• Current Issue
• Past Issues
• On the Bookshelf
• Science in the News

• About
• Subscribe
• Advertise
• Sigma Xi

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY

Did Geothermal Pools Produce the First Cells?

Scientific American explored the theory that life's first cells may have evolved in geothermal pools like those at Yellowstone National Park and other geologic hot spots.

In other news of the ancient past, a researcher claims that the Neolithic builders of Stonehenge were inspired by "auditory illusions" when they drew up blueprints for the ancient monument. The radical proposal follows a series of experiments that suggest that the positions of the standing stones match patterns in sound waves created by a pair of musical instruments.

The Still Bay culture was one of the most advanced Middle Stone Age groups in Africa when it emerged some 78,000 years ago. Excavations at Blombos Cave have revealed distinctive tools, including carefully worked stone points that probably served as knives and spear tips, and bits of rock inscribed with apparently symbolic designs.

The first known fossil of a rare bloodsucker called the bat fly has been found in 20-million-year-old amber from the Dominican Republic. What's more, according to a new study, the ancient bug was host to bat malaria, an even rarer find.