The mysterious Tarim mummies of China’s western Xinjiang region are relics of a unique Bronze Age culture descended from Indigenous people, and not a remote branch of early Indo-Europeans, according to new genetic research. The new study upends more than a century of assumptions about the origins of the prehistoricContinue Reading
The call was coming from inside our solar system all along. A strange radio signal once thought to be a possible sign of alien intelligence in a nearby star system was likely created by a broken piece of human technology, according to new research. On April 29, 2019, astronomers detectedContinue Reading
China has test fired a huge new solid rocket motor, creating more propulsion options for the country’s growing space activities. The rocket motor was ignited Tuesday (Oct. 19) at a site near Xi’an city in north China, firing for 115 seconds, creating a tremendous trail of flame and exhaust. TheContinue Reading
The planet appears to orbit a massive star circling a dead star in the Whirlpool galaxy Astronomers may have spotted the first known planet in another galaxy. The potential world, called M51-ULS-1b, orbits both a massive star and a dead star in the Whirlpool galaxy, about 28 million light-years fromContinue Reading
It’s not like leftovers are a modern invention. Refrigeration is a pretty new phenomenon, so for millennia, people had to find clever ways to preserve food. These practices slowed the growth of microorganisms that could cause foodborne illnesses or lead food to rot. Many preservation practices other than refrigeration —Continue Reading
More recently than you might think. Istanbul is a rare place. It’s the only city to straddle Europe and the Middle East; the Turkish metropolis is simultaneously an Asian and a European city. This geography helps explain why it was once the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, also knownContinue Reading
Fires from incendiary bombs burned the cake to a crisp.. Archaeologists in Germany are salivating over a hazelnut-and-almond cake that was baked 79 years ago and was recently dug up in a cellar in the German town of Lübeck — as a blackened, mummy-like relic. Though the charred delicacy hasn’tContinue Reading
“Do not look behind you.” A museum curator has discovered the oldest-known ghost drawing on a 3,500-year-old ancient Babylonian tablet that also includes instructions for how to exorcise the unwanted spirit. The drawing on a clay tablet depicts a seemingly grumpy, bearded male ghost being led to the underworld onContinue Reading
Hint: It was an ancient Greek. The British Isles, tucked away in the northwest of Europe, has been inhabited by humans since Paleolithic times, but the people who lived there didn’t develop a writing system until much later, and the first local account of the isles did not appear untilContinue Reading
The bowl was discovered in a 3,000-year-old settlement in Austria. Archaeologists excavating a 3,000-year-old settlement in Austria have unearthed a golden bowl with the image of a sun adorning its underside. “At the bottom of the bowl, a sun disc with 11 rays is depicted,” Michał Sip, an archaeologist withContinue Reading