Under the microscope #15 - Elephant fish embryo
Dr Andrew Gillis shows us an embryonic skate head and explains how the red denticles dotted all over it have very similar properties to human teeth.
View ArticleResearcher cuts teeth in new method
University of Alberta researcher Nicole Burt took up an odd moonlighting job to further her research. She became a surrogate tooth fairy.
View ArticleTrapped dental 'calculus' holds clues to ancient human diets and health
Many ancient human teeth, including specimens tens of thousands of years old, still hold onto tiny pieces of food -- and even bacteria. Anthropologists are studying the tartar attached to ancient human...
View ArticleResearchers find shark teeth made of natural fluoride
(Phys.org) -- German researchers studying shark teeth have found at least two species that have fluorinated calcium phosphate - mineral fluoroapatite, as a main component, one of the main ingredients...
View ArticleTracing humanity's African ancestry may mean rewriting 'out of Africa' dates
New research by a University of Alberta archeologist may lead to a rethinking of how, when and from where our ancestors left Africa.
View Article'True grit' erodes assumptions about evolution
Dining on field grasses would be ruinous to human teeth, but mammals such as horses, rhinos and gazelles evolved long, strong teeth that are up to the task.
View ArticleBioinspired material mimics squid beak
(Phys.org) —Researchers led by scientists at Case Western Reserve University have turned to an unlikely model to make medical devices safer and more comfortable—a squid's beak.
View ArticleEndangered orangutans offer a new evolutionary model for early humans
Starving orangutans in Borneo may be teaching us new lessons about human evolution.
View ArticleNanocrystals make dentures shine
German chemists succeeded in producing a new kind of glass-ceramic with a nanocrystalline structure, which seems to be well suited to be used in dentistry due to their high strength and its optical...
View ArticleAncient human ancestor Australopithecus sediba had unique diet: study
When it came to eating, an upright, 2-million-year-old African hominid had a diet unlike virtually all other known human ancestors, says a study led by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary...
View ArticleAge of fossil teeth from Longgupo Cave determined with combined ESR/U-series
A Sino-France research team reported preliminary dating results of seven herbivorous fossil teeth from different archaeological layers of the lowest geological unit (C III) of Longgupo Cave site,...
View ArticleResearch verifies a Neandertal's right-handedness, hinting at language capacity
(Phys.org)—There are precious few Neandertal skeletons available to science. One of the more complete was discovered in 1957 in France, roughly 900 yards away from the famous Lascaux Cave. That...
View ArticleIs there a Neanderthal in the house?
Bunions bothering you? How about lower back pain, or impacted wisdom teeth?
View ArticleStudy of alligator dental regeneration process may lead to tooth regeneration...
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers from the U.S., Taiwan and China analyzing tooth regeneration in alligators reports that a similar process might possibly be instigated in humans through artificial...
View ArticleExploring dental enamel thickness of giant ape by using high-resolution CT
Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest known species of primate, lived mainly in South China during the Pleistocene. The enormous body size of this taxon, together with its special dietary proclivity and...
View ArticleNew study of fossil teeth shows that environment, as well as diet, may impact...
(Phys.org) —Researchers at the University of Arkansas have established that pits and scratches on the teeth of mammal fossils give important clues to the diet of creatures that lived millions of years...
View ArticleStiffness and hardness of sheep molar enamel is lower than that of humans
A first-ever study investigating the survival of ovine teeth has found the stiffness (Young's modulus) and hardness of sheep molar enamel is lower than that of human molar enamel, while the toughness...
View ArticleLunadong fossils support theory of earlier dispersal of modern man
(Phys.org) —Scientists are now considering the possibility that the exodus of modern man from Africa may have been earlier than 60,000 years ago as traditionally thought. Christopher Bae, a...
View ArticleResearchers find sea otter dental enamel 2.5 times as strong as humans
A team of researchers with members from the U.S., Germany and Kuwait has found that sea otter dental enamel is approximately two and a half times as strong as human dental enamel. In their study...
View ArticleNeanderthal groups based part of the their lifestyle on the sexual division...
Neanderthal communities divided some of their tasks according to their sex. This is one of the main conclusions reached by a study performed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), published...
View ArticleBy precisely gauging the age of juvenile fossils, researchers show how early...
For nearly a century, the debate has raged among evolutionary biologists: When working to understand how our early human ancestors developed, should juvenile fossils be thought of as fundamentally...
View ArticleStrong teeth: Nanostructures under stress make teeth crack resistant
Human teeth have to serve for a lifetime, despite being subjected to huge forces. But the high failure resistance of dentin in teeth is not fully understood. An interdisciplinary team led by scientists...
View ArticleDental analysis suggests Homo floresiensis was a separate species from modern...
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers affiliated with the National Museum of Nature and Science in Japan, The University of Wollongong in Australia and The National Research and Development Centre for...
View ArticleEarliest modern humans in Southern China recast history of early human migration
The hominin record from southern Asia for the early Late Pleistocene epoch is scarce. Well-dated and well-preserved fossils older than 45,000 years that can be unequivocally attributed to Homo sapiens...
View ArticleA fishy tale of a sheep in wolf's clothing
Scientists have developed a technique to perform dietary analysis of fish by analysing microscopic tooth wear.
View ArticlePredicting human evolution: Teeth tell the story
Monash University-led research has shown that the evolution of human teeth is much simpler than previously thought, and that we can predict the sizes of teeth missing from human fossils and those of...
View Article3-D printed fish fossil may reveal origin of human teeth
Three-dimensional prints of a 400 million year old fish fossil from around Lake Burrinjuck in southeast Australia reveal the possible evolutionary origins of human teeth, according to new research by...
View ArticleResearchers find biomarker in deciduous teeth for establishing the age of...
(Phys.org)—The transition from breastfeeding to a nonmilk diet is a developmental milestone, influencing future health and survival of mammals, including humans. Breast milk is highly beneficial to...
View ArticleChipped teeth suggests Homo naledi had a unique diet
There was a lot of excitement when scientists reported the discovery of an entirely new hominin species, Homo naledi, in 2015. Since then, we are gradually learning more about them. For example,...
View ArticleOld teeth from a rediscovered cave show humans were in Indonesia more than...
Modern humans were present in Southeast Asia about 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence published in Nature today.
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