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Categories: Anthropology: Cultures, Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published 'Butterfly bot' is fastest swimming soft robot yet



Inspired by the biomechanics of the manta ray, researchers have developed an energy-efficient soft robot that can swim more than four times faster than previous swimming soft robots. The robots are called 'butterfly bots,' because their swimming motion resembles the way a person's arms move when they are swimming the butterfly stroke.
Published Previously unknown monumental temple discovered near the Tempio Grande in Vulci


Archeologists have identified one of the largest known sacred buildings of the Etruscans. The temple's strata offer insights into more than 1000 years of development of one of the most important Etruscan cities. The newly discovered temple is roughly the same size and on a similar alignment as the neighboring Tempio Grande, and was built at roughly the same Archaic time. This duplication of monumental buildings in an Etruscan city is rare, and indicates an exceptional finding.
Published First sentence ever written in Canaanite language discovered: Plea to eradicate beard lice


Researchers have unearthed an ivory comb from 1700 BCE inscribed with a plea to eradicate lice. The finding provides direct evidence for the use of the Canaanite alphabet in daily activities someĀ 3700 years ago.
Published A stone age child buried with bird feathers, plant fibers and fur


Archaeological researchers have identified human remains as a child, who may have been laid on a bed of down in a Stone Age burial site discovered in Eastern Finland. There may also have been a canid at the child's feet. It reveals interesting details of how Stone Age humans buried their dead about 8000 years ago.
Published Ancient DNA analysis sheds light on the early peopling of South America


Using DNA from two ancient humans unearthed in two different archaeological sites in northeast Brazil, researchers have unraveled the deep demographic history of South America at the regional level with some surprising results. Not only do they provide new genetic evidence supporting existing archaeological data of the north-to-south migration toward South America, they also have discovered migrations in the opposite direction along the Atlantic coast -- for the first time. Among the key findings, they also have discovered evidence of Neanderthal ancestry within the genomes of ancient individuals from South America.
Published Ancient genomes reveal hidden history of human adaptation


The use of ancient DNA, including samples of human remains around 45,000 years old, has shed light on a previously unknown aspect of human evolution.
Published UK's oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations


The first genetic data from Palaeolithic human individuals in the UK -- the oldest human DNA obtained from the British Isles so far -- indicates the presence of two distinct groups that migrated to Britain at the end of the last ice age, according to new research. Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.
Published Central Asia identified as a key region for human ancestors


A new study on early human migration shows that semi-arid and desert zones of Central Asia may have served as key areas for the dispersal of hominins into Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene. Central Asia is positioned at a crossroads linking several zones important to hominin dispersal during this period, however much evidence from this region lacks context for dating and climate conditions, making it difficult to understand these dynamics.
Published In medieval Norway, high-class people had stronger bones


In medieval Norway, high status individuals tended to be taller and to have stronger bones, possibly as a result of a favorable lifestyle, according to a new study.
Published Meet the first Neanderthal family


Researchers have managed to sequence multiple individuals from a remote Neanderthal community in Siberia. Among these thirteen individuals, the researchers identified multiple related individuals -- among these a father and his teenage daughter. The researchers were also able to use the thirteen genomes to provide a glimpse into the social organization of a Neanderthal community. They appear to have been a small group of close relatives, consisting of ten to twenty members, and communities were primarily connected through female migration.
Published Race against time to find ancient Indigenous carvings on boab trees


Carvings in boab trees are as significant as rock art for Indigenous Australians. Now, there is a race against time to document the ancient art in the bark of boabs before the remarkable heritage trees die.
Published Geneticists discover new wild goat subspecies via ancient DNA


Geneticists have discovered a previously unknown lineage of wild goats over ten millennia old. The new goat type, discovered from genetic screening of bone remains and referred to as 'the Taurasian tur', likely survived the Last Glacial Maximum (the ice age), which stranded their ancestors in the high peaks of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey where their remains were found.
Published The neighbors of the caliph: Archaeologists uncover ancient mosaics on the shore of the Sea of Galilee


With the help of geomagnetic surface surveys and subsequent hands-on digging, an excavation team has revealed new insights into the area in which the caliph's palace of Khirbat al-Minya was built on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. According to these findings, there had already been a settlement occupied by Christian or Jewish inhabitants in the immediate vicinity long before the palace was built.
Published Among ancient Mayas, cacao was not a food exclusive to the elite


It was the money that grew on trees. Said to be a gift from the gods, cacao for the ancient Maya was considered sacred, used not only as currency, but in special ceremonies and religious rituals. It's the progenitor plant of chocolate, and notions of luxury are embedded in its lore.
Published Key phases of human evolution coincide with flickers in eastern Africa's climate


Interdisciplinary research in southern Ethiopia enabled the deciphering of eastern Africa's climatic heartbeat and shows how key phases of climate change influenced human evolution, dispersal and innovation.
Published Scientists find evidence for food insecurity driving international conflict two thousand years ago


Researchers have identified climate-driven changes to food availability as a factor behind dramatic historical events that led the oasis city of Palmyra in Syria to its ultimate demise.
Published The anglo-saxon migration: New insights from genetics


In the largest early-medieval population study to date, an interdisciplinary team consisting of geneticists and archaeologists analyzed over 400 individuals from ancient Britain, Ireland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The results show in detail one of the largest population transformations in the post-Roman world.
Published Chimpanzee stone tool diversity


Archaeologists and primatologists have shown that stone tool using chimpanzees in West Africa have distinct and recognizable material cultures.
Published What ancient dung reveals about Epipaleolithic animal tending


Tiny crystals in ancient animal dung serve as key evidence in a new analysis suggesting the possibility that hunter-gatherers at Abu Hureyra, Syria, may have tended small numbers of animals just outside their dwellings between 12,800 and 12,300 years ago.
Published Modern humans generate more brain neurons than Neanderthals


The question of what makes modern humans unique has long been a driving force for researchers. Comparisons with our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, therefore provide fascinating insights. The increase in brain size, and in neuron production during brain development, are considered to be major factors for the increased cognitive abilities that occurred during human evolution. However, while both Neanderthals and modern humans develop brains of similar size, very little is known about whether modern human and Neanderthal brains may have differed in terms of their neuron production during development. Researchers now show that the modern human variant of the protein TKTL1, which differs by only a single amino acid from the Neanderthal variant, increases one type of brain progenitor cells, called basal radial glia, in the modern human brain.