English cave dig may yield clues as to why Neanderthals became extinct

September 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Studying the ratio between the index and ring fingers of two Neanderthals and one Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, University of Liverpool researchers have shown that human ancestors conflicted on monogamy. Lead researcher Emma Nelson says that the ratio between the index and ring fingers is thought to be a telltale marker for how much an individual was exposed to the androgen class of hormones-specifically testosterone-while in the womb.

September 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers is probing the links between modern humans and Neanderthals. Homo neanderthalensis nearly made it through two Ice Ages in Europe, and disappeared roughly 30,000 years ago.

August 25th, 2009 LONDON - A freediver has set a new world record by swimming through Australia's longest underwater cave. Mike Wells swam almost 400ft to create a new record.

August 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Archaeologists have discovered a prehistoric water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic, containing stone tools, a small primate skull in remarkable condition, and the claws, jawbone and other bones of several species of sloths, which offers clues to the Caribbean's earliest inhabitants. The discoveries extend by thousands of years the scope of investigations led Charles Beeker, director of Academic Diving and Underwater Science Programs at IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and his interdisciplinary team of collaborators.

August 14th, 2009 LONDON - A seabird thought to have been driven to extinction by hungry European sailors in the late 18th century has been rediscovered, in the laboratory. It turns out the 'extinct' species is actually a sub-species of a bird very much alive.

August 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian scientists have developed new theory about the 'Hobbit' species in the Indonesian island of Flores, that they existed alongside humans. Archaeologists found the 'hobbit' in 2003, while excavating in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The wound that killed a Neanderthal man between 50,000 and 75,000 years was most likely caused by a thrown spear, the kind modern humans used but Neanderthals did not, according to the latest research. "What we've got is a rib injury, with any number of scenarios that could explain it," said Steven Churchill, professor at Duke University.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that the wound that ultimately killed a Neanderthal man between 50,000 and 75,000 years was most likely caused by a thrown spear, the kind modern humans used, thus indicating a possible case of interspecies homicide. Analysis by Steven Churchill, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, indicates that the wound was from a thrown spear, and it appears that modern humans had a thrown-weapons technology and Neanderthals didn't.

July 8th, 2009 COPENHAGEN - A new theory has suggested that an infectious disease carried by Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa was responsible for the demise of the Neanderthal 30,000 years ago. According to a report in The Copenhagen Post, Professor emeritus Bent Sorensen of the University of Roskilde said that disease carried by Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa was responsible for the gradual extinction of our prehistoric cousins in the same way that European illnesses ravaged Native American populations in the sixteenth century.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that necessity compelled Neanderthals to dry hunks of big game meat for easy transport. According to a report in Discovery News, the findings help to explain how Neanderthals could transport meat over long distances without it rotting, as well as how they survived the often chilly conditions of Northern Europe.

June 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - An artificial underground cave, the largest in Israel, has been exposed in the Jordan Valley in the course of a survey carried out by the University of Haifa's Department of Archaeology. Professor Adam Zertal, who headed the excavating team, reckons that this cave was originally a large quarry during the Roman and Byzantine era and was one of its kind.

June 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An anthropologist has determined that a fossil found in a Chinese cave 15 years ago, dating back to almost 2 million years, is from a "mystery" ape, and is evidence of a new form of early human. According to a report in National Geographic News, the fossil was found in the 1980s in south-central China's Longgupo cave by Russell Ciochon.

May 17th, 2009 LONDON - Modern humans were responsible for butchering Neanderthals in the Stone Age, says a leading fossil expert. The controversial comment follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans.

May 3rd, 2009 LONDON - The secrets of now extinct ice age beasts have been revealed after the discovery of a body of a 37,000-year-old baby mammoth. The perfectly preserved frozen body was found in the artic tundra.

May 1st, 2009 LONDON - A team of British explorers has claimed to have discovered the world's largest cave passage in Hang Son Doong, Vietnam. According to a report in the Telegraph, measuring more than 650 ft high and almost 500 ft wide, Hang Son Doong (Mountain River Cave) is believed to be almost twice the size of the current record holder.