Newsdesk Archive

The Celts were known in ancient times to have been ferocious warriors. According to certain written sources, some of these Celtic warriors went a step further by going into battle carrying only their weapons and shields. Apart from texts by ancient writers, the image of such a Celtic warrior is also captured in a famous sculpture known as the ‘Dying Gaul’.

An ancient village older than the pyramids has been unearthed by a University of Victoria student, and a B.C. First Nation says it backs up tribe stories passed down for generations.

A cave dig in Indonesia has unearthed a unique collection of prehistoric ornaments and artworks that date back in some instances to at least 30,000 years ago. The site is thought to have been used by some of the world’s earliest cave artists.

Near the end of the last great ice age, the remains of a descendant of the first people to move into Southeast Asia were found in the Tham Lod rock shelter of Thailand’s northwestern highlands.

Detectives have discovered a murder victim ate a hefty meal of meat just half an hour before he died - even though he was struck down in 3,300 BC. A police detective revealed that Ötzi, who is the world's best preserved natural mummy, had cooked a meal before he was killed in a surprise ambush in northern Italy.

Humans are less nutritious than other forms of meat, findings show, indicating complex social motivations may be behind our ancestors’ cannibalism Alt: Another problem with cannibalism: Humans actually aren’t very filling

Approximately 13,500 years after nomadic Clovis hunters crossed the frozen land bridge from Asia to North America, researchers are still asking questions and putting together clues as to how they not only survived in a new landscape with unique new challenges but adapted with stone tools and weapons to thrive for thousands of years.

At a point during human prehistory, hunters' reliance on the spear-thrower, or atlatl, shifted to another kind of weapon — the self-bow. This change happened on multiple continents (though bows never really caught on in Australia, where atlatls tended to yield only later, to firearms).

An international team of astronomers has, for the first time, spotted a massive, inactive galaxy from a time when the Universe was only 1.65 billion years old.

Scientists have joined together to urge the UN to stigmatize nuclear weapons in the same manner as biological and chemical weapons. They believe a false alarm could soon trigger an all-out war, and that the UN is correct in considering a total ban. Related: U.S., Britain, France, others skip nuclear weapons ban treaty talks Related: Possessing nuclear weapons ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with world's aspiration for peace – UN official Related: 3,000 of the World’s Smartest Minds Have Come Together to Ban Nuclear Weapons

The so-called doomsday seed vault located underground on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean has gained a neighbor, and the new vault, opened March 27, will act as a digital archive for the world's data.

Researchers have found that some of the current financial policies aimed at increasing the stability of financial networks may actually be driving them toward instability. The problem arises because these policies typically focus on the stability of individual banks—but due to the complex nature of networks, what's good for individual banks may not be good for the banking system as a whole.

The immediate need for basic income in recognition of the effects of chronic stress and the importance of improving environments. Eliminating huge stressors like worrying about being able to afford food and shelter can do wonders for the potential of humanity.

As we grow old, our nights are frequently plagued by bouts of wakefulness, bathroom trips and other nuisances as we lose our ability to generate the deep, restorative slumber we enjoyed in youth.

A glass of Merlot or Sauvignon Blanc could give your brain an all-over workout. Drinking wine engages more of the brain than 'any other human behaviour', according to one leading neuroscientist.

To date, any evidence that ayahuasca can treat people with PTSD has been anecdotal. But an ambitious study now under way at the Temple of the Way of Light in the Peruvian Amazon is monitoring its long-term effects on psychological wellbeing and may provide some answers. The research is a collaboration with the International Center for Ethnobotanical Research and Service in Spain and the Beckley Foundation in the UK. Around 580 retreat participants a year – among them combat veterans suffering from PTSD – are being recruited, making it the largest psychedelic study of its kind ever undertaken. Related: Meditation and the Psychedelic Drug Ayahuasca Seem to Change the Brain in Surprisingly Similar Ways

Playing the 1980s computer game Tetris, can prevent the unpleasant flashbacks which come after a traumatic event, scientists have discovered.

A new method could push research into developmental brain disorders an important step forward. This is shown by a recent study in which the researchers investigated the development of a rare congenital brain defect. To do so, they converted skin cells from patients into so called induced pluripotent stem cells. From these ‘jack-of-all-trades’ cells, they generated brain organoids – small three-dimensional tissues which resemble the structure and organization of the developing human brain.

A paralyzed man has regained the use of his arm and hand using a system that decodes his thoughts and controls his muscles. "I thought about moving my arm and I could move it," says Bill Kochevar, 56. "I ate a pretzel, I drank water," he says in a video produced by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Robots and computers are replacing people everywhere; doctors, pilots, even journalists. Is this leading to a dystopian society, or could it be something positive? Related: The rise of the robots may force ministers to introduce human worker quotas, leading legal experts warn

Google’s latest take on machine translation could make it easier for people to communicate with those speaking a different language, by translating speech directly into text in a language they understand.

Scientists investigating how light particles (or photons) experience entanglement on the quantum scale have discovered something entirely unexpected, and it challenges long-held assumptions about the initial moments of what Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance".

The early universe was filthy. That much can be garnered from a new detection of cosmic dust in a galaxy whose light reaches us from when the universe was only 600 million years old.

Fast Radio Bursts present one of modern astronomy's greatest mysteries: what or who in the Universe is transmitting short bursts of radio energy across the cosmos?

Astronomers spotted a peculiar burst of bright X-rays in a distant area of the universe, and they're not quite sure where it came from. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory detected the outburst, called CDF-S XT1, in a region known as the Chandra Deep Field South in October 2014.

OpenAI researchers were surprised to discover that a neural network trained to predict the next character in texts from Amazon reviews taught itself to analyze sentiment. This unsupervised learning is the dream of machine learning researchers.

As President Trump maps out plans for a border wall with Mexico, Customs and Border Protection is looking at a more mobile way to monitor the border: consumer drones. The agency is currently soliciting proposals for small unmanned aerial systems, similar to consumer drones manufactured by DJI and Parrot, to be deployed by US Border Patrol agents in the field.

A Dutch startup is set to release a fleet of 'drones' to combat the 220 million pounds of dog droppings left on the Netherlands' streets each year. Called Dogdrones, the vehicles will work together as a team to detect and scoop up the poop.

It’s a drone of the deep. A soft-bodied robot that swims like a manta ray has been engineered to spy on underwater creatures without disturbing them. The mostly transparent robot has no motor or other rigid machinery and is much faster than other soft robotic fish.

Octopuses and squid have confirmed their reputation as Earth-bound “aliens” with the discovery that they can edit their own genetic instructions. Unlike other animals, cephalopods – the family that includes octopuses, squid and cuttlefish – do not obey the commands of their DNA to the letter.

Octopuses can be a perfect meal for dolphins, but they can also pose a deadly choking hazard. So dolphins have developed elaborate behaviours to turn larger prey into more bite-size pieces, according to marine biologists in Australia.

Billions of pounds of plastic waste are littering the world's oceans. Now, a Ph.D. organic chemist and a sailboat captain report that they are developing a process to reuse certain plastics, transforming them from worthless trash into a valuable diesel fuel with a small mobile reactor.

An Indian court has recognised Himalayan glaciers, lakes and forests as "legal persons" in an effort to curb environmental destruction, weeks after it granted similar status to the country's two most sacred rivers.

The ocean isn’t the sole source of life-sustaining fog and dew for the Namib Desert’s numerous plants and animals, report researchers. Related: Raindrops make soil bacteria take off and fly through air

Plant photosynthesis was stable for hundreds of years before the industrial revolution, but grew rapidly in the 20th century, according to new research published today in Nature.

There are 60,065 species of trees in the world, according to a comprehensive study of the world's plants. Related: First world survey finds 9,600 tree species risk extinction

A study of the DNA in ancient skeletal remains adds to the evidence that indigenous groups living today in southern Alaska and the western coast of British Columbia are descendants of the first humans to make their home in northwest North America more than 10,000 years ago.

Art and jewelry dating back to the last ice age have been unearthed in a cave in Indonesia —a discovery that suggests the people who lived there at that time were more culturally advanced than some experts previously thought. Alt: 30,000-year-old art and jewellery discovered in Wallacea

We are getting closer to understanding who the first Americans really were Many thousands of years ago, not a single human being lived in the Americas. This only changed during the last Ice Age. It was a time when most of North America was covered with a thick sheet of ice, which made the Americas difficult to inhabit.

The famous Australopithecus fossilized skeleton known as "Little Foot", the nearly complete articulated skeletal remains of a possible human ancestor, cannot be more than 2.8 million years old, according to a recent research study. This individual has previously been dated to approximatley 3.67 million years old. But based on research conducted by Jan D. Kramers of the University of Johannesburg and Paul H.G.M. Dirks of James Cook University, Little Foot may actually be over 800,000 years younger.

It made its name by terrorising Earth at the end of the Late Cretaceous, but Tyrannosaurus rex had a sensitive side too, researchers have found. The fearsome carnivore, which stood 20 feet tall and ripped its prey to shreds with dagger-like teeth, had a snout as sensitive to touch as human fingertips, say scientists. Alt: New species of Tyrannosaur with a crocodile snout was a 'sensitive lover' and had a sixth sense to hunt its prey

I can’t help the impulse. Whenever I’m hiking through the western forests, prairies, and deserts, my mind conjures up images of Ice Age beasts. I guess I keep engaging in the fantasy because I know I just missed them. Native peoples saw them, and even consumed them, but I'm too late, even if just by a little bit. Ten thousand years is nothing from a geologic perspective.

About 80 million years ago, a group of bees began exhibiting social behavior, which includes raising young together, sharing food resources and defending their colony. Today, their descendants—honey bees, stingless bees and bumble bees—carry stowaways from their ancient ancestors: five species of gut bacteria that have evolved along with the host bees.

Controlled breathing can combat anxiety, panic attacks and depression. It's one reason so many people experience tranquility after meditation or a pranayama yoga class. How exactly the brain associates slow breathing with calmness and quick breathing with nervousness, though, has been a mystery. Now, researchers say they've found the link, at least in mice.

Restricting the amount you eat is said to fight disease, extend lifespan and improve wellbeing. As well as dieters, people with diabetes and MS could benefit

A new research report involving mice shows that antibiotic use very early in life that alters the normal development/growth of gut bacteria, may contribute to the development of inflammatory bowel disease, and potentially other inflammatory diseases like asthma and multiple sclerosis.

Manure from cattle administered antibiotics drastically changes the bacterial and fungal make-up of surrounding soil, leading to ecosystem dysfunction, according to a Virginia Tech research team.

In the second half of the 20th century, the mass use of fertilizer was part of an agricultural boom called the "green revolution" that was largely credited with averting a global food crisis. Now, the challenge of feeding the world looms again as the population continues to balloon. To help spur the next agricultural revolution, researchers have invented a "bionic" leaf that uses bacteria, sunlight, water and air to make fertilizer in the very soil where crops are grown.

A new study finds that a noninvasive electromagnetic brain stimulation technique helps obese people lose weight, partly by changing the composition of their intestinal bacteria -- the so-called gut microbiota.

It may not be the most appetizing way to extend life but researchers have shown for the first time that older fish live longer after they consumed microbes from the poo of younger fish.

A new scientific study of medieval human bones, excavated from a deserted English village, suggests the corpses they came from were burnt and mutilated. Researchers from the University of Southampton and Historic England believe this was carried out by villagers who believed that it would stop the corpses rising from their graves and menacing the living.

In an earlier study Professor Kristian Kristiansen from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Lundbeck Foundation Professor Eske Willerslev from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, and their research teams, showed that the large demographic changes during the first part of the Bronze Age happened as a result of massive migrations of Yamnaya people from the Pontic-Caspian steppes into Neolithic Europe.

Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed an extremely rare set of weapons, including a long dagger blade, twenty-?ve arrowheads and cores used for creating the artifacts, all made of crystal! The finding was made inside megalithic tombs dating to the 3 rd millennium BC in the southwest of Spain. Alt: The allure of rock crystal in Copper Age southern Iberia: Technical skill and distinguished objects from Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain)

The remains of a pyramid built some 3,700 years ago have been discovered in Egypt, the antiquities ministry says. An interior corridor and a block engraved with 10 hieroglyphic lines were among the finds at the Dahshur royal necropolis, south of Cairo.

Earlier this month, officials in England proposed a plan that could alleviate traffic on one of the most congested highways from London to southwest England. The idea involves digging a tunnel just south of Stonehenge, the prehistoric and heavily protected monument.

A bone from a raven’s wing with seven regularly spaced notches carved into it is the strongest evidence yet that Neanderthals had an eye for aesthetics. Evidence that Neanderthals used pigments, buried objects alongside their dead, and collected bird feathers and claws had been taken as signs of behaviours that were once considered unique to our species of Homo sapiens.

They look like little more than grayish-black grains of couscous floating in water. But they are actually African clawed frogs-to-be, replete with minuscule blobs that will become eyes.

A UK-based team of researchers has created a graphene-based sieve capable of removing salt from seawater. The sought-after development could aid the millions of people without ready access to clean drinking water.

Limited access to clean water is a major issue for billions of people in the developing world, where water sources are often contaminated with urban, industrial and agricultural waste. Many disease-causing organisms and organic pollutants can be quickly removed from water using hydrogen peroxide without leaving any harmful residual chemicals. However, producing and distributing hydrogen peroxide is a challenge in many parts of the world.

Adding to strong recent demonstrations that particles of light perform what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance," in which two separated objects can have a connection that exceeds everyday experience, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have confirmed that particles of matter can act really spooky too.

Most people look for a place to hide when a typhoon is on the horizon, but Atsushi Shimizu hopes that the fury of nature may one day help resource-poor Japan tackle its energy woes.

Enigmatic 'dark energy', thought to make up 68% of the universe, may not exist at all, according to a Hungarian-American team. The researchers believe that standard models of the universe fail to take account of its changing structure, but that once this is done the need for dark energy disappears. Alt: Simulation suggests 68 percent of the universe may not actually exist: New model shows accelerated expansion can happen without dark energy

A mysterious flash of X-rays has been discovered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in the deepest X-ray image ever obtained. This source likely comes from some sort of destructive event, but it may be of a variety that scientists have never seen before.

For at least a million years, a lone asteroid has been orbiting the 'wrong' way around the sun, a new study has found. The cosmic game of chicken incorporates giant planet Jupiter and about 6,000 other asteroids, known as the 'Trojan asteroids', sharing the planet's space. Related: No Joke: April Fools' Comet to Pass Closest to Earth Since Discovery

Yale astronomers have discovered a "lost" planet that is nearly the size of Neptune and tucked away in a solar system 3,000 light years from Earth.

A concentrated three-day search for a mysterious, unseen planet in the far reaches of our own solar system has yielded four possible candidates. The search for the so-called Planet 9 was part of a real-time search with a Zooniverse citizen science project, in coordination with the BBC’s Stargazing Live broadcast from the Australian National University’s Siding Spring Observatory.

Ever since first mentioned by Jon Michell in a letter to the Royal Society in 1783, black holes have captured the imagination of scientists, writers, filmmakers and other artists. Perhaps part of the allure is that these enigmatic objects have never actually been “seen”. But this could now be about to change

NASA's goal of getting humanity to Mars has been developing for years, but while the space agency has been busily building and testing its most powerful rocket – the Space Launch System (SLS) – it's fair to say we haven't heard a lot of specifics about how and when it would transport astronauts to the Red Planet.

In a world-leading study researchers at Macquarie University have proven a method for multiplying laser power using diamond, demonstrating that a laser similar to the Star Wars 'superlaser' may no longer remain in science fiction.

It is clear now that a big fraction of the atmosphere of Mars was stripped away to space early in its history. A new analysis, combining measurements by the Maven satellite in orbit around the Red Planet and the Curiosity rover on its surface, indicate there was probably once a shroud of gases to rival even what we see on Earth today.

Coronal Mass Ejections (aka. solar flares) are a seriously hazardous thing. Whenever the Sun emits a burst of these charged particles, it can play havoc with electrical systems, aircraft and satellites here on Earth. Worse yet is the harm it can inflict on astronauts stationed aboard the ISS, who do not have the protection of Earth’s atmosphere. As such, it is obvious why scientists want to be able to predict these events better.

Could potatoes one day support human life on Mars? Scientists in Peru have used a simulator that mimics the harsh conditions on the red planet to successfully grow a small potato plant.

The EPA says it's reversing course and keeping chlorpyrifos on the market. That's despite the agency's earlier conclusion, reached during the Obama administration, that this pesticide could pose risks to consumers. It's a signal that toxic chemicals will face less restrictive regulation by the Trump administration.

New insights have been gained into one of nature's great mysteries: the fairy circles of Namibia. Numbering in the millions, the so-called fairy circles are in the eastern, interior margin of the coastal Namib Desert, stretching from southern Angola to northern South Africa. They range in size from about 12 feet to about 114 feet, consisting of bare patches of soil surrounded by rings of grass. The origins of the circles have long been debated by researchers.

Humans are visual creatures. Objects we call "beautiful" or "aesthetic" are a crucial part of our humanity. Even the oldest known examples of rock and cave art served aesthetic rather than utilitarian roles. Although aesthetics is often regarded as an ill-defined vague quality, research groups like mine are using sophisticated techniques to quantify it – and its impact on the observer.

The gentle burbling of a brook, or the sound of the wind in the trees can physically change our mind and bodily systems, helping us to relax. New research explains how, for the first time.

When you’re stressed, people often advise you to take a deep breath — and for good reason, a new study shows. Slowing your breathing calms you, and now scientists may have figured out how you can relax your brain through your breath. It has to do with your brain’s pacemaker for breath.

Half the patients given infusions of ketamine said they experienced relief from their thoughts of suicide, Dr. Dawn Ionescu of Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues reported. These were all patients who could not be helped by antidepressants, other drugs or therapy, the team reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Related: 'Harmless' painkillers associated with increased risk of cardiac arrest Related: Most Teens Who Abuse Opioids 1st Got Them from a Doctor

Climate change isn’t just bad for the planet and for our bodies. According to a new report by the American Psychological Association, Climate for Health, and ecoAmerica, climate change is bad for our mental health too.

Air Pollution kills. A study released yesterday in the journal Nature found that in 2007, air pollution lead to the premature deaths of 3.45 million people worldwide—a number equivalent to the population of the state of Connecticut. And to add insult to injury, air pollution doesn’t respect borders.

Suffering through a cold is annoying enough, but if you're lonely, you're likely to feel even worse, according to Rice University researchers.

More details have emerged about one of the oldest sets of human remains found in the Americas, a young woman nicknamed "Naia" whose nearly complete skeleton was discovered in 2007 in a water-filled cave in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Egypt's famed pyramids at Giza have a newcomer in their midst: the largest on-site antiquities laboratory meant to restore the location's second pharaonic boat. The vessel is believed to be the ceremonial boat of Pharaoh Cheops, known for building the largest of Egypt's pyramids.

A team of archaeologists has uncovered a unique carved alabaster statue of Queen Tiye in Luxor, Egypt. The exciting find was made by the European-Egyptian mission that works under the wings of the German Archaeological Institute.

Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,800-year-old tomb where the brother of one of the most important governors of ancient Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty was buried. Alt: 3,800-year-old tomb found in Egypt linked to brother of powerful governor of Elephantine

Most people are all too familiar with house mice. We know them as the eaters of crumbs, gnawers of cords, and leavers of droppings. They create the pitter-patters we hear in the night and the messes we find in the morning.

A pair of archaeologists with the American Museum of Natural History has unearthed a palatial compound in El Palenque's plaza in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Elsa Redmond and Charles Spencer describe their work, what they have uncovered and how their findings fit with the emergence of organized states in Mesoamerica. Related: The Angkor Wat alternative: exploring Cambodia’s forgotten ruins

Neandertals knew how to kick it up a couple of notches. Between 38,000 and 43,000 years ago, these close evolutionary relatives of humans added two notches to five previous incisions on a raven bone to produce an evenly spaced sequence, researchers say.

If you find yourself splashing out an extra portion of chips next time you're in McDonalds, you might have the restaurant's music to blame. Major restaurant chains, including McDonalds and TGI Fridays are installing specially-designed sound systems that make customers spend as much as 10 per cent more.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) are bringing us closer to understanding the musical experience through a novel approach to analysing a common musical effect known as vibrato.

Con artists rarely inspire admiration. Frank Abagnale Jr., however, was hardly a typical con artist. Cunning and charismatic, Abagnale forged checks, diplomas, and transcripts en route to assuming at least eight identities and posing as a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor—all before his nineteenth birthday. Related: People with no mind’s eye may help us boost our creativity

Researchers from King's College London have used a genetic scoring technique to predict reading performance throughout school years from DNA alone.

The 2016 election year highlighted the growing problem of wealth inequality and finding ways to help the people who are falling behind. This human urge of compassion isn't new, but the big question that remains to be addressed is why inequality is so difficult to erase.

Waseda University researchers have developed a process to dramatically improve the quality of 3D printed resin products. The process combines greatly improved surface texture and higher structural rigidity with lower cost, less complexity, safer use of solvent chemicals and elimination of troublesome waste dust Related: Dubai is Going to Be Home to the World’s First 3D Printed Skyscraper

A collection of human cell-lined boxes successfully reproduced the female menstrual cycle, marking another step forward for so-called “organs-on-a-chip.”

University of Adelaide researchers have developed a computer simulation model which supports the theory that sexual reproduction evolved because of the presence of disease-causing microbes and the need to constantly adapt to resist these co-evolving pathogens.

Female cockroaches don't need a mate to lay eggs, but they do like company. New research finds that virgin female cockroaches housed together are quicker to produce offspring than virgin females living alone.

A trio of researchers with Oregon State University and Monmouth University has conducted experiments with cats, and has found that they appear to like humans more than expected. In their paper published in the journal Behavioral Processes, Kristyn Vitale Shreve, Lindsay Mehrkam and Monique Udell describe their experiments and their plans for conducting additional experiments to better understand cat motivations.

The critically endangered Indochinese tiger has been found to be breeding in a Thai jungle, providing hope for a subspecies whose total population may number only a couple of hundred.

Want to eat steak for a month? One enterprising badger did, after finding a dead cow in the Utah mountains and burying it by himself. Ethan Frehner of the University of Utah and colleagues left seven calf carcasses in the area with camera traps to see what animals would visit. They were hoping to learn more about vultures and other avian scavengers.