Humans

Living at higher altitudes in the US may shape your psychology in strange ways, a new study reveals, showing a distinct link between living in elevated, mountainous regions and certain personality traits. Not only that, but the kinds of traits mountain-dwellers demonstrate are quite specific, researchers say, rooted in the pioneer history of the Old

An unusual cache of at least 13 wooden coffins dating back to 2,500 years ago has been discovered in the desert necropolis of Saqqara in Egypt. What makes these coffins so special among the thousands interred in the tomb complex is the fact they have remained intact for millennia, and are still completely sealed –

A growing body of drug research has shown that experiences with psychedelic drugs can be both positive and negative – scary and uncomfortable for some, but leading to improvements in well-being and relationships for others. These substances also show promising early results for treating mental disorders, in controlled doses. So why the disparity between the

All around the world, people honour their dead in myriad ways. In Vietnam, families burn cash, clothes, shoes, even luxury items, all made from paper to bid their loved ones well in the afterlife. In India, mourners carry bodies wrapped in coloured cloths to the banks of the River Ganges where they are cremated on

Our natural inclination to help others in need runs extremely deep within our mammalian heritage – there’s many examples of altruism in primates and it’s even been demonstrated in mice. This generosity, prevalent across human cultures, has psychological and health benefits for us all as individuals. Now researchers have also found evidence that generosity helps people in societies live

The laws that govern the use of tear gas are downright illogical, argue human rights advocates. The very same “riot control agents” recently deployed against citizens in Hong Kong, the United States, Chile, Turkey, Nepal, Greece, France, India, Lebanon and South Africa (not to mention many more) have been banned from international warfare under the

You’d think a plant scientist would feel at home on a farm, but Neil Stewart was used to working with potatoes, not human cadavers.  Fascinated by environmental contaminants, Stewart was on tour at the University of Tennessee’s ‘body farm’ – more formally known as the Anthropology Research Facility – where forensic anthropologists study the effects

Modern-day drone sensors can sometimes detect what’s invisible to the human eye, such as the remains of a historical city called Etzanoa or the ‘Great Settlement’ in the fields of Wichita, Kansas – remains that have been buried for hundreds of years. Researchers think they’ve found what’s known as a ‘council circle’ monument in Etzanoa, and while

Earth, with its reassuringly familiar continents, arranged in the dependable configuration you know and love, didn’t always look the way it does now. Its land masses, once locked together in supercontinents, have cracked and broken and slid away from each other, and repeatedly come together again over the course of our planet’s 4.5-billion-year history. In

In October 1961, the Soviet Union dropped the most powerful nuclear bomb in history over a remote island north of the Arctic Circle. Though the bomb detonated nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) above ground, the resulting shockwave stripped the island as bare and flat as a skating rink. Onlookers saw the flash more than 600 miles

Spend some time in someone else’s body, and your sense of self and your memory starts to shift, new research shows – almost as if your brain is adapting to better fit its new form. It’s a fascinating insight into the link between the physical and the psychological. Researchers haven’t actually worked out how to

Where do dreams come from? It’s an age-old question, something people have been wondering and theorising about for millennia. Whereas ancient civilisations may have interpreted dreams as having supernatural or spiritual origins, in modern society, we’re more likely to analyse our dreams in terms of our waking life, looking for meaningful connections linking the content

Prehistoric sculptures depicting human-like faces have some scientists thinking certain expressions might well be universal across time and culture. New research has found ancient Maya people and other Mesoamerican civilisations, such as the Olmec, were sculpting scenes of pain, elation, sadness, anger, strain and determination in ways that are still recognisable to us up to

The lives and deaths of animals that lived more than 2,000 years ago are coming to light. A cat, a snake, and a bird that were mummified in ancient Egypt have undergone non-invasive, high-resolution 3D X-ray scans, helping us to understand how they were kept, and the complex mummification procedures practised thousands of years ago.

Having strong, biased opinions may say more about your own individual way of behaving in group situations than it does about your level of identification with the values or ideals of any particular group, new research suggests. This behavioural trait – which researchers call ‘groupiness’ – could mean that individuals will consistently demonstrate ‘groupy’ behaviour

In the north of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering the Nefud Desert, archaeologists have recently catalogued vast stone monuments dating back 7,000 years. Shaped like long rectangles, the ‘mustatil‘ structures are a mystery – but new evidence suggests they were possibly used for ritual or social purposes. Mustatils are amongst the earliest forms of large-scale stone

A California resident has tested positive for plague, marking the state’s first human case of the disease in five years, according to health officials. The case was confirmed on Monday (August 17) in a resident of South Lake Tahoe, according to a statement from the El Dorado County Department of Health and Human Services. The individual is described

They may not have had fancy mattresses, but the earliest human ancestors were quite capable of putting together a cosy place to sleep. Newly found remains of human bedding in an ancient archaeological site show just how clever they were at doing so. In the well-known site of Border Cave in South Africa, archaeologists have found

When you see a face in a cloud, in the slots of a power point, or on the side of a house, there’s a term for it: face pareidolia. This strange perception phenomenon makes lifeless, inanimate objects appear to have facial features – the basic shapes of two eyes and a mouth is often all

Plastics were not made for human consumption, and yet consume them we must. Tiny remnants of these synthetic polymers have now leached into our air, food and water, and avoiding them has turned into an almost impossible battle. A study of five popular seafoods, bought from a market in Australia, reveals just how ubiquitous these

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to loneliness in Australia. This is especially so as Melburnians entered the strictest lockdown to date. Meanwhile, the rest of Australia braces for the possibility of a second wave and people are adapting to new habits and restrictions. This has disrupted our social routines, and in many cases has

Sometimes even those with narcissistic tendencies don’t like looking in the mirror. New research has found that people who excessively approve of themselves are unwilling to reflect on their mistakes. When something unforeseen and unfortunate happens, a narcissist appears less inclined to ask, “What could I have done differently?” and more inclined to throw up

A new analysis of the genomes of the most famous of ancient humans - Neanderthals and Denisovans - has revealed an as-yet-unidentified ancestor for our species – a branch of our distant family tree without any known label to put to it. The study also finds further evidence of interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals, but places it

For almost as long as stories have been told, stories have been deconstructed. For centuries, theorists, philosophers, and scholars have been pulling narrative structures apart, trying to pin down the most fundamental elements that give stories shape and meaning. As far back as the 4th century BCE, Aristotle was dissecting story structures in this vein,

People have searched for sex differences in human brains since at least the 19th century, when scientist Samuel George Morton poured seeds and lead shot into human skulls to measure their volumes. Gustave Le Bon found men’s brains are usually larger than women’s, which prompted Alexander Bains and George Romanes to argue this size difference

Are you a rightie or a leftie? No, we’re not talking politics here, we’re talking handedness. And unless you happen to have an abundance of left-handed friends, you might have noticed how rare they are. So why are just 1 in 10 of us left-handed? While no one’s been able to definitively explain this, there are

Despite the long evolutionary history of our species, humans have only been reading and writing for a few thousand years. New research shows that we may have ‘recycled’ a key region of the brain to help us start making sense of the written word. In tests on rhesus macaque monkeys, scientists have demonstrated that a

Spending solitary time in the great outdoors, whether it’s fishing, hunting or exploring, could help foster a kid’s strong bond with nature, a new study suggests. Combine those reflective moments in nature with outdoor social activities, such as camping or scouts, and this vital connection to the natural world could potentially last a lifetime.  Not

Deep in western Russia, if you know where to look, you’ll find a small collection of ragged scrap metal and crumbled concrete. Which isn’t that exciting. But if you rifle through the rubble, you will find a large metal disc bolted to the ground. This isn’t just any old disc – it’s the welded-shut cap

From slaying centaurs to biblical mentions, poison-tipped arrows are a staple of cultural stories in the west. But they’ve also proved highly effective in reality, so much so that indigenous peoples around the world are still making use of them today, to successfully feed themselves and their families. The Kalahari San of southern Africa hunt

Whether it’s a summer barbecue with friends, your favourite fast food takeaway, or Christmas dinner, we can probably all recall times when we’ve eaten more food in one sitting than we needed to. Plenty of research has looked at the long-term health effects of overeating calories – which include increased fat storage, impaired endocrine (hormone)

Even in early prehistoric Europe, there was a clear wealth gap between the rich and the poor, and this inequality in life followed people long after their deaths.  New archaeological research in Poland reveals the richest humans from Neolithic times were also the ones buried with the most exotic artefacts.  This might sound obvious, but

The bed of Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater lake in South America, is turning out to be a veritable museum of ancient offerings.  Once sacred to the Incas and before that the Tiwanaku, this body of water, nestled between Bolivia and Peru, is littered with sunken sacrifices from centuries ago.  After years of searching, archaeologists

Stonehenge, a Neolithic wonder in southern England, has vexed historians and archaeologists for centuries with its many mysteries: How was it built? What purpose did it serve? Where did its towering sandstone boulders come from? That last question may finally have an answer after a study published Wednesday found that most of the giant stones

Dozens of US states have reported mysterious seeds showing up in packages from China and are warning citizens not to plant them because they could be an invasive species. The US Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it was investigating the unsolicited packages of seeds reported by at least 27 states and urged anyone who

Scientists have developed an experimental device and protocol for manipulating the content of people’s dreams while they are sleeping, by making them recall specific cues that can trigger targeted dream themes and experiences. While the boundless dream-building of Inception remains the stuff of science fiction for now, the new research shows that the evolving science

A first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence (AI) study of romantic relationships based on data from thousands of couples has identified the top predictors that make partners feel positively about their relationship – and the findings show romantic happiness is about a lot more than simply who you’re with. Researchers conducted a machine-learning analysis of data collected from

Living in the present can be a present in itself, but during a global pandemic, when the world is in crisis, reflecting only on the ‘now’ might not be your best tactic.  If we want to get through this tragedy stronger than ever, psychologist Jennifer Aaker and Szu-chi Huang from Stanford University argue we need

Understanding what’s going on in the mind of toddlers is helpful in improving everything from education and parenting to pre-school entertainment, and new research sheds light on how these young kids react to a feeling we’ve all had at some point: uncertainty. In tests with a total of 160 toddlers aged between 25 and 32

Scattered through the genomes of humans around the world we can find remnants of a Neanderthal ancestry. In some, this bestows resilience to illness, or even a unique head shape. A rare few, it seems, have inherited the Neanderthals‘ sensitive side. Evolutionary geneticists have taken a close look at a genetic variation in Neanderthal DNA

A new DNA study published Thursday sheds fresh light on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, from the legacy of rape that can be seen in today’s genetics to how disease likely decimated some groups forced to work in deadly conditions. For example, DNA from one African region may be under-represented in the US

We humans are a rowdy, disruptive bunch. Our very day-to-day living causes the planet to hum. Quite literally – driving and travelling, digging and construction, industry, and even sports events all contribute to a constant background hum of high-frequency seismic noise. Now, thanks to global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is experiencing the

As scientists scramble to figure out where exactly the coronavirus pandemic emerged, other virologists are still chasing the origins of another once-devastating disease – smallpox.  Now, they’ve found viral DNA of an ancient strain of smallpox in Viking Age archaeological remains from northern Europe. The samples, dated at the earliest to 603 CE, provide definitive

Tools excavated from a cave in central Mexico are strong evidence that humans were living in North America at least 30,000 years ago, some 15,000 years earlier than previously thought, scientists said Wednesday.​ Artefacts, including 1,900 stone tools, showed human occupation of the high-altitude Chiquihuite Cave over a roughly 20,000 year period, they reported in

In ancient Greece, several hundred years before the common era and long before the invention of wheelchairs, some holy sanctuaries may have been specially designed with disability in mind. While ramps were not particularly common in the fourth century BCE, ancient healing temples are often ringed by these permanent stone structures. Archaeologist Debby Sneed from California

We all know what goosebumps are, but why have we evolved to hang on to this seemingly pointless physical reaction to the cold? New research suggests an answer: regulating stem cells that control hair follicles and hair growth. In a detailed analysis of mice, scientists found that the specific muscles that contract when goosebumps appear

The question of when human settlers first arrived in North America is not an easy one to answer, but archaeologists now have another piece of useful evidence to work from – a new study of 14,000-year-old poop. Found in the well-known Paisley Caves in Oregon, the faeces add to the growing consensus that human history

A changing climate doesn’t just affect the weather. Entire ecosystems are forced to change, often leading to dramatic shifts in local environments, which can be challenging – even fatal – for species that depend on those ecosystems. But the hunter-gatherer humans who lived in Patagonia between 6,500 and 2,500 years ago rolled with the punches.