News Desk

A baleen whale fossil found on the banks of the Murray River in South Australia is challenging previous ideas about when baleen whales first evolved to be big. The research is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The application of modern methods of dating fossil human remains has catalysed major revisions in our understanding of human evolution. A new review… shows how the reanalysis of fossils discovered across the world brings into question our current ideas of human evolution, some of which may be incorrect.

Results from a phase II clinical trial indicate that psilocybin, a hallucinogenic chemical found in certain mushrooms of the genus Psiloybe, may benefit individuals with cancer and major depression. The findings are published by Wiley in two articles appearing online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Image by Matthew W. Johnson (Wiki Commons)

Now, a research team from the Center de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France has reported the first discovery of black carbon-based art in Dordogne’s Font-de-Gaume cave…The team’s findings…are published in Scientific Reports.

Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving University College London researchers.

In a recent study, scientists from UC Davis, the Alaska Whale Foundation, and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) teamed up. Their mission: Communicate with whales. And they did just that.

In research presented on Friday, 15 December at the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (AGU23) in San Franciso, paleoclimate reconstructions of the Pacific Northwest hint that sea ice may have been one way for people to move farther south.

The art is the first ancient pictorial art, which depicts images of nature with human-like and animal-like figures, to be found in Madagascar.

The Amnya archaeological sites were officially unearthed from 1987 onwards, but recent radiocarbon dating has found the main pit house at Amnya Site I and its fortifications date back 8,000 years or so. The study was published in Antiquity.

In a recently published study, scientists developed new compounds derived from psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms.” These compounds are designed to reduce the psychedelic effects associated with psilocybin while maintaining its therapeutic benefits.

Scientists find genes inherited from our prehistoric cousins increase tendency to rise early – useful in regions with short winter days.

In a study published Dec. 13 in Science Advances, an international team of researchers…report archaeologically and genetically confirmed evidence for domestic yak, dating back 2,500 years, by far the oldest record.

Although associated with psychedelic drugs, this state of mind can also be accessed in daily life. See the study here.

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers have uncovered a phenomenon known as the “phantom touch illusion,” where individuals experience tactile sensations without actual physical contact in a virtual reality (VR) setting. This intriguing discovery raises questions about how the brain processes sensory information.

Researchers plugged a “brain organoid” into an artificial intelligence system, using the neural tissue to help complete computational tasks. The experiment could mark a step toward “biocomputers.” The study was published Monday (Dec. 11) in the journal Nature Electronics.

The difference in height between female and male individuals in northern Europe during the Early Neolithic (8,000–6,000 years before present, bp) may have been influenced by cultural factors, a paper published in Nature Human Behaviour suggests. The findings indicate that height differences during this period cannot be explained by genetic and dietary factors alone.