Historic Eras
Historic eras—including prehistory, ancient and modern history—represent time viewed through the lens of human events
Archaeologists Uncover Massive Stone Age Complex in Scotland
A 5,000-year old temple complex may have been the centre of Stone Age British culture
October 08, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
The Two Newest Nobel Prize Winners Opened Up Pandora’s Box of Stem Cell Research And Cloning
Today's Nobel Prize in medicine went to Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon for their work on stem cell research and cloning
October 08, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
When Did Human-Neanderthal Hook Ups End?
Upper Paleolithic humans coming out of Africa lost romantic interest in Neanderthals about 47,000 years ago
October 08, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Maya Holy Snake Queen’s Tomb Unearthed in Guatemala
Glyphs carved into a ceramic jar indicate that scientists found the burial chamber of Lady K'abel, a seventh-century Maya Holy Snake Lord who is considered one of the great queens of Classic Maya civilization
October 04, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Zoom Around This Detailed Map of the Ancient World
Now, you can zoom around this huge, detailed map of the ancient world labeled with cities from all sorts of archaeological records, classical text references and European imagery
October 04, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Tree Gangsters Are Killing the Rainforest
Organized criminal syndicates are responsible for most illegal logging, which accounts for up to 30 percent of timber traded globally
October 03, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
UNESCO-Listed Medieval Souk in Syria Burned, Bombed
Aleppo, the site of an ancient UNESCO-listed souk in Syria, went up in flames on Sunday as clashes between troops and rebels infiltrated the market quarter.
October 03, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Are These Two Toes the World’s First Prostheses?
This is probably the world's first prosthetic—a wooden toe that dates back to before 600 BC
October 03, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Unsolved Mystery of the Tunnels at Baiae
Did ancient priests fool visitors to a sulfurous subterranean stream that they had crossed the River Styx and entered Hades?
October 01, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
How Do Our Brains Process Music?
In an excerpt from his new book, David Byrne explains why sometimes, he prefers hearing nothing
October 2012 |
By David Byrne
Fossil Finding Goes High Tech
A new high tech approach to digging in the dirt is helping paleontologists dig smarter: artificial intelligence
September 28, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Watch Drought Dry Up America’s Groundwater
A drought this year affected large parts of the United States, including a lot of agricultural land
September 27, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
Carved From Meteorite, This Thousand-Year-Old Statue Was Taken From Tibet by the Nazi SS
Crafted from a meteorite fragment, Nazis may have taken this early Tibetan relic because it displayed a swastika
September 27, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Looters Are Selling Artifacts to Fund War in Syria
War zones are dangerous places, for both people and cultural heritage
September 26, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
Facebook Snuck Into the World of Basic Cell Phones And Took Over
How Facebook is reaching those without smart phones
September 25, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Tsunami Debris Is Just Now Arriving at Hawaii’s Coast
A dock 30-by-50 feet long, with Japanese writing on it, was found floating off the coast of Hawaii, around the same time that a plastic blue bin (a seafood storage container in its past life) became the first confirmed piece of tsunami debris to reach Hawaii. Authorities have not confirmed whether or not the dock was [...]
September 24, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
How the Record for Hottest Temperature Ever Was Refuted
Weather Underground’s resident weather historian Christopher Burt posted a fantastic description of how an international group of scholars disproved a 90-year-old thermometer reading, which registered the hottest temperature ever recorded. This might seem like an impossible task at the best of times: The temperature (136.4 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded in Libya in 1922, and all [...]
September 21, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
6,500-Year Old Beeswax May Be Oldest Known Dental Filling
From the archives of an Italian museum, researchers may have found the oldest dental filling
September 21, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
After Summer Cyclone, Arctic Sea Ice Reaches New Low
On September 16, sea ice reached record lows in the Arctic, covering an area of just 3.41 million square kilometers or 1.32 million square miles
September 21, 2012 |
By Mary Beth Griggs
Honey Was the Wonder Food That Fueled Human Evolution (And Now It’s Disappearing)
Energy-rich honey could have been the food that let humans get so brainy
September 20, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
