Ears are incredible things. They help us process sound and play a significant role in our balance. They may have also just helped researchers gain a better understanding of Neanderthal evolution. Neanderthals emerged around 250,000 years ago from pre-Neanderthals populations (500,000 years to 250,000 years ago). These populations roamed Eurasia. For years, researchers believed that as pre-Neanderthals evolved into early Neanderthals and then into classic Neanderthals, there was little evolution ...read more
From time to time, our conscious mind is invaded by unpleasant memories, often triggered by small occurrences in our surroundings. Typically, we can push these memories aside quickly, reducing the likelihood of future intrusions. However, individuals suffering from depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often spend more time trapped in cycles of intrusive thinking, reinforcing negative rumination. Given that people with mental health issues frequently experience sleep dist ...read more
Even walls can evolve. A survey of the oldest section of the Great Wall of China not only bumps back its age by 300 years but shows waves of architectural innovations. The oldest section is in the Changqing District, Jinan, Shandong Province and is sometimes called the Great Wall of Qi.Revisiting the Great WallThe survey, conducted last year by the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, employed a host of tools to investigate the wall’s origins. They sampled soil fro ...read more
Freelance software engineering is a lucrative and dynamic field where skilled developers tackle diverse challenges, from bug fixes to full-stack feature development. In recent years, these workers have been among the first to incorporate AI systems into their workflow to help write code. That raises an interesting question: could an AI system do the same job by itself? In other words, have software engineers effectively developed themselves out of their own jobs?Now we get an answer of sorts tha ...read more
Explorers have long trusted compasses to navigate Earth’s land and oceans, using our planet’s global magnetic field as their guide. But what happens when you take a compass beyond Earth — into orbit, to the Moon, to other planets, or even beyond our solar system? Would it still point north, or would it aimlessly spin in the absence of a dominant magnetic field? The answer depends on where you are in the cosmos and what other magnetic fields are at play.On Earth, a compass needle aligns wit ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine