Humans news stories

Magic mushrooms’ psilocybin can alleviate severe depression when used with therapy
3rd November 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Humans, Misc.

Nearly third of patients on largest trial using psychedelic compound went into rapid remission.

Evidence that human evolution driven by major environmental pressures discovered
2nd November 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Humans

Analyses of more than one thousand ancient genomes dating as far back as 45,000 years ago have found historic signals showing genetic adaptation was more common than previously thought.

Huge ‘planet killer’ asteroid discovered – and it’s heading our way
2nd November 2022 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space, Tech

With a diameter of 1 to 2km, space rock named 2022 AP7 crosses our orbit but has ‘no chance’ of hitting Earth

Ancient DNA analysis sheds light on the early peopling of South America
2nd November 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

The Americas were the last continent to be inhabited by humans. An increasing body of archaeological and genomic evidence has hinted to a complex settlement process. This is especially true for South America, where unexpected ancestral signals have raised perplexing scenarios for the early migrations into different regions of the continent.

Scientists Just Discovered an Entirely New Way of Measuring Time
2nd November 2022 | sciencealert.com | Humans, Tech

Marking the passage of time in a world of ticking clocks and swinging pendulums is a simple case of counting the seconds between ‘then’ and ‘now’… however, ‘then’ can’t always be anticipated. Worse still, ‘now’ often blurs into a haze of uncertainty.

Rare medieval script discovered on stone carved by Scotland’s ‘Painted People
1st November 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Archaeologists and volunteers have discovered a stone bearing a mysterious inscription and carved birds that the Picts of Scotland crafted more than a millennium ago.

The mysterious Viking runes found in a landlocked US state
1st November 2022 | bbc.com | Ancient, Humans

Did Vikings find their way to a remote part of Oklahoma? Some in a small community believe so, thanks to controversial runic carvings found in the area.

Neanderthal extinction may have been caused by sex, not fighting
1st November 2022 | nhm.ac.uk | Ancient, Humans

Making love, not war, might have put the Neanderthals on a path to extinction.

Seals can perceive rhythm early in life
31st October 2022 | earth.com | Animal Life, Humans

A team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics has tested the rhythmic abilities of harbor seals, a species of animals known to be capable of rhythmic learning. The analyses revealed that seals also have a sense of rhythm, being able to discriminate between rhythmic and non-rhythmic sequences early in life without any training or rewards.

Why Humans Have Always Been Fascinated by Snakes—From Ayahuasceros to Egyptians
31st October 2022 doubleblindmag.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

There are few animals as frightening and as fascinating as the snake. So why exactly have we obsessed over them for 70,000 years?

New study provides insight into the cognitive mechanisms underlying ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects
31st October 2022 | psypost.org | Humans, Misc.

Which factors determine what we believe about our world, ourselves, our past, and our future? Cognitive neuroscience suggests that our beliefs are dependent on brain activity, specifically on the way our brains process sensory information in order to make sense of our environment.

Ray of joy: Nasa captures image of the sun ‘smiling’
31st October 2022 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space, Tech

The agency released the image on Wednesday on Twitter, writing: “Today, Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the sun ‘smiling.’ Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space.”

NASA’s InSight Mars Lander Detects Stunning Meteoroid Impact on Red Planet
28th October 2022 scitechdaily.com | Humans, Space, Tech

Last December 24, NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake. However, scientists only learned the cause of that quake later: a meteoroid impact estimated to be one of the biggest seen on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos.

2,100-year-old burial of Aphrodite ‘priestess’ discovered in Russia
28th October 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Russian archaeologists have unearthed an intricately detailed silver medallion of the Greek goddess Aphrodite in the 2,100-year-old grave of a young woman, possibly a priestess, on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea.

Germany announces plan to legalise cannabis for recreational use
28th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Humans, Misc.

Germany wants to make it legal for adults to purchase and own up to 30g of cannabis for recreational use and to privately grow up to three plants, the country’s health minister has announced, saying the intended outcome could set a precedent for the rest of the European continent.

Couple Sentenced to Eight Years for Czech Ayahuasca Ceremonies
27th October 2022 psychedelicspotlight.com | Humans, Misc.

The psychedelic renaissance is responsible for easing regulations on psychedelic plants in some parts of the world, but in the Czech Republic, the ceremonial use of ayahuasca is still being prosecuted as a high crime. Last week, a Polish couple was sentenced to 8 years in prison for running private ayahuasca ceremonies at their home in the Czech Republic.

News stories covering humans, psychology and health.