‘Ancestors’: a new game provides insights into how the first humans evolved: Panache Digital, Author provided As an academic scientist who researches human evolution, I was surprised to receive an email one day from Patrice Désilets, a top computer game designer responsible for the first two Assassin’s Creed games. He was working on a new …
An AI taught itself to play a video game – for the first time, it’s beating humans: Macrovector/Shutterstock Since the earliest days of virtual chess and solitaire, video games have been a playing field for developing artificial intelligence (AI). Each victory of machine against human has helped make algorithms smarter and more efficient. But in …
We’re developing the world’s first vaccine suitable for humans and livestock: Soon, this farmer and her goats could be treated with the same vaccine. ILRI, Zerihun Sewunet/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA If ever there were proof that humans are animals too, it’s in the diseases that we share with other species. From rabies and Zika to Ebola …
Humans are not off the hook for extinctions of large herbivores – then or now: Hippos at Gorongosa National Park. Brett Kuxhausen, Author provided, Author provided What triggered the decline and eventual extinction of many megaherbivores, the giant plant-eating mammals that roamed the Earth millions of years ago, has long been a mystery. These animals, …
A chimpanzee cultural collapse is underway, and it’s driven by humans: Ari Wid / shutterstock Language, music, and art often vary between adjacent groups of people, and help us identify not only ourselves but also others. And in recent years rich debates have emerged and spawned research into culture in non-human animals. Scientists first observed …
What smart bees can teach humans about collective intelligence: Not only do bees display collective intelligence, they are also flexible when it comes to making group decisions. Shutterstock, CC BY When it comes to making decisions, most of us are influenced to some degree by other people, whether that’s choosing a restaurant or a political …
NASA wants to send humans to Venus – here’s why that’s a brilliant idea: There are plans to cause HAVOC on Venus. Popular science fiction of the early 20th century depicted Venus as some kind of wonderland of pleasantly warm temperatures, forests, swamps and even dinosaurs. In 1950, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Natural …
Obese dogs could have similar ‘personality’ traits to overweight humans – new study: Shutterstock We’re all told we need to eat healthier and exercise more to combat obesity, but did you know that there’s also an obesity epidemic among pets, at least in the West? Between 39% and 59% of pet dogs in Europe, Australia …
The DEATH of ageing? Humans ‘to live to 1,000’ says expertThe DEATH…: From self-styled cyborgs who insert implants beneath their skin to developers translating consciousness into code, the race is on to conquer mortality through technology. Transhumanists believe we will inevitably transform ourselves into different beings with abilities so greatly expanded from our current condition …
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Future robots won’t resemble humans – we’re too inefficient: Humanoid robots are a vanity project: an attempt to create artificial life in our own image – essentially trying to play God. The problem is, we’re not very good at it. Ask someone on the street to name a robot and you might hear “Terminator”, “the …
Ancient DNA increases the genetic time depth of modern humans: Tapping into ancient DNA can help us understand ancient humans' movements and lives. Illustration: Marlize Lombard, Maryna Steyn and Anders Högberg It’s been about 2000 years since a young boy died on what is today a beach in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. In the 1960s …
How George A. Romero made humans of violent brain-devouring zombies: Viktor Petrovitch/Shutterstock Godfather of the zombie film genre, George A. Romero’s death at 77-years-old has undoubtedly been a sudden and tragic moment for horror fans the world over. Not least because it came only a few days after the news that the American film director …
Modern humans evolved 100,000 years earlier than we thought – and not just in east Africa: Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA, Leipzig According to the textbooks, all humans living today descended from a population that lived in east Africa around 200,000 years ago. This is based on reliable evidence, including genetic analyses of people from around the …
It’s a myth that humans’ sense of smell is inferior to that of other animals – here’s why: It's time to stop being sniffy about the human sense of smell. Nestor Rizhniak/Shutterstock Conventional wisdom has it that humans have a poorer sense of smell than most other animals. Sure, we can smell – most of …
Fitness boot camp launches where humans exercise like dogs: Working with Personal Trainer Born Barikor, pet charity Blue Cross has created a new fitness boot camp called Work Out Like A Dog which sees humans doing exercises you would normally see dogs doing. Pic: Blue Cross. : Weird News Patriots fan charged with pulling alarm …
How penis bones help primates win the mating game – and why humans might have lost theirs: All shapes and sizes. Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA One of the most weird and wonderful products of evolution is the penis bone, or baculum. The baculum is an extra-skeletal bone, which means it is not attached to the …
Fossil evidence reveals that cancer in humans goes back 1.7 million years: The earliest hominin cancer. Patrick Randolph-Quinney (University of Central Lancashire/University of the Witwatersrand) Cancer is often viewed as a fundamentally modern and monolithic disease. Many people think its rise and spread has been driven almost exclusively by the developed world’s toxins and poisons; …