For the first time, scientists have used DNA preserved in ancient sediments to examine how a major natural disaster affected ...

Scientists have uncovered an enormous hidden archive of plant DNA that has endured for more than 400 million years. By comparing hundreds of plant genomes, researchers identified more than 2.3 million ...

Where did Europe's distinct Uralic family of languages—which includes Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian—come from? New research puts their origins a lot farther east than many thought. The study finds ...

Our ancient past isn't always buried history. When it comes to our DNA, nearly 9% of the human genome is made up of leftover genetic material from ancient viruses (called endogenous retroviruses or ...

Ciara Wanket drilling for sedaDNA samples in Canada’s Yukon territory. This ash layer from the volcano eruption she studied is visible as a pale stripe in the dark permafrost sediment. For the first ...