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Ancient teeth have long been a source of information about ancient diets, mainly through analyses of isotopic compositions and wear patterns. In a new study published in the Science of Nature, researchers studied microfossils of food particles extracted from the teeth of a 1.2-million-year-old unidentified hominin found at the Sima del Elefante site in northern Spain. The microfossils include traces of raw animal tissue, uncooked starch granules from grasses, pollen grains from a species of pine tree and insect fragments. The lack of charring of the recovered fibers and an absence of micro-charcoal suggest the bearer of the teeth neither cooked his or her food nor spent significant time around a fire source.

Eruptions from seafloor volcanoes and cycles of global glaciations may seem unrelated, but new research suggests otherwise, indicating that pulses of volcanism at mid-ocean ridges might have influenced glacial and interglacial periods during the latter half of the Pleistocene.

Easter Island, a lonely island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, is steeped in mystique — and not just for its famous, perplexing statues and controversial story of societal collapse. How the island formed has also baffled geologists for decades.

England’s iconic White Cliffs of Dover tower 100 meters over the English Channel and, historically, were often the first and last view of England for sea-faring travelers. New research investigating the erosion history of the steep chalk cliffs suggests that they have been retreating far faster over the last 150 years than they once did.