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For decades, much of what the world knew about human genetics was built from datasets that scarcely reflected the diversity of South Asia. Yet one of the most significant pieces of the human story may have been hiding in plain sight.

The plastic water bottle is barely over fifty years old, yet it may end up being one of the most enduring objects humans have ever created. The clear PET bottle used for water and soft drinks today traces back to a patent granted to DuPont engineer Nathaniel Wyeth in 1973, describing what he called a biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate container.

One small dot on old skin can challenge a long-held theory. Researchers have recently found traces of tattoo ink on a mummy, which is almost 5,000 years old.

Scientists have identified a vast whale graveyard and active whale-fall sites in the southeastern Indian Ocean. The find links millions of years of whale remains with thriving deep-sea life and fresh clues to whale evolution.

The musical pillars of Hampi's Vitthala temple ring like bells when struck, and scientists at a nuclear research centre have finally explained how solid granite makes music. In this instalment of Science of Sound, we explain the physics of lithophones, the ancient acoustic engineering behind the pillars, and why they can no longer be played.

Long before cities rose across Mesopotamia and centuries before writing first appeared on clay tablets, the landscape of western Asia was being shaped by forces hidden deep beneath the ground. The Euphrates River, later associated with some of humanity's earliest urban societies, did not always follow its familiar course.

The idea sounds almost backwards. Solar farms are usually discussed as a way of generating electricity in some of the world's driest landscapes, not as a possible source of rainfall.

When German hikers Helmut and Erika Simon stumbled upon a body protruding from melting ice in the Alps in September 1991, they assumed they had discovered the remains of an unfortunate mountaineer.

A human brain that may date back more than two millennia has been recovered from a skull unearthed near York, offering an unusual case of soft tissue survival in Iron Age archaeology. The remains were first excavated in 2008 from a waterlogged pit at Heslington, where conditions appear to have slowed the normal process of decay.

For decades, scientists have pursued a technological equivalent of a leaf: a device capable of capturing sunlight and transforming carbon dioxide and water into useful fuels. While significant advances have been made, most artificial photosynthesis systems have depended on batteries, electronic controllers, or external power management to maintain stable operation.