Newsdesk Archive

Before there were dinosaurs, there was this creature: the 10-foot, long-necked Telocrater. For a study published today in the journal Nature, a team of researchers analyzed the remains of Teleocrater rhadinus, a common ancestor of birds and dinosaurs. It walks on four legs, has a very long neck and tail, and can be seven to 10 feet long. Alt: Early dinosaur relative walked like a croc

A prehistoric campfire and a number of archaeological treasures — including a large tusk of a mammoth, and tools fashioned out of stone and ivory — remained hidden for thousands of years in the Alaskan wilderness until researchers discovered them recently.

There aren't a lot of individual experiments that have ended up being staples of high school textbooks, but Stanley Miller and Harold Urey did one of them. Miller and Urey are the people who sealed up a mixture of gases meant to model the Earth's early atmosphere and jolted the gas with some sparks. What emerged was a complex mix of chemicals that included amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

When an asteroid hits the middle of the ocean in Hollywood movies, it creates devastating waves that wipe out coastal cities. But new simulations reveal that real asteroids don't make such a splash. That's because the crash releases most of its energy hurling water up into the atmosphere, and very little on making waves.

Over the years, asteroids have gotten bad rap, probably because of that terrible Michael Bay movie or incessant stream of hyperbolic articles written about them. The truth is, asteroids are just hunks of rock hurling through space that aren’t actively seeking to destroy the human race. Later this month, one such non-apocalyptic asteroid will get close enough to Earth for our viewing pleasure. Even though it won’t do any damage, this is a damn big slice of space trash. Related: A Car-Size Asteroid Just Whipped by Earth

The United States Navy fired a projectile at Mach 6 during a recent test with an electromagnetic railgun, suggesting that early ideas about using such tech to launch payloads from the lunar surface might not be so sci-fi after all.

The photos have stood the test of time: A spacesuit-clad Apollo astronaut stands proudly next to a red-white-and-blue American flag, his national trophy telling the lonely world "the United States was here". Unfortunately, all six flags they planted from 1969 through 1972 haven't fared so well.

Theoretical physics often lifts the sanctions we set on our own imaginations. Whether it’s exploring the possibility of warp drives or understanding the rate of the universe’s expansion, we are quick to explore the unknown on our chalkboards until our tech is ready for our ideas.

New research on solar storms finds that they not only can cause regions of excessive electrical charge in the upper atmosphere above Earth's poles, they also can do the exact opposite: cause regions that are nearly depleted of electrically charged particles. The finding adds to our knowledge of how solar storms affect Earth and could possibly lead to improved radio communication and navigation systems for the Arctic.

Mars’s atmosphere harbours a layer of electrically charged metal atoms, and they’re not behaving as expected. NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Emission) spacecraft found layers of atmospheric metal ions that defy models based loosely on Earth’s atmosphere.

New research suggests that active volcanoes on the Red Planet could have created an environment habitable to ancient microbes. Even a cursory look at a global map of Mars reveals how huge its volcanoes are. The famous Olympus Mons rises three times higher than Mt. Everest, and is just one of several volcanoes that adorn the Red Planet’s famous Tharsis ridge.

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists will disperse aerosols into the stratosphere in initial tests of a controversial technique for blocking incoming solar radiation.

There’s something special — and very counterintuitive — about the Arctic Ocean. Unlike in the Atlantic or Pacific, where the water gets colder as it gets deeper, the Arctic is upside-down. The water gets warmer as it gets deeper. The reason is that warm, salty Atlantic-originating water that flows into the Arctic from the south is more dense, and so it nestles beneath a colder, fresher surface layer that is often capped by floating sea ice. This state of “stratification” makes the Arctic Ocean unique, and it means that waters don’t simply grow colder as you travel farther north — they also become inverted. Related: 40% of world's permafrost set to thaw by 2100, unlocking billions of tonnes of carbon and methane

A study led by The University of Western Australia has found plants have far more complex and developed senses than we thought with the ability to detect and respond to sounds to find water, and ultimately survive.

Doctors trialling the use of ketamine to treat depression are calling for the treatment to be rolled out. Ketamine is licensed to be used as an anaesthetic but has a reputation as an illegal party drug.

There is a small community of people in the UK who "microdose" - or take small amounts of psychedelic drugs as part of their daily lives. They say it boosts creativity and can have medicinal benefits, despite a lack of scientific research.

A new drug treatment program says it has a cure for heroin addiction: marijuana. The claim has attracted national attention, but the history of analogous miracle cures is as long as it is discouraging.

Ricardo Hegedus raised his voice so he could be heard over the clanging of tea-packaging machines. “Coca is a marvellous gift of nature, offering a moderate stimulant like coffee – but full of vitamins and minerals,” he said. Related: Cannabis Over Cows? Richard Branson Tells Farmers to Grow Weed

A new study tracking global investment in renewable energy found that investors spent less money in 2016 to add more renewable energy capacity than in any previous year. In total, investors only spent about $241.6 billion in renewable energy investments in 2016, down 23 percent from 2015.

Let them eat waste. Bacteria could not only thrive on nuclear waste dumped underground, but may immobilise it and make it safer. Experiments have shown that certain microbes can make use of radionuclides such as uranium and neptunium in place of oxygen. In doing so, they convert them from soluble forms to insoluble forms, making them less mobile.

DNA protects itself from damage naturally, and scientists are hoping to gain insight into how the process works in order to achieve breakthrough treatments for cancer and other diseases that arise from the breakage and mutation of DNA.

More than half of mammal species went extinct after human colonization in the Caribbean alone. Can nature restore the numbers of species on islands to levels that existed before human arrival—and, if so—how long would it take for nature to regain this lost mammal diversity? Related: Endangered ibises benefit from joining egret flocks Related: Departure of migratory birds from stopover sites is hormone-controlled

Back-to-back severe bleaching events have affected two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, new aerial surveys have found. The findings have caused alarm among scientists, who say the proximity of the 2016 and 2017 bleaching events is unprecedented for the reef, and will give damaged coral little chance to recover.

The social eating habits of fish may play a central role in protecting coral reefs, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, published April 10 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Whales are crucial to ocean carbon absorption. As whale numbers dwindle, it could lead to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, scientists say. But if conservation efforts pay off, whales could play a role in helping the islands meet the reductions to their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of greenhouse gases framed in the Paris Agreement.

On Earth circa four billion years ago, life was hard. Frequent asteroid strikes turned parts of the planet into molten rock. Food and livable spaces were few and far between. What was a microbe to do to survive? Some very early life could have made it by staying deep—living as far as six miles below the seafloor.

The firing of every neuron in an animal’s body has been recorded, live. The breakthrough in imaging the nervous system of a hydra – a tiny, transparent creature related to jellyfish – as it twitches and moves has provided insights into how such simple animals control their behaviour.

When cartoonist and marine-biology teacher Steve Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants in 1999, he may have backed the wrong side of one of the longest-running controversies in the field of evolutionary biology.

It's not a household name, but an ancient creature found in the Scottish borders fills a crucial period in the evolutionary record. It sheds light on how four-limbed creatures became established on land.

Nasa is due to hold a press conference to "discuss new results about ocean worlds." According to their website, the organisation has new research to present about "the search for life beyond Earth".

In 2006, the planet known as Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf world. Over a decade later, this error is finally being corrected by astronomers. Welcome to a solar system that, once again, has nine planets.

Put on the brakes. A spinning neutron star that shifts between two states slows at a faster rate in one of them – and gravitational waves may be responsible. Related: Violent end as young stars dramatically collide

An international team of astronomers has identified a record breaking brown dwarf (a star too small for nuclear fusion) with the 'purest' composition and the highest mass yet known.

Shine on you crazy frog. The polka-dot tree frog is the first amphibian known to be naturally fluorescent. Fluorescence, which happens when a substance absorbs light at one wavelength and emits it at a longer one, is known to occur in some parrots and sea turtles, and a wide variety of fish. Related: 'Surprise' discovery of Europe's first cave-dwelling fish Related: Why a tiny, fanged fish produces a pain-free bite

If you’ve ever had a cat, you probably believe that, given the choice, your cat would always choose food over you. But assumptions are not always correct, which is why we test them with science! Here, scientists tested whether pet and shelter cats prefer social interaction, food, scent, or toys. They found that “although there was clear individual variability in cat preference, social interaction with humans was the most-preferred

Research in pigmentation biology has made major advances the last 20 years in identifying genes controlling variation in pigmentation in mammals and birds. However, the most challenging question is still how colour patterns are genetically controlled. Birds are outstanding as regards the diversity and complexity in colour patterning. Related: The changing face of pure breeds: Astonishing photos show how selective breeding has altered the appearance of Britain's favourite dogs over the past century

Evolutionary biologists have never known what to make of viruses, arguing over their origins for decades. But a newly discovered group of giant viruses, called Klosneuviruses, could be a 'missing link' that helps to settle the debate — or provoke even more discord.

Small traces of the world's most widely used insecticides have been detected in tap water for the first time. Samples taken by scientists in the US state of Iowa showed that levels of neonicotinoid chemicals remained constant despite treatment. Related: Vital groundwater depleted faster than ever

Banishing bacteria from the body with antibiotics around birth may cause haywire signals in the brain and lasting behavioral changes, a series of studies suggests. Related: Antibiotics overuse could increase bowel cancer risk, study finds

The study concludes that screening does not stop the advance of breast cancer and that nearly one third of the tumours diagnosed in women offered screening are actually overdiagnosis. This means that healthy women who would never have become ill from breast cancer are operated on and exposed to radiotherapy and possibly chemotherapy. Related: Benefits of PSA test to screen for prostate cancer are roughly equal to its harms, expert panel says

Eating potassium-rich foods like sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach, beans, bananas -- and even coffee -- could be key to lowering blood pressure, according to Alicia McDonough, PhD, professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). Related: UK eats almost four times more packaged food than fresh

What really happens when we make and store memories has been unravelled in a discovery that surprised even the scientists who made it. The US and Japanese team found that the brain "doubles up" by simultaneously making two memories of events.

The nature of consciousness seems to be unique among scientific puzzles. Not only do neuroscientists have no fundamental explanation for how it arises from physical states of the brain, we are not even sure whether we ever will. Astronomers wonder what dark matter is, geologists seek the origins of life, and biologists try to understand cancer—all difficult problems, of course, yet at least we have some idea of how to go about investigating them and rough conceptions of what their solutions could look like.

Animals can pass the damaging effects of nighttime light exposure to their offspring, a new study has found, adding to a growing body of evidence that there's a health cost to our increasingly illuminated nights.

A gene variant may explain why some people prefer to stay up late and hate early mornings. The variant is a mutated form of the CRY1 gene, known to play a role in the circadian clock. Michael Young, at The Rockerfeller University, New York, and his team discovered the mutation in a person diagnosed with delayed sleep phase disorder – a condition that describes many so-called “night-owls”. Related: Scientists believe the secret of a good night’s sleep is all in our genes

The ability to generate oxygen through photosynthesis—that helpful service performed by plants and algae, making life possible for humans and animals on Earth—evolved just once, roughly 2.3 billion years ago, in certain types of cyanobacteria. This planet-changing biological invention has never been duplicated, as far as anyone can tell. Instead, according to endosymbiotic theory, all the "green" oxygen-producing organisms (plants and algae) simply subsumed cyanobacteria as organelles in their cells at some point during their evolution.

Onno Heerma van Voss jokes that he never intended to be a conservationist, but he is helping to save the African elephant. Numbers of elephants in the wild are still falling; it's estimated 100 of them are killed by poachers every day for their tusks to meet the continuing demand for ivory. Related: Jackfruit seeds could help ease looming cocoa bean shortage

Today China closes the first of its state-licensed ivory carving factories and retailers, a move conservationists hail as a big step toward saving elephants from extinction.

A pair of biology professors, one with the University of Illinois, the other with Macquarie University in Australia has proposed in a Perspective piece in the journal Science that the traits we see as instinctual in animals were likely learned by ancestors. In their paper, Gene Robinson and Andrew Barron suggest that those behaviors learned by ancestors wound up in their DNA somehow, making them instinctual behaviors in later generations.

Galaxies started out low-mass and tiny, busy forming stars. At least, that’s what we thought until astronomers spotted an inactive galaxy dubbed ZF-COSMOS-20115. Just 1.7 billion years after the universe formed, ZF-COSMOS-20115 was already a quiescent, or “red and dead,” galaxy.

Mars can blame Jupiter for its small stature. The Red Planet may be much smaller than we expect because Jupiter’s gravity beat it up as it was forming. Models of our solar system’s formation suggest that Mars should be between 1.5 and two times Earth’s mass. Instead, it weighs in at a mere one-tenth the mass of our world.

An Earth-sized planet orbiting a dim star 39 light years away has a hazy atmosphere that could indicate the presence of a “water world”. It is one of the first times astronomers have been able to detect an atmosphere surrounding a small rocky planet.

"Titan's extreme physical environment requires scientists to think differently about what we've learned of Earth's granular dynamics," said Josef Dufek, with the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Landforms are influenced by forces that aren't intuitive to us because those forces aren't so important on Earth. Titan is a strange, electrostatically sticky world."

Scientists from NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research are providing some of the first detailed views of the mechanisms that may trigger solar flares, colossal releases of magnetic energy in the Sun's corona that dispatch energized particles capable of penetrating Earth's atmosphere within an hour and disrupting orbiting satellites and electronic communications on the ground.

Eruptions on the Sun's surface not only send bursts of energetic particles into the Earth's atmosphere causing disturbances in our planet's magnetic field, they can also strangely decrease the number of free electrons over large areas in the polar region of the ionosphere, new research concludes.

Astrophysicists at the University of Birmingham have made progress in understanding a key mystery of gravitational-wave astrophysics: how two black holes can come together and merge.

You and me, we’re matter. Everyone you know is matter. Everything on Earth, spare a few particles, is matter. Most of the things in space are matter. But we don’t have convincing reasons why there should be so much more matter than antimatter. So where’s all the antimatter?

Research conducted by scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology rules out a challenge to the accepted standard model of the universe and theory of how galaxies form by shedding new light on a problematic structure.

Last week, NASA did something many have demanded it do since the Space Launch System was unveiled in 2011: Provide more details on how the agency will send humans to Mars. During two presentations to the NASA Advisory Council, associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier showed off the latest designs for a small, Moon-orbiting space station and a larger, reusable transport ship to carry astronauts to Mars and back.

In 2028, a space station could be circling Mars, if a new concept comes to fruition. As a prelude to human expeditions to the planet's surface, researchers aboard the proposed orbiting lab would aim to answer key questions about the complex world.

A new paper suggests using a combination lottery and savings bond to ensure funding for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence While we haven’t yet found any evidence for alien life, there are a group of dedicated radio scientists who listen to the skies, hoping to find some evidence of intelligence outside of Earth. The cost of this search isn't easy to justify — which is why a new paper proposes using a combination lottery and savings bond to keep funding flowing.

Millions of pieces of man-made trash are now orbiting the Earth. Some are tiny, others are large enough to be seen with a telescope, but all pose a risk to space craft and satellites.

The world added record levels of renewable energy capacity in 2016, according to the UN. But the bill was almost a quarter lower than the previous year, thanks to the plunging cost of renewables.

Air travel is likely to get a lot bumpier because of climate change, a new study suggests. Turbulence strong enough to bounce unbuckled passengers around an aircraft cabin could become three times more common as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, experts predict.

No, the headline is not a typo. Current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and are on track to climb to even more ominous heights in just a few decades. If carbon emissions continue on their current trajectory, new findings show that by mid-century, the atmosphere could reach a state unseen in 50 million years. Back then, temperatures were up to 18°F (10°C) warmer, ice was almost nowhere to be seen and oceans were dramatically higher than they are now. Related: Money to burn: As the wealthy get wealthier, carbon emissions grow in US states

The UK has now started the formal process of leaving the EU, but scientists say they have evidence of a much earlier "Brexit". They have worked out how a thin strip of land that once connected ancient Britain to Europe was destroyed.

Humans have been to the Moon and explored almost every corner of the planet -- but there's one place they have never been. A group of Japanese scientists said they plan to be the first group to successfully drill into the Earth's mantle, the planet's vast molten-rock interior, which lies just beneath the outer crust.

Hector Thompson and his mom Michele discovered the "mystery hole" in the desert west of the Valley while they were out for a walk near their Tonopah home. Related: Mystery hole in Arizona quickly sealed up

The Alaska Natives or indigenous peoples of Alaska tell some great stories about little people, Hairy Man, shape-shifting whales, unexplained lights, mysterious occurrences around sacred burial sites and much more. Those stories are have typically been passed down for generations among tribe members but not often shared between tribes and rarely with non-Natives. The versions of these tales heard outside the tribes are Westernized and often sensationalized. Related: Bigfoot search party in Girard wants to ‘prove to the world’ it exists

When Chief Joseph, a renowned Nez Perce leader, surrendered to Europeans in 1877, he gave a special gift to General Nelson Appleton Miles, wrote Vine Deloria, Jr. in his book Red Earth white Lies. The gift received by the general was a pendant that turned out to be an ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet. According to Benjamin Daniali of AssyriaTimes.com, the tablet was translated by Robert Biggs, professor of Assyriology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Professor Biggs found that it was a sales receipt for a lamb dating back to 2042 B.C.

In 1998, Lee Strobel, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a graduate of Yale Law School, published “The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus.” Strobel had formerly been an atheist and was compelled by his wife’s conversion to evangelical Christianity to refute the key Christian claims about Jesus. Friday, April 7, a motion picture adaptation of “The Case for Christ” is being released. The movie attempts to make a compelling case for historicity of Jesus’ resurrection. As one character says to Strobel early in the movie, “If the resurrection of Jesus didn’t happen, it’s [i.e., the Christian faith] a house of cards.”

Manure preserved for millennia by the arid climate of Israel’s Timna Valley is adding fresh fuel to a long-simmering debate about the biblical king Solomon and the source of his legendary wealth.

A first look around reveals a landscape that is dry and sparsely vegetated, with few houses around. There is little evidence that visibly betrays the fact that where we're standing is on the remains of an ancient trade and culture centre in the upper Gulf of Thailand. Related: New finds at Nateshwar excavation site Related: Archeologists unearth a new part of the ancient city near Larnaca Tekke

Scared of the dentist? Be glad you don’t live in the Ice Age. A pair of 13,000-year-old front teeth found in Italy contain the earliest known use of fillings – made out of bitumen. The teeth, two upper central incisors belonging to one person, were discovered at the Riparo Fredian site near Lucca in northern Italy.

When did a human-like mind first emerge, setting its owner on a path distinct to that of other apes? We paleoanthropologists have long looked to tool use as the marker – particularly the appearance of a cutting tool known as a flake. It now seems we were wrong.

Through the years, people have seen tantalizing mentions of the lost ancient Roman city of Ucetia on stelae in southern France. But until now, there was no evidence that it really existed. However, when archaeologists were brought in to assess a site for a new school and canteen, they found abundant evidence of the lost city of Ucetia outside the modern town of Uzés, which is near Nimes. And what they found was simply stunning.

More than 100 acres in three areas in Washington County were to be transferred to the Narragansetts under a 2013 mitigation deal for the viaduct project. But more than four years after the deal was signed, the land transfer has yet to happen.

Michelangelo often surreptitiously inserted pagan symbols into his works of art, many of them possibly associated with anatomical representations. A new analysis suggests that Michelangelo may have concealed symbols associated with female anatomy within his famous work in the Medici Chapel.

Construction work to upgrade Britain's longest road into a major highway has revealed a treasure trove of rare artifacts from one of the earliest and wealthiest Roman settlements in the country.

A 2,300-year-old aqueduct uncovered by workers on Rome's new Metro line has been hailed as "a sensational discovery of enormous importance" by the city's Superintendency for Archaeology.

Researchers at the University of Huddersfield have visited Rethymnon in Crete, to collect samples from the late Bronze Age Necropolis of Armenoi, one of the world’s finest archaeological sites. DNA analysis of the ancient skeletal remains could provide fresh insights into the origins of European civilisation.

A NEW article co-authored by experts at the University of Huddersfield bolsters a theory that the spread of agriculture throughout Europe followed migration into the Mediterranean from the Near East more than 13,000 years ago – thousands of years earlier than widely believed.

Engineers have now succeeded in producing complex crystal lattices, so-called clathrates, from nanoparticles using DNA strands. The programmed synthesis of clathrates represents a template for the precision modelling of novel nanomaterials.

Last fall, the New York-based reproductive endocrinologist John Zhang made headlines when he reported the birth of the world's first "three-parent" baby — a healthy boy carrying the blended DNA of the birth mother, her husband and an unrelated female donor.

Are we on the cusp of the consumer biotech age, when lab-grown meat will be just as common as farmed meat? Recently, a company called Memphis Meats started selling in-vitro meat (IVM) that apparently tastes just like delicious chicken and duck. But if we want the price on an IVM burger to get below $1,000, we need consumers to buy lots of the stuff.

Two scientists and an entrepreneur are crunching the science behind edible caterpillars to help fight malnutrition and food security problems in West Africa.

New giant viruses found at an Austrian wastewater treatment plant probably evolved from a smaller virus that picked up bits of genome from its hosts and incorporated it, Frankenstein-like, into its own genetic code.

In the world of evolutionary research, scientists studying the evolution of eusocial societies have traditionally relied on information gathered from studying terrestrial insects. A group of Columbia researchers, however, has just added to that knowledge base, publishing a new study that sheds light on how the complex social system evolved in the sea.

Monkey business from 20-30 million years ago likely led to the preservation of what's said to be the oldest mammalian blood ever found.

For most of scientific history, humans have considered themselves unique in their cognitive abilities. But in recent years, research on some remarkable animal minds has threatened to topple these human-centric notions: Dolphins, for example, can recognize themselves in the mirror. Birds appear to form deep, emotional pair relationships akin to those of humans. And chimpanzees, amazingly, seem to learn from each other the rituals of mourning death. Now, a new study in our closest ancestors suggests that we may also not be alone in our awareness that others may have different thoughts, experiences and views of the world than we do. Alt: Apes can see things from your perspective and help you out

Humans are able to interpret the behavior of others by attributing mental states to them (and to themselves). By adopting the perspectives of other persons, they can assume their emotions, needs and intentions and react accordingly. In the animal kingdom, the ability to attribute mental states (Theory of Mind) is a highly contentious issue.

Scientists are crooning over new pictures that confirm the survival of the New Guinea highland wild dog, which until now was feared to be extinct in its natural habitat on the South Pacific island. Thought to be among the rarest species of canine, the highland wild dogs are either the same as or close relatives of the famous singing dogs of New Guinea, which exist only in captivity.

An ambitious effort to save a diminutive porpoise called the vaquita has received the official clearance to move forward. The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California, where there are just 30 of them left.

Many of our planet's most beautiful areas are also sites of intense conflicts. In a recent example, traditional herdsmen in February took over the land around Mount Kenya, which is a World Heritage Site and biodiversity hotspot, burning down the tourist lodge and bringing in thousands of cattle to graze.

Chinese-made goods bought in western Europe and the US have, in effect, killed over 100,000 people in China in one year alone – as a result of the air pollution associated with their manufacture.

A sci-fi staple for decades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US military, albeit with capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies.

“Sock puppets” are the scourge of online discussion . Multiple accounts controlled by the same user can dominate comment forums and spread fake news. But now there’s a way to unmask the puppeteers. A study of nine websites that use comment service Disqus to let readers post responses to articles found that sock puppets can be identified based on their writing style, posting activity and relationship with other users.

Meet SAM — short for Semi-Automated Mason — created by the New York based Construction Robotics. SAM is capable of laying 3,000 bricks per day, and he is coming to the U.K. in a few months. SAM can work about 500 percent faster than humans, and discrepancy in labor cost that causes is significant.

Anthropologist Caleb Everett explores the subject in his new book, Numbers and the Making Of Us Once you learn numbers, it’s hard to unwrap your brain from their embrace. They seem natural, innate, something all humans are born with. But when University of Miami associate professor Caleb Everett and other anthropologists worked with the indigenous Amazonian people known as the Pirahã, they realized the members of the tribe had no word used consistently to identify any quantity, not even one.

When archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann traveled to Ithaca, Greece in 1868, one goal was foremost in his mind: discovering the ancient city of Troy using Homer’s Iliad. The epic poem was widely believed to be no more than a myth, but Schliemann was convinced otherwise. For him, it was a map to the hidden location of ancient cities.