Neanderthals may have trekked through the Saudi Arabian desert 55,000 years ago, farther south than experts thought possible - Stone tools from a lakeside site in Saudi Arabia hint that Neanderthals were adapted to the arid Arabian interior, not just to cold places. neanderthals

3 hours ago

'Beyond human intuition': AI designs chip components 500 times smaller than what engineers could ever imagine -- Three new AI-designed chip components are just a few micrometers long and go beyond what human engineers have previously envisaged. -- Fiona Jackson

3 hours ago

The pace of climate change matters more than overall heat in the race to save key Atlantic currents, study finds -- The rate of global warming, rather than the extra heat itself, could determine whether a system of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will cross a tipping point, new research suggests. -- Sascha Pare

3 hours ago

Archaeologists discover Etruscan well that was ritually opened with offerings for a goddess - and 'closed' with human bodies -- An ancient Etruscan cult likely left burials and bronze artifacts in a well that was recently discovered in Italy. -- Margherita Bassi

4 hours ago

1,700-year-old church discovered under a lake in Turkey may be the location of the First Council of Nicaea - but other experts disagree -- A small church discovered beneath a larger one may have hosted one of the most important meetings in the history of Christianity, but some scholars not involved with the excavation disagree. -- Owen Jarus

4 hours ago

Skeleton with 167 fractures discovered at Scottish castle may have been first victim of Edward I's 'War Wolf' trebuchet -- Dozens of fractures in a medieval skeleton found buried near a castle suggest the person may have been killed by a direct trebuchet hit. -- Kristina Killgrove

4 hours ago

Elon Musk and Sam Altman claim we've reached the AI singularity. But how would we even know that happened? -- Scientists suggest it could take decades to achieve superintelligent AI, and doing so still depends on hypothetical breakthroughs. So why do some suggest we're already there? -- Adam Shepherd

1 day ago

4 LEMURS DIE OF HUMAN HERPESVIRUS, INCLUDING ONE THAT HAD BEEN USED IN A 'LEMUR YOGA' CLASS -- Researchers recently confirmed cases of human herpesvirus infection in four lemurs, which died of the infection after having close contact with humans. -- Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

4 hours ago

'Full-on berserker mode': Archaeologists solve mystery of medieval soldiers with gruesome square holes in their skull -- A new analysis of skulls from a 14th-century battle in Sweden reveals a spiked club inflicted the death blow. -- Kristina Killgrove

4 hours ago

Rare belching disorder could be treated with singing, study hints - but not everyone is convinced -- A strange-sounding treatment may offer relief for people with a little-understood type of excessive belching. -- Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

4 hours ago

'The lance head was still inside the pelvis': Mass grave found in Austria may hold casualties of unknown ancient Roman battle -- A new analysis of skeletons recovered from an ancient mass burial has revealed a surprising number of groin injuries. -- Kristina Killgrove

4 hours ago

'If this is the new normal, then we are in very deep trouble': Brazil's drying aquifers could have ripple effects across the world -- New research suggests some of Brazil's most important aquifers, located beneath major agricultural regions, aren't being replenished. What does this mean for the country's water supply and food exports? -- Sascha Pare

1 day ago

Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds -- A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory. -- Nicoletta Lanese

4 hours ago

Saving old trees may protect people's health more than planting new ones, study of Chicago neighborhoods finds -- A study tracking tree cover in Chicago over 11 years found that neighborhoods losing canopy saw death rates climb, especially in the city's hottest areas. -- Olivia Maule

4 hours ago

'They basically used these dried-up wells just to throw people in': 43 skeletons found in Roman-era well may be evidence of deadly plague -- Archaeologists have analyzed dozens of skeletons from a mass burial in a well. The lack of injuries suggests the people may have died from a plague rather than a battle. -- Kristina Killgrove

4 hours ago

'Thinking ahead' helps robots complete tasks twice as fast -- A new AI system lets robots plan their next move while they're in motion - removing reaction delays and doubling task speeds without any extra computing overhead. -- Niba @NotesByNiba

4 hours ago

James Webb telescope just spotted the oldest, closest pair of black holes in the early universe -- The dual black hole system, dubbed LID-1166, is the first close-separation pair of its kind confirmed this early in the universe. The discovery could help to explain how the earliest black holes grew so large, so fast. -- Shreejaya Karantha

4 hours ago

Foodborne illnesses: Is the US really being hit harder this year? -- While parasitic Cyclospora infections have reached record-breaking numbers this year, experts have criticized coverage that has created the appearance of "one massive outbreak." The reality is more nuanced. -- Ian Randall

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Oldest-known Martian meteorite holds clues to a watery past -- The oldest known rock from Mars was discovered on Earth in 2022. Scientists are beginning to reveal its mysteries. -- Ivan Farkas

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Mammal ancestors may have given live birth 90 million years earlier than we thought, rewriting evolutionary timelines -- A distinctive growth ring in fossilized bones is revealing how an ancestral species in the mammalian family reproduced. -- Chris Simms

4 hours ago