Archaeologists have dug up a collection of mass-produced bone tools, the earliest ever discovered, suggesting that hominins systematically made tools out of bone around 1 million years earlier than previously thought. Described in a Nature study, the collection contains 27 fossilized tools that were fashioned around 1.5 million years ago. According to the archaeologists, this tool “factory” indicates that hominins exhibited advanced abstract thought early on in their history.“The tools sho ...read more

Tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets are sitting around, just waiting to be translated. It’s not an easy job; the ancient language is based on wedge-shaped pictograms and includes more than 1,000 unique characters that vary by era, geography, and individual writer.But decoding the pictograms could be a culturally and historically significant task. Cuneiform arose about 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq. It is one of four known pristine languages — writing systems with no ...read more

Earthquakes and secondary disasters like landslides and tsunamis can devastate regions, leaving lasting impacts for years. Beyond the immediate harm to individuals and infrastructure, these events disrupt essential services, alter landscapes, and place a significant economic burden on affected areas.Major earthquakes in the last two decades, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Japan earthquake, and the 2023 Turkey - Syria earthquake, have highlighted the ...read more

Not that long ago, the idea of a robot performing surgery on a human was something out of science fiction. Today, it’s routine. Robotic surgery increased from 1.8 percent to 15 percent of all surgeries from 2012 to 2018, according to the American College of Surgeons. Today, it’s used for around 22 percent of surgeries, according to several estimates. And no wonder the method is catching on. Robotic surgery (more accurately described as robotic-assisted surgery) offers less bleeding, less ti ...read more

Of all the animals facing a major mass extinction event 252 million years ago, it is perhaps appropriate that frog-like creatures were able to bounce back.The amphibious nature of proto-frogs called temnospondyls provided a food-seeking edge, according to a study in the journal Royal Society Open Science.Surviving a Mass-Extinction EventConditions during the Early Triassic were harsh. Repeated volcanic activity triggered long periods of global warming, aridification, reductions in atmospheric ox ...read more

Those living in colder climates are no strangers to the occasional heavy snowfall, but few would be remotely prepared for 16 billion tons of snow dropping down in just a few days. As unthinkable as it sounds, this surplus of snow hit Greenland in March 2022 — all from a single storm.According to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, this extreme snowfall event can be explained by atmospheric rivers — narrow bands in the atmosphere that carry moisture and heat outside of Eart ...read more

Spite takes many forms. You might take a little longer at the self-checkout when someone is waiting. You might increase the TV volume when someone complains about the sound. And you might turn to conspiracy theories. According to a new study in the Journal of Social Issues, that’s a distinct possibility, as spitefulness plays an important part in conspiracy thinking. “Spite is the desire to ‘level the playing field’ by trying to knock someone else down,” said David Gordon, a study auth ...read more

Looking up at the sky and seeing the moon turn red can be a frightful but also intriguing sight. It can only mean one thing — the blood moon has arrived. On the evening of March 13, 2025, those in North and South America could experience a total lunar eclipse. With that, the moon will turn an eerie shade of red, revealing what is known as the blood moon. And while it might seem ominous, there is a perfectly rational reason for why the moon turns red during a total lunar eclipse.  This is th ...read more

It’s nearly impossible not to look at a comatose patient and wonder if they have any awareness. A new study may soon help doctors identify not just which unresponsive patients may possess some degree of consciousness — but whether they have a chance for recovery. The key? Looking for brain waves that match those resembling typical sleep patterns, according to the study published in Nature Medicine.“We’re at an exciting crossroad in neurocritical care where we know that many patients appe ...read more

The Industrial Revolution 150 years ago transformed human life in many ways, including granting us unlimited access to sugar. But combined with other technological advances, much of the Western population now leads a more sedentary lifestyle. The result is a society grappling with obesity and related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes. While metformin is one of the most widely prescribed antidiabetic drugs worldwide, its precise interaction with sugar has not been fully understood — until now ...read more