Diseases started jumping from animals to humans at least 6,500 years ago, researchers found in a new study of ancient DNA. After analyzing ancient DNA from 1,313 prehistoric humans from Europe and ...

The modern house cat reached China in the 8th century. Before that, another cat — the leopard cat — hunted the rodents in ancient Chinese settlements.

Recent breakthroughs in the study of ancient DNA are providing unprecedented insights into the ecosystems and human history ...

Ancient wolves lived with people on tiny Baltic island. Their bones show shared food and long contact that hints at early wolf management.

Cats didn’t become house pets because humans needed them. They didn’t herd animals, pull carts, or guard property.

Dogs and wolves living today derive from a shared ancient wolf population that lived alongside woolly mammoths and cave bears ...

Animals that hibernate are incredibly resilient. They can spend months without food or water, muscles refusing to atrophy, body temperature dropping to near freezing as their metabolism and brain ...

When the rodent cGAS enzyme was inserted into human and mouse cells in the laboratory, the researchers observed that it significantly enhanced the cells' ability to repair DNA and in turn reduced the ...