Chimps and bonobos share a similar protolanguage

If a bonobo and a chimpanzee ever crossed paths, they'd probably be able to understand each other. Although it has been known for some time that bonobos and chimps perform a number of similar gestures, this is the first time that the meaning of those gestures has been found to significantly correlate. Between 88 and 96 per cent of the gestures performed by bonobos are also used by chimpanzees.

World's oldest-known rock art created by Neanderthals, not modern humans

Neanderthals painted a ladder, dots and hand stencils on the walls of three limestone caves at least 20,000 years before modern humans set foot in Europe.

Ants rescue fallen comrades from the battlefield for emergency treatment

Researchers have learned that Matabele ants save their wounded comrades and transport them back to the nest for medical treatment.

Magpies' brain power may be boosted by living in larger groups

Australian magpies that hang out in large groups appear to be smarter and more successful at breeding than those in smaller groups.

Mystery surrounds ancient but advanced tools found in India

More than 7,000 ancient stone tools have been discovered in India that show a distinct upgrade in stone-shaping techniques — including advanced blades, points and scrapers — dating as far back as 385,000 years ago.  This suggests that modern stone tools were being made in India 250,000 years earlier than previously thought. The tools may have been made by an archaic species of hominin, rather than modern humans.

60,000 Mayan structures found preserved under dense Guatemalan jungle

Researchers using a high-tech aerial mapping technique have found tens of thousands of previously undetected Mayan houses, buildings, defence works and pyramids in the dense jungle of Guatemala's Peten region, suggesting that millions more people lived there than previously thought.

Ancient arachnid trapped in amber a missing link in spider evolution

A tiny arachnid discovered in 100-million-year-old amber looks just like a spider, except for one thing: its whip-like tail. The fossil fills a critical gap in the arachnid family tree between today's spiders and spider-like arachnids that lived before the dinosaurs.

The Very First Exoplanets Found Outside The Milky Way

Astrophysicists have discovered for the first time a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Using microlensing—an astronomical phenomenon and the only known method capable of discovering planets at truly great distances from the Earth among other detection techniques — researchers were able to detect objects in extragalactic galaxies that range from the mass of the Moon to the mass of Jupiter.

Ancient jaw bone found in Israel shows modern humans left Africa 180,000 years ago

Modern humans were wandering out of Africa at least 180,000 years ago — some 60,000 years earlier than previously thought.  The new migration date comes after ancient stone tools and part of a fossilised Homo sapiens jaw bone with teeth were discovered in a cave in northern Israel.  Until now, the oldest evidence for modern humans outside Africa were only 90,000 to 120,000 years old.