Dec 5th, 2022 - Researchers excavating South Africa's Rising Star Cave system have unearthed evidence that homo naeldi, an extinct species of hominid first discovered in 2013, built fires in underground chambers. It is often said the ability to make fire is one of the key skills that defines humans – it allowed our ancestors to cook food, keep warm and eventually become the most dominant species on the planet. Recently, evidence has been found across Europe to suggest that Neanderthals were also skilled fire users but now we may have to add another species to the list. Researchers excavating a complex ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - Scientists already know that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can influence animal behavior. For example, rodents infected with the parasite are less fearful around predators, according to National Geographic 's Mary Bates. Now, in a new study published in  Communications Biology , researchers have teased out the parasite's influence on grey wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Wolves infected by Toxoplasma gondii were more likely to become pack leaders than uninfected wolves. "We've really underestimated some of the consequences this parasite has," Eben Gering , a biologist at Nova ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - In a recent study posted to the medRxiv * preprint server, researchers assessed the protection elicited after a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) booster vaccination or a breakthrough infection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection. Background Several coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have been produced and have proven to be highly effective in decreasing infections, hospitalizations, and mortality rates associated with SARS-CoV-2. However, diminishing vaccine-induced immunity suggests optimal protection after vaccination may be rather ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - You can't brag about your visit to Rome until you have actually been to the colosseum and its underground. Along with the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, the Colosseum tour is a big reason travelers went back to Rome again and again. This place is a living breathing eyewitness of ancient gladiator battles and animal hunts. At present, it still holds the aura and honor of being one of the most celebrated architectural craftsmanship of ancient Rome. And to get the best out of your colosseum visit you just can't miss its underground. Where all the gladiators and wild animals were kept hostile ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - Two huge great white sharks known as Mahone and Ironbound are gathering off the Carolinas. The gigantic great whites were tracked in the area by Ocearch—an organization that tags sharks to learn more about their behavior. Tagged Ocearch sharks "ping" on the tracker when they move up near the surface of the water. Mahone is 14 feet long and weighs 1,701 pounds. The great white was fitted with a tracker by Ocearch in 2020 and has been tracked swimming roughly 42 miles off the coast of North Carolina on December 4. It's not the only great white lurking in the area. Ironbound, a great ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - Unnamed expert tells state media outlet Yicai that Covid could be downgraded from a category A disease to category C Coronavirus is weakening and management protocols could be downgraded, an expert on China's state media has claimed, after unprecedented protests last week led to a major shift in Beijing's commitment to its zero-Covid policy. Since January 2020, China has classified Covid-19 as a Category B infectious disease but has managed it under Category A protocols, which give local authorities the power to put patients and their close contacts into quarantine and lock down affected ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - HONG KONG, Dec 5 (Reuters) - China may announce 10 new COVID-19 easing measures as early as Wednesday, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, supplementing 20 unveiled in November that set off a wave of COVID easing steps nationwide. Three years of zero-tolerance measures, from shuttered borders to frequent lockdowns, have battered China's economy, fuelling last month the mainland's biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Management of the disease may be downgraded as soon as January, to the less strict Category B from the current ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2022 - About 2,500 dead seals have been found on the coast of the Caspian Sea in southwestern Russia, conservation authorities said, a significant setback for the endangered species. The Natural Resources Ministry in Dagestan, a region in southwestern Russia, said late Sunday local time that the seals had been found at different locations along Dagestan's coast, which lines the northwest portion of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water. The ministry had earlier said that 700 Caspian seals were found, and then a broader count brought the total to 1,700. But "unfortunately, the ... [Read More]