Newsdesk Archive

Red Dresses Raise Awareness for Missing, Murdered Native American Women
2019-04-15
They’re present 24 hours a day, in all weather, to draw attention to the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women who experience violence at a much higher rate than non-indigenous women.
New Mexico Decriminalizes Adult Use Cannabis
2019-04-14
The Midwestern state of New Mexico is poised to become the 24th to decriminalize cannabis.
Mother of epileptic child ‘overjoyed’ to have confiscated medical cannabis returned
2019-04-14
‘Bureaucratic trauma’ shows ‘system just isn’t working’, say nine-year-old’s parents.
NASA Chooses SpaceX to Launch Asteroid-Walloping Mission
2019-04-14
SpaceX will fly its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary-defense mission. The total launch cost for NASA will be about $69 million, agency officials said.
Four Asteroids, The Largest Being 460 Feet Wide, Swooped Past Earth On Friday
2019-04-14
While two of these space rocks are not coming back any time soon, the other two hit their closest approach to Earth for a long while to come.
Cannabis could improve orgasms for women, study finds
2019-04-14
Study finds women who used marijuana before sex were twice as likely to say they had 'satisfactory' orgasms.
DNA remnants of three separate Denisovan populations found in human genomes
2019-04-12
One of three separate populations of Denisovans could have survived and interbred with the ancestors of modern-day Papuans as recently as 15,000 to 30,000 years ago.
Ralph Solecki, Who Found Humanity in Neanderthals, Dies at 101
2019-04-12
His research pointed to the possibility that Neanderthals had humanity — a he put it, that they “had a ‘soul.’”
The four-legged whale discovered off the coast of Peru: What was it like?
2019-04-12
The new fossil offers insight into when whales returned to the oceans millions of years ago.
The very strong case for an asteroid defense system
2019-04-11
It sounds a bit silly, but there is a very strong case for the American government to set up a planetary asteroid defense system.
Previously unknown human species found in Asia raises questions about early hominin dispersals from Africa
2019-04-11
The discovery has implications for ideas about early hominin evolution and dispersal from Africa.
New species of ancient human unearthed in the Philippines
2019-04-11
Human fossils found in a cave on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, include tiny molars suggesting their owners were small; curved finger and toe bones hint that they climbed trees.
Archaeologists identify first prehistoric figurative cave art in Balkans
2019-04-11
Archaeologists have revealed the first example of Paleolithic figurative cave art found in the Balkan Peninsula.
How Neanderthals and Woolly Mammoths Grew ‘Genetically Similar’ in the Cold
2019-04-11
“It is now possible to try to answer a question no one has asked before: Are there genetic similarities between evolutionary adaption paths in Neanderthals and mammoths?”
Fire, water and astronomy: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture comes to life in the classroom
2019-04-11
School children should go out into the world with a respect for the first peoples of Australia and all they have achieved.
Hunt on for iron volcanoes on metallic asteroids
2019-04-10
Some asteroids in the solar system may have featured volcanoes that spewed out liquid iron, two research teams have independently concluded.
Ancient Medicine Wheel may have served as star chart
2019-04-10
Ivy Merriot theorizes that Native Americans used a series of stones arranged like a spoked wheel to understand, remember and predict astronomical events.
‘Two-tier system’ as NHS patients miss out on medical cannabis
2019-04-10
Tight NHS restrictions mean private patients have better access to drugs, experts say.
European Contact with the Americas May Have Triggered Global Cooling
2019-04-10
Koch and his colleagues attribute the dip in atmospheric carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas associated with warming—to the loss of more than 50 million people in the Americas.
The Human Brain Has been Getting Smaller Since the Stone Age
2019-04-10
This reduction is a reversal of the trend of cranial expansion, which had been occurring in human evolution for millions of years prior.
Revolutionary camera allows scientists to predict evolution of ancient stars
2019-04-10
For the first time scientists have been able to prove a decades old theory on stars thanks to a revolutionary high-speed camera.
A ‘Self-Driving’ Spacecraft May Help Save Earth from Asteroid Collisions
2019-04-08
Europe's next asteroid mission, which could launch in 2023, will rely on the same kind of navigation technology as self-driving cars.
What difference does it make to have Native Americans in Congress?
2019-04-08
The debate last week about the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act provided a textbook answer.
Cannabis patient grows drug because she cannot afford treatment
2019-04-08
A "frustrated" Carly Barton, 32, says she has resorted to growing and illegally buying the drug she had legally been prescribed.
GPs seeing increase in patients demanding medical cannabis
2019-04-08
Six in 10 GP partners and one in three nurses working in primary care said they have seen an increase in patients asking about medicines which contain cannabis.
Two-Spirit: Meet the Native Americans embracing their LGBT+ tribe members
2019-04-08
Two-Spirit powwows are part of a growing movement among Native Americans who say rigid ideas of gender and sexuality are unfortunate remnants of colonization.
TRUMP PUSHES A NEW PIPELINE PERMIT AS FLOODS DEVASTATE NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES
2019-04-08
The same Native communities that have been hit hardest by Midwestern flooding are also some of the most vocally opposed to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Mummified mice found in ‘beautiful, colourful’ Egyptian tomb
2019-04-08
Recently discovered tomb of official dating back more than 2,000 years contains dozens of animals and two mummies.
The Promise and Perils of Resurrecting Native Americans’ Lost Crops
2019-04-05
Researchers affiliated with the Lost Crops Network are using advances in genetics to understand how Native Americans domesticated and cultivated now-extinct ancient crops.
60 Ancient Egyptian Mummies Entombed Together Died ‘Bloody, Fearsome Deaths’
2019-04-05
Mass burials were exceptionally rare in ancient Egypt — so why did all these mummies end up in the same place?
Tongzi hominids are potentially a new human ancestor in Asia
2019-04-05
Tongzi's teeth do not fit the morphological pattern of traditional Homo erectus.
Ancient four-legged whale with webbed feet and hooves uncovered in Peru
2019-04-05
Four legs, webbed feet and hooves on its toes: this new fossil discovery from Peru doesn't sound like a typical whale.
Ancient advanced weapon technology theory debunked by new research
2019-04-05
For four decades, researchers believed the 2,200-year-old bronze weapons of the Terracotta Warriors were amazingly preserved because they were chrome plated.
New Type of Arctic Dinosaur Discovered in Alaska
2019-04-05
The duck-billed, crested lambeosaurine shows that a diverse array of dinos lived in the warmer but still harsh Arctic 70 million years ago.
A 5,000-year-old barley grain discovered in Finland changes understanding of livelihoods
2019-04-05
New findings reveal that hunter-gatherers took to farming 5,000 years ago in eastern Sweden and on the Aland Islands.
New Mexico officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day
2019-04-05
On Tuesday, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation abolishing Columbus Day as a national holiday.
Linguists and Native Americans Team Up on Indigenous Languages
2019-04-05
At the University of Oregon, teams of Native researchers are building digital archives containing historical documentation to make language knowledge available to their communities.
Rise of religion pre-dates Incas at Lake Titicaca
2019-04-03
The team's findings suggest that organized religion emerged much earlier in the region than previously thought.
Discovery of Aboriginal handprint art in Blue Mountains halts trains
2019-04-03
The culturally significant art was found after a boulder threatened to fall onto tracks.
69 Million Years Ago, Crested Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Roamed the Warm, Forested Arctic
2019-04-03
Scientists have discovered a duck-billed dinosaur fossil in Alaska's North Slope that reveals that these animals were more diverse than previously believed.
Marijuana Decriminalization Goes Into Effect in Israel. What Does That Mean?
2019-04-03
Users will be fined 1,000 shekels, unless they're soldiers, minors or already have a criminal record. Opponents say reform makes things worse for first-time offenders.
Ancient teeth hint at mysterious human relative
2019-04-03
The find adds to a growing number of fossils from China that don't fit neatly in the existing human family tree.
Foreigners may have conquered ancient Egypt without invading it
2019-04-03
An analysis of teeth suggests the Hyksos dynasty arose from outsiders marrying into power.
Pharaonic limestone coffin uncovered in Monufiya governorate
2019-04-03
Inside it the mission found two mummies in poor condition covered by gold chips.
South Dakota pipeline protest law worries Native American activists as ACLU files suit
2019-04-01
The ACLU has sued South Dakota on behalf of indigenous and environmental activists, saying state laws violates the First Amendment right to protest.
Will Germany become the world’s largest market for medicinal cannabis?
2019-04-01
The use of medicinal cannabis has been allowed in Germany for two years, but because domestic cultivation hasn't gotten off the ground, the plant has been imported. That might change soon.
Prehistoric ‘graveyard’ left by dinosaur-killing asteroid unearthed by scientists
2019-04-01
A fossil site has captured the moments just after the asteroid thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs collided with Earth, palaeontologists have claimed.
Trees are at the heart of our country – we should learn their Indigenous names
2019-04-01
From Australia to the Andes, indigenous peoples understand that trees sustain us and are part of our human world.
How a cosmic collision sparked a Native American translator’s labor of love
2019-04-01
On April 1, scientists will officially restart their search for gravitational waves after a year spent making improvements to massive twin detectors.
Uncovering the secrets of ancient rock art using ‘X-ray vision’
2019-04-01
Today, scientists report use of "X-ray vision" to gain brand-new insights about the layers of paint in rock art in Texas without needless damage.
Last of the giants: What killed off Madagascar’s megafauna a thousand years ago?
2019-03-30
What’s remarkable about the megafaunal crash in Madagascar is that it occurred not tens of thousands of years ago but just over 1,000 years ago, between A.D. 700 and 1000.
Our mysterious cousins—the Denisovans—may have mated with modern humans as recently as 15,000 years ago
2019-03-30
These mysterious humans were so diverse that their populations were as distantly related to each other as they were to Neanderthals.
Researchers find ancient Maya farms in Mexican wetlands
2019-03-30
Archaeologists have fond evidence suggesting ancient Maya people grew surplus crops to support an active trade with neighbors up and down the Yucatan Peninsula.
How Did Cahokian Farmers Feed North America’s Largest Indigenous City?
2019-03-30
Native American farming was more sophisticated than your history textbook told you.
Warm weather pushed Neanderthals into cannibalism
2019-03-30
A rapid period of warming more than 120,000 years ago drove Neanderthals in the south of France to eat six of their own, new research suggests.
A Giant 1,115-Foot Asteroid Just Skimmed Past Earth On Its Closest-Ever Approach
2019-03-28
The asteroid is estimated to be twice as big as the Pyramid of Khufu in Giza and will return for another visit 16 years from now.
Countries demand their fossils back, forcing natural history museums to confront their past
2019-03-28
Repatriation requests are prompting new questions about the stories of "discovery" that many museums have traditionally told.
This Newly Discovered Mastodon Species Roamed California for Millions of Years
2019-03-28
A new species of mastodon specific to a small segment of the North American West has been discovered. It is the first new North American mastodon species to be recognized in 50 years.
Spain hits back at Mexico in row over colonial rights abuses
2019-03-28
Madrid rejects Mexican president’s demand for apology for crimes against indigenous people.
100 Ancient Egyptian Inscriptions Found at Amethyst Mining Site
2019-03-28
In addition to the carved-rock inscription, the researchers also found 14 stele (inscriptions carved on a stone slab or pillar) and 45 ostraca (inscriptions written on pieces of pottery).
Story of most murderous people of all time revealed in ancient DNA
2019-03-28
Starting 5000 years ago, the Yamnaya embarked on a violent conquest of Europe. Now genetic analysis tells their tale for the first time.
Fossil barnacles reveal whales have followed same migration routes for hundreds of millennia
2019-03-26
Chemical traces in fossils allow scientists to track movements of ancient ocean giants.
New neurons for life? Old people can still make fresh brain cells, study finds
2019-03-26
A new study finds that even people long past middle age can make fresh brain cells, and that past studies that failed to spot these newcomers may have used flawed methods.
Fascinating Experiment Suggests Some Humans Can Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field
2019-03-26
The ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field is well documented among many animals, but researchers have struggled to show that humans are also capable of the feat. Until now.
‘Unseen’ Meteor That Exploded Over Bering Sea Caught on Camera After All
2019-03-25
Two instruments on NASA's Terra satellite caught images of the fireball explosion on Dec. 18, 2018.
Tornado Appears at Chichen Itza and Observers Believe Kukulkan is Angry
2019-03-25
Less that 24 hours after the 2019 Descent of the Plumed Serpent, a small tornado appeared on the steps. A coincidence? A sign? Of what?
Where Marijuana Jobs Are Booming Across The U.S.
2019-03-25
Changing cannabis laws have resulted in a noticeable boost in the American job market and it's estimated that 211,000 people are now directly employed in the industry full time.
Fossil Treasure Trove of Ancient Animals Unearthed in China
2019-03-22
The fossils from the Cambrian Period include dozens of new species and provide a window into life more than 500 million years ago.
Archaeologists Have Unearthed A 60,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Workshop In Poland With 17,000 Stone Products
2019-03-22
This is so far the largest of its kind that has ever been discovered outside of a cave in Central Europe.
Researchers shed new light on the origins of modern humans
2019-03-22
Researchers have been using a genetic approach to tackle one of the most intractable questions of all—how and when we became truly human.
DNA Clues to an Ancient Canary Islands Voyage
2019-03-22
The islands’ pioneers likely arrived centuries before European conquest, as part of a large-scale movement of people from North Africa.
First Anatolian farmers were local hunter-gatherers that adopted agriculture
2019-03-20
The researchers found that the early Anatolian farmers derived the vast majority of their ancestry (~90 percent) from a population related to the Anatolian hunter-gatherer in the study.
Ancient Monkey Bone Tools Shake Up the Narrative of Early Human Migration to the Rain Forest
2019-03-20
New evidence pushes back the date for human settlement in jungles, challenging the idea that our ancestors preferred the savannas and plains.
NASA’s Surprise Discovery on Bennu Just Changed What We Know About Asteroids
2019-03-20
The NASA spacecraft analysing the asteroid has observed it shooting out plumes of dust that surround it in a dusty haze - a phenomenon we've never seen in an asteroid before.
Geologists Keep Finding ‘Impossible’ Rocks on This Remote Tropical Island
2019-03-20
Because of Anjouan's fiery origins, the entire island should be uniformly composed of volcanic basalt: a dark-coloured, lava-derived rock.
What DNA Hidden in a Plantation Tobacco Pipe Reveals
2019-03-20
Archaeologists have started searching for genetic data inside ordinary objects such as pipes, which can contain centuries-old saliva.
US detects huge meteor explosion
2019-03-18
A huge fireball exploded in the Earth's atmosphere in December, according to Nasa. It went largely unnoticed until now because it blew up over the Bering Sea, off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
This Nile Shipwreck Is First Evidence That Herodotus Wasn’t Lying About Egyptian Boats
2019-03-18
This steering system had been seen in representations and models through the Pharaonic period - but we had no firm archaeological evidence of its existence until now.
World’s oldest astrolabe was part of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India
2019-03-18
The Sodre astrolabe is believed to have been made between 1496 and 1501 and is unique in comparison to all other mariner’s astrolabes.
SCIENTISTS ‘REVERSE TIME’ WITH QUANTUM COMPUTER IN BREAKTHROUGH STUDY
2019-03-17
‘We have artificially created a state that evolves in a direction opposite to that of the thermodynamic arrow of time,’ researcher says.
Australia Aboriginals win right to sue for colonial land loss
2019-03-17
The ruling in favour of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali groups paves the way for billions of dollars in compensation.
Surprising DNA found in ancient people from southern Europe
2019-03-17
A study of 8,000 years of genetics from Spain and Portugal yields a surprisingly complex picture of the inhabitants' ancestry.
The ‘F’ and ‘V’ Sounds Might Only Be A Few Thousand Years Old
2019-03-17
These new sounds became possible when agriculture put softer foods on our plates, causing teeth to go through less wear and tear.
Geologic evidence supports theory that major cosmic impact event occurred approximately 12,800 years ago
2019-03-14
More evidence of a cosmic impact, this time from south of the equator, that likely caused climate change and megafaunal extinctions.
Small asteroid to sweep closer than moon’s distance
2019-03-14
The space rock has an estimated size of 75 feet in diameter, so it’s slightly larger than the asteroid that penetrated the atmosphere over the skies of Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013.
Alaska Approves On-Site Marijuana Use
2019-03-14
The state will begin licensing dispensaries on April 11th, though it will likely take several months before dispensaries start to implement smoking sections.
‘Hobbit’ human story gets a twist, thanks to thousands of rat bones
2019-03-13
H. floresiensis’ departure from Liang Bua may simply be because they—and the others—left in search of more open environments.
Scientists ‘Wake Up’ Ancient Woolly Mammoth Cells in High-Tech Experiment
2019-03-13
While there won’t be any woolly mammoths rising from the grave soon, the experiment could help scientists explore alternative resurrection methods in the future.
People with dwarfism and cleft palate may have been revered in ancient times
2019-03-13
Scientists are finding that people with rare diseases often enjoyed the support of their societies, survived well into adulthood, and were buried with their communities, not as marginalized outsiders.
Rare ‘Portable’ Paleolithic Art Depicts a Mysterious Scene Involving Birds and Humans
2019-03-13
Dating back more than 12,000 years, this extraordinary example of rock art features a scene involving birds and humans—a rarity for the Paleolithic Period on several accounts.
Researchers Test 1,000-Year-Old Viking General’s DNA, Prove Themselves Wrong
2019-03-13
“It’s actually a woman, somewhere over the age of 30 and fairly tall, too, measuring around 5 feet 6 inches tall,” Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, an archaeologist at Uppsala University told The Local.
Democratic 2020 candidates voice strong support for marijuana legalisation
2019-03-13
‘The war on drugs has not been a war on drugs, it’s been a war on people,’ says Cory Booker.
Democratic 2020 candidates roll up to support marijuana legalisation
2019-03-11
The cascade of pro-legalisation candidates is a reflection of a country where attitudes towards marijuana have shifted dramatically.
UK’s first medical cannabis clinic opens in Greater Manchester
2019-03-11
Private centre launched by professor who helped young epilepsy sufferer Alfie Dingley secure cannabis licence.
If We Blow Up an Asteroid, It Might Put Itself Back Together
2019-03-11
Despite what Hollywood tells us, stopping an asteroid from creating an extinction-level event by blowing it up may not work.
Proposed NASA SmallSat Mission Could Be First To Visit Pallas, Our Third Largest Asteroid
2019-03-11
This remnant protoplanet, in fact, remains the largest unexplored planetary body inside the orbit of Neptune.
Archaeologists Have Discovered Lost Civil War Tunnels Under Alcatraz Prison
2019-03-11
These hidden tunnels and rooms are all that's left of the military base on the 20 hectare (50 acre) island, a facility built to keep San Francisco safe from invasion.
Video Of Deb Haaland Presiding Over The House Is A Profound Moment In History
2019-03-08
It was the first time in United States history that an indigenous woman sat in the House Speaker chair.
Would dinosaurs have died without an asteroid strike?
2019-03-08
Maybe not, according to a new study that says dinosaurs still had plenty of vim and vigor leading up to the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
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