Research Highlight |
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News |
Ancient malaria genome from Roman skeleton hints at disease’s history
Genetic information from ancient remains is helping to reveal how malaria has moved and evolved alongside people.
- Tosin Thompson
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Nature Podcast |
Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why
Data suggest menopause evolved to enable older female whales to help younger generations survive, and how researchers made a cellular map of the developing human heart.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Research Highlight |
Ancient graves reveal that facial piercing dates back at least 11,000 years
Ornaments are positioned near the lower jaw and to the sides of the head of people buried at a site in Turkey.
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News |
Indigenous Australian fire-stick farming began at least 11,000 years ago
Analysis of a sediment core dating back 150,000 years showed that fire patterns in Australia changed with the rise of Indigenous people’s use of fire.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Research Highlight |
Buried vases hint that ancient Americans might have drunk tobacco
Ritual vessels found in Guatemala contain traces of nicotine.
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News |
Oldest stone tools in Europe hint at ancient humans’ route there
Dating of artefacts found at a site in western Ukraine suggests that archaic humans had entered Europe’s eastern gate by 1.4 million years ago.
- Giorgia Guglielmi
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Perspective |
Artificial intelligence and illusions of understanding in scientific research
The proliferation of artificial intelligence tools in scientific research risks creating illusions of understanding, where scientists believe they understand more about the world than they actually do.
- Lisa Messeri
- & M. J. Crockett
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Article |
East-to-west human dispersal into Europe 1.4 million years ago
Burial-dating methods using cosmogenic nuclides indicate that the oldest stone tools at Korolevo archaeological site in western Ukraine date to around 1.4 million years ago, providing evidence of early human dispersal into Europe from the east.
- R. Garba
- , V. Usyk
- & J. D. Jansen
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News & Views |
From the archive: New Mexico’s prehistoric pottery, and traces of the Ice Age
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News & Views |
A mobile DNA sequence could explain tail loss in humans and apes
The lack of a tail is one thing that separates apes — including humans — from other primates. Insertion of a short DNA sequence into a gene that controls tail development could explain tail loss in the common ancestor of apes.
- Miriam K. Konkel
- & Emily L. Casanova
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News & Views |
Why reciprocity is common in humans but rare in other animals
Reciprocal cooperation can be advantageous, but why it is more common in humans than in other social animals is a puzzle. A modelling and experimental study pinpoints the conditions needed for reciprocity to evolve.
- Sarah Mathew
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News |
The life and gruesome death of a bog man revealed after 5,000 years
Vittrup Man, who died in his thirties, was a Scandinavian wanderer who settled down between 3300 and 3100 bc.
- Ewen Callaway
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News & Views |
From the archive: Tutankhamun’s coffin, and Darwin shares a letter
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Research Highlight |
Ancient bronze hand’s inscription points to origins of Basque language
Text on an artefact found in northern Spain resembles a present-day Basque word that means ‘of good fortune’.
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Research Highlight |
Great ‘Stone Age’ wall discovered in Baltic Sea
Megastructure stretching nearly 1 kilometre long is probably one of the oldest known hunting aids on Earth.
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News |
First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed
Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.
- Jo Marchant
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News & Views |
Stone tools in northern Europe made by Homo sapiens 45,000 years ago
DNA analyses of skeletal fragments from a site in Germany provide evidence that humans, rather than Neanderthals, were responsible for a particular stone-tool industry called the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician.
- William E. Banks
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools
Analysis of stone tools and DNA reveals when modern humans reached northern Europe, and why human brain cells grow so slowly.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article
| Open AccessHomo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago
Through archaeological excavation, morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains, a study reports the presence of Homo sapiens in Germany north of the Alps more than 45,000 years ago.
- Dorothea Mylopotamitaki
- , Marcel Weiss
- & Jean-Jacques Hublin
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Research Highlight |
The clever system that gave Roman wines an amber colour and nutty aroma
Wine-fermentation jars used in Georgia today hint at the properties of ancient vintages.
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News |
Ancient DNA reveals origins of multiple sclerosis in Europe
A huge cache of ancient genomes spanning tens of thousands of years reveals the roots of traits in modern Europeans.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessThe demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki
A multiproxy record of Gigantopithecus blacki provides insights into the ecological context of this species, which became extinct around 250,000 years ago, when increased seasonality led to a change in forest cover.
- Yingqi Zhang
- , Kira E. Westaway
- & Renaud Joannes-Boyau
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News & Views |
From the archive: scientific spelling, and ancient Egyptian art
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Book Review |
Were Neanderthals soulful inventors or strange cannibals?
To understand the true otherness of Neanderthals, researchers must rethink the meaning they give to their archaeological finds, argues a new book.
- Rebecca Wragg Sykes
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News Feature |
The race to save humanity’s oldest art
Ancient humans painted scenes in Indonesian caves more than 45,000 years ago, but their art is disappearing rapidly. Researchers are trying to discover what’s causing the damage and how to stop it — before the murals are gone forever.
- Dyani Lewis
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Research Briefing |
The genetic diversity of Bantu-speaking populations helped to shape African history
Analysis of a massive genomic data set reveals the profound effects that the movement of Bantu-speaking peoples had on Africa’s biological, linguistic and cultural landscape. These findings provide valuable insights for a wide range of disciplines and serve as a comprehensive data set of ancient and modern African individuals for comparative studies.
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Article
| Open AccessThe genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa
We gathered genetic data for 1,763 individuals from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and 12 Late Iron Age individuals, to trace the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples over the past 6,000 years.
- Cesar A. Fortes-Lima
- , Concetta Burgarella
- & Carina M. Schlebusch
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News |
A 27,000-year-old pyramid? Controversy hits an extraordinary archaeological claim
The massive buried structures at Gunung Padang in Indonesia would be much older than Egypt’s great pyramids — if they’re even human constructions at all.
- Dyani Lewis
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Research Highlight |
Forty slaughtered horses mark site of ancient mass sacrifices
Cattle and other animals were slaughtered for rituals during the fifth century bc in what is now Spain.
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News & Views |
Ancient DNA uncovers past migrations in California
Genomic data from ancient humans who lived up to 7,400 years ago, sampled from across California and Mexico, unveil patterns of migration that could explain how some Indigenous languages spread in parts of North America.
- Alan Izarraras-Gomez
- & Diego Ortega-Del Vecchyo
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Article |
Genetic continuity and change among the Indigenous peoples of California
Genome-wide analyses of ancient DNA from individuals from California and Mexico shed light on the spread of Mexican ancestry to California and how it correlates with linguistic flow.
- Nathan Nakatsuka
- , Brian Holguin
- & David Reich
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News & Views |
From the archive: soap success, and Michael Faraday’s lecture tips
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Where I Work |
I tread the delicate line between culture and conservation
Ethno-ecologist Nolwazi Mbongwa investigates the deeply rooted cultural practices of South African traditional healers, and works with conservationists to protect wildlife.
- Linda Nordling
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Research Highlight |
Runes on Viking stones speak to an ancient queen’s power
Analysis of carved inscriptions more than 1,000 years old suggests the prominence of the Viking queen Thyra.
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News |
AI reads text from ancient Herculaneum scroll for the first time
Machine-learning technique reveals Greek words in CT scans of rolled-up papyrus.
- Jo Marchant
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Nature Podcast |
This isn’t the Nature Podcast — how deepfakes are distorting reality
The rise of AI-generated fakes, evidence of the earliest-known wooden structure, and how NASA’s OSIRIS-REx brought asteroid samples back to Earth.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News & Views |
Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago
Understanding the timeline of technological developments sheds light on early societies. A remarkable finding in Africa of a structure made from shaped wood provides clues about our hominin relatives.
- Annemieke Milks
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News |
These ancient whittled logs could be the earliest known wooden structure
Stacked timbers dated to roughly 476,000 years ago show that ancient hominins worked with wood.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article
| Open AccessEvidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago
Wooden artefacts from waterlogged deposits in Zambia dating back 477 ka indicate hitherto unknown sophistication in woodworking at an early date.
- L. Barham
- , G. A. T. Duller
- & P. Nkombwe
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News |
Human ancestors nearly went extinct 900,000 years ago
A new technique analysing modern genetic data suggests that pre-humans survived in a group of only 1,280 individuals.
- Anna Ikarashi
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News |
Ötzi the Iceman has a new look: balding and dark-skinned
Improved DNA analysis updates thinking on alpine mummy’s skin colour, ancestry and more.
- Freda Kreier
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Research Highlight |
Drone missions uncover hidden features of the Battle of the Bulge
Laser-based system penetrates the deep forest covering the site of a key battle in the Second World War.
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Research Highlight |
Curry has tempted diners in southeast Asia for more than 1,500 years
Scientists identify traces of ginger, nutmeg and other spices on ancient kitchen tools that were found in Vietnam.
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Research Briefing |
Family trees of a Neolithic community uncovered by ancient DNA
Ancient DNA has enabled the reconstruction of two large genetic ‘family trees’ from a 6,700-year-old Neolithic burial site in France called Gurgy ‘Les Noisats’. The DNA data combined with other lines of evidence offer insights into biological relationships within the site and across a broader social and cultural context.
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Article
| Open AccessExtensive pedigrees reveal the social organization of a Neolithic community
The burial community at Gurgy ‘les Noisats’ (France) was genetically connected by two main pedigrees, spanning seven generations, that were patrilocal and patrilineal, with evidence for female exogamy and exchange with genetically close neighbouring groups.
- Maïté Rivollat
- , Adam Benjamin Rohrlach
- & Wolfgang Haak
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Article
| Open AccessEarly contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe
Archaeogenetic analysis of 135 individuals from the zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region indicates contacts between farming and pastoralist populations at the end of the Copper Age.
- Sandra Penske
- , Adam B. Rohrlach
- & Wolfgang Haak
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News |
Ancient-DNA researcher fired for ‘serious misconduct’ lands new role
Former co-workers have expressed shock that Charles Sturt University in southeastern Australia has appointed Alan Cooper to its faculty.
- Dyani Lewis
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News |
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle fosters thriving gut microbiome
Samples from the Tanzanian Hadza group included species previously unknown to science.
- Gemma Conroy