As ancient humans left Africa, they encountered many harsh environments including the Sahara and the high Arctic, but one of the last places they inhabited was Britain, likely due to the relentless cold and damp climate
Author: hatman
Paralysed man can feel objects through another person’s hand
Keith Thomas, a man in his 40s with no sensation or movement in his hands, is able to feel and move objects by controlling another person’s hand via a brain implant. The technique might one day even allow us to experience another person’s body over long distances.
Martian volcanoes may have transported ice to the planet’s equator
The equatorial regions of Mars are home to unexpectedly enormous layers of ice, and they may have been put there by dramatic volcanic eruptions billions of years ago
We’re finally reading the secrets of Herculaneum’s lost library
A whole library’s worth of papyri owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law were turned to charcoal by the eruption of Vesuvius. Nearly 2000 years later, we can at last read these lost treasures
‘Pregnancy test’ for skeletons could help reveal ancient mothers
Progesterone, oestrogen and testosterone can be detected in skeletons over 1000 years old, offering a way to identify individuals who died while pregnant or soon after giving birth
Mother’s voice seems to boost language development in premature babies
Babies born too soon seem to have stronger connections in one of the major brain areas that supports language processing if they regularly heard their mother read them a story while in intensive care
Your diet is probably dangerously acidic but there’s a simple solution
Nutrition scientists have unlocked an entirely new way of thinking about why certain foods are good for you and others are harmful. Here’s what to eat to function at your best
Chatbots work best when you speak to them with formal language
Are you terse and informal when speaking to an AI chatbot? If so, you might be getting worse answers than if you used more formal language
A black hole fell into a star – then ate its way out again
Stars often fall into black holes, and now it seems the opposite can also occur, producing an extra long-lasting explosion as the star is consumed from within
What makes a quantum computer good?
Claims that one quantum computer is better than another rest on terms like quantum advantage or quantum supremacy, fault-tolerance or qubits with better coherence – what does it all mean? Karmela Padavic-Callaghan sifts through the noise