Anthropology
A new discovery of thousands of Stone Age tools has provided a major rethink about human innovation 325,000 years ago - and how early technological developments spread across the world.
The researchers found evidence which challenges the belief that a type of technology known as Levallois – where the flakes and blades of stones were used to make useful products such as hunting weapons – was invented in Africa and then spread to other continents as the human population expanded.
They discovered at an archaeological site in Armenia that these types of tools already existed there between…
But which words will lead to action? Credit: EPA
By James Painter, University of Oxford
Each of the 125 leaders attending the New York climate summit this week has been given four minutes to speak to the world. They (or their aides) may well have dipped into the climate literature to add scientific ballast to their speeches. But they may not be as familiar with the vast array of academic studies on effective communication about climate change.
They should be. If world leaders and climate advocates really want to improve the chances of mobilizing political will and citizen action behind a new…
Referrals for genetic testing more than doubled across the UK after actress Angelina Jolie announced in May that she proactively underwent a double mastectomy due to testing positive for a BRCA1 gene mutation.
The rise in referrals continued through to October, long after the announcement was made, according to findings in Breast Cancer Research.
BRCA1 mutation is inherited from a parent, and is the cause of ten percent of breast cancers. Women who have the BRCA1 gene mutation have between 45 percent and 90 percent risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. Clinical guidance in the…
Is chimpanzee intergroup aggression like primitive warfare, an adaptive strategy that gives the perpetrators an edge, or is it the consequence of human activities, such as provisioning - artificial feeding - by researchers or habitat destruction?
A new study of the pattern of intergroup aggression in chimpanzees and pygmy chimpanzees (bonobos), their close relatives, finds that human impact isn't the culprit.
The research project compiled data collected over five decades from 18 chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and four bonobo (Pan paniscus) communities.
Ian Gilby. Credit: Ian…
A protest against the killing of journalists by the Islamic State. Credit: Mast Irham/EPA
By Kevin McDonald, Middlesex University
Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who claimed that ISIS is “medieval”. In fact, the terrorist group’s thinking is very much in a more modern western tradition.
Clegg’s intervention is not surprising. Given the extreme violence of Islamic State fighters and the frequent…
Should languages be conserved? There are 5,000 languages in the world right now and clearly a lack of ability to communicate is a big factor in war. Some of the languages are spoken by very small populations in remote areas and many languages have disappeared over time because of trade and a desire to communicate with others.
It's a similar trend today. Economic growth is still the main driver of language extinction and a group has outlined global 'hotspots' where languages are most under threat. The most developed countries are obviously changing and though there are 'native' languages…
How did our ancestors raise so many kids, while modern parents struggle with the fast pace of life?
It's unclear, but to help solve such First World problems, many businesses now offer traditional caregiving services ranging from planning birthday parties to teaching children how to ride a bike. According to a new paper in the Journal of Consumer Research, by outsourcing traditional parental duties, modern-day parents feel they are ultimately protecting parenthood.
To determine the role of the marketplace in modern-day parenting, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with participants who…
The Paleolithic inhabitants of modern-day Spain may have eaten snails 30,000 years ago - 10,000 years earlier than their Mediterranean neighbors, according to a recent paper.
Snails were widespread in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, but it is still unknown when and how they were incorporated into human diets. The answer has been narrowed a little. The authors of a new study found land snail shell remains from about 30,000 years ago at a recently discovered site in Cova de la Barriada, Spain.
To better understand if the inhabitants may have eaten snails, the researchers investigated…
Both mother and baby are at increased risk for complications of flu infection during pregnancy and prenatal care providers say they advise women to get the flu vaccine, but many pregnant women don't do it.
Robert Arao, MPH, a biostatistician at Group Health Research Institute, did a statewide survey to assess what doctors think and do about flu vaccines for pregnant women.
The results were that most doctors who provide prenatal care in Oregon understood the importance of flu vaccination during pregnancy and communicated it to their patients. The research team mailed a survey to a random…
"White flight" was the term created by sociologists for when people middle-class began moving from poor city neighborhoods to newly created sub-urban communities that were not city apartments and townhouses but not rural either - suburbs.
Sociologists are contending that while the suburbs are still middle class, there is white flight happening in those too, leaving behind middle class "ethnoburbs" of minority residents. That's bad. Yet other sociologists are concerned that heterosexual people are moving into gay neighborhoods - gayborhoods - and that those therefore are in danger of…