Other Sciences News

Was Odysseus’ Ithaca Never an Island? Scholars Challenge Centuries-Old Assumption

Paliki peninsula on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Image credit: Christos Vittoratos / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Jul 13, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

For as long as readers have pored over Homer’s Odyssey they have pictured Ithaca, the homeland Odysseus fights for ten years to reach, as an island unto itself. Now, two scholars say that assumption — held since antiquity — is simply wrong, arguing that Ithaca was a peninsula on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Paliki peninsula on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Image credit: Christos Vittoratos / CC BY-SA 3.0. Cambridge...

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Sotos-Prieto et al show that modifying dietary habits can have a significant impact on health outcomes. Image credit: Silvia Rita.

Beans and Broccoli Linked to Lower Heart Risk in Young Adults

Jul 13, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of data from the Western Australian-based Raine Study suggests that two humble vegetable groups — legumes and cruciferous vegetables...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Ancient Turkish Cave Reveals Neanderthals and Homo sapiens Shared Same Way of Life

Jul 8, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Üçağızlı II Cave on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast has yielded a rare and detailed record of two Homo species living the same way of life, one after...

van der Merwe et al. assessed whether chronotype is associated with dietary intake (energy; nutrients), meal timing, body composition markers, and metabolic biomarkers in healthy European and Pacific New Zealand women. Image credit: RitaE.

Night Owls Eat Less at Breakfast, More at Midnight, Study Says

Jul 8, 2026 by Natali Anderson

People who naturally stay up late may be more prone to obesity and poorer metabolic health in part because they consume more of their daily calories late...

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont, a relative of the armadillo that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. By Heinrich Harder, 1920.

Ancient Americans Were Megafauna Hunters, Not Generalists, Study Shows

Jul 6, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research suggests that the first widespread human cultures in the Americas were not opportunistic foragers who ate whatever they could find, but specialized...

An artist’s reconstruction of Clovis life 13,000 years ago shows the Anzick-1 infant with his mother consuming mammoth meat near a hearth. Another individual crafts tools, including dart projectile points and atlatls. A mammoth butchery area is visible nearby. Image credit: Eric Carlson / Ben Potter / Jim Chatters.

Did Clovis People Hunt Mammoths or Simply Scavenge Their Carcasses?

Jul 6, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For decades, the discovery of stone spear points lying next to proboscidean (mammoth, mastodon, and gomphothere) bones has been treated as archaeology’s...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Homo floresiensis Probably Didn’t Hunt Stegodons or Use Fire

Jul 5, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

When paleoanthropologists announced the discovery of Homo floresiensis on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, the tiny, small-brained species quickly...

Representative rock art figures from each of the 11 archaeological sites analyzed by Bossoms Mesa et al. Image credit: Bossoms Mesa et al., 10.1038/s41467-026-74234-2.

Scientists Recover Ancient Human DNA from Cave Walls

Jul 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For the first time, researchers have extracted ancient human DNA directly from the walls of a cave. Although their results do not conclusively link ancient...

Variation in laughter tempo across five great ape species (orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans): each dot represents an individual observation; color indicates phylogenetic distance (in million years ago); each square contains an image of the corresponding species, with a matching dot color for intuitive reference. Image credit: De Gregorio et al., 10.1038/s42003-026-10499-z.

New Research Traces Origins of Human Laughter

Jun 28, 2026 by Natali Anderson

The way humans laugh — in rapid, rhythmically timed bursts — is not uniquely ours. New research by the University of Warwick and the University...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Ancient DNA Sheds Light on Final Chapter of Neanderthal Life in Northwestern Europe

Jun 25, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have generated genetic data from 27 Neanderthals who lived in Belgium and France less than approximately 52,500 years ago, painting a richer...

Zheng et al. uncovered a link between higher levels of daytime light exposure and a lower risk of dementia. Image credit: Zheng et al., doi: 10.1002/gps3.70039.

Getting Enough Bright Light during the Day May Help Protect against Dementia

Jun 25, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers at Guangzhou Medical University tracked nearly 88,000 people for over eight years, finding a significant link between daytime light exposure...

The North Pole Dome crater: (A) simplified map of the East Pilbara Terrane (EPT, Western Australia), showing Paleoarchean granite domes (pink) and greenstone belts (greens and blues); the North Pole Dome (NPD) lies near the terrane center; (B) geological map of the NPD and the shatter-cone field (yellow star); (C) A quartz (Qtz)-carbonate vein cutting shatter-cone lineation. Image credit: Kirkland et al., doi: 10.1130/G54866.1.

Australia’s North Pole Dome Crater is Earth’s Oldest and Only Known Archean Impact Structure

Jun 25, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Zircon crystals and impact-altered minerals show that a massive asteroid slammed into what is now the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 3 billion...

Mostly plant-based low-amino-acid diets have the most potent effects on healthspan but require moderate methionine intake to minimize frailty. Image credit: Fanti et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2026.05.015.

Modified Mediterranean Diet Extends Healthy Lifespan in Mice: Study

Jun 25, 2026 by News Staff

In a new animal study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, scientists found that adding a precise amount of a single amino acid to a low-protein,...

Testing situation and hunters with their dogs -- examples from each of the four non-WEIRD societies: (a) pointing test in Mongolia, (b) unsolvable problem test in Vanuatu, (c) showing test in Mongolia, (d) Vanuatu, (e) Mongolia, (f) Madagascar, (g) Peru. Image credit: Bräuer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-57657-1.

Human-Dog Bond is Ancient, Universal and Strikingly the Same Everywhere: Study

Jun 23, 2026 by News Staff

New research spanning five continents and vastly different cultures — from the steppes of Mongolia to the rainforests of the Pacific — shows...

Lauren Scott & Brittany Florkiewicz show that cat facial signals correspond to different social functions, which have likely been influenced by domestication. Image credit: Sci.News / Makieni777 / Rise-a-mui / Alexas_Fotos / Dorothe / Vaclav Zavada / Artem Makarov / Daga Roszkowska / Birgit / Pasi Mammela.

Domestic Cats Age Like Humans, New Study Shows

Jun 23, 2026 by News Staff

Domestic cats (Felis catus) develop the same patterns of brain shrinkage and neurological decline as aging humans, and scientists think that makes them...

A Homo heidelbergensis, a Neanderthal and a Cro-Magnon. Image credit: SINC / José Antonio Peñas.

New Study Challenges Long-Held Idea that Our Ancestors Simply Got Bigger Over Time

Jun 22, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For decades, paleoanthropologists assumed that hominins — the lineage leading to modern humans — gradually grew larger over millions of years....

Wordle, a popular word-guessing game, challenges players to identify a five-letter secret word through iterative guesses and feedback on letter placement. The players must figure out the secret word within six guesses. After each guess, the letters will be color-coded based on different criteria. Optimizing the choice of guesses is critical for maximizing success within the limited attempts allowed. Image credit: Aladaileh et al., doi: 10.63562/2577-8439.1146.

Scientists Use Math to Solve Viral Word Game ‘Wordle’ with 99% Success Rate

Jun 18, 2026 by News Staff

Researchers at Binghamton University have applied a 70-year-old theory of information to the viral word game Wordle, revealing how a carefully chosen first...

Levin et al suggest that we could have more in common with our extraterrestrial neighbors than initially thought. Image credit: Fernando Ribas.

Consciousness is Not Exclusive to Earth’s Biology, Philosophers Argue

Jun 17, 2026 by Natali Anderson

University of California, Riverside’s Professor Eric Schwitzgebel and University of Lisbon postdoctoral researcher Jeremy Pober argue that consciousness...

Shaar et al. unveil the oldest evidence of human activity in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Image credit: Michael Chazan.

Evidence of Fire Use by Early Humans May Date Back Nearly 1.8 Million Years

Jun 16, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have uncovered compelling new evidence that early human ancestors, likely Homo erectus, were deliberately bringing fire into Wonderwerk Cave...

Using the APP/PS1 mouse model of familial Alzheimer’s disease, Pyun et al. investigated the effect of Cu(ATSM) on brain microvascular abundance and function of P-glycoprotein and the associated effects on exogenous amyloid-beta clearance, brain amyloid burden, and cognitive function. Image credit: Pyun et al., doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.6c00252.

Experimental Copper-Based Drug Clears Alzheimer’s Plaques and Boosts Memory in Mice

Jun 15, 2026 by News Staff

Copper diacetyl bis(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), or Cu(ATSM), restored a key waste-removal system in the brain, reducing toxic amyloid-beta buildup and...

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