Ancient Indigenous people in Peru had a unique response to the looting and destruction of their ancestors’ graves during the European colonial period, an international team of archaeologists has discovered. A study found nearly 200 examples of human vertebrae threaded onto reed posts in the Chincha Valley, dating from AD 1450-1650. The period spanned the…

Scientists have identified coastal ‘bright spots’ to repair marine ecosystems globally, paving the way to boost biodiversity, local economies and human wellbeing. Doctor Megan Saunders, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Senior Research Scientist, said successful coastal restoration efforts could be achieved over large areas, deliver positive impacts for decades, expand restored areas by up to 10-times…

Puerto Rico is not ready for another hurricane season, let alone the effects of climate change, according to a new study that shows the island’s outstanding capacity to produce record-breaking floods and trigger a large number of landslides. The latest research, appearing in the journal Hydrology, builds on three prior studies led by hydrologist Carlos…

A new study generated improved annual maps of tropical forest cover in the Brazilian Amazon in 2000-2017 and provided better characterization on the spatio-temporal dynamics of forest area, loss and gain in this region. The Amazon basin has the largest tropical forests in the world. Rapid changes in land use, climate and other human activities…

A research team confirmed the occurrence of biomagnification of toxic substance TPT compounds along the marine food chain resulted in very high concentrations of TPT in two top predators, the Chinese white dolphin and the finless porpoises. This is the first study in the world to confirm the trophic magnification of TPT in food webs…

Dominance rank among female mountain gorillas is not related to body size but does increase their reproductive output according to new research. Mountain gorillas are the largest living primate and display extreme size differences between the sexes, with males weighing around 200kg — twice as much as females. Body size is an important factor determining…

Age may be just a number, but it’s a number that often carries unwanted side effects, from brittle bones and weaker muscles to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Now, scientists have shown that they can safely and effectively reverse the aging process in middle-aged and elderly mice by partially resetting their cells to…

Researchers have investigated ancient leather balls discovered in the graves of horse riders in northwest China. According to the international research team, they are around 3,000 years old, making them the oldest balls in Eurasia. The find suggests amongst others that the mounted warriors of Central Asia played ball games to keep themselves fit. Today,…

The life of the microscopic algae that inhabit snow at high elevations is still relatively unknown. Researchers have therefore created the ALPALGA consortium to study this little-known world, threatened by global warming. In a white ocean, well above sea level, the algae thrive. Normally invisible to the naked eye, they are often spotted by hikers…

An international agreement to protect the ozone layer is expected to prevent 443 million cases of skin cancer and 63 million cataract cases for people born in the United States through the end of this century, according to new research. The research team developed a computer modeling approach that revealed the effect of the Montreal…