skeleton

(Newser) - Scientists are analyzing bones found in the ancient city of Jericho, in what's now the West Bank, for clues to fighting tuberculosis. The German, Israeli, and Palestinian researchers hope the 6,000-year-old DNA they're studying will reveal how the disease evolves and how to combat it.

(Newser) - A new study of three wrist bones from an 18,000-year-old fossil shows that the so-called hobbits of Indonesia were, indeed, a separate human species. When the bones were discovered in 2003, scientists trumpeted the find as evidence of a smaller species, Homo floresiensis. But skeptics argued that the hobbit,...

(Newser) - A substance produced by the skeleton may help to treat diabetes, a new study suggests. A hormone called osteocalcin regulates blood sugar; type 2 diabetics have a lower level of the hormone than other people. In the study, mice with lower levels of osteocalcin develop symptoms of diabetes, which go...