Fossils push back snake origins by 65 million years

Palæontologists have described the four oldest-known fossils of snakes, the most ancient of which was a roughly 25-centimetre reptile called Eophis underwoodi that lived about 167 million years ago.  The remarkable fossils from Britain, Portugal and the United States rewrite the history of snake evolution, pushing back snake origins by tens of millions of years.

Astronomers find oldest-known solar system: Kepler-444

An ancient Sun-like star surrounded by orbiting planets dating back to the dawn of our galaxy has been discovered.  The discovery indicates that planets have been forming almost from the time the Universe began.  The star, known as Kepler-444, is 11.2 billion years old, and began forming at a time when the Universe was less than a fifth of its current age.

Big-toothed fossil may be new primitive human

The first known prehistoric human from Taiwan has been identified and may represent an entirely new species that lived as recently as 10,000 years ago.  The newly discovered big-toothed human, 'Penghu 1', strengthens the growing body of evidence that Homo sapiens was not the only species from our genus living in Europe and Asia between 200,000 and 10,000 years ago.  Anthropologists have learned that Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis lived in Europe and Asia within that time frame.

Pitcher plant's tricky trap pulls in the ants

The pitcher plant has developed a clever way to help it dine on batches of ants at a time rather than individual ants.  The carnivorous plant adjusts the slipperiness of its pitfall traps according to changes in the weather to entice more visitors to their sticky downfall, a new study has found.

How the Earth got its nitrogen

Nitrogen may have arrived on Earth in ancient meteorites after the planet had already formed, according to a new study. Scientists have long puzzled over the origin of Earth's nitrogen because it has a different isotopic composition to nitrogen produced by the Sun, and is also different to the nitrogen found in comets.

Chimps 'talk' about favourite fruits, best trees

Researchers eavesdropping on wild chimpanzees have determined that the primates communicate about at least (!) two things: their favourite fruits and the trees where these fruits can be found.  Of particular interest to the chimps is the size of the trees bearing these fruits - the chimps yell out that information, according to a new study.  The study is the first to find that information about tree size and available fruit amounts are included in chimp calls, in addition to assessments about food quality.