Modern medicine has come a long way in its fight against cancer. Now, a new study shows how this fight actually began more than 4,000 years ago. This battle’s ancient beginnings were uncovered by a research team recently after it studied the skulls of two individuals...
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When earthlings came out of the water and started walking on terra firma some 365 million years ago, their bodies adapted to their new living conditions. Lungs were one of the innovations of that period, allowing animals to survive on the oxygen found in the...
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Most depictions of dinosaurs feature the fearsome creatures with scaly skin – but that wasn’t always the case. Instead, recent discoveries show that some dinosaurs such as the vicious velociraptor sported feathers. In fact, the prevailing scientific consensus is that modern birds descended from members of...
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Earth’s neighbor, Venus, is not “dead” – at least in terms of volcanism, a new study revealed. Recent re-analyses of data collected by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s unveiled compelling evidence of ongoing volcanic activity on Venus. “Using these maps as a guide, our results show...
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For the past five years, young killer whales – or orcas – have been attacking boats and other vessels along the waters off the coast of Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco. Authorities and scientists have documented more than 673 attacks since they started recording them in...
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Yawning is catchy – and even man’s best friend is not immune. For example, wolves have been shown to pass yawns from one another in a phenomenon known as “contagious yawning”. Horses do, too, but it occurs differently in dogs. Different studies have found that pooches are...
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Archaeologists have long wondered how the ancient Egyptians moved the massive materials they used to build the pyramids. “Many of us who are interested in ancient Egypt are aware that the Egyptians must have used a waterway to build their enormous monuments … but nobody was...
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German cockroaches are master travelers: These days, despite their name, they are literally everywhere – on every continent but Antarctica. But because they lack a natural habitat, scientists have not been able to figure out where they actually came from. Recently, however, researchers began tracking how the...
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In 1960, archaeologists found body armor in the village of Dendra, near what was once the ancient Greek city of Mycenae, with a helmet clad with boars’ tusks and a suit consisting of bronze plates. While it appeared quite sturdy, archaeologists wondered whether Mycenaean soldiers used...
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It’s the iconic image of Africa – a giant, lonely tree on a grassy plain with its almost manicured green crown. This tree, the baobab, also known as the “Tree of Life” or the “Upside-Down Tree,” because of its root-like crown, has fascinated scientists and artists...
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Cavemen, it turns out, ate their veggies, too, a new study shows. Long thought to mainly subsist on a protein-based diet, researchers have found that the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers who lived 15,000 years ago in what is now Morocco actually ate more vegetables than meat. In fact, these Late...
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Beluga whales are known as the “canaries of the sea” because of their chattiness, expressed through whistles, chirps and squeals. But now, a new study has found that they also express themselves using a squishy bump on their foreheads known as “melon.” In essence, as Science News...
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In the Star Wars movie, “Revenge of the Sith,” the final battle pitting the two main characters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, takes place on the hellish planet of Mustafar, mainly covered by volcanoes and magma. Now, scientists discovered a similar planet 66 light years away...
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Modern humans settled on the islands of today’s Papua New Guinea some 50,000 years ago, where they later interbred with the Denisovan hominids that occupied Asia for tens of thousands of years. While the Denisovans became extinct, their DNA is present in modern-day Papua New Guineans...
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Chickens are highly underrated. In reality, these birds, domesticated from wild jungle fowl around 10,000 years ago, are far more emotionally complex than humans usually believe. In a recent study, scientists have discovered they even blush when emotionally aroused, Science Alert reported. A team of researchers came to...
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In 2022, biologist Isabelle Laumer and her colleagues were observing orangutans at Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park on the Indonesian island of Sumatra when they noticed a primate named Rakus had a noticeable wound on its face, possibly caused by a fight with another male,...
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Some animals feign their own death to elude predators, but one species of snake goes the extra mile when playing dead, Newsweek reported. Scientists discovered that dice snakes, a non-venomous species native to Europe and parts of Asia, pretend to die by defecating, leaking blood from...
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In many countries, conflict resolution usually involves sitting in an office and talking. In the Bolivian town of San Pedro de Macha, however, it means dancing and fisticuffs. Here, the Indigenous Quechua take to the streets annually for a ritual dance and hand-to-hand combat known as “Tinku,”...
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Amateur archaeologists recently discovered a mysterious 12-sided object in England dating back to Roman-era Britain, the latest such dodecahedron to be found that scholars call “one of archaeology’s great enigmas,” CNN reported. The individuals uncovered the Roman dodecahedron in the county of Lincolnshire last June, describing...
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Humans are preparing to go back to the Moon in the next few years, but those lunar adventures will come with a series of problems, including extremely low gravity. Astronauts lose bone and muscle mass without normal gravity, so scientists recently came up with an ingenious...
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