Humans

A human bone fragment from the new excavations at Ranis in Germany. Credit: Tim Schüler TLDA. , CC BY-ND The idea that two different human species, Homo sapiens (us) and Neanderthals, co-existed in western Eurasia 50–40,000 years ago has long captured the imagination of academics and the public alike. It is therefore not surprising that this time…

Archaeologists in Morocco have unearthed more than 80 human footprints dating back around 100,000 years and believed to be the oldest in North Africa.The footprints, probably left by five Homo sapiens, including children, were discovered on the coast of Larache, a city 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Tangier, by archaeologists from Morocco, Spain, France, and Germany."This group (of Homo sapiens) was crossing the beach towards the sea, probably in search of food and shellfish," Anass Sedrati, curator at the…

Researchers at the site in Ranis, Germany, had to get around a massive rock to find the human-made tools. Pioneering groups of humans braved icy conditions to settle in northern Europe more than 45,000 years ago, a "huge surprise" that means they could have lived there alongside Neanderthals, scientists said Wednesday. The international team of…

Quirks and Quarks17:37Understanding when (earlier), and how (cleverly), stone-age people lived in EuropeSeveral recent discoveries unveiled this week are shedding light on the lives of ancient humans, and their inventiveness and resilience as they initially spread around the world.First, three papers published in the journal Nature describe the discovery of human bones at a cave near Ranis, in northern Germany. Detailed analysis of the bones and sediments from the cave suggest the humans were there 45,000 years ago,…

A new study on human temperature perception demonstrated a consistent sensitivity to temperature differences among participants. This research, integral to the Grounded Cognition theory, has important implications for energy-efficient building climate control and is part of broader research efforts at terraXcube, which supports various scientific fields.Research conducted in Eurac Research’s terraXcube, an extreme environment simulator, indicates that the human sensitivity to temperature variations is less than one degree…

Humans are more likely to prefer content generated by AI than written by a human, according to a surprising new survey. Why we care. While AI can’t entirely replace humans in content creation, clearly generative AI can create content that resonates with consumers.Generative AI 6, humans 0. In six AI- vs. human-generated content battles, the generative AI version “won” each. Here’s an example of one such battle, where the task was to write an introduction for a blog post about the best cat food for indoor cats.…

Excavating the LRJ layers 8 meters deep at Ranis was a logistical challenge and required elaborate scaffolding to support the trench. Credit: Marcel Weiss, License: CC-BY-ND 4.0 A genetic analysis of bone fragments unearthed at an archaeological site in central Germany shows conclusively that modern humans—Homo sapiens—had already reached Northern Europe 45,000 years ago, overlapping with Neanderthals for several thousand years…

Now, we’re not the only species that does comically odd things. I’ve seen my cat make countless hilarious faces and sounds, and his behavior is not always predictable. But we humans are unique in the way that we have free will and an extremely complex communication system. As long as the technology exists, anything that we can imagine, we can turn into a reality.Robert Roy Britt wrote a piece for Live Science discussing why human beings are arguably the strangest species, and he brings attention to a variety of the…

Blizzard is rereleasing Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and the original Diablo through Battle.net. The classic 90's games are available now on Blizzard's launcher.The three titles are among the first games Blizzard ever released, with 1994's Warcraft: Orcs & Humans the first Warcraft game the company developed, and a groundbreaking title in the real-time strategy games of the time. Both Warcraft titles were pioneers of multiplayer modes in RTS games, and the Battle.net…

Average moral expansiveness scale (MES) scores per country. Higher numbers indicate greater moral expansiveness. Credit: Kirkland et al. (2022) A cost-of-living crisis, the ongoing impact of COVID, climate change, and numerous global conflicts and refugee crises. When it feels like so many people are doing it tough, how do we decide where to direct our compassion? …