By analysing the boy's mitochondrial DNA, scientists found that the boy's closest living relatives are in Peru and Bolivia.
By analysing the boy's mitochondrial DNA, scientists found that the boy's closest living relatives are in Peru and Bolivia.
DNA tracks sacrificed boy's living relatives
Living relatives of a 7-year-old boy, sacrificed in a gruesome ceremony by Incans 500 years ago, have been tracked down using modern genetic technology.
The boy, whose mummified body was found frozen in the ice of an Argentinian mountain 30 years ago, was the victim of the Inca child sacrifice ritual of "capacocha", typically tied to events in the emperor's life.
By analysing the boy's mitochondrial DNA, scientists found that the boy's closest living relatives are in Peru and Bolivia.
Climate change is bad news for sharks, according to a new study showing how the species' growth and hunting ability will be dramatically impacted by increased CO2 levels and warmer oceans expected by the end of the century.
Using experiments involving sharks in large tanks with natural habitat and prey, Australian ecologists have demonstrated how warmer waters and ocean acidification will have major impacts on sharks' ability to meet their energy demands.
The effects are likely to cascade through entire ecosystems.
The new conditions would increase sharks' energy requirements, slash metabolic efficiency and remove their ability to locate prey through smell, leaving them hungrier but less able to find food.
Ancient stars shed light on birth of Milky Way
The nine stars contain material from an earlier star which died in a huge explosion called a hypernova.
Astronomers have discovered the oldest known stars, dating from before the Milky Way Galaxy formed, when the universe was just 300 million years old.
The nine stars, near the centre of the Milky Way, are highly pure but contain material from an earlier star, which died in a huge explosion called a hypernova.
"These pristine stars are among the oldest surviving stars in the universe," said Louise Howes from The Australian National University, lead author of the study published in Nature.
The stars formed before the Milky Way, she said, and the galaxy formed around them.
Is Facebook changing our brains?
Scientists say it's urgent we find out how Twitter, Facebook and other social media are changing our brains and how we behave away from our smartphone and computer screens.
In a review paper published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, German and US neuroscientists argue that because social media strips away some of the constraints that usually shape the way we act, it's an ideal opportunity for researchers to better understand how we change our social behaviour in different environments.
As social media use continues to increase, it is important to study its positive and negative effects on people, especially children and adolescents, who make up a significant portion of users, study co-author Dr Dar Meshi says.
"Though social media can elicit positive consequences, exploring the effects of social media on the brain is especially relevant considering that social media use can disrupt normal functioning, such as contributing to poor academic performance, job loss, and declines in wellbeing."
What women want ... in sperm donors
Intellectual, shy, calm and methodical - that's what women apparently want in sperm donors.
An Australian study that investigated how women choose sperm donors online has revealed these strong, silent types are picked to produce more children than those who are extroverted.
The research, published in the international journal Applied Economic Letters, is thought to be the first of its kind to include males who donate sperm purely through unregulated websites and forums.
"You would expect in an online setting, men would have to sell or promote themselves to women, and extroverted men should be better at doing that," said lead author Stephen Whyte, of Queensland University of Technology.
