Humans news stories

‘Larger than Everest’ comet could become visible to naked eye this month
12th March 2024 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans, Space

A comet that is larger than Mount Everest could become visible to the naked eye in the coming weeks as it continues its first visit to the inner solar system in more than 70 years, say astronomers.

3,300-year-old tablet from mysterious Hittite Empire describes catastrophic invasion of four cities
12th March 2024 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Researchers think a sacred language inscribed in cuneiform on the tablet suggest the Hittite king visited or lived where the tablet was found in Turkey.

Oldest human presence in Europe found in Ukraine
8th March 2024 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Humans

The oldest firmly dated evidence of human ancestors in Europe has been found at a 1.4-million-year-old site in Ukraine. The findings are detailed in a study published in Nature.

Astronomers detect ‘waterworld with a boiling ocean’ in deep space
8th March 2024 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space

Astronomers have observed a distant planet that could be entirely covered in a deep water ocean, in findings that advance the search for habitable conditions beyond Earth.

Ancient humans used cave in Spain as burial spot for 4 millennia, 7,000 bones reveal
8th March 2024 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Starting about 7,000 years ago, ancient humans in what is now northeastern Spain buried their dead deep in a cave, creating a necropolis of sorts that spans about four millennia and now contains more than 7,000 bones, according to archaeologists. And there are signs it may have been used for tens of thousands of years before that.

New timeline for East Asian hominins’ tool-making revealed
6th March 2024 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

A new study from the Nihewan basin of China has revealed that hominins who possessed advanced knapping abilities equivalent to Mode 2 technological features occupied East Asia as early as 1.1 million years ago (Ma), which is 0.3 Ma earlier than the date associated with the first handaxes found in East Asia. This suggests that Mode 2 hominins dispersed into East Asia much earlier than previously thought.

The Comet Strike Theory That Just Won’t Die
5th March 2024 | nytimes.com | Ancient, Humans, Space

Mainstream science has done its best to debunk the notion, but a belief in a world-changing series of prehistoric impacts continues to gain momentum.

Where did India’s people come from? Massive genetic study reveals surprises
5th March 2024 | science.org | Ancient, Humans

In the largest ever modern whole-genome analysis from South Asia…The study also turns up a surprise: an unexpectedly rich diversity of genes from Neanderthals and their close evolutionary cousins, the Denisovans. Because no fossils of these ancient human relatives have been found in India, researchers are speculating about how these genes got there—and why they stuck around.

Politics really is making “bastards of us all,” according to new psychology research
4th March 2024 | psypost.org | Humans, Misc.

A recent study sheds light on the relationship between moral values and political affiliations, revealing that the standards of morality people apply in political contexts may differ significantly from those in personal spheres.

Jewish-Islamic scientific exchange took place 1,000 years ago
4th March 2024 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Humans

Archaeologists have identified evidence of a Jewish-Islamic scientific collaboration having taken place a thousand years ago, thanks to an archaic star chart once thought to be a forgery.  Gigante’s analysis is published in the journal Nuncius.

Europe’s last hunter-gatherers had sophisticated societies that helped them avoid inbreeding
4th March 2024 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

An investigation into the genomes of 10 people who lived between 6350 and 4810 B.C. revealed few biological links among these small communities, according to a study published Feb. 26 in the journal PNAS.

‘Mathematically perfect’ star system being investigated for potential alien technology
29th February 2024 | livescience.com | Humans, Space, Weird

Late last year, astronomers discovered a fascinating star system only 100 light-years away from us. Its six sub-Neptune planets circle very close to their host star in mathematically perfect orbits, piquing the interest of scientists searching for alien technology or technosignatures, which they argue would offer compelling evidence of advanced life beyond Earth.

How 40Hz sensory gamma rhythm stimulation clears amyloid in Alzheimer’s mice
29th February 2024 medicalxpress.com | Humans, Misc.

Studies at MIT and elsewhere are producing mounting evidence that light flickering and sound clicking at the gamma brain rhythm frequency of 40 Hz can reduce Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression and treat symptoms in human volunteers as well as lab mice. See the new study in Nature.

Diversity of thought and data enrich archaeology
27th February 2024 | nature.com | Ancient, Humans

Our understanding of the human past is changing rapidly, and this does not come from new evidence alone. We are seeing an increasing diversity of perspectives among archaeologists, and they are asking new and important questions. But the field still has a long way to go.

Image by: Downtowngal (Wiki Commons)

New study reveals MDMA’s unique influence on positive social feedback
27th February 2024 | psypost.org | Humans, Misc.

New research published in Journal of Psychopharmacology provides evidence that the drug MDMA may have the unique ability to enhance emotional responses to positive (but not negative) social interactions. This insight sheds light on the potential of MDMA to influence social perception, opening new avenues for understanding and potentially treating conditions characterized by impaired social processing.

Bones Reveal Bog Man’s Secret Life Before His Violent End in a Foreign Land
27th February 2024 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Humans

Now, the team has unlocked the life history of this ill-fated man, combining modern and traditional archeological methods to read the story written in his bones. The research was published in PLOS ONE.

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