U.N. panel warns of global warming’s toll on humans and nature | Science

Over the past 70 years, humanity has made great strides on a number of metrics: increasing life expectancy, cutting hunger and disease, boosting education levels. But a prime engine of these gains—the burning of fossil fuels—now threatens to slow down global development, according to a new report today from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate … Read more

Dogs Seem to Truly Grieve For Their Lost Canine Buddies, Survey Reveals

The loss of a beloved canine companion is devastating, and new research shows that you might not be the only one feeling it. Any other dogs in your family could also go through mourning, as indicated by their behavior.   A survey of 426 multiple-dog owners in Italy revealed that, when one dog in the … Read more

This scientist busts myths about how humans burn calories—and why | Science

A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 375, Issue 6582. On a warm Wednesday morning in October, Herman Pontzer puts on a wrinkled lab coat, adjusts his mask, and heads into his lab at Duke University, hoping to stress out a student. An undergraduate named Christina is resting on a lab table with … Read more

It Turns Out Species Can Go Extinct Twice… And The Second Time Is For Keeps

Species can actually go extinct more than once. In a biological sense, species become extinct when the last animal of a species stops breathing. But they can also become extinct a second time, researchers say.   When a species disappears from our collective memory and cultural knowledge, it becomes extinct in a different way. That second … Read more

Humans Find AI-Generated Faces More Trustworthy Than the Real Thing

When TikTok videos emerged in 2021 that seemed to show “Tom Cruise” making a coin disappear and enjoying a lollipop, the account name was the only obvious clue that this wasn’t the real deal. The creator of the “deeptomcruise” account on the social media platform was using “deepfake” technology to show a machine-generated version of … Read more

Pucker up! Why humans evolved a taste for sour foods | Science

Bite into a lemon and you’ll likely experience a clashing rush of sensations: crushing sharpness, mouth-watering tanginess, and pleasant brightness. But despite its assertiveness—and its role as one of the five main taste profiles (along with sweet, salty, savory, and bitter)—scientists don’t know much about how our acidic taste evolved.   Enter Rob Dunn. The … Read more

Did Neanderthals and modern humans take turns living in a French cave? | Science

A single, broken molar found buried within a windswept rock shelter in southeastern France could push back the first evidence of modern humans in Europe by nearly 10,000 years. According to an international team, the tooth and dozens of stone tools from the same sedimentary layer belonged to a member of Homo sapiens who lived … Read more

Modern humans moved into cave one year after Neanderthals abandoned it

About 10,000 years before modern humans colonised Europe, a small group of them moved into a cave in southern France that had just been abandoned by Neanderthals – but they only stayed there for about 40 years Humans 9 February 2022 By Michael Marshall Excavations at the entrance of Grotte Mandrin Slimak-Metz A small group … Read more

Ancient Cave Shows Modern Humans Ventured Into Europe Far Earlier Than We Knew

Homo sapiens ventured into Neanderthal territory in Europe much earlier than previously thought, according to an archaeological study published in Science magazine on Wednesday.   Up to now, archaeological discoveries had indicated that Neanderthals disappeared from the European continent about 40,000 years ago, shortly after the arrival of their “cousin” H. sapiens, barely 5,000 years … Read more

The First Evidence of Omicron Spilling Over Into Wild Animals Has Just Been Found

Vaughn Cooper sees white-tailed deer every day in his neighborhood outside Pittsburgh. The species is common in most US states. Pennsylvania alone has around 1.5 million white-tailed deer – about 30 per square mile (2.6 square km) – while the US has around 30 million in total.   “My dog goes ripping after the deer … Read more