Rare 1,400-year-old cubic human skull unearthed in Mexico
Archaeologists excavating Mesoamerican ruins in Mexico discovered an unusual cube-shaped human skull. This is the first evidence that people in this region practiced a unique form of head surgery, scientifically known as cranial modification, some 1,400 years ago. The skull was unearthed near the ruins of Balcón de Montezuma (Balcony of Montezuma) in the state […]
1,800-year-old ‘piggy bank’ filled with Roman coins unearthed in French village
French archaeologists have discovered three ancient storage jars filled with tens of thousands of Roman coins. These containers were buried in holes in the floors of houses in ancient settlements 1,700 years ago, probably as a type of safe or piggy bank. These three jugs, known as amphorae, were discovered during excavations carried out by […]
What would have happened if Antony and Cleopatra had killed Octavian?
In 30 BC, Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII died by suicide after being defeated by Octavian’s forces in a civil war. But what would have happened if Antony and Cleopatra had defeated Octavian, who became Rome’s first emperor? Would they have become rulers of Rome? How would history have been different? We asked some experts […]
History of Science: A female chemist initially excluded from research helps develop a drug for a remarkable but short-lived recovery in a child with leukemia — December 6, 1954
Milestone: Chemotherapy puts leukemia into remission Date: December 6, 1954 Location: Sloan Kettering Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, New York People: Gertrude Elion and her colleagues In 1954, researchers reported a new drug that put children with acute leukemia into remission. This became one of the first chemotherapy drugs and would later form the […]
This week’s science news: Humans isolated for 100,000 years, the largest rotating structure in the universe, and a pit full of skulls
This week’s biggest science news took us to a region 140 million light years away, where scientists have discovered the largest rotating object in the known universe. Astronomers discovered this giant rotating filament, which is wider than the Milky Way and connected in a daisy chain of 14 galaxies. The filament spins at about 68 […]
A huge sunspot similar to the sunspot that caused the Carrington phenomenon has appeared on the sun, pointing exactly at the Earth
A huge sunspot group, roughly the same size as the sunspot that caused the largest solar storm in recorded history, has appeared on the Earth’s side of the Sun, and is now pointing directly at Earth. But don’t panic. Auroras and some technical disturbances are possible next week, but it seems unlikely that a new […]
A huge helium shortage is looming — but ancient rocks in Earth’s crust may be hiding massive reservoirs
In 1903, residents of the small town of Dexter, Kansas, gathered to celebrate a newly drilled natural gas well. Crowds flocked to the well for the lighting of the escaping gas, which officials had said would produce “a great pillar of flame.” But when they rolled a burning bale of hay onto the well, nothing […]
New ‘physics shortcuts’ allow you to tackle quantum problems previously reserved for supercomputers and AI on your laptop
Physicists have developed a way to model quantum systems on everyday computers, making it easier to run complex simulations without relying on supercomputers or artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The new method updates the “truncated Wigner approximation” (TWA), a decades-old technique for approximating quantum behavior, into a plug-and-play shortcut for solving complex calculations. The team says […]
‘It puts the birth of our species in a broader context’: Neuroscientists explain the ‘social brain hypothesis’ of what makes us human
New York University neuroscientist Nikolai Kukushkin traces the evolution of human consciousness in his book One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind (Prometheus/Swift Press, 2025). He begins his story with the first appearance of DNA on Earth and then focuses on the key evolutionary landmarks that paved the way for us, modern […]
Is it possible for aged eggs to be “rejuvenated”? New tool may help pave the way to treatments that extend fertility
Scientists have taken an important step toward understanding why human eggs become more prone to chromosomal errors as we age, and whether the decline could one day be avoided. The study, published in November in the journal Nature Aging, introduces a new tool that allows scientists to reproduce the changes seen in eggs during the […]