SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY
Family Portraits, an Ancient Polar Bear, the Dinosaurs' End
Smithsonian Magazine featured the work of "paleo-artist" John Gurche, who has re-created the faces of our early ancestors for a new exhibit opening this month at the National Museum of Natural History.
In other news of the ancient past, scientists say that inscribed ostrich shell fragments found in South Africa, dating to about 60,000 years ago, are among the earliest examples of the use of symbolism by modern humans.
The New York Times reported that many biologists are now seeing the role of culture in evolution in a different light. It seems that for the past 20,000 years or so, people may have been inadvertently shaping their own evolution.
Scientists have uncovered the remains of the most ancient polar bear ever found. DNA analyses reveal that the bear lived about 120,000 years ago and represents an evolutionary snapshot of one species turning into another.
And, finally, after the most wide-ranging analysis yet, an international team of scientists has strongly endorsed evidence that a space impact caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
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