New species of human discovered in the Philippines
Nature introduces Homo luzonensis, who was hanging out – possibly with other human species – in a cave in the Philippines 50,000 years ago: The […]
Science
We’ve got a photograph of a supermassive black hole.
Science News has a historic snapshot that it took a long while to take – and from a long, long way away: A world-spanning network […]
Scientists discover a Peruvian four-legged whale – with “otter-like features”.
Science Daily has more on the creature named Peregocetus pacificus, which unfortunately hasn’t been around for a 42.6 million years, but was once a whale […]
Science Art: Verge Watch Escapement, from The Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary, Vol. 2, 1820.
A horological device called a “verge escapement” (on the bottom) with a balance wheel (on the top) from a pocketwatch. An “escapement” is the thing […]
Fix the climate… by making things the way they used to be.
The Guardian has a conservative (in the original sense) take on our biggest ecological challenge, with a science-based campaign to fight climate change by restoring […]
A “kelt” is a salmon that survives spawning. Again and again.
Hakai Magazine looks at the few mighty salmon who survive the rigors of the spawning run year after year. Where most fish die after (or […]
Quantum engine gives more power than a standard engine, for the first time.
Science News has more on the very tiny engine that could: The device is a type of engine called a heat engine. Traditional heat engines […]
Science Art: Plate LIL, Fig 3: Cepheus bifidatus Nymph, from British Oribatidae, 1884
Click to embiggen Mm. Mighty mite. From a this book of mites. Luckily for us, these mites (the Oribatidae) aren’t parasitic. They live in dirt […]
China opens a window on life before the dinosaurs.
Science News describes a dizzying array of unknown animals from “the Cambrian explosion,” when life took a sudden turn for the weird and wonderful. The […]
Science Art: Ichneumon Fly, from the USDA’s Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 1941
Click to embiggen “Lays eggs on larva boring in wood.” Add just one comma and that comes across as harsh criticism, but it’s really meant […]
Farming gave our languages “f” and “v” – because it altered the way we bite.
Science News has a fricative breakthrough – biting off a bit of linguistic evolution that took place when we started growing our own food rather […]
Anesthetic kills the pain … of traumatic memories.
New Scientist reports on a novel possible treatment for PTSD – a common anesthetic that helps take the sting out of painful memories: Bryan Strange […]
People can sense the Earth’s magnetic field.
But can we navigate by it? Science News reports on the new finding that, like birds, humans appear to have “magnetoreception abilities,” sensing directions by […]
Herodotus proved right about Egyptian boats – more than 2,000 years after the fact.
The Guardian explains how a newly discovered shipwreck finally gives proof that the Greek historian wasn’t making up what he wrote about an unknown type […]
Science Art: Hypocaustum excavated behind the old city of Rottenburg am Neckar , by Eduard von Kallee.
Click to embiggen An ancient Roman central heating system – hot water would be flooded through the basement, and the floors would warm up. “Hypocaust” […]