News Desk

For decades, scientists have disputed the meaning of the weapons found in the burial chambers of some ancient Egyptian princesses. Were they symbolic or practical tools? Now, a reassessment of five royal women’s mummies from the Middle Kingdom has shown that some princesses buried with weapons could use them. The research was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology

Joël Lapointe was using Google Maps to plan a camping trail through Quebec’s Côte-Nord region when he stumbled across a large indentation. Now, scientists have confirmed that the pit was indeed a meteor impact crater that dates back roughly 390 million years.

The Upton Lovell Shaman, a Bronze Age individual depicted in museum exhibits as a bearded spiritual leader and metalworker, was female, an ancient DNA analysis has revealed. The 4,000-year-old skeleton, along with the extensive collection of stone axes, metalworking tools, and the remains of an elaborate ceremonial cloak found in the grave, is regarded as one of the most significant Bronze Age burials in Britain.

Archaeological work conducted at the Coves del Fem (Ulldemolins, Priorat)—located within the Serra de Montsant Natural Park—between May 30 and June 28, 2026, has yielded important new evidence for understanding the prehistory of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

A recent small study analyzes how the psychedelic drug LSD reshapes brain activity. The research shows that the substance boosts widespread neural synchronization while blurring the boundaries between sensory perception and abstract thought. The findings were published in PLOS Computational Biology.

While the possibility that dark matter exists in an extra, hidden dimension has been extensively researched in recent years, scientists at the University of Sheffield have now taken that concept a step further. A new study, published in Physical Review D, proposes a framework to explain how dark matter behaves and why it remains so difficult to detect.

For 65m years, this landscape has sheltered all manner of astonishing creatures. But some of the most fascinating life forms found here are even older. Before animals walked the Earth or trees began converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, fungi helped to create the conditions necessary for complex life on our planet. “People often say that fungi grow in the forest,” Dr Alison Pouliot, a mycologist, tells me as we inhale cool air perfumed with the gentle spice of sassafras. “But there wouldn’t be a forest without fungi. Fungi are the ecosystem engineers that created the foundation for the forest.”

Research published on Thursday has revealed that the humble birds were first domesticated 3,500 years ago, meaning they have been enmeshed in our lives for nearly a millennium longer than previously thought.

Neandertal babies seem to have started life much the same as modern humans, then grew a lot faster…One study, published June 17 in Royal Society Open Science, looked at the remains of a very young Neandertal child. The other study, published April 15 in Current Biology, examined the remains of a six-month-old Neandertal from a cave in northern Israel.

In an anthropology-expanding study published in Nature Communications, an international team reports that human DNA can be preserved on cave walls for millennia.

A microscopic analysis of the skull of Qafzeh 25 revealed a cut mark likely made by a stone tool 100,000 years ago. The study was published June 30 in the journal Scientific Reports.

The authors of a new study published in iScience propose that cephalopods may be evidence that something else is the dominant driver of brain size.

A hidden ring of stones or timbers detected beneath peat at Machrie Moor could represent a previously unknown Neolithic or Bronze Age monument.

Tens of thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens coexisted with Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis. Many of us living today carry a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, indicating that the two species may have shared much more than just the same land. Now, a breakthrough archaeological discovery has revealed that the two species did not merely cross paths: they possibly shared a common culture that spanned more than 20,000 years. The paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

At first, 15 individuals were found inside the Rising Star cave system. Now, archaeologists have specimens of at least 20 of these ancient humans, who lived between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago. A new examination of the ancient proteins preserved in their teeth suggests that the site is surprisingly lacking in males and may even be an all-female site. The research was published in Cell.

The discovery was made near the Giant’s Ring, just outside Belfast, during a community archaeology excavation led by Brian Sloan from Queen’s University. The site came to the team’s attention after they saw aerial photography highlighting several crop marks that extended farther than previously thought.