´óÏó´«Ã½

Human DNA from 400,000 years ago has been uncovered by a team of scientists from a site in Northern Spain. The findings mark an exciting frontier in the exploration of human origins. But as Professor Dr Svante Pääbo explains they also pose a puzzling set of questions in our quest to gain a clearer understanding of our ancestors.

Comet ISON
Hailed as the comet of the century, ISON flew too close to the sun and disintegrated. But according to Dr Carey Lisse, this is just what astronomers needed to see inside the celestial ice ball and study the origin of planets.

Panspermia
New calculations show cosmic impacts could have spread life from one end of the solar system to the other.

(Photo caption: The Sima de los Huesos hominins lived approximately 400,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene © Javier Trueba, Madrid Scientific Films)