New Earliest Hominid Found

A new earliest human ancestor has been found in Ethiopia, a 4.4 million-year-old hominid fossil nicknamed "Ardi" (Ardipithecus ramidus) that is 1 million years older than "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis), providing evidence humans and apes shared an even earlier common ancestor.

Nero's Rotating Banquet Hall

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of the Roman Emperor Nero's extravagant banquet hall from the first century A.D., including water-powered mechanisms to keep the 50-foot room constantly slowly rotating.

850 New Species Underground

Scientists have identified 850 previously unknown species of insects, crustaceans, spiders, fish and worms living in subterranean water sources and caves in Australia, likely only one-fifth of the total undiscovered species located there.

Element 114 Confirmed

A group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have confirmed the production of two isotopes of the new superheavy element 114 ten years after a Russian team first produced the new man-made element.

Earliest Feathered Dinosaurs

New fossils found in northwestern China and in remarkably good condition reveal feathered dinosaurs some 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx, further affirming the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and modern birds.

New Species in Mekong River

Researchers discovered a total of 163 new plant and animal species last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, including a fanged frog that preys on birds, an exotic leopard gecko with large cat-like eyes, and a tiger-striped pit viper.

Anglo-Saxon Gold Cache

The largest cache ever of Anglo-Saxon gold artifacts has been discovered in a field in Staffordshire, UK, with about 1500 pieces of gold and silver dating back to the seventh century AD.

Water Detected on Moon

Three independent space probes have now confirmed the existence of a very thin layer of water vapor all over the Moon's surface, clinging to the surface of the soil.

New Ghostshark Species

A new species of chimaera, or Eastern Pacific black ghostshark (Hydrolagus melanophasma), an ancient and strange fish species distantly related to sharks, has been discovered off the coast of Southern California and Baja California, Mexico.

Alexander the Great Engraving

A rare and tiny (less than 1 cm) gemstone was discovered at a dig in Tel Dor on Israel's Mediterranean coast that contains an engraved portrait of Alexander the Great, a rare find outside of the Hellenistic world.

Temperature Maps of Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed permanently shadowed craters in the Moon's polar regions with temperatures less than −397°F, colder than any other location measured in the solar system, even on the surface of Pluto.

Magnetism in Gas Observed

Scientists have observed ferromagnetism in a gas of lithium atoms cooled to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, demonstrating that a substance does not require a crystalline structure to be magnetic.

Smaller T. rex Discovered

A smaller dinosaur named Raptorex kriegsteini has been discovered in China that seems to be a miniaturized version of the giant Tyrannosaurus rex that appeared millions of years later, challenging assumptions about the larger predator's evolution.

Rocky Planet Discovered

Astronomers have identified the first rocky extrasolar planet only slightly larger than the Earth, designated Corot-7b and about 500 light-years distant, albeit with a surface temperature around 3600°F.