Christmas dinner is a joyful occasion, but isn’t always easy. Fortunately, a little bit of science can go a long way. If you want to perfect those crisp, buttery roast potatoes, flambé the tastiest, boozy Christmas pudding, and win over even the most hardened Brussels sprout hater, then look no further. This weeks Science with Sam has some science tips for a better festive meal.
Tags: More
By Michael Marshall
Ancient hunters may have made spear points or arrowheads out of human bone
David Lyons/Alamy
Stone Age hunters in northern Europe made the sharp ends of their weapons from a surprising raw material: human bone. The choice may have had a symbolic purpose, such as imbuing the arrows with the skill of a dead expert hunter.
Before the arrival of farmers, Europe was inhabited by Stone Age hunter-gatherers. They roamed a landscape very different to today. The planet was deep in a glacial period, so lots of water was locked up in ice sheets at the poles – and sea levels … More
By Colin Barras
The type of beads used in Chumash necklaces may also have been currency
Alamy Stock Photo
PEOPLE living in what is now California may have been the first Americans to invent money, according to a new analysis of shell beads produced 2000 years ago by the Chumash, a Native American community.
There is general agreement that money existed in the Americas before Europeans arrived. The Chumash’s beads, fashioned from the shells of purple dwarf olive sea snails (Olivella biplicata), are seen as a classic example of this.
“Almost all the scholars who focus on the Chumash have agreed that the shell beads were money,” says Lynn … More
This year, scientists took action to support Black Lives Matter. Let 2021 be your year to advance race justice, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Humans | Comment 16 December 2020
By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Michelle D’Urbano
ON MY desk in my home office I have a few items that keep me focused and inspired. I have an autographed photo of myself with Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green, the first Black woman to helm a Star Trek series. Next to that, I have a Barbie Uhura in the box, autographed by Nichelle Nichols, the Black woman who played the first Black Star Trek character, along with an autographed, black-and-white picture of Nichols in costume. I also have a woodcarving of a famous Toni Morrison quote, “The function of freedom is to free someone …
Article amended on 21 December 2020
We have clarified the number of statements posted by P4J. More
The pandemic may have stolen many of the headlines of 2020, but this year has been a bumper year for other science, too. Can you remember it? Find out in our covid-free quiz
Humans 16 December 2020
By Bethan Ackerley
The Thwaites glacier in Antarctica
NASA
1 We kicked off 2020 with the cheery news that the “doomsday” Thwaites glacier in Antarctica is losing about 35 billion tonnes of ice per year. It is currently about the same size as which island?
A Ireland
B Great Britain
C New Guinea
D Java
2 On a lighter note, in June, we published pictures of Uraba lugens, a caterpillar that wears its old heads as a hat. How many times can it moult its head?
A 4
B 7
C 9
D 13
3 In September, we reported that astronomers may have … More
Failing fringe electro band Cosmic String have got a strange new gig, writes winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award Adrian Tchaikovsky in his new short story Difficult Times
Humans 16 December 2020
By Adrian Tchaikovsky
Lucy Jones
“There’s a gig,” says Clawhammer Dougie Jones, or at least his little homunculus trapped in its window on my laptop.
“What gig?” In the window next door, our vocalist Alana Domingo mirrors my utter disbelief. “There aren’t any gigs, Doug. The gig economy left the building.”
Doug blinks at us, that beatific way he has. Like he’s some guru of wisdom about to change your life with a handful of words; like the colossal hit of mescaline he took on that US tour 20 years ago never wore off.
“My people,” he tells us, an opening that has never, in the history of music, … More
Watching TV and staring at flickering flames produce similar physiological effects, offering intriguing clues to the enduring power of entertainment – and the origins of sociability
Humans 16 December 2020
By Colin Barras
Getty Images
LAST year, it was Frozen. This year, it might be Eight Below. A holiday during the long, cold Michigan winter is a chance for my family to spend some quality time together. And what better way to enjoy our evenings than by watching movies on TV?
Some might call this a waste of time. Anthropologist Christopher Lynn begs to differ. He believes there is a good reason why many of us like gathering around the idiot box. Far from being frivolous, it is a legacy of a behaviour that arose to help humans survive the unforgiving Stone Age world.
It is tempting to see human evolution through the prism of technological breakthroughs that brought tangible material benefits. When our ancestors learned to make projectile weapons, for instance, they could hunt more effectively and secure more reliable sources of meat. Softer aspects of life, such as the ways we socialise, might seem less important to the success of our species. But Lynn, who is based at the University of Alabama, says we socialise not because we like to, but because we need to.
That may seem obvious to anyone who has struggled with isolation during lockdown this year. But Lynn goes further still. He thinks that the pleasure we gain from relaxing around the TV with friends and family might help explain why humanity became so social in the first place. It all began, he says, when our ancestors learned to control fire.
We have known for decades that the use of fire transformed life for early humans. It allowed them to cook food, for … More
By Donna Lu
Nonglak Bunkoet/Legrand/Alamy
With the coronavirus pandemic causing a sharp rise in unemployment, one idea is rapidly growing in popularity: universal basic income (UBI), in which the government pays people a regular sum, no strings attached.
A Finnish study published in May (although carried out in 2017 and 2018) with 2000 unemployed people found that UBI boosted recipients’ financial well-being, mental health and cognitive functioning, and also modestly improved employment rates.
People who received €560 per month, rather than regular unemployment benefits, reported higher levels of confidence in being able to control their future. The researchers involved say that regular guaranteed … More
