COSMOS magazine

Get COSMOS Teacher's Notes
Syndicate content

Ancient worlds

Darwin

Darwin out of Africa 45,000 years ago

Friday, 5 February 2010

The father of evolution Charles Darwin was a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnon people, whose entry into Europe 30,000 years ago heralded the demise of Neanderthals, scientists revealed.


Megafauna

Humans caused Aussie megafauna extinction

Friday, 29 January 2010

The key anomaly in the Australian megafauna debate has been resolved, and "if people hadn't arrived in Australia, we'd still have the giants of yesteryear to admire," the lead researcher said.


Cao Cao's tomb

DNA may unlock Chinese warlord's secrets

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Scientists in China are collecting DNA from hundreds of men with the surname Cao in the hope they can prove a recently excavated tomb in central China belongs to the legendary warlord Cao Cao.


Queen Nefertiti

Ancient Egyptian make-up was antimicrobial

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Elaborate eye make-up worn by Ancient Egyptians not only made for a dramatic look, but also protected against disease, says a new study.


The crater on Google Maps

Aboriginal folklore leads to meteorite crater

Thursday, 7 January 2010

An Australian Aboriginal 'Dreaming' story has helped experts uncover a meteorite impact crater in the outback of the Northern Territory.


Prehistoric koala

Prehistoric koalas didn’t eat gum, study says

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Ancient koalas may have enjoyed a much more diverse diet than today’s koalas, but were probably just as loud and lazy as their modern cousins.


Mammoths more modern than we thought

Friday, 18 December 2009

Extinct woolly mammoths and ancient American horses may have been grazing the North American steppe for several thousand years longer than previously thought.


Fossils may age Europeans 200,000 years

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Fossils found in a southern French valley suggest our ancestors may have reached Europe 1.57 million years ago - 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.


Tawa hallae dinosaur

New dinosaur solves evolutionary riddle

Friday, 11 December 2009

Newly unearthed fossils of a previously unknown species of carnivorous dinosaur has answered some long-standing questions about early dinosaur evolution.


Mammoth

Mammoth extinction altered ecosystem

Monday, 7 December 2009

The extinction of mammoths in North America at the end of the last ice age was not caused by a change in the ecosystem: it's what triggered the changes, a new study suggests.


Tapejara

Flying reptile was configured like sailing boat

Friday, 23 October 2009

An anatomical reanalysis of an extinct pterosaur, dating to the time of the dinosaurs, suggests the creature literally sailed the seas.


Ida

Controversial fossil not missing link

Friday, 23 October 2009

Earlier this year a fantastically preserved 47-million-year-old primate, was the subject of a heated debate. But a new study says it can’t possibly be an ancestor of humans.


Mammoth

Did Dryas comet really kill off mammoth?

Friday, 23 October 2009

Debate on a comet impact 12,900 years ago, and whether it is linked to mass extinctions of large mammals and early humans in North America reopened this week.


Shiva crater

Did giant Indian impact kill the dinosaurs?

Monday, 19 October 2009

Move aside Chicxulub; an even bigger asteroid impact off the coast of India may have been ground zero for the dinosaurs, U.S. and Indian scientists say in a controversial finding.


Feathered dinosaur

Four-winged dino discovery ends debate

Monday, 28 September 2009

The remains of a ‘four-winged’ dinosaur in China has resolved the ‘temporal paradox’ in palaeontology, confirming that birds owe their ancestry to two-footed dinosaurs.