Fri Jul 3, 2009
Embargo lifted 11:30am AEST Friday 3 July 2009 New research published in PLoS ONE on Friday describes the remains of three new species of dinosaur: two giant herbivores (sauropods) and a carnivore (theropod) found during digs in the Winton Formation of central Queensland. They are the first large Australian dinosaurs to be discovered since 1981.
Tue Oct 30, 2007
Analysis of a 3000-year old burial site in Vanuatu has revealed strange funerary customs and other important evidence of the way of life of prehistoric Pacific islanders according to a report released today.
Thu Oct 18, 2007
Embargo lifted 03.00 am (AEST) Thursday 18 October 2007 Early humans were living more complex and interesting lives than previously thought, according to a report to be published in this week’s Nature magazine. A team of researchers have found evidence in a South African sea cave that humans were adapting to a coastal diet and [...]
Thu Aug 23, 2007
Embargo lifted at 3am AEST on Thu 23 August 2007 In a report published in Nature on Thursday, researchers describe ancient diamonds found in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia that are over four billion years old, relatively close to the time when the earth was first formed. They are the oldest identified fragments [...]
Tue May 8, 2007
New DNA research just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the US provides further evidence that Australia was first settled by a single group of settlers who left Africa more than 55,000 years ago.
Thu Jan 25, 2007
In a paper published in the Journal Nature today, scientists announce the discovery of what palaeontologists have described as the “find of the century”. It included skeletons and bones of animals that lived in the middle Pleistocene period (the time period between approximately 1.8 million and 11,000 years ago) including a complete skeleton of a [...]
Thu Nov 16, 2006
In this week’s edition of the journal Nature, scientists describe the extraction and analysis of ancient DNA from 38,000 year-old Neanderthal bones. Comparison of the DNA with human and chimpanzee DNA indicates that Neanderthal and human DNA diverged around 500,000 years ago. Here Australian scientists respond to the find.
Thu Sep 21, 2006
In an article published in the Journal Nature on September 21, scientists announce the discovery of fossilised remains of a very early primitive human child (Australopithecus afarensis), “Lucy’s baby”, in Ethiopia (see www.nature.com/nature for details). Here Australian experts comment on the significance of the find.