Newsdesk Archive

Scientists Find More Evidence That Galaxies Are Synced Up In a ‘Cosmic Web’
2021-01-11
The oddly coherent motion of small satellite galaxies is challenging our accepted model of the universe.
Study suggests psychedelics may improve the mental health symptoms of individuals suffering from race-based trauma
2021-01-11
New research suggests that psychedelics may be a viable treatment option for those suffering from race-based trauma.
Look out for the bright jewel of Mercury in the evening sky
2021-01-11
Northern hemisphere skywatchers can search for the planet this month as it rises higher each night. Image from: Brocken Inaglory (Wiki Commons)
How did crocodiles survive asteroid strike which wiped out the dinosaurs? New study offers insight
2021-01-10
Having survived the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago, crocodiles are one of the most resilient animals on Earth.
These pharaohs’ private letters expose how politics worked 3,300 years ago
2021-01-10
The Amarna Letters preserve an inside look at Egyptian diplomacy, revealing how power brokers maneuvered, alliances were forged, and pharaohs were flattered. Image from: en:Amarna letters (Wiki Commons)
The indigenous tribes fighting the curse of xawara in the Amazon
2021-01-10
Isolated in the heart of the Amazon, Dario Kopenawa Yanomami’s father is working with shamans and the spirits of the forest to weaken the xawara, the word Brazil’s indigenous Yanomami community uses for epidemics brought in by outsiders. Image from: NASA  (Wiki Commons)
Food for thought? French bean plants show signs of intent, say scientists
2021-01-10
Many botanists dispute idea of plant sentience, but study of climbing beans sows seed of doubt.
Tooth tartar could uncover the drug habits of ancient people
2021-01-10
Want to know whether an ancient Sogdian smoked cannabis or a Viking got high on henbane? A new method, which analyzes drug residue in the tartar of teeth, may soon be able to tell. Image from: Metju12. (Wiki Commons)
Scientists observe live cells responding to magnetic fields for first time
2021-01-07
One of the most remarkable “sixth” senses in the animal kingdom is magnetoreception – the ability to detect magnetic fields – but exactly how it works remains a mystery. Image from: BanduG (Wiki Commons)
Astronomers Find The Oldest, Most Distant Galaxy to Date
2021-01-07
Since time immemorial, philosophers and scholars have contemplated the beginning of time and even tried to determine when all things began.
A mysterious ‘wobble’ is moving Mars’ poles around
2021-01-07
The Red Planet is wiggling and wobbling as it spins, research in the journal Geophysical Research Letters confirms, and astronomers have no idea why.
Oldest hominins of Olduvai Gorge persisted across changing environments
2021-01-07
New interdisciplinary field work has led to the discovery of the oldest archaeological site in Oldupai Gorge as reported in Nature Communications, which shows that early humans used a wide diversity of habitats amidst environmental changes across a 200,000 year-long period.
Plague may have caused die-offs of ancient Siberians
2021-01-07
Ancient people brought the plague to Siberia by about 4,400 years ago, which may have led to collapses in the population there, a new genetic analysis suggests.
Neuroscientists believe deep neural networks could help illustrate how psychedelics alter consciousness
2021-01-06
Cutting-edge methods from machine learning could help scientists better understand the visual experiences induced by psychedelic drugs such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT), according to a new article published in the scientific journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. Image from: Martin420 (Wiki Commons)
Magic, culture and stalactites: How Aboriginal perspectives are transforming archaeological histories
2021-01-06
New collaborative work at an Aboriginal cave in eastern Victoria, published today, shows the stark difference between contemporary archaeological research and that conducted in the 1970s.
Jupiter Is Bigger Than Some Stars, So Why Didn’t We Get a Second Sun?
2021-01-05
The smallest known main-sequence star in the Milky Way galaxy is a real pixie of a thing.
Is there more than one dark energy?
2021-01-05
Maybe we shouldn't put all of our dark-energy eggs in one basket.
A Harvard Astronomer Is More Confident Than Ever That An Alien Probe Visited Us In 2017
2021-01-05
Abraham (Avi) Loeb led Harvard’s astronomy department for longer than anyone in history (from 2011-2020) and now he’s doubling down on what could easily be his most important and controversial hypothesis from that period.
Neanderthal child’s skeleton buried 41,000 years ago may solve long-standing mystery
2021-01-05
A new analysis of a 41,000 year-old skeleton of a Neanderthal child, found in a French cave in the 1970s, provides fresh evidence that the Stone Age hominins intentionally buried their dead.
Squatters issue death threats to archaeologist who discovered oldest city in the Americas
2021-01-04
Squatters reportedly belonging to one family claim site of 5,000 year-old ruins was given to them in the 1970s.
Do we have to age?
2021-01-04
When the biologist Andrew Steele tells people his thoughts on ageing – that we might one day cure it as if it were any other disease – they are often incredulous and sometimes hostile.
What led to the emergence of monotheism?
2021-01-04
Our modern understanding of monotheism is more recent than the religions it describes.
Human Consciousness and the “Twilight Zone” of Awareness
2021-01-04
Since temps immémorial, the question, "How does human consciousness work?" has intrigued philosophers, poets, playwrights, anaesthesiologists, brain scientists, songwriters, and people from all walks of life who are inclined to think about their thinking. Image from: SunOfErat (Wiki Commons)
Illinois erases 500,000 low-level cannabis charges
2021-01-04
State completes the legal process four years ahead of 2025 deadline.
Our Galaxy Has a Shocking Array of Really Weird Stars. Here’s Your Ultimate Guide
2021-01-02
You know how stars do. They're out there, doing their thing, fusing a whole bunch of hydrogen into helium, shining up the joint.
There’s Mounting Evidence That Life on Earth Started With More Than Just RNA
2021-01-02
How life originated on Earth continues to fascinate scientists, but it's not easy peering back billions of years into the past. Now, evidence is growing for a relatively new hypothesis of how life began: with a very precise mix of RNA and DNA.
Mysterious asteroid the size of a dwarf planet is lurking in our solar system
2021-01-02
There's a giant asteroid somewhere out in the solar system, and it hurled a big rock at Earth. The evidence for this mystery space rock comes from a diamond-studded meteor that exploded over Sudan in 2008.
Evidence for a massive paleo-tsunami at ancient Tel Dor, Israel
2020-12-31
Paleo-tsunami may be the reason previous archaeological surveys found no evidence for low-lying coastal villages in the area over a 4000 year period.
Woolly rhino from Ice Age unearthed in Russian Arctic
2020-12-31
The remarkably preserved carcass of an Ice Age-era woolly rhino has been unearthed by locals in eastern Siberia, researchers have said.
The Pyramid of Djoser: The World’s Oldest Pyramid Is Often Overshadowed
2020-12-31
Everyone knows the Great Pyramid of Giza. Towering over the edge of the Western Desert, it’s perhaps the best known of the handful of monuments at Egypt’s Giza Necropolis. But about 10 miles south of the largest pyramid in the world lies another, much smaller one, decades older than any of the Giza pyramids.
Is forearm curvature in the ‘Little Foot’ Australopithecus natural or pathological?
2020-12-31
The 3.67-million-year-old StW 573 ("Little Foot") Australopithecus from Sterkfontein, South Africa, is the most complete skeleton known in the hominin fossil record.
In 1110, The Moon Vanished From The Sky. We May Finally Know Why
2020-12-30
Almost a millennium ago, a major upheaval occurred in Earth's atmosphere: a giant cloud of sulphur-rich particles flowed throughout the stratosphere, turning skies dark for months or even years, before ultimately falling down to Earth.
First People to Populate the Caribbean
2020-12-30
New study suggests a group of migrants almost totally replaced the islands’ original population.
Archaeologists create 3-D model of part of the Tepsei archaeological site
2020-12-30
Archeologists from Kemerovo State University are exploring the Tepsei site of Minusinsk Basin, located in Krasnoturansky district (Krasnoyarsk region).
Starwatch: wildly twinkling Sirius outshines the sun
2020-12-29
The winter sky in the northern hemisphere is filled with delights. This week search out the brightest star in the night sky, and from there explore that star’s parent constellation of Canis Major, the greater dog. Image from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0516a/ (Wiki Commons)
2020 Was the Year That Momentous Drug Reform Became Normal
2020-12-28
A US state decriminalised drugs, the UN admitted cannabis can be good for you and Colombia discussed buying up its entire cocaine harvest. It’s been a momentous year for drug liberalisation.
Atlantic discovery: 12 new species ‘hiding in the deep’
2020-12-28
Almost five years of studying the deep Atlantic in unprecedented detail has revealed 12 species new to science.
Ketamine may ease depression by restoring the brain’s sensitivity to prediction error, study suggests
2020-12-27
New research suggests that electrophysiological brain signals associated with neural plasticity could help explain the rapid, antidepressant effects of the drug ketamine. The findings, European Neuropsychopharmacology, indicate that ketamine could reverse insensitivity to prediction error in depression. Image from Martin420 (Wiki Commons)
4 Mind-Bending Ways Quantum Physics Challenges Our Reality
2020-12-27
Imagine opening the weekend paper and looking through the puzzle pages for the Sudoku. You spend your morning working through this logic puzzle, only to realise by the last few squares there's no consistent way to finish it.
Exceptionally well-preserved snack bar unearthed in Pompeii
2020-12-27
Researchers said on Saturday they had discovered a frescoed thermopoliumor fast-food counter in an exceptional state of preservation in Pompeii.
Psychedelic drug DMT could ‘revolutionise’ how we treat depression
2020-12-27
Picture yourself shaking up a snow globe and watching what unfolds inside. Things might look chaotic and distorted at first, but as things start to settle, a clear view of a picturesque scene emerges.
Canaanites Ate Soy, Philistines Munched Bananas: Study Reveals Ancient Trade in Exotic Foods
2020-12-24
Analysis of teeth from the Bronze and Iron Ages indicates very early globalization: More than 3,500 years ago, people in today’s Israel ate goods from the Far East.
Could COVID-19 have wiped out the Neandertals?
2020-12-24
This September, Pääbo and colleague Hugo Zeberg announced that the major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals.
Invaders nearly wiped out Caribbean’s first people long before Spanish came, DNA reveals
2020-12-24
New genetic data from ancient bones suggests a wave of South American seafarers wreaked havoc on Caribbean islanders. Image from:Freshwater and Marine Image Bank(Wiki Commons)
Meteorite Clues Point to a Huge, Unknown Object in The Early Solar System
2020-12-23
Ever since, the splinters of that asteroid – called 2008 TC3 – have been analysed by researchers, looking for chemical clues to the origins of this mysterious, far-flung visitor. Now, a new study fleshes out that intriguing back-story.
Ancient DNA sheds light on the peopling of the Mariana Islands
2020-12-23
To reach the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific, humans crossed more than 2,000 kilometers of open ocean, and around 2,000 years earlier than any other sea travel over an equally long distance.
57,000 year-old wolf puppy found frozen in Yukon permafrost
2020-12-23
The preserved pup is helping researchers understand how wolves migrated across Europe, Asia, and North America. Image from: http://www.nps.gov (Wiki Commons)
The world’s oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about ‘seven sisters’ stars may reach back 100,000 years
2020-12-22
In the northern sky in December is a beautiful cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, or the “seven sisters”. Look carefully and you will probably count six stars. So why do we say there are seven of them?
Scientists Just Found Out What These Barbed Artifacts From a Vanished Land Really Are
2020-12-22
In the ancient past, Europe was a very different place – once upon a time, Britain was yet tethered to the European continent.
Discovery of 66 new Roman Army sites shows more clues about one of the empire’s most infamous conflicts
2020-12-22
Analysis of the 66 camps shows the Roman army had a larger presence in the region than previously thought during the 200-year battle to conquer the Iberian Peninsula.
Cannabis: the problem with defining products around THC content
2020-12-22
Cannabis policy is undergoing a global revolution. Around the world, laws are changing.
Lalibela: 11 churches, each sculpted out of a single block of stone 800 years ago
2020-12-22
In the northern highlands of Ethiopia stand 11 churches that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church says were built by angels.
What psychedelics taught me about healing trauma
2020-12-22
I've been a psychiatrist for 15 years, and I have long recognized that there is a significant percentage of patients for whom we have never been able to offer meaningful relief. Image from: https://pixabay.com(Wiki Commons)
Plants can be larks or night owls just like us
2020-12-21
Plants have the same variation in body clocks as that found in humans, according to new research that explores the genes governing circadian rhythms in plants.
Winter solstice: Jupiter and Saturn ‘merge’ in rare celestial event
2020-12-21
A very rare, once-in-a-lifetime celestial event will shine brightly in the sky on Monday evening - weather permitting, of course.
Even as Kids We Show a Mysterious, Possibly Innate Appreciation of Nature’s Shapes
2020-12-21
Like listening to music, something is calming about being outdoors, and it might have to do with how we see and perceive natural patterns.
10,800 Years Ago, Early Humans Planted Forest Islands in Amazonia’s Grasslands
2020-12-21
Researchers say that these trees are evidence of early crop cultivation by ancient humans in Amazonia.
Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating
2020-12-21
Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.
Jupiter and Saturn meet in closest ‘great conjunction’ since 1623
2020-12-18
Astronomers are gearing up for a heavenly spectacle when Jupiter and Saturn huddle closer together in the evening sky than they have for nearly 400 years.
Chemists tame shamanic addiction treatment
2020-12-18
US chemists have modified the active substance in a sometimes deadly traditional African medicine to make a safer potential treatment for addiction.
New Law Threatens to Gut the Brazilian Amazon
2020-12-18
Brazil's Congress is about to vote on a policy that would legalize mining and other industries in the rainforest, whilst denying indigenous people the right to object.
Humans have dogs, fish have shrimp
2020-12-18
Researchers have discovered that a species of coral fish uses shrimp to help fertilise its algae farms, which, they suggest, is the first evidence of a non-human vertebrate domesticating another species.
Ötzi the Iceman may have scaled ice-free Alps
2020-12-18
Ötzi the Iceman, a Copper Age wanderer found mummified in the Alps nearly three decades ago, may have lived at a time when the glaciers were advancing down from the highest peaks to the lower slopes of the mountains.
Scientists looking for aliens investigate radio beam ‘from nearby star’
2020-12-18
Astronomers behind the most extensive search yet for alien life are investigating an intriguing radio wave emission that appears to have come from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the sun.
3300-year-old baboon skull may tell of mysterious ancient kingdom
2020-12-16
Ancient Egyptian legends tell of a magical faraway land where intrepid travelers could obtain wondrous products including gold, frankincense, and myrrh
Hayabusa-2: Pieces of an asteroid found inside space capsule
2020-12-16
Scientists have been greeted by the sight of jet black chunks of rock and soil from an asteroid after opening a capsule that returned from deep space a week ago.
Ancient weather patterns in Europe
2020-12-16
A landmark study led by the University of Aberdeen has provided the clearest ever picture of ancient weather patterns in Europe—and could improve models used to predict how climate change will affect the Continent in future.
‘Like nothing seen in nature before’: strange dinosaur has scientists enthralled
2020-12-16
About 110 million years ago along the shores of an ancient lagoon in what is now north-eastern Brazil, a two-legged, chicken-sized Cretaceous period dinosaur made a living hunting insects and perhaps small vertebrates like frogs and lizards.
Lost artefact from Great Pyramid of Giza found in cigar box in Aberdeen
2020-12-16
A lost artefact from the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of only three objects ever recovered from inside the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, has been found in a chance discovery at the University of Aberdeen.
Ancient DNA continues to rewrite corn’s 9,000-year society-shaping history
2020-12-16
Some 9,000 years ago, corn, as it is known today, did not exist. Ancient peoples in southwestern Mexico encountered a wild grass called teosinte that offered ears smaller than a pinky finger with just a handful of stony kernels.
Why Does the Brain Make Its Own DMT?
2020-12-14
Scientists are grappling with the question of what biological role DMT plays in the human body.
1,800-year-old altar to pagan god Pan hidden in a Byzantine church
2020-12-14
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered an ancient altar honoring the Greek god Pan, the deity of flocks and shepherds, but whoever inscribed it botched the job.
The Geminid meteor shower of 2020 peaks tonight! Here’s how to watch it live online
2020-12-14
Billed as the best meteor display of the year, the Geminid meteor shower will be at its most active late tonight and early Monday (Dec. 13-14).
This Is How Psychedelics Hack the Brain, According to Scientists
2020-12-14
The “pivotal mental state” is described in a mind-blowing new scientific paper that looks at how drugs can reroute people out of psychological dead ends.
Tower of human skulls reveals grisly scale to archaeologists in Mexico City
2020-12-12
Archaeologists have unearthed new sections of an Aztec tower of human skulls dating back to the 1400s beneath the center of Mexico City.
Psychedelic drug DMT to be trialled in UK to treat depression
2020-12-12
UK regulators have given the go-ahead for the first clinical trial of the use of the psychedelic drug dimethyltriptamine (DMT) to treat depression.
Child’s Bones Buried 40,000 Years Ago Solve a Longstanding Neanderthal Mystery
2020-12-12
We don't know whether it was a boy or a girl. But this ancient child, a Neanderthal, only made it to about two years of age.
Man who was serving 90-year sentence for marijuana released
2020-12-12
While serving a 90-year prison sentence for selling marijuana, Richard DeLisi's wife died, as did his 23-year-old son and both his parents.
Do fish dream?
2020-12-09
Research certainly suggests they’re self aware.
Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos
2020-12-09
Billions of lasers shot from a helicopter flying over the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest have detected a vast network of long-abandoned circular and rectangular-shaped villages dating from 1300 to 1700, a new study finds.
Alien life in our Solar System: 5 best places to look
2020-12-09
A fleet of missions is spreading across the Solar System to investigate our neighbours for signs of life. Here’s what they are looking for. Image from Solar system.jpg (Wiki Commons)
Why do elephants and tigers still roam in India? Study offers clues
2020-12-09
A new study co-authored by Yale researcher Advait M. Jukar suggests that the persistence of mammalian megafauna in the Indian Subcontinent is related to the great beasts' long coexistence there with homo sapiens and other human ancestors.
Ancient people may have survived desert droughts by melting ice in lava tubes
2020-12-08
During a parched summer almost 2,000 years ago, people living in what is now western New Mexico crawled into the cold, dark belly of a volcanically formed cave to melt the frozen water at its heart.
Starwatch: Venus and the moon reward early-risers
2020-12-08
A slender, waning crescent moon will slide past the brilliant jewel of Venus in the pre-dawn sky. Image from Dynamite16 (Wiki Commons)
Sparrow species found to use medicine to protect their young
2020-12-08
Sparrows use medicine just like humans to help protect their offspring from parasites, research has confirmed. Image from Wiki Commons
Earth spent 500 million years creating and eating dead continents
2020-12-08
When Earth was just a wee young thing, it birthed many new continents — then it swallowed them all up, leaving just a few traces behind, a new study shows.
Is anyone on Earth not an immigrant?
2020-12-07
Human beings tend to be fascinated with their beginnings. Origin stories are found across cultures, religions, ethnicities and nationalities — and they are all deeply important. These stories tell people where they come from, how they fit in and how everyone fits together.
Revealed: Isaac Newton’s attempts to unlock secret code of pyramids
2020-12-07
Unpublished notes show he believed ancient structures held key to the apocalypse
Hayabusa-2: Capsule with asteroid samples in ‘perfect’ shape
2020-12-07
A capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid is in "perfect" shape, according to scientists.
Two stones fuel debate over when America’s first settlers arrived
2020-12-07
Microscopic bone residue on rocks possibly used to smash mastodon remains draws new scrutiny.
The UN removes cannabis from a list of the most dangerous substances
2020-12-07
A United Nations commission has voted to remove cannabis from a list that categorized it as one of the most dangerous drugs -- a move that recognizes the plant as having medicinal value.
Colombia Is Considering Legalizing Its Massive Cocaine Industry
2020-12-03
After 40 years of U.S. - backed anti-drug policy that criminalizes the coca leaf, Marulanda and a group of members of congress want to change tack.
Glaciers may answer a Martian mystery
2020-12-03
Rather than flowing across its surface during a warm, wet phase early in its history, the water that carved the river channels on Mars may have come from beneath thick ice sheets that slowly melted under the influence of heat escaping from the planet’s interior, scientists say.
Lab developing device to help Earth dodge asteroids
2020-12-03
In a corner of the campus at Riga Technical University, a team of scientists is working on technology that could one day stop asteroids from smashing into Earth.
Black holes may not exist, but fuzzballs might, wild theory suggests
2020-12-02
Black holes are, by far, the most mysterious objects in the universe. They are objects in the cosmos where all of our knowledge of physics completely breaks down.
Early human landscape modifications discovered in Amazonia
2020-12-02
In 2002 Professor Alceu Ranzi (Federal University of Acre) and Prof. Martti Parssinen (University of Helsinki) decided to form an international research team to study large geometric earthworks, called geoglyphs, at the Brazilian state of Acre in South-western Amazonia.
Maya Water System Discoveries Show the Ancient Civilization in a New Light
2020-12-02
Elaborate water and irrigation systems, overlooked for decades by archaeologists, are getting their due.
‘Sistine Chapel of the ancients’ rock art discovered in remote Amazon forest
2020-12-01
Tens of thousands of ice age paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago
Australian scientists map millions of galaxies with new telescope
2020-12-01
The CSIRO, the national science agency, said its new telescope had created "a new atlas of the universe" in record time - showing unprecedented detail.
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