It’s no surprise that modern-day human bone structure varies greatly from that of our ancient ancestors. As society has advanced and new technologies developed, so too has our bone structure. Thanks to modern technology, researchers are now better able to pinpoint just when those bony changes began. Food played a major factor in shaping our skeletal frame, but not in the way you may think. Biological Anthropology and the Evolution of BonesAlthough the study of anthropology dates back centurie ...read more

Researchers have commonly found that just like humans, elephants have a strong ability to show empathy. These massive animals can understand and share feelings with other elephants and even different animals. Despite their intimidating size, elephants are emotionally intelligent and form deep familial bonds within their herd. Masson and McCarthy, in their book, "When Elephants Weep," described elephants clustered around a dying matriarch. They stroked her, and put food into her mouth, knowing sh ...read more

The Euphrates River has been one of the most important rivers throughout human history. Along with the Tigris River, it makes up the cradle of civilization, known as the Fertile Crescent. The river was critical to the development of some of the world’s first agricultural societies like the Sumerians and the Mesopotamians. In the Bible, the Euphrates was even mentioned as one of the four rivers that served the Garden of Eden.But now, in the face of global climate change and human impact, the ri ...read more

Flexible dieting isn’t really dieting at all. It’s about meeting your nutritional needs on a daily basis while having the flexibility to choose your favorite foods from within the five food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. For those who find traditional dieting constraining and downright ineffective, flexible dieting might be just the thing that moves the scale. What Is Flexible Dieting?According to registered dietitian Catherine Gervacio from the E-Health Project, th ...read more

Maybe you're shivering in your sheets, while your partner slumbers away, snug as a bug, right next to you. Or perhaps you have that one relative who's always wrapped in a blanket, even when the thermostat is cranked all the way up. You might simply feel like you can never get toasty enough, no matter how many layers you toss on. Of course, it's a common enough phenomenon. But why do some people seem to be naturally colder than others? The answer may surprise you, and it has a lot more to do wit ...read more

Using tools seems like second nature for humans today, but our prehistoric ancestors didn’t acquire this practical skill set overnight. The timeline of stone tool development by humans has been rearranged by new research, shaking up traditional views about the evolution of ancient human ingenuity. The study, published in Nature Communications, suggests that humans went through a period of gradual cultural change after they started moving throughout Eurasia 50,000 years to 40,000 years ago. Th ...read more

Sloths live in perpetual slow motion in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America today. But Roughly 10,000 years ago, a family of ancient, giant relatives would roam any number of terrains in the Americas. Giant ground sloths were directly related to their modern-day cousins, which are arboreal, or tree dwelling, and are limited in how big they can grow. But the largest of the land dwelling giant ground sloths, Megalonyx jeffersonii, could grow up to an astonishing three meters long ...read more

For dog owners, few sights are more heartwarming than their pooch wagging its tail. Suggesting excitement, eagerness, or simply pure joy, the tail wag has long been emblazoned as the default symbol of canine carefreeness. But it always begs the question: Just why do dogs seem to wiggle their behinds when happy? The answer, as it turns out, is complicated, involving a complex interplay between natural selection and humans’ artificial influence on behavior. And, dogs don’t just do it as an in ...read more

There’s no better place to put bodies and bronze treasures than in the bed of a small, shallow lake. At least, that’s what the Bronze Age people of Poland believed, according to a new article in Antiquity.Published in the journal in January, the article reports that researchers recently found a stash of Bronze Age remains and relics that trace as far back as 1000 B.C.E. Recovered from an ancient, long-lost lake in an archaeological area near Papowo Biskupie in Poland, the stash challenges co ...read more

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured 19 nearby spiral galaxies in a different light. The images revealed intricate details of each galaxy’s spiral arms, pockets of star clusters, and lacy, carved-out filaments of gas in the interstellar material. Webb’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments captured the glowing gas and points of light.“Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” said Janice Lee, a project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a statement. “They’re mi ...read more