Humans news stories

Researchers at the University of Tartu in Estonia have developed a virtual reality (VR) experience that seeks to simulate the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs…Their latest findings, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, provide preliminary evidence that such VR experiences might help to alleviate depression.

Pre-colonial African history is alive with tales of civilizations rising and falling and of different cultures intermingling across the continent. We have now shed more light on some of these societies using the science of genetics. See the study here.

European Space Agency probe due to arrive in 2031 to scan icy moons and study Great Red Spot

Research recently published in Death Studies sheds light on the relationship between increased subjective well-being after psychedelic use and potential reductions in death anxiety.

A study of lithic hunting heads found in the Solutrean levels was conducted using an infrared (IR) microscopy analysis, indicating that Palaeolithic hunters used a mixture of pine resin and beeswax as an adhesive to fasten the heads to arrow shafts.

Image from: Rogers Fund, 1925 (Wiki Commons)

Traces of the past remain hidden in rivers, lakes and seas. But we rarely look underwater and, as they say, out of sight is out of mind. In his inaugural lecture Martijn Manders will explain why underwater archaeology is so important to understanding our history.

A study of an ancient bone from Spain with a strange pattern of notches hints that it was used by early Homo sapiens in Europe as a punch board for making holes in leather

What do medieval monks and volcanic eruptions have in common? According to a team of researchers led by the University of Geneva, quite a bit because chronicles from the 12th and 13th century are helping volcanologists to precisely date ancient eruptions based on descriptions of lunar eclipses. See the research here.

Image from: .scopex (Wiki Commons)

New research into ancient populations that resided on the Tibetan Plateau has found that dairy pastoralism was being practiced far earlier than previously thought and may have been key to long-term settlement of the region’s extreme environment.

The eye is so complex that even Charles Darwin was at a loss to explain how it could have arisen. Now, it turns out that the evolution of the vertebrate eye got an unexpected boost—from bacteria, which contributed a key gene involved in the retina’s response to light.

A move to allow Australian psychiatrists to treat depression with psilocybin may herald a new era

Lawmakers want the DEA to clarify that the seriously ill can access psychedelics under “Right to Try” laws.

An innovative method developed by an Italian team is emerging that will revolutionize the field of archaeology and radiocarbon dating and protect our cultural heritage. The researchers have used it with surprising results on archaeological bones, making the ‘invisible’ visible.

About 1,300 years ago a scribe in Palestine took a book of the Gospels inscribed with a Syriac text and erased it. See the research here.

People were getting high on hallucinogenic drugs in Spain around 3,000 years ago, according to new research.

See the oldest human ever found in Egypt in a stunning new facial approximation.