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Anthropology Archaeology Climate Change Drought Science

The fall of the Maya civilization was bloody and worsened by a 200-year drought

sudshr47 August 2, 2018

During the fall of the Maya civilization over 1,000 years ago, kings were killed in public, captives were taken hostage, and in one notably violent event in the city of Aguateca, Maya fled their homes during a surprise assault, without time to even grab their belongings.

Though warfare can’t be ignored, the toppling of the classic Maya civilization — renown for its massive stone temples and astronomical observatories — is believed to have another formidable culprit: crippling drought. And for the first time, scientists have deduced just how severe this centuries-long drought may have been.

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Dank learning system autogenerates memes

sudshr47 June 15, 2018

We all know that in the near future humanity will come to a crossroads. With 99% of the world’s population currently tasked with creating memes and/or dank memes, what will happen when computers get better at it than humans? Researchers may have just found out. Using machine learning, a pair of Stanford researchers, Abel L. […]

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A free web tool can predict your hair, skin, and eye color from DNA data

sudshr47 May 14, 2018 Startups

A new tool by researchers at the School of Science at IUPUI and Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands can predict your hair, skin, and eye color from your DNA data. The system, which is essentially a web app that can accept DNA sequences, compares known color phenotypes to known data and […]

Anthropology Archaeology Science Sloth Sloths

Footprints provide clues to how humans stalked and hunted giant sloths

sudshr47 April 26, 2018

Among the glistening dunes of New Mexico’s White Sands National Monument, scientists have been taken aback by the discovery of footprints.

The footprints belong to the extinct giant ground sloth, measuring seven to eight feet tall when on its hind legs, and sporting razor-like claws — vastly different to the lazy looking sloths you’re familiar with today.

But it’s what’s inside these sloth footprints that’s captivated researchers: human footprints. This suggests hunters were possibly following the ground sloth step-for-step, despite the animal’s ability to strike and kill. Read more…

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Fossil find gives middle finger to previous understanding of human exodus from Africa

sudshr47 April 9, 2018

Even for a desert, the Nefud is nearly bone-dry. Only about an inch of water falls onto the red, sandy soil in northern Saudi Arabia over the course of a year.
But 85,000 years ago, hippos roamed the Nefud.
At that time, heavy, monsoonal downpo…

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It turns out Neanderthals painted art inside these European caves, not humans

sudshr47 February 22, 2018

Ancient sketches of Ice Age animals, stenciled hands, and symbols painted on walls inside three Spanish caves were long suspected to have been left by humans. But with enhanced dating techniques, scientists now believe our thick-browed and extinct ev…