Latest news with #fertilityRituals
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Science news this week: Strange signals from space and Earth's leaking gold
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. From the world's oldest known human fingerprint to genetic discoveries made using 2.2 million-year-old tooth enamel, this week's science news has taught us a lot about our ancient ancestors. But we've also learned a lot about our own species. While exploring what appeared to be "trash" in a cave in Mexico, two spelunkers came across dozens of artifacts that may have been used in fertility rituals by a little-known culture that inhabited the region 500 years ago. Looking even further back in history, scientists uncovered clues about the rise and fall of the Maya civilization in ancient DNA from people buried up to 1,600 years ago in Honduras. And let's not forget the newly discovered "ghost" lineage from ancient China, whose identity was deciphered from a 7,100-year-old skeleton in the southwestern Yunnan province. Looking beyond our own species, and our planet, researchers have been left stumped by some mysterious signals from outer space. Astronomers have identified a mysterious space object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, that spits out pulses of radio waves and X-rays in two-minute bursts at regular intervals. However, unlike traditional pulsars, which spit out radio signals every few seconds or milliseconds, the newfound object emits its pulses at intervals of 44 minutes — a period that was previously thought to be impossible. These signals have left scientists scratching their heads, and unraveling this cosmic mystery could reveal previously unknown physics. Discover more space news —'Previously unimaginable': James Webb telescope breaks its own record again, discovering farthest known galaxy in the universe —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. —Not 'Little Red Dots' or roaring quasars: James Webb telescope uncovers new kind of 'hidden' black hole never seen before In the wild, parrots don't speak in human tongues; they communicate through a complex array of squeaks, squawks and whistles to find food and warn each other of potential dangers. Research has shown that these animals also use "signature contact calls" to refer to one another, similar to how we call each other by name. But in captivity, parrots don't have other flockmates to learn to speak "parrot" from. Instead, they use their highly specialized brains to pick up on human speech. But do they really understand what they are saying? Or are they merely masters of mimicry? At the center of our planet lies a vast reservoir of gold and precious metals, hidden beneath thousands of miles of rock. But new research suggests that, while it's unlikely we will ever be able to mine Earth's core, some of these metals might nonetheless make their way up to the surface. While studying volcanic rocks in Hawaii, scientists identified signs of a precious metal called ruthenium that they say could only have come from Earth's core-mantle boundary, located more than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the planet's surface. The team believes that their findings indicate that gold and other precious metals may also be "leaking" from Earth's core into the mantle above. Discover more planet Earth news —There's a humongous boulder on a cliff in Tonga. Now we know how it got there. —Africa is being torn apart by a 'superplume' of hot rock from deep within Earth, study suggests —The land under South Africa is rising every year. We finally know why. —2 billion people could face chaotic and 'irreversible' shift in rainfall patterns if warming continues —Combo of cancer therapy drugs increases mice lifespan by 30% — but anti-aging benefits in humans remain unknown —Physicists capture 'second sound' for the first time — after nearly 100 years of searching —Giant 'senior citizen' sunspot on 3rd trip around the sun could break a century-old record "Megaconstellations" of private satellites are quickly becoming a reality, and that's a big problem for astronomers. Satellites release low levels of radiation in the form of radio waves. As the satellites crowd the outer reaches of our atmosphere, the invisible pollution they let off may disrupt signals from ground-based astronomy instruments, thus limiting our ability to read radio signals from the cosmos. "It would basically mean that no radio astronomy from the ground would be possible anymore," Benjamin Winkel, a radio astronomer at the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Germany, told Live Science. "It will eventually reach a point where it is not worthwhile to operate a [radio] telescope anymore." At the rate that these megaconstellations are growing, this inflection point could be reached in the next 30 years. But what can be done to stop it? 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. —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. (Explainer) —'The Martian' predicts human colonies on Mars by 2035. How close are we? (Opinion) —Sleep: Facts about how and why we sleep (Fact file) Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, has been erupting since December 2024. However, this week it did something very unusual. On May 25, the volcano spewed several enormous lava fountains, some shooting more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) into the air. Such "episodic" fountaining has not been seen since the eruption of Pu'u'ō'ō in the 1980s, experts from the U.S. Geological Society (USGS) wrote. As it erupts, the volcano has also released thousands of tons of toxic sulfur dioxide and strands of windblown volcanic glass, posing a significant threat to human health. 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.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Trash' found deep inside a Mexican cave turns out to be 500-year-old artifacts from a little-known culture
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. While investigating a cave high in the mountains of Mexico, a spelunker thought she had found a pile of trash from a modern-day litterbug. But upon closer inspection, she discovered that the "trash" was actually a cache of artifacts that may have been used in fertility rituals more than 500 years ago. "I looked in, and it seemed like the cave continued. You had to hold your breath and dive a little to get through," speleologist Katiya Pavlova said in a translated statement. "That's when we discovered the two rings around the stalagmites." The cave, called Tlayócoc, is in the Mexican state of Guerrero and about 7,800 feet (2,380 meters) above sea level. Meaning "Cave of Badgers" in the Indigenous Nahuatl language, Tlayócoc is known locally as a source of water and bat guano. In September 2023, Pavlova and local guide Adrián Beltrán Dimas ventured into the cave — possibly the first time anyone has entered it in about five centuries. Roughly 500 feet (150 m) into the cave, the ceiling dipped down. The pair of explorers had to navigate the flooded cave with a gap of just 6 inches (15 centimeters) between the water and the cave ceiling. "Adrián was scared, but the water was deep enough, and I went through first to show him it wasn't that difficult," Pavlova said. While taking a break to look around, Pavlova and Beltrán were shocked to discover 14 artifacts. "It was very exciting and incredible!" Pavlova said. "We were lucky here." Related: 2,500-year-old burials of 3 people discovered in a cave in Mexico Among the artifacts were four shell bracelets, a giant decorated snail shell (genus Strombus), two complete stone disks and six disk fragments, and a piece of carbonized wood. Pavlova and Beltrán immediately contacted Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), which sent archaeologists to recover the artifacts in March. Given the arrangement of the bracelets — which had been looped over small, rounded stalagmites with "phallic connotations" — the archaeologists speculated that fertility rituals were likely performed in Tlayócoc cave, they said in the statement. "For pre-Hispanic cultures, caves were sacred places associated with the underworld and considered the womb of the Earth," INAH archaeologist Miguel Pérez Negrete said in the statement. RELATED STORIES —Cave of Crystals: The deadly cavern in Mexico dubbed 'the Sistine Chapel of crystals' —Mysterious Maya underground structure unearthed in Mexico —'Stunning' discovery reveals how the Maya rose up 4,000 years ago Three of the bracelets have incised decorations. An S-shaped symbol known as "xonecuilli" is associated with the planet Venus and the measurement of time, while the profile of a human-like figure may represent the creator god Quetzalcoatl. Pérez dated the artifacts to the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history, between A.D. 950 and 1521, and suggested that they were made by members of the little-known Tlacotepehua culture that inhabited the region. "It's very likely that, because they were found in a close environment where humidity is fairly stable, the objects were able to survive for so many centuries," Pérez said.
