5 Big Archaeology Discoveries to Watch for in 2020
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| 1059 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
New discoveries in the Valley of the Kings, looted art from Venezuela and evidence that humans were in Central America more than 20,000 years ago are just some of the stories Live Science will be watching out for in 2020.
Tombs of pharaohs and queens in Valley of the Kings(opens in new tab)Egypt's Valley of the Kings, which holds the tomb of King Tut and other Egyptian royalty, divulged several of its secrets in 2019, including a workshop complex, mummification cache, ostraca (pottery with writing on it) and newfound mummies.
[Read More]Ancient Microbes Ate Each Other's Corpses to Survive Beneath the Dead Sea
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| 610 words
| Patria Henriques
On its salty surface, the Dead Sea is famous for making giddy tourists float like beach balls. Hundreds of feet below the water, however, life is a little less fun.
There, choked by some of the saltiest water on Earth, single-celled microorganisms called archaea struggle to carry out life's basic functions without oxygen, light or fresh forms of sustenance. According to a new study published March 22 in the journal Geology, the survival of microbial life beneath the Dead Sea may have once even depended on eating the dead.
[Read More]Arctic walrus takes a nap on an iceberg, wakes up in Ireland
Posted on February 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 487 words
| Fernande Dalal
A walrus spotted on an Irish beach yesterday (March 14) may have floated there from the Arctic Circle after falling asleep on an iceberg.
A 5-year-old girl walking with her father spotted the blubbery newcomer.
The young girl, named Muireann, pointed out the walrus to her dad, Alan Houlihan, as they walked on Valentia Island in County Kerry. "I thought it was a seal at first, and then we saw the tusks,"
[Read More]Bizarre Hammerhead Worm with a 'Mustache' Captured on Video
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| 786 words
| Fernande Dalal
A slithering "snake" with a bizarre mustache-shaped head posted on Facebook is actually a worm.
Facebook user Danish Ho of Johor Bahru, Malaysia, posted videos and images of the creature on the social media site on July 1, accompanied by the caption (in Chinese), "What is this snake???" The post has since been shared more than 127,000 times and has garnered more than 2,300 reactions and 3,500 comments.
To answer Ho's question: It's not a snake, despite its impressive size.
[Read More]Feral Cats in Australia Sentenced to Death by Sausage
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| Trudie Dory
It's raining poison sausages in Australia, in regions of the country that are home to thousands of feral cats.
Airplanes dropped the deadly bait over dozens of square miles of ground, as part of the Australian government's initiative to reduce populations of feral felines. These invasive predators kill hundreds of millions of native birds, mammals and reptiles each year and have already driven many species in Australia to extinction, The New York Times reported on April 25.
[Read More]Hard Times Mean Fewer Baby Boys, Study Suggests
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| 898 words
| Trudie Dory
Pregnant women are more likely to hear "It's a girl!" when giving birth during famine conditions than when times are flush, according to a new study of the 1959-1961 Great Leap Forward famine in China.
The study reveals a dip in the ratio of boys born per girl during the famine years in the country, Shige Song, a demographer and sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York, reports today (March 27) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
[Read More]Is the Creepy Staten Island Clown a Publicity Stunt?
Posted on February 4, 2023
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| 474 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A mysterious and apparently malevolent clown has been seen lurking on the streets of Staten Island, N.Y., at night over the past week.
You don't need to travel to Staten Island to be creeped out by this clown; thanks to Facebook and Instagram, anyone in the world can get the shivers from photos of the white-faced monster.
These social media sites are where four people first posted snapshots of the clown over the past few days.
[Read More]New Flying Dinosaur Drone to Resemble Pterodactyl
Posted on February 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 455 words
| Fernande Dalal
Pterodactyls may have gone extinct millions of years ago, but a newly designed spy plane could bring the flying reptiles to life, albeit replacing blood and guts with carbon fiber and batteries.
"The next generation of airborne drones won't just be small and silent," the design team announced recently. "They'll alter their wing shapes using morphing techniques to squeeze through confined spaces, dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses, land on apartment balconies, or sail along the coastline.
[Read More]Photos: The Amazing Mummies of Peru and Egypt
Posted on February 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 427 words
| Trudie Dory
Mummies across timeArchaeologists used to unwrap Egyptian mummies with much fanfare in front of crowds, a stunt that destroyed cultural history and disrespected the deceased individual. Now, researchers can use computed tomography (CT) scans to noninvasively learn about mummies without literally unwrapping them.
Here is a look at the science behind "Mummies," an exhibit about Peruvian and Egyptian mummies that runs from March 20 until Jan. 7, 2018, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and then returns to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
[Read More]Rat Poison-Laced Synthetic Pot Made People Bleed. Here's How Doctors Treated Them.
Posted on February 4, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 1027 words
| Trudie Dory
In March of this year, strange reports began to emerge: Synthetic pot was making people's eyes bleed. And what started out as a handful of people who were affected has grown to more than 250 people across the U.S., with cases continuing to pop up.
Soon after the outbreak began, the culprit was identified as synthetic marijuana contaminated with brodifacoum. Used as a rat poison, brodifacoum can cause severe thinning of the blood, leading to bleeding in multiple parts of the body.
[Read More]