Michael Marshall

It has been 50 years since archaeologists discovered Lucy, perhaps the most famous ancient hominin ever found. But the scientists who have studied her say that this fossil gave us a misleading image of the nature of her species

From food insecurity and cholera in Malawi, to droughts and fooding in Somalia, to scorching heatwaves in Burkina Faso – as temperatures continue to rise, so too does the toll on people

Cuneiform was invented around 3200 BC in ancient Mesopotamia, but before it came a much simpler form of writing called proto-cuneiform. Researchers are now shedding light on how writing began along with the cultural factors that spurred on its invention.

Before Mesopotamian people invented writing, they used cylinder seals to press patterns into wet clay – and some of the symbols used were carried over into proto-writing

Most ingredients touted as the key to better health fail to live up to the hype but fibre bucks this trend, with benefits for the whole body, not just the gut

Recent research shows that anti-inflammatory diets are not as faddish as they might sound, with the power to reduce the risk of heart attacks and some cancers

The world's largest icebergs – which can be larger than entire countries in some cases – break off the Antarctic ice sheet. As they drift and melt in the Southern Ocean, they create a unique environment around them.

In a wetland on the south coast of England, archaeologists dug up one of the oldest and most complete wooden tools ever found in Britain, which is around 3500 years old

People who went from using social media for at least 2 hours a day to just 30 minutes a day reported no improvement to their sleep or emotional well-being

There is a dirty secret in publishing: most popular science books aren't fact-checked. This needs to change

Millions of years ago, our ancestors lost a gene for producing vitamin C and got a taste for sour foods

Geologists suggest Mount Everest owes part of its extra height to two ancient rivers that flowed through the Himalayas and merged about 89,000 years ago.

The last coal-fired power station in the UK raises questions about how old fossil fuel infrastructure can be repurposed. One option is to use them to store energy from renewables.

There can be no victory in a war against nature, says Sunil Amrith in The Burning Earth, a must-read history of our environmental crisis

Ancient humans are said to have evolved to leave the trees, where our primate ancestors lived, in favour of open grassy savannahs – but we may have this idea wrong