Qingyao Kong, Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, University of Chicago Addiction to any drug – be it alcohol, tobacco, opioids or illicit drugs, like cocaine – is a chronic disease that causes a compulsive drug-seeking behavior individuals find difficult or impossible to control even when they are aware of the […]
Does South Africa have a microplastics problem? Our research says yes
Henk Bouwman, Research Professor Ecotoxicology , North-West University The dangers of plastics, and more specifically microplastics, is increasingly grabbing the world’s attention. A growing body of research shows that plastics and microplastics in the marine environment are having a devastating effect on life in the sea. The impact has been tracked particularly closely in laboratory […]
Vital for life, heat and power – what you never knew about salt water
Salt water is fun to swim in – but it also carries the electrical signals vital for life. (Raphael Nogueira/Unsplash, CC BY) Timothy Duignan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Energy Storage , The University of Queensland Your tongue is a salt detector – it dissolves the solid salt crystals sprinkled on your chips to create an intense […]
South Africa’s Blombos cave is home to the earliest drawing by a human
Scientists working in Blombos Cave in South Africa’s southern Cape region have made a discovery that changes our understanding of when our human ancestors started expressing themselves through drawings. They’ve found a 73 000-year-old cross-hatched drawing on a silcrete (stone) flake. It was made with an ochre crayon. The Conversation Africa asked Professor Christopher […]
Evolution: a rethink after scientists take a closer look at Earth’s first animals
Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill, Visiting Researcher in Palaeobiology, University of Cambridge When did animals originate? In research published in the journal Palaeontology, we show that this question is answered by Cambrian period fossils of a frond-like sea creature called Stromatoveris psygmoglena. The Ediacaran Period lasted from 635 to 542m years ago. This era is key to […]
New technology tells us which animal bones were used to make ancient tools
Justin Bradfield, Researcher, University of Johannesburg Animals played an important role in prehistoric societies. They were a source of food, raw material, and, sometimes, reverence. Their bones were also used to create tools – for instance, arrowheads. The use of animal bone as raw material for tools dates back at least 1.8 million years. In […]
Ashkenazic Jews’ mysterious origins unravelled by scientists, with ancient DNA
Eran Elhaik, Lecturer in population, medical and evolutionary genomics, University of Sheffield Where do the Jewish people come from? This is a question that anthopologists, historians and theologists have studied for millennia. According to mythology, the Judaeans descended from three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs (Cave […]
The surprising role cheese has played in human evolution
Penny Bickle, Lecturer in Archaeology, University of York A solid white mass found in a broken jar in an Ancient Egyptian tomb has turned out to be the world’s oldest example of solid cheese. Probably made mostly from sheep or goats milk, the cheese was found several years ago by archaeologists in the ancient tomb […]
The migration and differentiation of humans
It is thought that all people living today share a common genetic ancestor. The original Homo sapiens environment in eastern sub-Saharan Africa consisted of tropical and equatorial forests, savannahs, and riverine settings that suited their hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Over thousands of years, evolution had optimized their physical characteristics for sustained occupation of their surroundings. Their range […]
Brains keep temporary molecular records before making a lasting memory
Kelsey Tyssowski, Graduate Student in Biomedical Science, Harvard University The first dance at my wedding lasted exactly four minutes and 52 seconds, but I’ll probably remember it for decades. Neuroscientists still don’t entirely understand this: How was my brain able to translate this less-than-five-minute experience into a lifelong memory? Part of the puzzle is that […]
