Fungi have quietly shaped the trajectory of human civilization, from the diets of Paleolithic foragers to the beer in modern glasses and the experimental psychiatric drugs now in clinical trials. The ...

Mushrooms have been used by ancient humans for millennia, but archaeologists have only just uncovered their pivotal role in ...

Scientists study physical evidence such as cave art, hand-crafted tools, and skull structures to infer cognitive and speech capabilities ...

For decades, small grooves on ancient human teeth were thought to be evidence of deliberate tool use—people cleaning their teeth with sticks or fibers, or easing gum pain with makeshift "toothpicks." ...

For the first time, scientists have reconstructed ancient genomes of Human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from archaeological human remains more than two millennia old. The study, led by the ...

The field of ancient DNA has revealed important aspects of human evolutionary past, including relationships with Denisovans and Neandertals. These studies have relied on DNA from bones and teeth, ...

Little Foot” is the most complete Australopithecus fossil ever found. And now we finally have an idea of what this group of ...

He lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, eking out an existence in what is today central China. Sporting a squat neck and a big brain, he likely wielded tools made of stone and hunted or scavenged ...

The fossilised bones of our ancestors remain silent. So, how can we possibly imagine what our earliest languages sounded like ...

A new interpretation of a 3,500-year-old medical text from Egypt suggests that ancient physicians might have bathed patients' eyeballs in human breast milk to treat certain ophthalmic conditions. And ...

While few of us today know how to start a bonfire without matches or a lighter, learning to make fire was one of the most critical developments in human history. New evidence suggests humans figured ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. GrrlScientist writes about evolution, ecology, behavior and health. Wolf bones unearthed on a tiny island in the Baltic Sea were ...