstruct 'fossil monster' that lived half a billion years ago. The creature's soft anatomy was ...

Wastewater Pipe Dig Reveals 'Fossil Treasure Trove'

Aug. 28, 2023 — A new article describes the 266 fossil species as one of the richest and most diverse groups of three-million-year-old fauna ever found in New Zealand. At least ten previously unknown species will be ...

Noncoding DNA Explains a Majority of the Heritability of Dairy Cattle Traits, Like Milk Production and Fertility

Aug. 23, 2023 — Regulatory genes -- genes that control how other genes are used -- are responsible for 69% of the heritability of dairy cattle traits such as milk ...

Newly Discovered 'Primitive Cousins of T Rex' Shed Light on the End of the Age of Dinosaurs in Africa

Aug. 23, 2023 — Researchers have discovered the fossils of two new abelisaurs in Morocco, showing the diversity of dinosaurs in this region at the end of the ...

Researchers Extract Ancient DNA from a 2,900-Year-Old Clay Brick, Revealing a Time Capsule of Plant Life

Aug. 22, 2023 — For the first time, a group of researchers have successfully extracted ancient DNA from a 2,900-year-old clay brick. The analysis provides a ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Scientists Zero in on Timing, Causes of Ice Age Mammal Extinctions in Southern California

Aug. 18, 2023 — Radiocarbon dating on bones in the La Brea Tar Pits lead archaeologists to warn that history may be repeating ...

The Modern Sea Spider Had Started to Diversify by the Jurassic, Study Finds

Aug. 17, 2023 — An extremely rare collection of 160-million-year-old sea spider fossils from Southern France are closely related to living species, unlike older fossils of their ...

Iceman Ötzi: Dark Skin, Bald Head, Anatolian Ancestry

Aug. 16, 2023 — A research team has used advanced sequencing technology to analyze Ötzi's genome to obtain a more accurate picture of the Iceman's appearance and genetic ...

Fossil Feces Infested With Parasites from Over 200 Million Years Ago

Aug. 9, 2023 — Fossilized feces preserve evidence of ancient parasites that infected an aquatic predator over 200 million years ago, according to a new ...

New Research Links Early Europeans' Cultural and Genetic Development Over Several Thousand Years

Aug. 9, 2023 — A new DNA study has nuanced the picture of how different groups intermingled during the European Stone Age, but also how certain groups of people were actually isolated. Researchers produced new ...

Ancient DNA Reveals an Early African Origin of Cattle in the Americas

Aug. 8, 2023 — Using ancient DNA, researchers have determined cattle were imported from Africa to the Americas much earlier in the process of European colonization than documented. The first records of African ...

Researchers Discuss the Ethical Challenges of Studying DNA from a 18th--19th Century African American Community

Aug. 3, 2023 — A population genetics team recently identified the genetic relationship between over 40,000 23andMe users and a population of enslaved and free African Americans that lived in Catoctin Furnace, ...

Oldest Known Species of Swimming Jellyfish Identified

Aug. 1, 2023 — Royal Ontario Museum announces the oldest swimming jellyfish in the fossil record with the newly named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis. This 505-million-year-old swimming jellyfish from the Burgess Shale ...

New Insights Into the Origin of the Indo-European Languages

July 27, 2023 — An international team of linguists and geneticists has achieved a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the origins of Indo-European, a family of languages spoken by nearly half of the ...

Ancient DNA Reveals Diverse Community in 'Lost City of the Incas'

July 26, 2023 — DNA analysis of 34 individuals buried at Machu Picchu revealed that many traveled alone from throughout the Inca ...

Family Trees from the European Neolithic

July 26, 2023 — The Neolithic burial site of Gurgy 'les Noisats' in France revealed two unprecedentedly large family trees which allowed a Franco-German team to explore the social organization of the ...

Spurge Purge: Plant Fossils Reveal Ancient South America-to-Asia 'Escape Route'

July 25, 2023 — Newly identified plant fossils found in Argentina suggest that a group of spurges long thought to have Asian origins may have first appeared in Gondwanan South ...

Miocene Period Fossil Forest of Wataria Found in Japan

July 21, 2023 — An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene ...

Unusual Fossil Shows Rare Evidence of a Mammal Attacking a Dinosaur

July 18, 2023 — Scientists have described an unusual fossil from around 125 million years ago in China that shows a dramatic moment in time when a carnivorous mammal attacked a larger plant-eating dinosaur. The two ...

New Fossil Flying Reptile 'Elvis' Takes Flight

July 14, 2023 — In an exciting scientific development, an international team of researchers have officially named a newly discovered 145-million-year-old pterosaur. The animal had enormous 2-meter wingspan and was ...

Butterflies and Moths Share Ancient 'Blocks' of DNA

July 13, 2023 — Butterflies and moths share 'blocks' of DNA dating back more than 200 million years, new research ...

Ice Age Saber-Tooth Cats and Dire Wolves Suffered from Diseased Joints

July 12, 2023 — Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new ...

Fossils Reveal How Ancient Birds Molted Their Feathers -- Which Could Help Explain Why Ancestors of Modern Birds Survived When All the Other Dinosaurs Died

July 5, 2023 — Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago. But not all the birds alive at the time made it. Why the ancestors of modern birds lived ...

Newly Discovered Jurassic Fossils in Texas

June 27, 2023 — Scientists have filled a major gap in the state's fossil record -- describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas. The weathered bone fragments are from the limbs and backbone ...

New Study Sheds Light on the Evolution of Animals

June 27, 2023 — Scientists have been mystified as to why animals are missing in much of the fossil record. Researchers have now developed a new method to determine if animals really were absent during certain ...

Friday, August 18, 2023