Three deformed femurs from separate ancient burials. (Credit: Erik Trinkaus)
There’s something odd about the bones of ancient humans. It’s always a bit stupefying to gaze at a femur pulled from the earth and think about it being on the inside of a living, breathing human very much like yourself. But that’s not what stood out to Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University who studies the bones of ancient humans.
He had a pivotal realizati ...read more
An artist’s impression of the strange, interstellar object ‘Oumuamua. One new study suggests that the space rock could actually be an extraterrestrial light sail. (Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
‘Oumuamua — a curious, cigar-shaped rock — was the first interstellar space rock ever discovered in our solar system, though scientists debate whether it should be classified as an asteroid or comet. Now, a new study suggests that the strange object could actually be an alien ...read more
Orb weavers, from the grouping Orbiculariae, make the classic, wheel-shaped spiderweb, as well as other intriguing designs. This tree hosts a sampling of Orbiculariae, illustrating the web diversity. Evolutionarily older spiders and their ancestors appear on the ground and trunk; more recent arrivals hang from the highest branches. (Credit: F. Vollrath and P. Selden/AR Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 2007 (Modified from Vollrath 1988))
It may seem silly to fear a little spider — but t ...read more
This artist’s concept shows InSight landed safely on the Elysium Planitia region of the Red Planet. (Creditd: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
On November 26, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will touch down on an exceedingly featureless patch on the Martian surface. According to the InSight team, this plain, boring spot couldn’t be more perfect.
The InSight lander aims to study and explore deep into the Red Planet. “It is InSight’s job to study the deep interior of Mars, taking the pl ...read more
Credit: MIT News
If extraterrestrial life exists in our neck of the Milky Way, how would we make our presence known to one another? Could we just shoot a massive, unmistakable signal out into space?
As it turns out, this wild sounding idea could actually be carried out with current and developing technologies. A new MIT study found that by shining a powerful laser through a gigantic telescope, humans could produce a beam of infrared radiation detectable from 20,000 light-years away. The r ...read more
Scientists got African clawed frogs, similar to this one, to regrow limbs in the lab. (Credit: D. Kucharski K. Kucharska/shutterstock)
Millions of people live with amputated limbs that are gone forever. But that might not be the case forever. For the first time, scientists have shown that adult frogs can regrow amputated legs. They say the approach can work in humans, too. “There is no reason that human bodies can’t regenerate,” said Tufts University biologist Michael Levin, ...read more
A bitcoin mining operation near Moscow, Russia. (Nikiforaw77/shutterstock)
Mining cryptocurrency uses more energy than conventional mining of copper or platinum and at least as much as mining gold finds new research published today in the journal Nature Sustainability. The digital currencies aren’t helping climate change either, as they produce millions of tons of CO2 emissions. Market trends for the virtual currency are on the rise suggesting energy requirements for cryptocurrencies wil ...read more
(Credit: tommaso lizzul/Shutterstock)
Have you had your tonsils out? If you’re a millennial, the answer is probably no. Tonsillectomies, once all the rage in the mid-to-late 20th century, have fallen off sharply in recent decades.
They may not have fallen off far enough, though. A new study suggests that seven of every eight tonsillectomies in Britain weren’t actually necessary.
Leave Those Tonsils
Writing in the British Journal of General Practice, researchers from ...read more
A comparison of skulls from a human (left) and a Neanderthal (right). (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Did Neanderthals have language? Before trying to answer that, I should admit my bias: I’m team Neanderthal. As an anthropologist who studies our evolutionary cousins, I’ve seen plenty of evidence suggesting Neanderthals were competent, complex, social creatures. In light of their apparent cognitive abilities, I’m inclined to believe they had language.
But I can’t ...read more
