Plant fibers excavated at a cave in western Asia suggest that people there made twine more than 30,000 years ago.

Researchers report identifying Europe’s oldest stone hand axes at Spanish sites dating to 900,000 and 760,000 years ago.

A 10-year-old Chinese boy listens intently as a visiting researcher tells him a story. It begins pleasantly enough: A boy named Xiaoming goes to a park and meets a child playing with a new ball. But after joining in the fun, Xiaoming decides that he wants to play with the ball alone. So he hits the other child, knocks him down and lunges for the ball. The victim hangs on to the ball and runs home crying. Meanwhile, Xiaoming’s mother witnesses the whole encounter. Not surprisingly, she is horrified. The researcher describes four possible actions taken by Xiaoming’s mother. In one, she... (p. 16)

At 11 months of age, girls quickly learn to associate fearful faces with images of snakes and spiders, a new study suggests. (p. 11)

Four graves containing 13 skeletons have given scientists a glimpse of a lethal raid that occurred in central Europe 4,600 years ago.

People walk in circles when landmarks and other directional cues are not available. (p. 14)

New evidence indicates that people used fires to heat stones in preparation for making cutting instruments at least 72,000 years ago in southern Africa. (p. 15)

A comparison of wrist bones from African apes and monkeys indicates that human ancestors began walking by exploiting the evolutionary legacy of ancient, tree-climbing apes.

A pair of new studies indicates that crows can employ tools in advanced ways, including using stones to displace water in a container and manipulating three sticks in sequence to reach food. (p. 5)

A chemical analysis of skeletons from Peru’s Andes Mountains suggests that cultivation of key crop made building a prehistoric civilization possible. (p. 16)

Toddlers discern basic rules for using nouns and verbs at least one year before speaking in complete sentences, French brain researchers report. (p. 16)

Excavations in Germany have unearthed what may be the oldest known musical instruments. (p. 13)

Granaries excavated in Jordan indicate that people stored large quantities of wild cereals by about 11,300 years ago, a practice that led to the cultivation of domesticated plants, a new study suggests. (p. 13)

New experiments indicate that mosquito fish can count small numbers of companions swimming in different groups, an ability that apparently evolved to assist these fish in avoiding predators.