A new snapshot of a camp on a central Chile lake reveals a picture of a band of hunter-gatherers who paused to butcher, then feast upon, an extinct relative of the elephant about 12,450 years ago. The narrative the archeologists are trying to construct based on artifacts found there includes seasonal stops at Tagua Tagua Lake and the periodic banding together of multiple groups, according to a study in PLOS ONE.A Band of Hunter-GatherersThe dominant feature of the site is the fossil remains of a ...read more
The Mona Lisa has long captivated viewers around the world with the mystery that surrounds it, from the subject’s mysterious identity to her ever-present gaze. Now, in early 2024, over 500 years after Leonardo Da Vinci originally painted the iconic masterpiece, one of its biggest mysteries may have been solved. Ann Pizzorusso, a geologist and art historian from Italy, says she’s identified the background of the portrait: the city of Lecco, nestled along the shores of Lake Como in northern ...read more
Dozens of wildfires are burning across Canada in May 2024 and sending unhealthy smoke blowing into the northern U.S. again. At the same time, the southeastern U.S. is getting smoke from Mexico, where drought conditions have been fueling fires.Last year, Canada’s record 2023 wildfire season introduced millions of Americans across the Midwest and northeastern states to the health hazards of wildfire smoke, with air quality alerts that reached levels never seen there before.Professional baseball ...read more
For a team of researchers studying the effects of stress on ancient humans, their work wasn’t exactly like pulling teeth — but it did involve examining their enamel.A study in Scientific Reports that used enamel defects as a proxy for stress, says that Neanderthal children (who lived between 400,000 years and 40,000 years ago) and Upper Paleolithic kids (who lived between 50,000 years and 12,000 years ago) experienced similar levels of stress — but at different times during their developme ...read more
Recent reports that the H5N1 avian flu virus has been found in cow’s milk have raised questions about whether the U.S. milk supply is safe to drink. According to the federal Food and Drug Administration, the answer is yes, as long as the milk is pasteurized.Nonetheless, raw (unpasteurized) milk sales are up, despite health experts’ warning that raw milk could contain high levels of the virus, along with many other pathogens.As an extension food scientist in a state where raw milk sales are l ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine