Science news this week: Wave patterns on Mars and 'free-range' atom clouds
On Earth, these ripples tend to form on the slopes of cold mountains, where soils freeze and thaw throughout the year. It is unclear whether the same process produced these patterns on Mars, but researchers hope that studying them will offer valuable insights into the planet's climate history, as well as aiding in our search for signs of life on Mars. Mysterious hilltop discovery
Some of the metal artifacts dating to the Early Iron Age that archaeologists found on Somló Hill in Hungary. (Image credit: Bence Soós et al; Photo by László György; CC BY 4.0)
High on a volcanic hill in western Hungary, archaeologists have uncovered a rare stash of hundreds of ancient artifacts , including jewelry, military decorations and weapons, dating from the Late Bronze Age (1450 to 800 B.C.) to the Early Iron Age (800 to 450 B.C.).
Today, the area around Somló is primarily known for its wine production. However, in the late 19th century local farmers and wine producers began unearthing ancient artifacts, leading researchers to dive deeper into the hilltop's buried secrets.
The findings indicate that the hilltop might once have been a seat of power among the communities that once lived there.
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—Secret of ancient Maya blue pigment revealed from cracks and clues on a dozen bowls from Chichén Itzá
—Archaeologists unearth tree-lined walkway that led to ancient Egyptian fortress in Sinai Desert
—Metal detectorists unearth dazzling Anglo-Saxon gold-and-garnet raven head and ring: 'It's unbelievable — I'm a bit emotional' Life's little mysteries
Scientists have several methods that can help determine the biological sex of a skeleton. (Image credit: JOSEPH EID via Getty Images)
When archaeologists find a human skeleton, they are able to estimate whether that person was male or female with 95% accuracy. But with most of the distinguishing soft tissue decomposed, how do researchers actually go about sexing these ancient skeletons?
No single method is 100% accurate, but archaeologists have several tricks up their sleeves when it comes to distinguishing differences between sexes, from DNA analysis to measuring their bones. 'Free-range' atoms
An illustration of atoms floating freely in the air. (Image credit: Stanislaw Pytel via Getty Images)
For the first time ever, scientists have observed free-floating atoms interacting in space, confirming some of the most basic principles of quantum mechanics.
Single atoms are notoriously difficult to study due to their quantum behaviors, such as their ability to behave as a single particle and a wave at the same time. However, physicists at MIT have discovered that free-floating atoms can be observed in 'atom clouds' with the help of lasers. Read More New drug shows promise in clearing HIV from brain
'It's like seeing a cloud in the sky, but not the individual water molecules that make up the cloud,' Martin Zwierlein , a physicist at MIT and co-author of the new research, said in a statement .
The discovery enables scientists to capture images of these 'free-range' atoms as they float about in space, which they hope will aid future investigations into other mysterious quantum mechanical phenomena.
Discover more physics news
—World's first silicon-based quantum computer is small enough to plug into a regular power socket
—Physicists create groundbreaking atomic clock that's off by less than 1 second every 100 million years
—Physicists create 'black hole bomb' for first time on Earth, validating decades-old theory Also in science news this week
—Rare genetic mutation lets some people thrive on just 4 hours of shut-eye
—Climate change made April's catastrophic floods worse, report finds
—Invasive Asian needle ants are surging in US Southeast — and their bite can trigger anaphylaxis
—T. rex may have evolved in North America after all, scientists say Science Spotlight
(Image credit: Grace Aldrich)
Historical depictions of women often focus on their roles as mothers and homemakers — however, new research increasingly suggests that in Viking Scandinavia, some women were anything but meek and mild .
Numerous excavations have revealed female skeletons buried with lethal weapons. 'Women can be as strong, as skilled, as fast as men,' Leszek Gardeła , an archaeologist at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and author of ' Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North ' (Casemate, 2021), told Live Science. 'There is nothing in the biology there that would prevent them from being warriors.'
However, the poor preservation of Scandinavian graves and lack of historical texts make it very difficult to confirm the roles of these women in Viking society, leaving the subject of women warriors hotly debated among archaeologists. Something for the weekend
If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week.
—Sir David Attenborough turned 99 this week. Here are 9 facts about the iconic British broadcaster (Fact file)
—La Niña is dead — what that means for this year's hurricanes and weather (Analysis)
—Kids born today are going to grow up in a hellscape, grim climate study finds (Report)
—'Murder prediction' algorithms echo some of Stalin's most horrific policies — governments are treading a very dangerous line in perusing them (Opinion) Science in motion
In a world first, a rare carnivorous snail has been filmed squeezing a pearly egg out of a 'genital pore' in its neck .
Powelliphanta augusta are large snails found only on the Buller Plateau of New Zealand's West Coast. Their populations are severely threatened by local mining activities, and very little is known about their life cycles due to their elusive, nocturnal behavior.
Researchers from the New Zealand Department of Conservation have been studying these mysterious mollusks in captivity for nearly two decades, but only now have they observed one of these snails laying an egg.
'It's remarkable that in all the time we've spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we've seen one lay an egg,' Lisa Flanagan, DOC ranger who captured the footage, said in a statement .
Want more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp, we're also on Facebook , X (formerly Twitter) , Flipboard , Instagram , TikTok , Bluesky and LinkedIn .
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So what might be happening in the brain to cut hot flashes down? Elkins and his colleagues suspect that when a woman goes under hypnosis and hears the post-hypnotic suggestions, the hypothalamus perceives coolness and the frequency of hot flashes begins to decline. Stress and anxiety are other major triggers of hot flashes, so as women practice hypnotic relaxation, the effects carry over to when the woman isn't doing the hypnosis, providing a way to regulate the stress response or the autonomic nervous system. Elkins emphasizes the importance of consistency. 'It's not like I will hypnotize you one time and hot flashes will go away. It doesn't work that way, because you've got to reinforce and re-experience the coolness—it's the mind-body connection.' What hypnosis therapy looks like Mary Cahilly, a mental health and wellness therapist, has already incorporated hypnosis for hot flashes in her offerings at Canyon Ranch, a wellness resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. There's a formula to hypnotism that practitioners use, and it typically begins with recalling something pleasant. 'When we have a pleasant memory, our body relaxes because the limbic part of the brain doesn't understand the difference between a thought and reality,' explains Cahilly. Then the muscles progressively relax and that leads to the official trance process. 'In the case of hot flashes,' says Cahilly, 'When you're in the trance, it's a feeling like you're in control of your body, that there's coolness, a sense of freedom and lightness.' A post-hypnotic suggestion is offered toward the end so that the woman can easily return to this state of coolness and relaxation during a hot flash. Hypnosis as an alternative treatment Many of the medications currently available to treat hot flash symptoms can cause side effects, ranging from inconvenient, like dry mouth and eyes, stomach upset, and drowsiness, to more serious like increased liver enzymes that can be a sign of liver damage. Because hypnosis has nothing to do with fixing estrogen levels, it doesn't come with side effects, and that's part of the appeal. Estrogen levels never return to their original levels after menopause, but hot flashes eventually go away because the hypothalamus begins to again regulate body temperature. 'It is believed,' Elkins speculates, 'that with the practice of hypnosis, the process of regulation is occurring earlier on.' There's also the issue of accessibility and cost—veozah has a monthly cost of roughly $550, while hypnosis can be accessed through an evidence-based digital therapeutic app created in partnership with Elkins, or an array of other apps like HypnoBox or EverCalm. While in-person hypnosis with therapists like Cahilly can cost upwards of $250, sessions can be recorded and used at home. (Could this be the end of menopause as we know it?) Elkins acknowledges the fraught relationship between women and healthcare, and that historically women have been dismissed or told their symptoms are all in their head. For Elkins and his team, it was important to explore whether the change hypnosis causes in hot flashes was due to belief. 'What we found was that it didn't matter if you believed in it, or you didn't believe in it,' he says. While hypnosis is a mind-body therapy, and has similarities with mindfulness or relaxation techniques, Elkins' research shows that CBT does not decrease the frequency or severity of hot flashes. Neither do mindfulness practices. 'They can both decrease how much it bothers a person, but there's little or no change in the hot flashes,' he notes. Is hypnosis simply a placebo effect? But researchers can't rule out a placebo effect—the idea that your brain can convince your body that a treatment works and heal your body's symptoms. 'Some hypnosis researchers actually call hypnosis a super placebo,' says Michael Lifshitz, assistant professor of social and transcultural psychiatry at McGill University. 'Your brain has the power to dramatically change itself through the power of suggestion.' While this might sound similar to wishful thinking, it's not. 'Placebo is not about what you think. It's not a mind cure. It's not positive thinking. It's not expectation, and it's not faith or belief,' explains Ted Kaptchuk, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. The important thing to note, according to Lifshitz, is that placebos can actually change your body's processes. 'There's all kinds of mind-body connections that are not just subjective—your subjective experience actually affects the capacity of your body in a lot of tangible ways.' When it comes to hypnosis for physical symptoms like hot flashes, Lifshitz thinks it's better to reframe our thinking: 'Let's embrace the power of the mind over the body and that hypnosis is a way of harnessing that power.' In a 2020 study, Kaptchuk investigated the efficacy of an open-label placebo (OLP) treatment for menopausal hot flashes—meaning, the patients were fully aware that they weren't taking medication. 'These patients are desperate after failed medications and doctor appointments. They are not expecting to get better,' he says. The study found that OLP treatment was both safe and effective. The exact mechanism behind placebo is complex, but with his research, Kaptchuk is hoping to understand its benefits. 'Placebos don't cure tumors. They don't cure malaria. They only turn down symptoms that the body creates itself,' he explains. Symptoms, like hot flashes, are the nerves and neurons in the body saying that something is happening, 'but your brain sees something more, turns up the volume, and you get bad hot flashes.' Even if the placebo effect drives the effectiveness of hypnosis in treating hot flashes, it's likely not a problem for patients. As Elkins puts it, 'if woman can see the research and evidence that hypnosis helps, it improves the frequency severity of hot flashes, they don't really care what you want to call it.'
