Neanderthals 'bred with early humans'

Neanderthal man interbred with the first anatomically modern humans to migrate out of Africa, according to a pioneering study showing that there was a flow of genetic material between early Homo sapiens and our extinct cousins.- 07/05/2010, Science

Polynesian canoes relive epic Pacific migration

Nearly 1,000 years after the last of the great Polynesian migration journeys across the Pacific, a group of descendants set sail in a fleet of replica canoes on Sunday to relive the voyages.- 19/04/2010, News & Advice

Is this the end of migration?

It's rained three times as much as usual this winter in Andalusia, and almost every day unemployed amateur ornithologist Javier Caracuel has walked past a disused mining tower in the decaying industrial town of Linares and looked up, expecting the pair of white storks that nest there to have migrated south.- 18/04/2010, Climate Change

Swiss researchers pinpoint molecule lack in depression

A Swiss university said Monday that researchers have found that a molecule, which is linked to tissue swelling and cancer, may also be associated with depression, a condition affecting some 121 million people.- 14/04/2010, Health & Families

Not such a short hop: the tiny bird that soared into the record books

At first glance, the ruddy turnstone looks barely strong enough to live up to its name let alone to migrate from one end of the world to the other. It is little bigger than a song thrush and weighs in at somewhat less than a 250g stick of butter but the wading bird has a hard-won reputation as one of nature's greatest migrating animals. Now a technol...- 12/04/2010, Nature

Canoes to relive Pacific migration voyages

A fleet of traditionally-designed Polynesian voyaging canoes will leave New Zealand next week for a journey through the Pacific, reliving the epic migrations of the past.- 11/04/2010, News & Advice

Geese tagged to examine threat posed by wind farms

Barnacle geese heading to the Arctic for the summer were tagged with satellite trackers to find out more about their migration amid concern planned wind farms could get in their way. The Svalbard barnacle goose, which overwinters in the Solway Firth, saw numbers plummet to just 300 by the 1940s but the population recovered to some 30,000 today....- 09/04/2010, Nature

Ravens invade eastward from wilds of 'Celtic fringe'

A new study shows one of the most remarkable British wildlife phenomena of the last 20 years, the advance of the common raven (Corvus corax). - 06/04/2010, Nature

Brown 'gave false immigration figures'

Gordon Brown was facing embarrassment last night after being condemned by the national statistics watchdog for quoting false figures over the number of foreigners coming to Britain.- 01/04/2010, UK Politics

Leading article: Immigration belongs in the electoral mainstream

The Prime Minister went to Spitalfields in east London yesterday to talk about immigration. And it should be said that he did a creditable job of handling this trickiest of subjects. It should also be said that from now on it is likely to become more difficult for mainstream politicians to talk coolly about immigration – not just for Gor...- 01/04/2010, Leading Articles

Watchdog criticises PM over immigration figures

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was criticised by the national statistics watchdog today for mis-using immigration statistics. Sir Michael Scholar said the PM used data that was "not comparable" in a podcast last week. The podcast prompted complaints from opposition politicians, who accused Mr Brown of misleading the public on migrant nu...- 31/03/2010, UK Politics

Say hello to X woman, your long-lost cousin

To the trained eye of the palaeontologist, the tiny fragment of fossilised bone can be identified as coming from the little finger of a child who lived about 40,000 years ago in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia. But in the hands of molecular biologists, the bone has revealed that it belonged to a new lineage of human being, an unknown "hominin" who- 25/03/2010, Science

The many happy returns of the world's oldest osprey

She's the Grand Old Lady of the Loch – a female osprey who has now returned for a record 20th consecutive year to her Scottish nesting site.- 25/03/2010, Nature

Development threatens Hong Kong bird migration haven

Tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species, flock each year to an unlikely haven sandwiched between high-rise Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the towering frontier of mainland China.- 27/02/2010, Environment

Busiest day of the year on China's railway: report

China's vast railway has experienced its busiest day of the year as millions of people returned to work or went home after the Lunar New Year holiday, state press said Sunday.- 22/02/2010, News & Advice