Archaeology

Sometimes you never know where your work will end up. Take this figure depicting the evolution of whales that I created for Jerry Coyne’s book, Why Evolution is True.

Relying on evidence from Southwestern deserts, a biologist debunks an evolutionary theory that assumes continental sterility for Precambrian life

There have never been enough amphisbaenians on Tet Zoo. In fact, the only time I've written about them at any sort of length is in the 2008 (and 2012) April Fool's article wherein they were convincingly (cough) shown to be the true ancestors of mammals.

A contract from A.D. 267, the first of its kind ever found, details an agreement between the backers of two teen wrestlers in the finals of an important regional competition

Analysis of a 325 million-year-old fossil suggests that modern sharks have evolved extensively, rather than remaining unchanged since prehistoric times

The arsenic was within the mummy's hair, showing that Chileans dating back to 1,000 to 1,500 years ago likely drank arsenic-contaminated water

Testing of a scrap of papyrus, which bears words suggesting that Jesus had a wife, points to the document's authenticity

A spider-like arachnid fossil helps explain the evolutionary path of modern harvestmen, often called 'daddy longlegs'

An isotopes analysis was used to determine that many pieces of turquoise found in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon came from as far away as Nevada

Analysis of an ancient thylacinid's skeleton suggests that the marsupial had a very powerful bite despite its small size
 

Paleontologist Neil Shubin's 2008 book Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body comes to PBS in a three-part series airing April 9, 16th and 23rd. Steve Mirsky reports

 

Researchers are uncertain why the mummy, about 1,700 years old, had plaster "plaques" on the sternum and abdomen