ScienceDaily: Fossils & Ruins News

First-ever evidence of drastic climate change of Northern China region 4,200 years ago Posted: 16 Feb 2015 01:00 PM PST Using a relatively new scientific dating technique, geologists were able to document -- for the first time -- a drastic climate change 4,200 years ago in northern China that affected vegetation and led to mass migration from the area.

Ancient rocks show life could have flourished on Earth 3.2 billion years ago Posted: 16 Feb 2015 10:11 AM PST A spark from a lightning bolt, interstellar dust, or a subsea volcano could have triggered the very first life on Earth. But what happened next? Life can exist without oxygen, but without plentiful nitrogen to build genes -- essential to viruses, bacteria and all other organisms -- life on the early Earth would have been scarce. The ability to use atmospheric nitrogen to support more widespread life was thought to have appeared roughly 2 billion years ago. Now research looking at some of the planet's oldest rocks finds evidence that 3.2 billion years ago, life was already pulling nitrogen out of the air and converting it into a form that could support larger communities.

An Italian cemetery may provide clues on cholera's evolution Posted: 15 Feb 2015 03:51 PM PST A team of archaeologists and other researchers hope that an ancient graveyard in Italy can yield clues about the deadly bacterium that causes cholera.