Pity the poor pumpkin: Since its domestication by early farmers around 10,000 years ago, few cultivars have been more burdened by myth and misinformation than this unassuming winter squash. But pumpkins are good for much more than warding away evil spirits (when carved) or acting as a delivery system for nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves (when pureed for pie).As it happens, pumpkins are nutritional powerhouses, pharmacological wonders and offer tasty treats for both humans and their pets. Here ...read more
Experts estimate that a new species of dinosaur is named every two weeks. While there is debate about whether these are all new species or, in some cases, previously discovered species being given new names, it's clear that there are a lot of dinosaur fossils out there. Scientists are digging them up and identifying them at a ferocious pace. As Riley Black, paleontologist and science writer, put it in a 2019 article in The New Scientist, we are in a "golden era of dinosaur discovery."Here a ...read more
Early people weathered the Last Ice Age in the significantly cooler uplands of central Spain, eschewing the warmer coastlines, according to a new archaeological survey. Its findings counter the prevailing wisdom that hunter-gatherers stuck close to the Mediterranean and Atlantic shorelines of the Iberian Peninsula, which include modern-day Spain and Portugal.The relative scarcity of evidence for inland settlement is not because the sites themselves are scarce, a statement from the researchers sa ...read more
In a world marked by the constant hustle and bustle of urban life, there exist communities that defy the norms of settled existence, embracing a lifestyle that revolves around perpetual movement. These enigmatic groups, often called nomads, have a rich history of following traditional lifestyles, and many of them still live as nomads all around the world.What Are Nomads?Nomads are communities of people who continually move (usually seasonally) rather than live in a permanent settlement. Experts ...read more
This story was originally published in our Nov/Dec 2023 issue as "Blowing Smoke?" Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.If you were to drown in the Thames River in the late 18th century, your best chance of survival would be for a good Samaritan to pull you from the water and carry you to a receiving house outfitted with basic medical equipment — possibly even located in the pub you had just stumbled out of — established by the local life-saving organization, the Roya ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine