Sudanese miners vie with archaeologists for desert riches

. . . it is also home to ancient relics from the Nubian kingdom, one of the earliest civilisations in the Nile valley, and archaeologists and officials fear that a crucial part of Sudan's heritage is being effaced as the miners pillage or accidentally damage the sites.

Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars

Spectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti

Celebrated critic Frank Kermode dies aged 90

"You may not have a very deep acquaintance with Hegel but you need to know something about Hegel. Or Hobbes, or Aristotle, or Roland Barthes. We're all smatterers in a way, I suppose. But a certain amount of civilisation depends on intelligent smattering."
 Obituary in the Guardian 

Articles by Frank Kermode in the London Review of Books

Fossilised sponges point to animal life 100m years earlier than thought

Scientists have found what might be the oldest physical evidence of the existence of animals on Earth.

'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48m years

The oldest evidence of a fungus that turns ants into zombies and makes them stagger to their death has been uncovered by scientists.

Bone discovery pushes date for first use of stone tools back 1m years

Butchered bones found near site of 'Lucy', a probable human ancestor, who lived 3.2m years ago