"A history of contact": Geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans
Ever since the first Neanderthal bones were discovered in 1856, people have wondered about these ancient hominins. How are they different from us? How much are they like us? Did our ancestors get along with them? Fight them? Love them? The recent dis.....»»
Study says ChatGPT could help people with creativity in everyday tasks
ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence technology developed by OpenAI, could help humans with daily, creative tasks—even those typically thought to require the human ability to "read between the lines," according to new research by the Uni.....»»
The right to disconnect from work—and employer surveillance—is growing globally. Why is NZ lagging?
A new law giving Australian workers the "right to disconnect"—to refuse contact from their employers outside their working hours (unless that refusal is unreasonable)—comes into effect this month......»»
Newly discovered, free-living eukaryote is the first known to have lost its mitochondria
An international team of geneticists and molecular biologists has discovered the first-known, free-living eukaryote to have lost its mitochondria. In their study, published in Nature Communications, the group found the eukaryote while investigating t.....»»
History professor examines Nelson Rockefeller"s career as a lens for Republican Party"s rightward shift
Politician and businessman Nelson Rockefeller was seen as a moderate or liberal Republican even as he embraced conservative policies as the Republican Party shifted to the right in the 1960s and '70s......»»
Paleontologists describe new examples of giant sea scorpions from the Silurian and Devonian in New South Wales
A team of paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History, the Australian Museum Research Institute, and the WB Clarke Geoscience Center, in Australia, has added new evidential data for pterygotid eurypterids from the Silurian and Devonia.....»»
Humans can work with nature to solve big environmental problems—but there"s no quick fix, researchers say
"Nature-based solutions" are gaining momentum in environmental policy, including in Australia. They involve working with nature to protect, restore or manage ecosystems in a way that benefits both people and the environment......»»
Ancient civilizations had ways to counter the urban heat island effect—how history"s lessons apply to cities today
As intense heat breaks records around the world, a little-reported fact offers some hope for cooling down cities: Under even the most intense periods of extreme heat, some city blocks never experience heat wave temperatures......»»
Ancient tree resin artifacts provide earliest-known evidence of humans dispersing through the Pacific
Exactly when and how humans dispersed into and through the Pacific remains an intensely debated topic. Previous studies have been hampered by imprecise chronometric dating, making the exact timing and movement of people into the Pacific difficult to.....»»
Self-dealing has a long history on crypto exchanges: Researchers investigate "wash trading"
In 2019, the American tech trading company Bitwise presented to the SEC that an astounding 95% of cryptocurrency exchanges were fake. This claim may be credited to a type of market manipulation called "wash trading," which involves inflating trading.....»»
How "winner and loser effects" impact social rank in animals—and humans
Research has shown that in many animals, the winners of a fight are more likely to win subsequent contests, while the losers tend to lose their following fights. In experiments where male stickleback fish were randomly introduced to another fish, 65%.....»»
Four things ancient Greeks and Romans got right about mental health
According to the World Health Organization, about 280 million people worldwide have depression and about one billion have a mental health problem of any kind......»»
Indie App Spotlight: ‘SubManager’ helps you keep track of your subscriptions
Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. SubManager is a simple app that allows you to e.....»»
Ancient DNA reveals Indigenous dog lineages found at Jamestown, Virginia
Previous scientific studies have indicated that North American dog lineages were replaced with European ones between 1492 and the present day. To better understand the timing of this replacement, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Cha.....»»
This Code Breaker Is Using AI to Decode the Heart’s Secret Rhythms
Inspired by his expertise in breaking ancient codes, Roeland Decorte built a smartphone app that continuously listens for signs of disease hidden in our pulse......»»
New Windows 11 build removes ancient, arbitrary 32GB size limit for FAT32 disks
But the Windows NT-era disk formatting UI hasn't been fixed yet. Enlarge / If you've formatted a disk in Windows in the last 30 years, you may have come across this dialog box. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) As we wait for.....»»
Scottish and Irish rocks confirmed as rare record of "snowball Earth"
A rock formation spanning Ireland and Scotland may be the world's most complete record of "snowball Earth," a crucial moment in planetary history when the globe was covered in ice, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers......»»
How researchers reconstructed the ancestor of all life on Earth
Understanding how life began and evolved on Earth is a question that has fascinated humans for a long time, and modern scientists have made great advances when it comes to finding some answers. Now, our recent study hopes to offer new insights into t.....»»
California is home to millions of urban trees: What happens when they die?
To stop California's 6 million urban trees from knocking out power lines, crashing through houses, or lying across streets when they die, humans have to intervene......»»
Cactus dreams: Revealing the secrets of mescaline making
Mescaline, a natural hallucinogen known since ancient times, was not only a favorite of artists and bohemians but also a mainstay of brain research throughout the first half of the 20th century, until it was eclipsed in the 1950s by the much more pot.....»»
Researchers hack electronic shifters with a few hundred dollars of hardware
If you've got a Shimano Di2 groupset, be sure to update its firmware. Enlarge (credit: Dmytro Aksonov via Getty) Professional cycling has, in its recent history, been prone to a shocking variety of cheating methods and d.....»»