Humans news stories

The hominin family tree is more like a complicated, tangled bramble…Now, new evidence has emerged of this complex history. From three sites across China, archaeologists have identified proteins in six H. erectus teeth that contain a genetic variant also seen in Denisovans, hinting at genetic mixing between the groups. The findings have been published in Nature.

A century ago, scientists began to study enigmatic Nasca geoglyphs in Peru. Thanks to AI, the known number has nearly doubled, and these discoveries are providing new insights into what their messages meant.

Dozens of scientists have banded together to pen scathing research letters to the journal Science about the publication of a study claiming the 14,500-year-old Monte Verde archaeological site in Chile is much younger than shown….a collection of three scientific letters published last week, 30 experts have critiqued the study’s “substantive errors and misrepresentations” and asserted that the study’s claims are “categorically false and found to be unsupported.”

Recent satellite remote sensing surveys have identified 280 stone structures spread across the Atbai desert in Sudan…Now, new research, published in the African Archaeological Review, takes a closer look at the purpose of these monuments and the unique, cattle-centered pastoralist culture behind them.

A new study published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies has found that people who have had a meaningful psychedelic experience report a significantly reduced fear of death, alongside heightened feelings of connection to themselves, others, and the world around them. Furthermore, the degree of connection closely tracks the degree of relief from death-related fear.

A recent study has found that specialized psychotherapy paired with doses of either LSD or psilocybin is associated with strong reductions in severe depression and anxiety. These mental health improvements emerged relatively quickly and took place within a standard hospital care program. The findings were published in the journal Psychiatry Research.

The Pentagon on Friday released an initial group of previously secret files documenting reports of UFOs – a move sought for decades by some…Among the highlights is Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, telling a 1969 debrief of seeing a “sizeable” object close to the lunar surface, and a “fairly bright light source” the crew felt could be a laser.

A study published in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology has identified the earliest evidence of prehistoric occupation by island dwellers of northern Sri Lanka. Long thought to be unsuitable for human occupation due to its scarce stone resources and semi-arid landscape, the findings at Velanai Island challenge this long-held belief and offer insights into early raw-material exploitation, seafaring capabilities, and subsistence behavior.

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that our ancestors were not just lucky scavengers. They were also effective foragers who repeatedly processed, accessed, and shared animal resources across different environments.

Neanderthals may not only have feasted on rhinoceroses, they may also have used their exceptionally hard teeth as specialized tools for a range of tasks, such as retouching the edges of stone tools. Their work is published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Researchers at the University of Vermont have uncovered a powerful new insight about how language works—one that overturns a cornerstone assumption in psychology, linguistics, and artificial intelligence that has stood for more than 70 years. Their study was published in Science Advances.

A new analysis, based on the crystals growing inside one of the bones, showed scientists the site dated back to an ice age 146,000 years ago—challenging long-held ideas about early humanity at this site becoming creative thanks to warmer times of plenty.

Archaeologists from the University of Southampton have excavated and recorded a large timber platform hidden beneath what today appears to be a stone-built island, located in a Scottish loch. They used a technique called stereophotogrammetry to record the human-made island above and below the waterline as a single continuous structure, providing a perspective that wouldn’t have been possible using land or underwater survey alone. Their technique is described in an article in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice.

Just one insightful psychedelic trip can have a profound impact on a person, and a new study goes some way to explaining why. The research was published in Nature Communications.

Astronomers have discovered 27 new potential planets that orbit two stars, like the fictional desert planet Tatooine from the Star Wars universe.