This week, 1.5-million-year-old footprints in Kenya suggest two ancient human relatives walked together, fossilized dinosaur vomit and poop reveal their rise had surprisingly green origins, and on Monday, March 23, 2178, Pluto will complete its first full orbit since its discovery in 1980. Finally, 50 years on, we look back at the discovery of Lucy – a fossil that changed our understanding of human evolution.
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Wearing A Salmon On Your Head Is Back In Fashion For Orcas, After A 37-Year Break
As anyone who follows fashion knows, certain trends like indie sleaze and cargo pants can come back around after a long and quite deserved break. Orcas, it seems, are not immune. After a 37-year break, killer whales have once again been spotted wearing dead salmon on their head. Read the full story here
1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Suggest Two Ancient Human Relatives Walked Together
For the first time ever, scientists have found direct evidence of multiple ancient hominins living in the same place at the same time. Such a discovery represents a huge step forward in our understanding of human evolution, as it indicates that the first ever truly human species shared its environment with one of our more primitive relatives. Read the full story here
Fossilized Dinosaur Vomit And Poop Reveal Their Rise Had Surprisingly Green Origins
When we talk about “The Age Of Dinosaurs,” we think of an era where these enormous beasts ruled the land, but that wasn’t always the case. Like all animals that have lived to taste the upper echelons of the food chain, dinosaurs had to work their way to the top by outcompeting those that came before them. So, what triggered that rise? Read the full story here
Pluto Will Complete Its First Full Orbit Since Its Discovery On Monday, March 23, 2178
Of the five dwarf planets in the Solar System – including Eris, Ceres, Makemake, and Haumea – Pluto is easily the best-known due to its brief categorization as a regular planet. Long before it could even make one turn around the Sun, it was demoted. Read the full story here
Severe COVID-19 Induces An Immune Response That May Be Able To Fight Cancer
A surprising finding in a mouse model could lead us to a new way of treating some types of cancer, with a helping hand from an unlikely source: COVID-19. An immune mechanism that was activated in the mice when they were given drugs to simulate severe COVID-19 had the side effect of fighting cancer, causing four types of tumors to shrink. Read the full story here
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Feature of the week:
Lucy’s Legacy: 50 Years On, The Fossil That Changed Our Understanding Of Human Evolution
By late morning on November 24, 1974, Donald Johanson and his graduate student, Tom Gray, were already sweating under the hot Ethiopian sun at Hadar. Initially there to map the area, they decided to search for fossils in the more than 3-million-year-old sediments, finding only fragments of antelopes, gazelles, and a monkey. On their way back, Johanson glanced over his shoulder and spotted a bone fragment, probably a monkey. Turning it over in his hand, he realized it wasn’t from a monkey – it belonged to a hominid. It has now been 50 years since Lucy’s skeleton was found on that Ethiopian slope, and over the decades she has become an iconic figure in the story of human evolution. Read the full story here
More content:
Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS? Issue 28 November 2024 is available now. This month we asked, “Will We All Be Eating Insects In The Future?” – check it out for exclusive interviews, book excerpts, long reads, and more.
PLUS, the We Have Questions podcast – an audio version of our coveted CURIOUS e-magazine column – continues. In episode 3, we ask “The Biggest Wild Goose Is… Poisonous?”
Season 4 of IFLScience’s The Big Questions podcast has concluded. To revisit all four season’s episodes, click here.
