Researchers have spent years grappling with the uncertain details of archaic humans’ first entry into Europe, but stone tools created about 1.4 million years ago may offer important insight. The tools were discovered at the Korolevo archaeological site near Ukraine’s border with Romania, and have now considered the oldest known artifacts in Europe made by ancient humans. A team of archaeologists recently dated the tools and published their findings in Nature, delivering progress on critical ...read more

For people with neurodivergence, pharmaceuticals can help manage or reduce symptoms. People with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), for example, may benefit from medication that helps them focus.Increasingly, scientists are also seeing benefits to nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals (a combo of nutrition and pharmaceutical) are dietary supplements that provide vitamins or minerals. Nutraceuticals might not replace medication, but researchers are finding they can help people with neurodi ...read more

When astronomers study the rotation of distant galaxies, they immediately come up against a puzzle. The stars are held together by gravity, which prevents them being slung into intergalactic space as the galaxies rotate. Indeed, astronomers can calculate the amount of gravity based on the mass of the stars they can see. The puzzle is that the outermost parts of these galaxies are moving too quickly. There does not seem to be enough of this mass to stop these stars from flying away. The fact that ...read more

In ancient cultures, solar eclipses were seen as apocalyptic prophecies, omens of the displeasure of the gods, periodic celestial coincidences, or some mixture of all three. The events stopped wars, made temporary kings, and perhaps founded ancient cities.Solar eclipses may strike awe or even fear in people, especially those less versed in astronomy. After all, they can turn an ordinary bright, clear day into relative darkness as the moon slowly blocks the sun. In ancient times, people could hav ...read more

One-point-two kilograms per cubic meter. Why is this number significant? It’s the approximate average density, or mass per volume, of the air at sea level. As you might expect, this mass pales in comparison to that of water, which is roughly 800 times denser than the atmosphere above it. Despite this, air has enough heft to ensure that high-speed hurricane winds can lift whole houses clean off the ground. And when pushed through a jet engine, it can hold a 640-ton airplane aloft — no mean f ...read more

A good night’s sleep is becoming a rare treasure. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about one in three adults in the United States doesn’t get enough sleep, and an estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders.Many people struggling to get enough sleep turn to nutritional supplements for help. Common sleep supplements are melatonin, valerian, and the currently trending ashwagandha, a plant used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient Indian syste ...read more

Equipped with the latest gear and a thirst for adventure, mountaineers embrace the perils that come with conquering the world’s highest peaks. Yet, even those who tread more cautiously at high altitude are not immune from the health hazards waiting in the thin air above.Altitude sickness, which most commonly refers to acute mountain sickness, presents a significant challenge to those traveling to and adventuring in high-altitude destinations. Its symptoms can range from mildly annoying to inca ...read more

Month by month, and season by season, global heating records continue to fall.After 2023 came in as warmest year (it wasn't even close), and 2024 started with record high temperatures, it should come as no surprise that February was weirdly warm too. The red line in the graph above shows the evolution of Earth's average surface air temperature for the year so far. The orange line shows the record for 2023, and the dashed one shows the average for 1991-2020. All years between 1940 and 2023 are de ...read more

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona), Daniel Eisenstein (CfA))Since December 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unlocked various secrets of our universe. From providing newer images of galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to enlightening experts on supernova remnants and peering into the early universe, the spacecraft has already discovered so much.Below are the latest ...read more

Up to half a century ago, researchers established that writing originated in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C., and spread to the rest of the world, adapting to different languages. Since the 1970s, however, the decipherment of Maya and further discoveries has suggested that humans invented writing not once, but four separate times: in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. In a recent study published in Nature, researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy have dated the wood o ...read more