Science

These Ancient ‘War Donkeys’ Were Likely The 1st Human-Bred Hybrid Animals

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Mesopotamians were using hybrids of domesticated donkeys and wild asses to pull their war wagons 4,500 years ago – at least 500 years before horses were bred for the purpose, a new study reveals.   The analysis of ancient DNA from animal bones unearthed in northern Syria resolves a long-standing question of just what type of animals … Read more

COVID-19 starkly increases pregnancy complications, including stillbirths, among the unvaccinated, Scottish study shows | Science

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Two studies released yesterday delivered dire news about the dangers of COVID-19 to unvaccinated pregnant women and their babies. Perhaps the most disturbing data came from a first-of-its-kind analysis that tracked the tens of thousands of pregnancies in Scotland since vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 became available. It found that unvaccinated, coronavirus-infected women were far more likely … Read more

This Ancient Peruvian Empire Put Hallucinogenics in Beer For Political Reasons

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The ancient Wari empire of Peru might have used hallucinogenic beer to rally support in new territories. The remnants of a large feast, found at a Wari outpost from the ninth century CE, strongly suggest the seeds of a psychoactive plant called vilca (Anadenanthera colubrina) were once mixed with chicha, a beer made from the fruit … Read more

New head of Indian space agency’s ‘biggest challenge’ will be human spaceflight

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The new head of the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has an ambitious agenda to put human spaceflight back on track, according to media reports. Shri. Somanath assumed the helm of the agency on Friday (Jan. 14) as ISRO works to help the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program recover from setbacks in part induced by the … Read more

NASA leasing bill morphs into ‘freedom to vote’ legislation

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A recent bill meant to facilitate NASA raising money by leasing out underused facilities went in a most unexpected direction: expanding the right to vote. The NASA property bill was transformed into the “Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act” under the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives, seeking to undercut Republican opposition to … Read more

Largest dark energy map could reveal the fate of the universe

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A modified telescope in Arizona has produced an interim map, which is already the largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever — and the instrument is only about a tenth of the way through its five-year mission. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a collaboration between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and scientists around … Read more

U.K. and Swiss researchers left in limbo with European grants | Science

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For most of the 397 early-career scientists who learned this week that they had received €1.5 million grants, the first to be awarded under the European Union’s mammoth new funding program Horizon Europe, it was an ecstatic moment, a chance to launch a lab. But for 28 winners based in Switzerland and 46 in the … Read more

Watch this gecko smash headfirst into a tree—and still stick the landing | Science

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PHOENIX—Imagine slamming your head into a wall at a Lamborghini’s top speed, and you’ve got a good sense of what it’s like for a gecko to smack headfirst into a tree as it hurtles from branch to trunk. “The landing looks quite brutal,” says Lara Ferry, an integrative biologist who studies animal morphology at Arizona … Read more

Archeology: Hybrid animal in 4500-year-old tomb is earliest known bred by humans

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Early Bronze Age people in Syria crossed donkeys with wild asses to make prized horse-like hybrids, demonstrating advanced understanding of animal breeding Life 14 January 2022 By Alice Klein Equid skeletons from Tell Umm el-Marra, Syria Glenn Schwartz/John Hopkins University The bones of horse-like creatures unearthed in a 4500-year-old royal tomb in Syria are the … Read more