A rockshelter in South Africa’s Kalahari documents the innovative behaviors of early humans who lived there 105,000 years ago. We report the new evidence today in Nature. The rockshelter site is at Ga-Mohana Hill – a striking feature that stands proudly above an expansive savanna landscape. Many residents of nearby towns consider Ga-Mohana a spiritual
Month: March 2021
Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the Universe bound together by gravity. They can contain thousands of galaxies, enormous oceans of hot gas, invisible islands of dark matter and – sometimes – the glowing ghost of a jellyfish or two. In the galaxy cluster Abell 2877, located in the southern sky about 300 million light-years from Earth, astronomers have
Some of the deepest parts of the Black Sea are still responding to climate changes prompted by the last ice age, scientists have discovered – a period which officially ended almost 12,000 years ago. An analysis of gas hydrate deposits – in this case methane trapped by water molecules, in a solid substance that looks
Approximately 430,000 years ago, a meteorite exploded over Antarctica. The only reason we know about it now is because scientists have just found tiny, once-molten particles of space rock that have been hidden away in the ice ever since. Based on an analysis of those particles, the event was an unusual one – not quite
The day has finally come. Scientists have finally created synthetic mucus molecules that exhibit the structure and function of the real deal. Far from being a slime crime, though, it’s a discovery that could help scientists devise new treatments for infectious diseases, according to the research team behind the breakthrough. Slippery, slimy, and oozy, mucus
In a mirror Universe where time runs backwards, swapping matter for antimatter should simply bring us full circle and reproduce the reality we’re all familiar with. Our Universe and the bizarro antimatter Mirrorverse would look identical. But what if it didn’t? As unlikely as that would be in today’s physics, the possibility might open a
Scientists have identified a new rule of growth that shapes the form and development of pointy or sharp biological structures in animals and plants, such as teeth, horns, claws, beaks, and thorns. Describing the newly found pattern as a previously unknown law of nature, the researchers call their discovery the “power cascade” – a mathematical
A severe thunderstorm cloud that formed over the Pacific Ocean in 2018 reached the coldest temperatures ever recorded, according to a new study. The very top of the storm cloud reached a bone-chilling minus 167.8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 111 degrees Celsius), colder than any storm cloud measured before. Thunderstorms and tropical cyclones, a circular low-pressure
SpaceX chief Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter Tuesday that the latest prototype of the company’s Starship rocket series had crashed, after the video feed of its test flight cut out. “At least the crater is in the right place!” he joked, in acknowledging the fourth failed test of the prototype. “Something significant happened shortly after
Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalizing questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being? There are two well-known sizes of black hole – at one end, so-called stellar-class ones which are typically three to ten times the mass
The extent of Australasian influence into the ancient bloodlines of early South American cultures looks to be even greater than scientists thought, according to new research. In 2015, a pair of scientific studies identified an intriguing link: evidence of Indigenous Australian, Melanesian, and South Asian genetics embedded in modern Native American populations living in the
In our limited experience, comet 2I/Borisov is one of a kind. It was discovered in August 2019, on a trajectory that could only mean one thing – the object had come from outside of our Solar System. It was the first known comet to visit from interstellar space, and represented a unique opportunity to study
For well over a thousand years, cherry blossoms in Japan have held the scent of spring and reflected the transient beauty of nature itself. Today, these falling flowers also carry the gravity of climate change. In 2021, after an unusually warm spring, Kyoto has burst into color far sooner than expected. To date, this is the
Could humans ever evolve venom? It’s highly unlikely that people will join rattlesnakes and platypuses among the ranks of venomous animals, but new research reveals that humans do have the tool kit to produce venom – in fact, all reptiles and mammals do. This collection of flexible genes, particularly associated with the salivary glands in humans, explains how venom
In a new first for genetic engineering, scientists have developed a single-celled synthetic organism that grows and divides much like a normal cell, mimicking aspects of the cell division cycle that underlies and generates healthy living cellular life. The achievement, demonstrated in an engineered unicellular bacteria-like life form called JCVI-syn3A, is the result of decades
The center of the Milky Way is mysteriously glowing. Sure, there’s a whole bunch of stars there, along with a black hole 4 million times the mass of the Sun – but subtract the light from all that, and we’re still left with this mysterious excess gamma radiation that suffuses the region. It’s called the
The vast majority of animals considered ‘wild dogs’ in Australia are actually pure dingoes or canines that are mostly dingo in terms of their genetic makeup, new research suggests. Scientists collated the results from DNA tests of over 5,000 wild canids across Australia and found that only about 1 percent were actually feral dogs or
When it comes back around again in 2068, the asteroid Apophis will have practically no chance of hitting Earth. In fact, the 370-meter (1,210-foot) chunk of space rock won’t pose any sort of danger for at least another century, leading to its removal from both the ESA’s Risk List, and NASA’s Sentry Impact Risk Table.
One of the world’s largest container ships, named Ever Given, has been wedged across the Suez Canal since it was blown off course by high winds in the early hours of March 23, blocking one of the busiest maritime trade corridors in the world. The incident has created a logjam of hundreds of tankers, the
Even when male and female patients show similar levels of suffering in their facial expressions, physical pain among women is not taken as seriously, a new psychology study suggests. Not only does the average observer tend to underestimate the intensity of chronic shoulder pain in women compared to men, but the findings reveal observers are
If fossil fuel companies in the United States were made to pay for the real environmental and health costs of their products, a new model suggests it would set them back roughly $62 billion dollars every year. Today, that huge sum of money is implicitly subsidized by taxpayers. “Fossil fuel companies benefit in a big
Scientists have figured out a way to stop cannibalistic moths from selfishly eating their siblings. All that’s required is the space to get to know one another. The Indian meal moth, or the pantry moth (Plodia interpunctella), is usually a voracious vegetarian, chowing down on flours, cereals, rice, and other packaged foods as a young
In less than three years, astronauts will return to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Era. As part of the Artemis Program, the purpose is not only to send crewed missions back to the lunar surface to explore and collect samples. This time around, there’s also the goal of establishing vital infrastructure
The new £50 bank note that’s just been unveiled in the UK features the face of Alan Turing on one side – and in tribute to the legendary mathematician and codebreaker, UK intelligence agency GCHQ has set a series of tricky puzzles linked to the note. According to GCHQ, the 12 riddles should take experienced
Bloodsucking insects, trapped in amber for millions of years, extracted for their blood-filled bellies, with the blood analyzed for ancient DNA. At first glance, the scientific explanation for the revival of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park doesn’t sound too far-fetched. It was considered a genuine possibility at the time the book was written. There’s just one problem –
The United States is home to nearly 2,000 active landfills. Each day, these enormous piles of garbage can leach well over 2 million liters of liquid per site into the soil, contaminating local water with potentially toxic substances. These liquid-based pollutants are an immediate threat to both the environment and human health, yet figuring out
We now know how gold crystals start to form at the atomic scale. For the first time, scientists have observed – and filmed! – the first milliseconds of gold crystal formation and found that it’s much more complicated than previous research suggested. Rather than a single, irreversible transition, the atoms come together and fall apart
Bacteria collected from more than a mile below the surface of the Pacific Ocean may have just blown one of immunology’s longest-held assumptions clean out of the water. The bacteria are so alien to humans that our immune cells do not even register that they exist, making them completely invisible to our immune systems. This totally contradicts one
Back when mega wombats, sheep-sized echidnas, and marsupial lions roamed the ancient lands of Australia, there also lived a gigantic flightless bird. Known by some as the ‘demon duck of doom’, Dromornis stirtoni is described by paleontologist Trevor Worthy as an “extreme evolutionary experiment”. “It would appear these giant birds were probably what evolution produced when
A spectacular display of lights that streamed across the night sky over the US Pacific Northwest was probably debris from a SpaceX mission re-entering the atmosphere, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. “While we await further confirmation on the details, here’s the unofficial information we have so far. The widely reported bright objects in the
At the core of just about every plant, algae, and blob of green pond scum on Earth sits a molecular engine for harvesting sunlight. Its only emissions are oxygen – a gas we can all be incredibly thankful for today. If not for the evolution of this vastly common form of photosynthesis (also known as
Selective breeding by humans has led to some incredibly odd and unfortunate pets over the years, and the sauteur d’Alfort rabbit is among the strangest of the lot. This rare breed of bunny does not hop or walk like any other rabbit or hare in existence. When the sauteur is ready to go, it kicks
Deep beneath its icy crust, the dark waters of Enceladus may be swirling. According to a new analysis of the layer of ice covering the Saturnian moon’s global oceans, currents very similar to Earth’s appear to be flowing there. If so, this means that Enceladus’s oceans may not be homogeneous after all. Enceladus doesn’t give
Peer long enough into the heavens, and the Universe starts to resemble a city at night. Galaxies take on characteristics of streetlamps cluttering up neighborhoods of dark matter, linked by highways of gas that run along the shores of intergalactic nothingness. This map of the Universe was preordained, laid out in the tiniest of shivers
A mysterious neurodegenerative disease has been killing bald eagles and other animals at lakes across the United States. And after 25 years of sleuthing, researchers have finally figured out its cause. The disease, known as vacuolar myelinopathy (VM), was first discovered in 1994 when a large number of bald eagle carcasses were found near DeGray Lake in
Figuring out when the earliest human species first developed and used stone tools is an important task for anthropologists, since it was such an important evolutionary step. Remarkably, the projected date of early stone technology just got pushed back by tens of thousands of years. Using a recently introduced type of statistical analysis, researchers estimated
The flickering colors of a sleeping octopus seem to indicate something akin to an REM sleep state, scientists have found. In fact, as octopuses snooze, they distinctly cycle between two major sleep states, quiet and active. This discovery suggests not only that an active sleep state evolved separately in vertebrates and cephalopods, but also that,
Climate change has wrought major changes to ocean stability faster than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday, raising alarms over its role as a global thermostat and the marine life it supports. The research published in the journal Nature looked at 50 years of data and followed the way in which surface water
In 2002, one of the most prestigious restaurants in New York City served four Wall Street workers its most expensive bottle of wine: a US$2,000 Mouton Rothschild from 1989. After it was decanted, the host of the group, a self-reported wine connoisseur, twirled his glass, took a sip and began praising the wine for its purity. Blissfully
Strange things are afoot in the Milky Way. According to a new analysis of Gaia satellite data, the closest star cluster to our Solar System is currently being torn apart – disrupted not just by normal processes, but also by the gravitational pull of something massive we can’t see. This disruption, astronomers say, could be
What is it about humans that separates us from non-human primates, our closest living relatives? One of the biggest differentiators, scientifically speaking, is the size of our much larger brains – and now, we’ve found a key secret behind that unrivaled growth. In new research comparing different types of brain organoids – miniaturized masses of
A new telescope below the surface of the world’s deepest lake has commenced a hunt for the Universe’s most elusive particles. These tiny particles, neutrinos, have almost no mass and no electrical charge, which makes them challenging to observe. Most neutrinos that exist today formed during the Big Bang, so studying them can offer insights
Like a tourist on a cruise ship, the by-the-wind sailor jellyfish (Velella velella) spends its days drifting aimlessly through the open sea, gorging itself on an endless buffet of complementary morsels. The jelly straddles the ocean’s surface with a rigid sail poking just above the water and an array of purple tentacles dangling just underneath. As the
The class of marine animals known as cephalopoda – which today includes squids, octopuses, and cuttlefishes – could have been around on Earth 30 million years earlier than previously thought, according to new research. What’s more, if we do need to reset the timings on the appearance of cephalopods, then the whole evolutionary history of invertebrate
Island Southeast Asia has one of the largest and most intriguing hominin fossil records in the world. But our new research suggests there is another prehistoric human species waiting to be discovered in this region: a group called Denisovans, which have so far only been found thousands of kilometres away in caves in Siberia and
The goalposts of science are always shifting. An achievement is never absolute – each new discovery is the doorway to a cascading series of other discoveries in our quest to understand the Universe. The supermassive black hole M87* is no exception. This black hole is the subject of humanity’s first-ever direct image of the shadow
They are among the largest and strangest of all structures on Earth: huge, mysterious blobs of dense rock lurking deep within the lowermost parts of our planet’s mantle. There are two of these gigantic masses – called the large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs) – with one buried under Africa, the other below the Pacific Ocean. These
Update (24 March 2021): The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment is still insisting there’s a flaw in our best model of particle physics. As explained below, previous results comparing the collider’s data with what we might expect from the Standard Model threw up a curious discrepancy by around 3 standard deviations, but we needed a
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