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Categories: Anthropology: Cultures, Environmental: Wildfires
Published Evidence for butchery of giant armadillo-like mammals in Argentina 21,000 years ago



Cut marks on fossils could be evidence of humans exploiting large mammals in Argentina more than 20,000 years ago, according to a new study.
Published Wildfire smoke has a silver lining: It can help protect vulnerable tree seedlings



Forest scientists studying tree regeneration have found that wildfire smoke comes with an unexpected benefit: It has a cooling capacity that can make life easier for vulnerable seedlings.
Published Complex impact of large wildfires on ozone layer dynamics



In a revelation highlighting the fragile balance of our planet's atmosphere, scientists have uncovered an unexpected link between massive wildfire events and the chemistry of the ozone layer. Using satellite data and numerical modeling, the team discovered that an enormous smoke-charged vortex nearly doubles the southern hemispheric aerosol burden in the middle stratosphere of the Earth and reorders ozone depletion at different heights. This study reveals how wildfires, such as the catastrophic 2019/20 Australian bushfires, impact the stratosphere in previously unseen ways.
Published Forest carbon storage has declined across much of the Western U.S., likely due to drought and fire



Forests have been embraced as a natural climate solution, due to their ability to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, locking it up in their trunks, branches, leaves, and roots. But a new study confirms widespread doubts about the potential for most forests in the Western US to help curb climate change. The paper analyzed trends in carbon storage across the American West from 2005 to 2019.
Published 'A history of contact': Geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans



Using genomes from 2,000 living humans as well as three Neanderthals and one Denisovan, an international team mapped the gene flow between the hominin groups over the past quarter-million years.
Published The plague may have caused the downfall of the Stone Age farmers



Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe's populations long before the major plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages, new research shows.
Published Ancient dingo DNA shows modern dingoes share little ancestry with modern dog breeds



A study of ancient dingo DNA revealed that the distribution of modern dingoes across Australia, including those on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), pre-dates European colonization and interventions like the dingo-proof fence.
Published The beginnings of fashion



A team of researchers suggest that eyed needles were a new technological innovation used to adorn clothing for social and cultural purposes, marking the major shift from clothes as protection to clothes as an expression of identity.
Published First case of Down syndrome in Neanderthals documented in new study



A new study documents the first case of Down syndrome in Neanderthals and reveals that they were capable of providing altruistic care and support for a vulnerable member of their social group.
Published Wildfires increasingly threaten oil and gas drill sites, compounding potential health risks



More than 100,000 oil and gas wells across the western U.S. are in areas burned by wildfires in recent decades, a new study has found, and some 3 million people live next to wells that in the future could be in the path of fires worsened by climate change.
Published Fuel treatments reduce future wildfire severity



There is a common belief that prescribed burning, thinning trees, and clearing underbrush reduce risks of the severity of future fires. But is that true? A new project analyzing 40 studies where wildfire burned into different vegetation treatments, spanning 11 western states. Researchers found overwhelming evidence that in seasonally dry mixed conifer forests in the western U.S., reducing surface and ladder fuels and tree density through thinning, coupled with prescribed burning or pile burning, could reduce future wildfire severity by more than 60% relative to untreated areas.
Published Large wildfires create weather that favors more fire



A new study shows soot from large wildfires in California traps sunlight, making days warmer and drier than they ought to be.
Published Origins of cumulative culture in human evolution



Cumulative culture -- the accumulation of technological modifications and improvements over generations -- allowed humans to adapt to a diversity of environments and challenges. But, it is unclear when cumulative culture first developed during hominin evolution. A new study concludes that humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge through social learning around 600,000 years ago.
Published New research finds biases encoded in language across cultures and history



Researchers share evidence that people's attitudes are deeply woven into language and culture across the globe and centuries.
Published New way to spot beetle-killed spruce can help forest, wildfire managers



A new machine-learning system can automatically produce detailed maps from satellite data to show locations of likely beetle-killed spruce trees in Alaska, even in forests of low and moderate infestation where identification is otherwise difficult. The automated process can help forestry and wildfire managers in their decisions. That's critical as the beetle infestation spreads.
Published Ancient Syrian diets resembled the modern 'Mediterranean diet'



Thousands of years ago, people in ancient Syria likely ate mostly grains, grapes, olives and a small amount of dairy and meat -- similar to today's 'Mediterranean diet,' according to a new study.
Published Greek Island was home to Bronze Age purple dye workshop



The Greek island of Aegina was home to a Late Bronze Age purple dye workshop, according to a new study.
Published Ritual sacrifice at Chichén Itzá



Rising to power in the wake of the Classic Maya collapse, Chichen Itz was among the largest and most influential cities of the ancient Maya, but much about its political connections and ritual life remain poorly understood. Close kin relationships, including two pairs of identical twins, suggests a connection to the Maya origin myths of the Popol Vuh.
Published Fighting fires from space in record time: How AI could prevent devastating wildfires



Scientists are getting closer to detecting bushfires in record time, thanks to cube satellites with onboard AI now able to detect fires from space 500 times faster than traditional on-ground processing of imagery.
Published Crucial shift in River Nile's evolution during ancient Egypt discovered



Researchers have explored how the River Nile evolved over the past 11,500 years and how changes in its geography could have helped shape the fortunes of ancient Egyptian civilization. Research reveals a major shift in the Nile around four thousand years ago, after which the floodplain in the Nile Valley around Luxor greatly expanded.