Ancient skeletons, found in a remarkably well-preserved state in Central American rock shelters, hold clues to the origins of maize as a staple of the human diet. The remains were found in the Maya Mountains of Belize and were buried at various points in the past 10,000 years, according to University of Exeter team. Researchers measured … Read more
Battle of the bird brains! Wild cockatoos perform just as well as those raised by humans in intelligence tests, new study shows Researchers in Vienna tested the intelligence of Goffin’s cockatoos They compared a group of lab-raised birds with a group of wild birds They found both groups performed similarly in intelligence tests The main … Read more
Human activity is destroying more than 50 billion years of evolutionary history, with the Caribbean and parts of Southeast Asia hit the hardest, researchers claim. The study, by the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College mapped the evolutionary history of the world’s land vertebrates including birds and mammals. An ever increasing ‘human footprint’ with … Read more
Wildlife is reclaiming their homes in national parks across the US, as humans are banned from visiting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pronghorn antelopes are roaming in the lowlands of Death Valley, the population of black bears has quadrupled in Yosemite and bobcats and deer are congregating around buildings and roadways. However, parts of the … Read more
A Chinese expert has warned that the novel coronavirus will stay with human beings for a long time. Prof Feng Lushao, a researcher from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media that COVID-19 ‘will co-exist with us for a relatively long time in the future’. He called on Chinese people to change … Read more
Exotic animals known as ‘pangolins’ that were blamed for first transmitting coronavirus from bats to humans could be IMMUNE to the deadly disease, study claims Pangolins lack virus-sensing genes that normally trigger an immune response This means that they can carry the virus without necessarily suffering from it However, researchers are not sure how, then, the … Read more
It may sound like a plot from a science fiction film, but NASA and scientists are concerned about alien viruses contaminating Earth. As the first humans prepare for the Mars mission, experts warn that protocols are necessary to keep extraterrestrial pollutants from hitchhiking on space ships and astronauts when returning home from the Red Planet. Stanford … Read more
Scaly anteaters known as pangolins are NOT to blame for spreading coronavirus from bats to humans, study shows Experts mapped the genome of a coronavirus identified in Malayan pangolins They found it similar to both the virus behind COVID-19 and bat coronaviruses However, their analysis suggested that SARS-CoV-2 did not arise from this virus Here’s how to … Read more
Coronavirus tracking apps pose ‘a serious risk to human rights’ and ‘may introduce unjustified surveillance disguised as health measures’ Humans Rights Watch said tracking apps are a risk to human rights in a Q&A The New York organisation wants countries to consider if the apps are justified It claims they could exclude marginalised groups with … Read more
Archaeologists working in a Bulgarian cave have unearthed the earliest direct evidence of modern humans ever found in Europe. The landmark finding reveals that human migration reached Europe around 45,000 years ago, proving the first ever Europeans overlapped with Neanderthals for much longer than previously thought. ‘Now we see there is a period of about … Read more