Latest news with #Neanderthal
Spectator
12 hours ago
- Science
- Spectator
We finally know what an ancient species of human looked like
It's said that were you to meet a suited and well-coiffured male Neanderthal on the train, you'd easily mistake him for a fellow commuter. Face-to-face with Dragon man, however, you'd be forgiven for changing carriages. His head has been described as massive and his teeth enormous, and you could prop a book on his brow ridges. His brain was as big as a modern human's – but a different shape. New research links him to a handful of bone fragments dubbed 'Denisovan', an elusive East Asian being. Dragon man has finally put a face on the last of three human species that co-existed for many thousands of years – the others being Neanderthals, and us. Dragon man has finally put a face on the last of three human species that co-existed for many thousands of years – the others being Neanderthals, and us The breakthrough is due to cutting-edge science and two, largely Chinese, teams, analysing DNA and proteins. But like all good fossils, Dragon man has a curious backstory. It begins in 1933, when north-east China was under Japanese occupation. An unnamed labourer, it's said, found a skull when working on a bridge near Harbin City. Perhaps aware of the great interest shown in Peking man, whose fossil remains had only recently been found, he took the traditional Chinese route and hid his treasure down an abandoned well. There it stayed until shortly before his death, when his family learned of it. Word got out, and in 2018 Qiang Ji, professor of palaeontology at Hebei GEO University, persuaded the owners to donate the skull to his institution's geoscience museum. The skull's secret hiding place might have saved it from disappearing into the black market for fossils and antiquities. Whatever really happened, it was exceptionally well preserved and obviously ancient: but almost nothing else was known about it. The immediate questions were: where was it found, and how old was it? With studies comparing its chemistry to geological layers and to other fossils of known age, scientists were able to confirm that it probably had come from the area of the Harbin bridge, where locals have long collected animal fossils thrown up by underwater sand-mining. Uranium isotope dating pointed to an age of at least 146,000 years – contemporary with Neanderthals. At the same time, starting in 2010 with no more than a tooth and a finger bone excavated in a Siberian cave called Denisova, scientists had identified a new type of human. Further finds across East Asia have since included pieces of a rib and two jaws, and a few teeth and undistinguishable scraps. When the Harbin skull was announced, some scientists inevitably wondered if it too might be Denisovan, but there was no evidence to back the idea. One of the teams studying it suggested it could be yet another species, which they named Homo longi – after Long Jiang, or Dragon River. The condition of the Harbin skull is so good, linking it to any known group of early humans would be a great advance. The new studies claim to have proved such a link – with Denisovans. In one study, lead author Qiaomei Fu and colleagues report that they were unable to find any surviving DNA in the skull. They had more luck with calculus (fossil dental plaque) on the skull's one tooth, recovering mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from what they say is Dragon man himself. This most closely matches known Denisovan mtDNA. In the other study, Fu led a different team applying proteomics – analysing ancient proteins, which offer less detail than DNA, but can survive from a greater age. Here again they found a match unique to Denisovans. All three approaches – skull shape, mtDNA and proteins – point to the existence of three human groups existing at this time. The evolutionary relationships between them remains unclear, but they are known to have mated with each other: modern Europeans have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, and people in South-East Asia, Aboriginal Australia and Pacific islands retain a little DNA from Denisovans. The quest to understand what these three ancient species looked like and how they behaved – early Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans, or what some are now saying we must call Homo longi – is quite literally a journey into our identity. Knowing where the Harbin skull fits in will inspire a rush of new research. Some will dispute the claimed Denisovan matches: they look pretty convincing to me, but it must be admitted that the sciences are entering new ground. On that count, the apparent success of the proteomics and of extracting relevant mtDNA from calculus will spur others to apply the techniques to already known Asian fossils (including skulls), several of which have been suspected as Denisovan. It should also lead to more excavation, the only route to insights into these humans' lives. Dragon man may look scary, but his face at the top of funding proposals could work wonders.
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First Post
3 days ago
- Science
- First Post
New discovery: Oldest human fingerprint belongs to a Neanderthal who lived in Spain 42,000 years ago
The print was discovered in red ochre pigment on a granite stone at the Abrigo de San Lázaro site near Segovia read more Archaeologists in Spain have uncovered what is believed to be the world's oldest known human fingerprint — left by a Neanderthal more than 42,000 years ago. Print made by a Neanderthal 42,000 years ago The print was discovered in red ochre pigment on a granite stone at the Abrigo de San Lázaro site near Segovia. Scientific dating confirmed that the fingerprint is over 42,000 years old and was left by an adult male Neanderthal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Stone may depict a human face The granite stone appears to have been chosen for its naturally face-like features. Researchers believe a red ochre dot was deliberately applied where a nose would be, reinforcing the perception of a human face through a phenomenon known as pareidolia. Rare evidence of Neanderthal symbolic expression This symbolic act, confirmed by multidisciplinary analysis, adds to the growing evidence that Neanderthals engaged in abstract thinking, artistic expression, and the use of visual symbols. The fingerprint was revealed using multispectral imaging and verified by Spain's forensic police experts. Segovia site sheds light on last Neanderthals The find adds to a series of discoveries from the Abrigo de San Lázaro site — long associated with Mousterian tools and Neanderthal activity — that are helping researchers better understand the symbolic and cognitive lives of Europe's last Neanderthals.
Memri
5 days ago
- Politics
- Memri
Dearborn Shiite Imam Usama Abdulghani: Iran Is Doing Mankind a Favor, It Will Pulverize Israel and the World Will Cheer - Get Out the Popcorn, Because Iran Is Going to Handle Its Business
On June 13, 2025, Michigan Shiite imam Usama Abdulghani spoke at the Hadi Youth Community Center in Dearborn about the Israeli attack on Iran. He said that 'Iran can finish the job' and that 'Iran was itching for this.' He declared that the military commanders assassinated by Israel are now in a 'good spot' as guests of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as a Neanderthal and his associates as a 'team of monkeys,' Abdulghani said they had decided to 'throw a Hail Mary' by attacking Iran, but Iran is going to 'pulverize them, and the world will be cheering.' He told his congregation that their role is to explain to the world that the war is completely justified and that Iran is doing 'mankind a favor.' He added that they should take out the popcorn and relax because Iran is 'going to handle its business.' The Hadi Institute has hosted various events in support of the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Qasem Soleimani, and regularly refers to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as 'our Leader.'
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Sooty fingerprints of sister species
In 1957, my brother Richard and I travelled on our 59cc NSU mopeds from our home in Wimbledon to central France to spend our summer digging in the cave of Arcy-sur-Cure. We delved deep into the prehistoric layers in a sequence that saw the transition from occupation by the Neanderthals into the arrival of modern humans. So, I have naturally been fascinated by the recent discoveries in the Grotte de Mandrin, located a bit further south in the Rhone Valley, where Ludovic Slimac and his team have been making some really remarkable findings. Traditionally speaking, modern humans are supposed to have arrived ultimately from Africa and the Levant into Western Europe, precipitating the sudden extinction of the Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago. The Rhone Valley is and was the highway between the Mediterranean and the plains of northern Europe, and Mandrin cave is strategically placed to attract migratory human hunter-gatherers. The occupation layers accumulated over tens of thousands of years and they contain the stone tools made by those who sheltered there, their bones, hearths, food refuse and a source of information that has literally thrown a bright light on a hitherto untouched topic. And that source is, of all things, soot. With every campfire lit, a microscopic film of soot rose up and adhered to the cave roof. Annually, that soot was covered by an equally thin growth of stalactite, forming layers just like tree rings that under a microscope reflect the season of the year. Fragments of roof regularly cleaved off, to be incorporated in the cultural layers. Painstakingly, Ludovic's team have combined these into a unique record of visitations to the shelter. Over a 10,000 year period, there were nearly 300 separate occasions when humans lit their fires there. Under the traditional history, the modern humans migrated up the Rhone valley from the Mediterranean shore to precipitate Neanderthal extinction. But the soot tells a very different story. The cave sheltered Neanderthals briefly and on many visits until about 54,000 years ago. Then there was a sea change with the arrival of modern humans, at least 10,000 years earlier than the traditional story. But it did not lead to any sign of contact between the two human communities, nor the extinction event. Indeed, the Neanderthals returned to their traditional base, before there were yet more visits by modern humans. The soot sequence is so precise that we now know that barely a year separated some of these visits. One of the vital chapters in the human past has been illuminated by ancient fires and soot. For hundreds of generations those two different humans lived isolated alongside each other.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I Refuse to Do Free Work for My Family. They're All Having a Meltdown.
Good Job is Slate's advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small? Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here. It's anonymous! Dear Good Job, I am 19 and going to community college while working at a daycare. The pay is terrible but it works with my schedule, and I love kids. But I am tired of my three older siblings trying to pawn off theirs every time I come home to visit. I want to relax and spend time with our parents—not changing diapers because my sister married a Neanderthal, or my brother would rather watch the game than pay attention to his toddler. It is so obviously fake and manipulative when the minute I walk in the door, they're telling me that the kids missed their Auntie and a baby with a poopy diaper is thrown in my hands. I tried to be polite and tell them I just want to have some adult company. I get I hand the kid back or leave the room, I get guilt trips because 'parents need a break too,' and I act like I 'hate' my nieces and nephews. Obviously, as the youngest female of the family, I am the default child tender and am expected to accept my womanly duty. That isn't happening. Everyone is always over at our parents so I have to deal with the same problem again and again. I finally snapped when my brother told his whining kid to play with me because he was busy playing a video game. I held out my hand and told my brother it would be $20. He acted confused, and I told him I get paid to deal with other people's kids, and if he wants the same, he needs to pay up. This caused a huge fight where I was called overdramatic and mean for even thinking of charging money from family. I ended up skipping the Memorial Day weekend to hang out with friends, and have gotten nothing but grief from my parents. They want to see me and miss me, but not enough to stand up for me. What do I do here? —Not a Daycare Dear Not a Daycare, Families know how to push your buttons because they're the ones who put them there. I'm sorry your siblings keep treating you like a kid sister they can boss around. And it's maddening to see family members try to enforce traditional gender roles, especially when children are watching and learning. New parents are exhausted and stressed (why is my child crying? Why?) and not in the best headspace to accept new family dynamics. But you're right to insist on them. It will take a lot of persistence, since your siblings are highly motivated to keep manipulating you, but stick to your clear and fair messages: You're there to enjoy some adult time. You love to see and play with your niblings, but you care for children professionally. If your siblings would like you to babysit by changing diapers, feeding the kids, bathing them, etc., your hourly rate is $50. Your siblings may continue to throw tantrums, but as you know from dealing with children, the best thing to do is stay calm while they scream it out. Not to excuse your siblings, especially the Neanderthal brother-in-law, but they might be feeling the weight of family expectations themselves. They may be feeling judged about their own parenting skills (rightly so, in your brother-in-law's case) and frustrated by their inability to keep up with diapers and toddler tantrums. Some people regress to their brattier younger selves when they spend time with their family of origin. It sounds like your siblings learned how to give guilt trips from your parents. If you haven't yet, explain to your parents that you hope they and your siblings will respect you as an adult who is working hard at her job and education. Ask them to stick up for you. They might be too stuck in your existing family dynamic to see your perspective, but they clearly hold a lot of influence over your siblings and might be willing to use their power for good. (If nothing else, maybe they can use their guilt trip skills to get Neanderthal off the couch.) Whatever comes from this conversation, please don't feel obliged to follow your siblings' pattern of spending every holiday (even Memorial Day!) at the family home. Go out, enjoy some friends or some solitude. Your parents need to learn that you are no longer the youngest kid everybody can push around, and you will visit when you want to. Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir want to help you navigate your social dynamics at work. Does your colleague constantly bug you after hours? Has an ill-advised work romance gone awry? Ask us your question here! Dear Good Job, A co-worker brings sardines, anchovies, herring, or some other god-awful-smelling fish in his lunch EVERY DAY. Even worse, he tosses the empty cans in the garbage in the break room without having the decency to at least seal them in a Ziploc bag, resulting in one of us needing to rush the garbage to the dumpster outside. We've tried hinting that it might be nice for him to try to broaden his horizons with something other than fish, but he claims it's 'good for the brain' and keeps on bringing it in. It's gotten so bad that we are now eating our lunches in our cars or going out to restaurants. Is it time to speak to human resources? Is this even something HR could do anything about? —The Other People Here Have Functioning Noses Dear Functioning Nose, One of the worst things about in-person jobs is having to share co-workers' air. It's hard to concentrate when you're within breathing distance of their respiratory infections, flatulence, and smelly fish. It sounds like there isn't good air circulation in the break room, and that's the first place to start. Ask human resources (or your manager, or the building engineer) to upgrade your HVAC system and/or add an air purifier that will reduce not just smells but also airborne germs, particulates from wildfire smoke, and other pollution. If the room has a window that is sealed shut, ask to have it modified to open. If your company balks at the cost, tell them any air-purification improvements will pay for themselves by reducing sick days and distractions. Human resources should be able to set some guidelines for break-room etiquette that include instructions for properly disposing of smelly containers. But perhaps Mr. Good Brain will listen to reason. You say you and your colleagues have hinted that he should diversify his diet. Hinting didn't work—it often doesn't—so tell him directly that his lunch is causing discomfort for some of his colleagues. Explain this briskly and factually, without judgment or a wrinkled nose, and say that you'd like to find a solution. Could you schedule lunch breaks so that those of you who are sensitive to the smell eat a bit earlier, while he waits to open his lunchbox until a bit later? And ask him to throw his lunch trash away outside, rather than in the break room. The research on fish oil improving brain function isn't super strong, but if he wants to do something that's really good for his brain, he should strengthen his social relationships with his co-workers. Slate Plus members get more Good Job every week. Sign up now to read Laura Helmuth's additional column this week. Dear Good Job, I recently found out from a co-worker friend that another one of our co-workers, 'Jane,' homeschools her children specifically to keep them away from 'gay people.' As a queer and trans person, I am disgusted. I don't know how to interact with Jane now. I've basically been completely ignoring her. We don't work together often (we are both part-time and don't necessarily come in on the same days), but we are nurses at a hospital, so there is a lot of collaboration with everyone else working when I am there. She is perfectly nice to me at work (she doesn't know I'm queer or trans, though she does know I use 'they/them' pronouns for my toddler) but it makes me feel gross to interact with her. I recently started wearing my pronouns (they/them) on my name badge, but she hasn't noticed yet. I want to aggressively correct her next time she uses the wrong pronouns for me, even though I ignore it when the rest of my co-workers use the wrong pronouns. I don't want a hostile work environment, but I am a conflictual person by nature, so part of me wants to make it a conflict. Help! —Nurse Gay Dear Nurse Gay, Jane, goddam. Preventing kids from learning about queer people (or evolution, the age of the Earth, climate change, racism, other cultures, true history, and all the other fundamentalist homeschooling no-no's) is cruel and neglectful. That's a subject for another column, and her kids aren't your problem at all, but I just want to start by saying that Jane is contributing to generational ignorance. It's tempting to start a conflict with Jane, but of course, there are lots of reasons not to. You don't want to give anyone on staff an excuse to feel sorry for Jane, and you'd run the risk that other people would think you're a troublemaker. Do correct her if she continues to mis-pronoun you, but do so in a tone you would use to correct any error. Could you ask the person who told you about Jane's homeschooling to speak with her? They could share that you're queer and trans, assuming other people at work know and you want them to know. If nothing else, co-workers could reinforce that Jane needs to use correct pronouns. It might be less fraught for Jane to hear from a third party that her assumptions about you are wrong. It's not your job to educate Jane, but your presence could be educational. A lot of people rethink some of their own bigotry, especially bigotry that was handed down to them through brainwash-schooling and a bigoted family of origin, when they get to know people they were taught to despise. —Laura My husband has been working on a startup since last December. It's in an industry that has taken a huge downturn since right after he started. They have not secured any funding. They can't afford to complete the next very important step because they are out of money. He has had two business partners in this, one being his very close friend. This friend is the main partner and just accepted a full-time job and is giving up on the startup…
