Humans news stories

Ancient Objects From 50,000 Years Ago Reveal Mysterious Symbols
17th February 2025 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Humans

The tiny cuts and grooves that decorate some ancient human artifacts are not just pretty accidents, according to some archaeologists. The subtle patterns could be early signs of creativity and symbolic thinking in our stone-knapping ancestors. The study was published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

1.4-million-year-old jawbone reveals new human relative, rewriting evolutionary history
7th February 2025 archaeologymag.com | Ancient, Humans

A 1.4-million-year-old fossilized jawbone found in South Africa belongs to a newly discovered species of Paranthropus, an extinct genus of human relatives, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Humpback whale song shown to be structurally similar to human language
7th February 2025 phys.org | Animal Life, Humans

Language has long been considered a uniquely human trait, with features that mark it out as distinct from the communication of all other species. However, research published in Science has uncovered the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in humpback whale song.

Ancient engravings shed light on early human symbolic thought and complexity in Levantine Middle Paleolithic
7th February 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

A new study demonstrates that certain incised stone artifacts from the Levantine Middle Paleolithic, specifically from Manot, Qafzeh, and Quneitra caves, were deliberately engraved with geometric patterns, indicating advanced cognitive and symbolic behavior among early humans.

‘Incredible moment in history:’ Particle accelerator and AI offer first peek inside 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scroll
7th February 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans, Tech

A 2,000-year-old Herculaneum scroll buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is filled with lost words that scholars can now decipher thanks to AI and a particle accelerator.

AI to revolutionise fundamental physics and ‘could show how universe will end’
4th February 2025 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans, Space, Tech

Advanced artificial intelligence is to revolutionise fundamental physics and could open a window on to the fate of the universe, according to Cern’s next director general.

Little-known psychedelic drug reduces motivation to take heroin in rats, study finds
4th February 2025 | psypost.org | Humans, Misc.

A study on rats found that administering 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine before giving them an opportunity to take heroin reduced their motivation to do so…The study also identified a specific type of receptor on neural cells that is crucial for this effect. The paper was published in Neuropharmacology.

Piecing together the puzzle of the world’s earliest datable rune stone
3rd February 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

Piecing together fragments of the world’s earliest known rune stone shows they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and may have been separated intentionally, shedding light on the varied pragmatic and ritual aspects of early Germanic rune stones. See the research here.

Ice age Europeans as young as 10 years old rocked cheek piercings 30,000 years ago
3rd February 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

Strange, flat patches on the teeth of ancient Europeans have puzzled archaeologists for centuries. But one researcher thinks he’s solved the mystery: Ice age people as young as 10 years old rocked cheek piercings. The study was published Jan. 23 in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.

Interstellar lightsails are a step closer
31st January 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Humans, Space, Tech

The idea of lightsails is something out of science fiction. As early as the 1950s and ‘60s, science fiction writers John Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke and others were toying with the idea of “solar sails” for spacecraft propulsion…Project researchers report in a paper published in Nature Photonics that they have developed a platform to test the materials that could one day form lightsails.

Ancient DNA analyses bring to life the 11,000-year intertwined genomic history of sheep and humans
31st January 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Humans

Sheep have been intertwined with human livelihoods for over 11,000 years. As well as meat, their domestication led to humans being nourished by their protein-rich milk and clothed by warm, water-resistant fabrics made from their wool. The findings are published in the journal Science.

Hand axes discovered in Iraqi desert may go back 1.5 million years
30th January 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

The focus of the prospecting campaign was on an area that during the Pleistocene housed a large lake, now completely dried up, with ancient wadis or dry riverbeds crossing the landscape. Egberts collected over 850 artifacts, ranging from very old hand axes from the Early or Old Paleolithic to Levallois reduction flakes from the Middle Paleolithic, all surface material.

Did giant ice age beasts carve these vast caves in South America?
28th January 2025 | nature.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Researchers are investigating who — or what — cut ancient tunnels in sandstone in Brazil and nearby nations.

‘We are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age’: Humans have plunged Earth into the ‘Pyrocene’
27th January 2025 | livescience.com | Earth, Humans

I’m a historian of fire, and my reply is that we have both a narrative and an analog. The narrative is the unbroken saga of humanity and fire, a companionship that extends through all our existence as a species. The analog is that humanity’s fire practices have become so vast, especially in recent centuries, that we are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age.

Study finds that Earth’s small asteroid visitor is likely a chunk of moon rock
24th January 2025 phys.org | Humans, Space

As described in a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers have collected further evidence of 2024 PT5 being of local origin: It appears to be composed of rock broken off from the moon’s surface and ejected into space after a large impact.

Neanderthals’ blood type may help explain their demise, new study finds
24th January 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Humans

When modern humans journeyed out of Africa, a rapid evolution in their red blood cells may have helped them survive — but it may have also led to the eventual disappearance of Neanderthals, a new study finds.

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