Culturalanthropologist

NPR

New research reveals ancient humans used animal bone tools much earlier than thought

The handcrafted tools found in Tanzania were made 1.5 million years ago and were fashioned primarily from the bones of elephants and hippopo

Early humans used animal bones to craft tools — more than a million years earlier than scientists previously thought, according to new research published this week. A group of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Indiana University made the discovery in East Africa. Ignacio de la Torre, co-director of the excavation and a CSIC researcher, says the bone tools are from the Acheulean period, which is known as the age of the hand axes — tear-shaped tools with a sharp point made from stone. "Now, we have a human species here that is able to innovate, to create an innovation by applying a knowledge they know they have or the working of stone," de la Torre tells NPR.

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Foxes disguised as monks. On the left from Japan and on the right from Denmark.

Cannot stop thinking about Anne magill paintings. Maybe my new favorite painter. She just captures this ..,,,,,, dreamy feeling...,,, a certain tenderness..... a fleeting moment of contentedness..... like nothing else I’ve seen

užgavėnės

National Deer Association |

The Guts of Predatory Cats Can Destroy CWD Prions

The prions that cause chronic wasting disease in deer are nearly indestructible. So it's good news to learn cat guts are their mortal enemy.

Okay. So. You know how some people want to finish exterminating all large predatory mammals so they have less competition for deer and so they don't occasionally lose livestock? And you know how native deer species in North America have been hit increasingly hard with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the past couple of decades due to overpopulation thanks to the eradication of large predatory mammals that normally keep them in check?

We already have evidence that reintroducing predatory mammals to their native ranges not only knocks deer populations back to a healthier level, and now we've discovered that apparently the digestive systems of cougars and bobcats are lethal to CWD prions. Prions are among the most difficult pathogens* to eliminate; you have to heat them up to about 1,800 degrees F in order to thoroughly destroy them. And prion diseases like CWD are almost universally fatal.

So to find that these wild cats can safely eat CWD-infected animals AND significantly reduce the chances that the prions will be spread to other deer is a pretty big deal, especially since some other animals like coyotes and crows do pass prions undamaged through their digestive systems. And it's just one more example of why an ecosystem needs all of the species that have evolved in it over thousands of years, not just those are convenient for humans to have around. The spread of CWD is directly related to the overpopulation of deer, and it's likely that continuing to reintroduce large predatory mammals to their native range will help quell this awful prion disease.

ScienceAlert

Scientist Proposes a New Universal Law of Biology That May Explain Aging

Life appears to require at least some instability.

Life appears to require at least some instability. This fact should be considered a biological universality, proposes University of Southern California molecular biologist John Tower. Biological laws are thought to be rare and describe patterns or organizing principles that appear to be generally ubiquitous. While they can be squishier than the absolutes of math or physics, such rules in biology nevertheless help us better understand the complex processes that govern life. Most examples we've found so far seem to concern themselves with the conservation of materials or energy, and therefore life's tendency towards stability.

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Spending 8 hours in Milan for a layover included the essentials: visiting cute bookshops and looking at pretty paintings. I picked up a copy of Wuthering Heights, and related a lot to this girl in the Pinacoteca di Brera.

OK Doomer

Covid Causes Much More than Brain Fog

A mountain of evidence tells us that even mild Covid is bad for your brain.

Published Sept 28, 2023

Last year, a case study in Frontiers in Pediatrics described what Covid did to the lives of two girls. Before getting sick, they made excellent grades. They had lots of friends. They played the piano.

They were healthy.

After a mild case of Covid, they started complaining about fatigue and joint pain. They forgot how to play their favorite songs. They couldn't do simple math. For six months, their parents and teachers didn't listen. They sent them to a psychologist. They assumed the girls were suffering from anxiety.

They weren't.

In much better and happier news Bison after decades of hard work and conservation efforts from indigenous organizations have finally been released back on our lands after 150 years.

I saw this video live and cried my eyes out. This is so important. Despite it all we survived. We're still here and the possibility to heal the land and ourselves is always there even if it will take time.

Edit: I'm very happy that people love this post but my other less happy educational posts are also just as important

phys.org

Archaeologists find that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens organized living spaces similarly

In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, archaeologists from Université de Montréal and the Un

In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, archaeologists from Université de Montréal and the University of Genoa reveal that far from being more primitive, Neanderthals did much the same as their Homo sapiens successors: made themselves at home. Analyzing artifacts and features of the Protoaurignacian and Mousterian levels of the Riparo Bombrini site in northwestern Italy, the scientists uncovered common patterns of settlement between the two populations.

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