TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| China to launch second lunar probe next October China is set to launch its second lunar probe next October in preparation for an unmanned moon landing by the end of 2012, space program officials were quoted Friday as saying. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
How stingless bees 'mummify' their enemies alive A stingless bee in Australia mummifies its enemy by entombing alive in wax and resin. news.bbc.co.uk |
Philippine volcano gets louder, could erupt soon LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine troops on Monday pressed the last 3,000 villagers who have refused to heed government warnings to leave the danger zone around a volcano that experts say is ready to erupt.... hosted.ap.org |
Ringtones? They're so Neanderthal We now know that our ancient forebears used make-up. But they foreshadowed the modern world in countless other waysApparently, we've been underestimating the Neanderthals. An expedition led by João Zilhão, professor of palaeolithic archaeology at the University of Bristol, claims that they were much more intelligent than we thought and the proof is that they had make-up. In a cave in Spain, the team discovered a decorative sea shell, probably part of a necklace, and a tiny quantity of what they have concluded is stone-age slap.Zilhão explains: "The idea that came to our minds was that it was some kind of glitter or make-up, like the shimmery stuff that people were wearing a few years ago." Well, it seems the recent glitterbugs were inadvertently affecting Neanderthal chic. Even I'm more in vogue than that.But what an exciting development! Having thought of Neanderthals as backward, brutish and doomed, we now, on the discovery that they had cosmetics, realise how great they were. What clearer sign of their sentience, their immortal souls, the fact that they too gazed at the stars and wondered, than their proclivity for tarting themselves up? For where there is make-up, then high heels, piercings, tattoos and push-up bras must surely follow.Certainly, being self-conscious enough to use cosmetics to try to improve one's appearance is a sign of intelligence. Deep in their lumpy craniums, the Neanderthals were beginning to realise just how much they minged. Maybe that's why they died out. A more common theory is that they were killed and eaten by modern man. To us, their vain attempts to make the best of themselves were just serving suggestions – like a turkey donning a bacon waistcoat as a mating ritual.In how many other ways have we failed to do justice to our sexy and delicious cousins? What other hallmarks of a sophisticated culture might they have invented thousands of years before our arrival presaged their doom? I asked some experts.Drinks umbrellas"I'll tell you what I told the scientific community at the time," says the archaeologist who claims to have found a fossilised Neanderthal cocktail adorned with a tiny animal skin umbrella. "Yes, Campari were pleased I found it. No, the fact that they paid for the expedition didn't compromise my findings. To hear some people talk, you'd think I was claiming they had curly straws!" He calmed down after a drink. "They liked a drink and they liked a classy drink. It shows they had leisure time and had worked out how to use it. Cheers. Drink Campari."Loyalty cardsQuite how these worked in a barter-based economy is unclear but, according to Luton University's professor of retail archaeology and litter, the Âdiscovery of hundreds of small, portable, apparently useless flat stones in Neanderthal caves cannot be adequately explained in any other way. "Maybe a notch would be put on your card every time you exchanged, say, an animal fur for a hunk of meat, and when the card was full of notches you got a free cappuccino or food mixer. We think they didn't have cappuccinos or food mixers, which may be why the system broke down."RingtonesWith thousands of years to wait for the first mobile phone, this is remarkably advanced. "We can't prove that they had ringtones," admits a member of the research team, "but there's no other explanation for the different and unique chains of dangly, jingly objects that we keep finding. We think these could be concealed in a pair of mammoth skin trousers, or normal-sized skin trousers, and covertly jangled at awkward social moments, allowing Neanderthals to excuse themselves from meetings. They may even have had 'phones' – not communication devices as we know them but just small pieces of bone that could be pressed to the ear in a comforting way or as an excuse not to interact with other people. Increasingly, that's how Homo sapiens uses the mobile phone today."Smoking ban"There's no evidence of ashtrays in their caves so it stands to reason they must have smoked outside," is the view of the head of paleontological marketing at Superkings. "Their knowledge of fire would have enabled them to create the equivalent of outside heaters." When asked to explain the absence of pipes or fossilised cigarette ends, he gives his answer in the form of an offer: "Cigar?"Daytime television"Well, that's perhaps a slightly sensationalist way of putting it," admitted the originator of the theory on This Morning, "but I think it's reasonable to infer that some days would have hung as heavy for a Neanderthal cave dweller as they do for the housewives, students, freelance writers, drug addicts or all four who watch daytime TV today. And how else could that be combated other than with, albeit rudimentary, lifestyle advice, makeover rituals and quizzes? With no broadcast technology, this would have been informal and, pre-capitalism, I don't imagine anything as complex as Homes Under the Hammer or Deal or No Deal – but Jeremy Kyle seems to get where the Neanderthals were coming from."Acupuncture"I'll admit this is very difficult to prove," says the author of In Sickness and in Wealth: A History of Alternative Medicine, "but I think the evidence is compelling. We know they had sharp objects – flint, thorns, etc – we know they will have pricked themselves. That's acupuncture. The only question remaining is whether they saw any point in it. I meant that pun – it's Âcopyright."SnookerProfessional snooker's heritage tsar is bullish in the face of scepticism: "Well, I've seen a picture of dogs Âplaying it so I don't see why Neanderthals wouldn't."Misery memoirsPre-literate as the Neanderthals were, no one's suggesting they were able to publish books, but the concept of guiltily wallowing in someone else's horrific problems, like Simon Bates's "Our Song" writ large, was very familiar to them. "As Neanderthal communities came under more pressure from early modern man, their need for escapism intensified. One can imagine them sitting round the camp fire, listening to one another's troubles. Alternatively, one can buy my book in which there's a drawing," says the author of 50,000 Years of Misery: Our Narrative Urge Explained. His theory is that self-pity is what did for the cavemen in the end, which he backs up with the Âassertion that diamonds are really Âfossilised tears.David Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
King-sized fast food for fur seal Antarctic fur seals have been filmed catching and eating king penguins in the open ocean, behaviour not seen before. news.bbc.co.uk |