In 1988 a fossil jaw was discovered by paleontologists in San Diego County, California. Decades later the scientists determined it belonged to a relatively unknown carnivore species of the machaeroidines (saber-toothed, placental mammals). The creature was named Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae and was about the size of a bobcat with teeth like slicing blades.

After Leif Eiriksson’s original voyage to North American shores, the Greenland Vikings remained in “Vinland the Good” for a time—but for how long? A couple of decades, at least, according to new evidence reported in Nature.^1,2

About 1,600 years ago, salt miners in Iran apparently left their lamb lunch down the shaft. Their loss became scientists' gain. The now-mummified sheep carcass suggests that salt helps preserve sheepskin DNA.