A team of scientists has discovered what they say is the first evidence in the world – dating back 47 million years – of a snake giving birth to its young. Image shows the Messel boa (Messelophis variatus) which is the world's first fossil record of a viviparous snake, undated…
The oldest known sample of an E. coli bacteria has been extracted from a 16th-century Italian mummy by an international team of researchers. Modern E. coli bacteria is often found in the digestive system of healthy humans and animals and while most forms of it are harmless, researchers revealed in…
A curious student researching historic buildings has discovered the world’s oldest functioning paternoster lift. Art history student Robin Augenstein, 32, studied construction plans of houses built in the port area of Hamburg, northern Germany, for a seminar at university four years ago. He noticed that historic blueprints of a heritage-protected…
The Turkish gran who allegedly celebrated her 120th birthday last June has passed away. Seker Arslan of the northern Turkish city of Amasya suddenly fell ill on Wednesday, 9th February. She was taken to the Sabuncuoglu Serafeddin Training and Research Hospital in Amasya with shortness of breath and organ failure.…
China’s oldest person has died aged 135 in her local township. Alimihan Seyiti, from the township of Komuxerik in Shule County in the north-western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, died on 16th December. According to the county’s Publicity Department, Seyiti was born on 25th June 1886 during the imperial Qing dynasty.…
