How ants steer the collective hauling of heavy loads

A new study shows how a dozen or more ants working in unison to haul, say, a large insect can adjust their course based on intelligence provided by a single ant joining the effort.  Realising somehow that the group is off-course or headed for trouble, the "scout" subtly signals a needed change in direction by tugging at a different angle.

Ancient Americans migrated in a single wave from Siberia

Two new DNA studies shed light on the migration of ancient people into the Americas, including 'surprising' links to present day Australo-Melanesians.  The first study reveals that Native American ancestors reached the New World in a single, initial migration from Siberia at most 23,000 years ago, only later differentiating into today's distinct groups.  A second study reveals that some Amazonians descend from forefathers more closely related to the Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Guinea and the Andaman Islands than present-day fellow Native Americans.

Mars may have had continental crust like ancient Earth

Rocks similar to some of the oldest continental crusts on Earth have been discovered on the surface of Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover.

Fossil bumps up age of world's oldest sperm

A 50-million-year-old sperm has been found preserved in the wall of a fossilised leech cocoon in Antarctica.  The discovery is 30 million years older than the previous contender for the title 'world's oldest sperm'.

Human hands more primitive than chimp hands

The development of an opposable thumb that enables humans to grip and manipulate objects is widely believed to give us an evolutionary edge.  But new research finds that human hands are more primitive than those of chimpanzees.

New particle detected: the pentaquark

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland have announced the discovery of a new kind of particle called the pentaquark, solving a 50-year-old puzzle about the building blocks of matter.

Universe may be ringing like crystal glass

The universe may be ringing like a crystal glass, with its expansion repeatedly speeding up and slowing back down.  The “ringing,” however, would seem to be dying down after having undergone seven rounds of oscillation.

Genome reveals how woolly mammoth thrived in the cold

Woolly mammoths spent their lives enduring extreme Arctic conditions including frigid temperatures, an arid environment and the relentless cycle of dark winters and bright summers.

Ancient gills were selected by acidic oceans

Fish gills evolved as a means of balancing pH, not breathing, suggests a new study.

Chestnut-crowned babbler becomes first known non-human species to communicate using language

A small gregarious bird that lives in the Australian outback has been found to communicate with one another using a simple form of language – the first species other than humans known to do so. Scientists studying the vocal noises made by the chestnut-crowned babbler have shown that it uses combinations of different sounds that on their own are meaningless but when combined convey a certain message to other members of the species. Although bird songs are known to have different meanings, scientists have not been able to show until now that individual messages can be made by using different combinations of the same repertoire of sounds, much like the phonemes or individual sounds that make up human words.

Brain chemical identified that turns tree ants into aggressive soldiers

Worker roles in Australian green tree ant society are influenced by a chemical in the tiny insect's brain.  Differences in the levels of the chemical octopamine in the brains of two types of worker ant correlate with the level of aggression they show.

Transparent worm reproduces by injecting sperm into its own head

The species is a microscopic, water-dwelling flatworm Macrostomum hystrix, about one millimetre long and a hermaphrodite with both male and female reproductive organs.