Close human contact only started about 3,500 years ago and birds were initially venerated, find archaeologistsChickens were originally tempted down from the trees and into domestication by rice, according to research.Chicken is one of the most popular foods in the world today, with more than one billion birds slaughtered annually in the UK alone. But researchers at the University of Exeter, the...

CO2 has not been so high since before hominids walked upright – and are not dropping fast enough to avert catastropheThe level of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than during the pre-industrial era, further pushing the planet into conditions not experienced for millions of years, well before the emergence of humans, US government data shows.The latest...

Verdict in case of Jim Fitton, 66, shocks court in Baghdad after family argued he had no criminal intentA British citizen has been sentenced by an Iraqi court to 15 years in prison on charges of smuggling artefacts out of the country, in a case that has attracted international attention.The verdict handed down to Jim Fitton, a retired geologist, shocked the court in Baghdad, including his defence...

Extinction, a new book by Marc Schlossman, explores endangered and extinct species and the factors threatening them through a rare behind the scenes look at one of the most important sets of natural history collections in the world at the Field Museum in ChicagoConservation status chart: Vulnerable Endangered Critically endangered Extinct Continue...

Noctilucent clouds, which glow after sunset, are the highest known clouds in Earth’s atmosphereLate spring/early summer in the northern hemisphere is a good time to look for noctilucent clouds. Roughly translated from Latin, noctilucent means “night shine”, which is a good description of these beautiful cloud formations. They can be seen glowing an electric blue colour against the darkening...