Humans news stories

Italian Referendum To Decriminalize Marijuana, Psilocybin And Other Drug Plants Gets Half A Million Signatures
21st September 2021 | marijuanamoment.net | Humans, Misc.

Activists in Italy say they’ve gathered enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would decriminalize personal cultivation and use of not only marijuana but also psilocybin mushrooms and certain other psychoactive plants for personal use.

Nearly 900 years ago, astronomers spotted a strange, bright light in the sky. We finally know what caused it.
21st September 2021 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans, Space

In the 12th century, Chinese and Japanese astronomers spotted a new light in the sky shining as brightly as Saturn.

Evidence that a cosmic impact destroyed ancient city in the Jordan Valley
21st September 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

In the Middle Bronze Age (about 3,600 years ago or roughly 1650 BCE), the city of Tall el-Hammam was ascendant.

Mysterious Skeletons of an Unknown People Rewrite The History of Japanese Ancestry
21st September 2021 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Humans

Researchers have rewritten Japanese history after uncovering a third, and previously unknown, group of ancestors that migrated to Japan around 2,000 years ago, of modern-day Japanese populations.

We discovered the earliest prehistoric art is hand prints made by children
14th September 2021 theconversation.com | Ancient, Humans

In new research our international team have discovered ancient hand and footprints high on the Tibetan plateau made by children.

‘What I saw that night was real’: is it time to take aliens more seriously?
14th September 2021 | theguardian.com | Humans, Weird

The Pentagon has been quietly investigating unidentified flying objects since 2007. The fact that they think they might exist is good news to those who claim to have seen them.

Environmental conditions of early humans in Europe
11th September 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

Understanding the environmental conditions under which early humans dispersed out of Africa is important for understanding the factors that affected human evolution.

The lost generation of ancient trees
11th September 2021 | bbc.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Inside some of our most magnificent trees, miniature worlds are at risk of extinction. The race is on to accelerate trees’ ageing process, so these intricate communities aren’t lost forever

Meet the Scientists Investigating a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid
9th September 2021 | vice.com | Ancient, Humans, Space

Right now, a spacecraft is carrying a very special delivery to Earth after a years-long voyage to a cosmic destination that can shed light on how life might have first emerged on our planet and how we can protect it from future cosmic hazards.

Image from: asteroidmission.org (Wiki Commons)

It’s still not fully understood how placebos work – but an alternative theory of consciousness could hold some clues
9th September 2021 theconversation.com | Humans, Misc.

The ability of the mind to generate the symptoms of illness is known as the “nocebo” effect. The nocebo effect is the unpopular twin brother of the placebo effect. Whereas the placebo effect alleviates pain and the symptoms of illness, the nocebo effect does the opposite: it generates pain and symptoms.

Late Neanderthals used complex tool-making techniques
9th September 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

Neanderthals living in the Swabian Jura more than 45,000 years ago used sophisticated techniques with many different production strategies to make stone tools.

The worldview-changing drugs poised to go mainstream
9th September 2021 | bbc.com | Humans, Misc.

The growing legitimacy of psychedelics as therapies promises to transform how we view the extraordinary.

Viruses may exist ‘elsewhere in the universe’, warns scientist
8th September 2021 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space

Prof Paul Davies suggests viruses may form vital part of ecosystems on other planets.

The strange race to track down a missing billion years
8th September 2021 | bbc.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

A billion years have vanished from the geological record – and over 152 years after this was first discovered, scientists can’t agree on why.

Dark regions of the genome may drive the evolution of new species
7th September 2021 | livescience.com | Animal Life, Humans

Genetic “dark matter” may drive the emergence of new species, new research finds.

‘Green Arabia’ was a crucial migration route for early humans
7th September 2021 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

The new research establishes northern Arabia as a critical migration pathway in the storied history of our species

News stories covering humans, psychology and health.