Dating of Neanderthals gone awry? Remains of our hominin cousins previously found in Croatia’s Vindija Cave return to the spotlight with new research that claims earlier studies got their age very wrong. (Credit Ivor Karavani)
With every new find, our understanding of the twilight of the Neanderthals, our nearest hominin kin, advances. Or not.
New research on some of the most famous Neanderthal fossils, from Croatia’s Vindija Cave, suggest earlier analysis about their age ...read more
Security experts are both thrilled and anxious about the internet of things (IoT), the ever-growing collection of smart electronic gadgets that interact with the world around them. It includes devices like internet-connected garage door openers, refrigerators you can text to see if you’re low on milk and tennis rackets that offer tips on a better backhand — even smart sex toys. The technology research firm Gartner estimates that 6.4 billion such IoT devices were connected online in ...read more
Is this depression (and others like it) at a site in Crete actually a footprint? If so, what made them? Researchers believe they are indeed footprints — and were made 5.7 million years ago by hominins. If they’re right, it changes much of what we thought about human evolution. (Credit Andrzej Boczarowski)
It’s the Friday before a long weekend (at least for most of us in the U.S.) and I get it: You’re thinking about your plans for the next few days, wrapping up some stuff ...read more
Here is yet another jewel from one of the holiday issues of the British Medical Journal, sent to us by a reader (thanks, Ben!). It’s pretty straightforward, so instead of an introductory blurb, we’ll warm you up with this video of a “fart” caught on an infrared airport camera (it’s likely a prank, but still pretty fun):
http://youtu.be/T1FxI3aVBOs
Hot air?
“It all started with an enquiry from a nurse,” Dr Karl Kruszelnicki told listeners t ...read more
