https://phys.org/science-news/ en-us The latest science news on archaeology, fossils, mathematics, and science technology from Phys.org It's said that a dog is a man's best friend, but the wild dingo is much maligned in Australia. This may not always have been the case though, with new research led by experts at The Australian National University and The University of Western Australia suggesting that dingoes were buried—and even domesticated—by First Nations people prior to European colonization. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-dingoes-almost-human-status-pre-colonial-australia.html Archaeology Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:14:03 EDT news617030041 It's a familiar story to many of us: In prehistoric times, men were hunters and women were gatherers. Women were not physically capable of hunting because their anatomy was different from men. And because men were hunters, they drove human evolution. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-prehistoric-gender-roles-women-hunters.html Archaeology Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:07:04 EDT news617029621 Women faculty are more likely to leave academia than men faculty throughout all career stages in U.S. universities, University of Colorado Boulder researchers revealed in the most comprehensive analysis of retention in academia to date. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-analysis-reveals-harsh-workplace-climate.html Economics & Business Education Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:00:01 EDT news617010001 In an era plagued by malevolent sources flooding the internet with misrepresentations, distortions, manipulated imagery and flat-out lies, it should come as some comfort that in at least one arena there is an honor system set up to ensure honesty and integrity: the peer-review process for scholarly publications. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-large-language-peer-review.html Education Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:04:12 EDT news616939438 A new EPFL developed tool, Quotebank, has helped researchers provide the first large-scale data-driven evidence of a drastic shift towards a more negative political tone beginning at the start of Donald Trump's primary campaign in June 2015. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-tool-shift-negative-political-tone.html Political science Thu, 19 Oct 2023 12:47:04 EDT news616938421 A team of scientists from the Universities of Granada and Cambridge, as well as the Government of Catalonia, have identified the oldest pieces of Baltic amber ever found on the Iberian Peninsula, revealing that this luxury material used in jewelry and handicrafts around the world was already being imported more than 5,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-oldest-pieces-baltic-amber-iberian.html Archaeology Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:45:10 EDT news616934708 New research by Valentina Bosetti (Department of Economics) and Italo Colantone (Department of Social and Political Sciences) suggests that Western policymakers wanting to make progress on climate action should address the distributional consequences of international trade. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-green-vote-import-competition-people.html Economics & Business Political science Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:16:04 EDT news616842961 More than 500,000 years ago, our human ancestors used large, stone tools known as "Acheulean handaxes," to cut meat and wood, and dig for tubers. Often made from flint, these prehistoric oval and pear-shaped tools are flaked on both sides and have a pointed end. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-15th-century-french-depicts-ancient.html Archaeology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:10:06 EDT news616842602 The stats don't lie—the overwhelming majority of start-up companies fail. So, what makes the seemingly lucky few not only survive, but thrive? https://phys.org/news/2023-10-founder-personality-start-up-success.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:28:05 EDT news616836482 Social media marketers sharing photos of people vacationing in exotic locales or attending events at exclusive venues may actually be driving new customers away, according to a recently published Tulane University study. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-social-media-photos-customers.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:23:04 EDT news616771379 For thousands of years, beavers had a big influence on the Dutch ecosystem and the people that lived there. This is the conclusion of research by archaeologist Nathalie Brusgaard. The rodents were used for food, clothing and tools, and created a landscape hospitable to many other species. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-beavers-big-people-stone-age.html Archaeology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:21:46 EDT news616771301 For many people seaweed holds a reputation as a superfood, heralded for its health benefits and sustainability, but it appears our European ancestors were ahead of the game and were consuming the nutrient-rich plant for thousands of years. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reveals-european-ancestors-ate-seaweed.html Archaeology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:00:01 EDT news616756210 How much can the written records of ancient civilizations tell us about the animals they lived alongside? Published in Environmental Archaeology, Our latest research, based on the venomous snakes described in an ancient Egyptian papyrus, suggests more than you might think. A much more diverse range of snakes than we'd imagined lived in the land of the pharaohs—which also explains why these Egyptian authors were so preoccupied with treating snakebites! https://phys.org/news/2023-10-ancient-egypt-venomous-snakes-country.html Archaeology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:28:51 EDT news616757329 Pioneering early farmers who arrived on the Baltic coast 6,000 years ago may have taken up fishing after observing indigenous hunter-gatherer communities, a major new study has found. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-early-neolithic-farmers-baltic-coast.html Archaeology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 09:07:35 EDT news616752446 A piece of rock with mysterious markings that lay largely unstudied for 4,000 years is now being hailed as a "treasure map" for archaeologists, who are using it to hunt for ancient sites around north-western France. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-bronze-age-treasure.html Archaeology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 03:59:20 EDT news616733955 New research has found even modest interventions, such as encouraging consumers to reflect on their choices before they submit their order, could reduce the emissions associated with the production of their food by more than 50%. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-online-menus-prompt-people-healthier.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:48:03 EDT news616679281 This week, researchers proved empirically that life isn't fair. Also, you'll notice that, in a superhuman display of restraint, I managed to write a paragraph about the simulated universe hypothesis without once referencing "The Matrix." (Except for this reference.) https://phys.org/news/2023-10-saturday-citations-gravitational-simulated-universe.html Other Sat, 14 Oct 2023 09:40:01 EDT news616419448 With its low quantities of rain and soaring high temperatures, the Sahara Desert is often regarded as one of the most extreme and least habitable environments on Earth. While the Sahara was periodically much greener in the distant past, an ancient society living in a climate very similar to today's found a way to harvest water in the seemingly dry Sahara—thriving until the water ran out. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-ancient-society-sahara-rose-fell.html Archaeology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 16:22:37 EDT news616432954 It doesn't take a scientist to know that a Facebook post bursting with party popper emojis or angry face symbols gets more reactions and shares than a flat, factual account of a child's graduation or an airline's villainous customer service. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-tracking-emotions-social-media-viral.html Social Sciences Fri, 13 Oct 2023 11:14:03 EDT news616414441 Archaeologists have used 3D scanning to investigate inscriptions carved on two groups of Danish runestones, revealing that four stones were likely made in dedication to a powerful Viking Queen. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-runestones-reveal-power-viking-queen.html Archaeology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 11:13:55 EDT news616414430 The fact that Neanderthals were able to make a fire and use it, among other things, for cooking, demonstrates their intelligence. "This confirms our observations and theories from previous studies," explains Diego Angelucci, archaeologist at the University of Trento and co-author of the study. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-neanderthal-cuisine-excavations-reveal-neanderthals.html Archaeology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:41:50 EDT news616408905 An international team of geoscientists, archaeologists and anthropologists has found evidence that strongly suggests an infant jawbone found in the Ethiopian highlands came from a Homo erectus child. In their study, reported in the journal Science, the group conducted multiple tests to learn the true nature of the fossil. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reexamination-ancient-jawbone-ethiopia-homo.html Archaeology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 08:50:50 EDT news616405845 Language researchers have studied how mothers speak to their infants, to their pets, and to other adults. Mothers speak slowly and clearly to their infants, hyperarticulating speech to teach language. What this research did not examine was the positive valence, or emotion of a mother's speech. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-incorporating-puppies-language-insight.html Social Sciences Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:26:31 EDT news616335988 Neanderthals hunted cave lions and used the skin of this dangerous carnivore, a new study has shown for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-neanderthals-dangerous-cave-lions.html Archaeology Thu, 12 Oct 2023 12:19:45 EDT news616331982 A pair of mathematicians, Kevin Course and Prasanth Nair at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, has developed a new state-estimation method to create efficient forecasts without the need for the details of an underlying model. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-state-estimation-method-efficient-underlying.html Mathematics Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:21:57 EDT news616328514 New imaging and scientific investigations by a team including a King's College London academic has found traces of the original paint used to decorate the Parthenon Sculptures, revealing they were once in fact brightly colored. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientific-analysis-reveals-true-parthenon.html Archaeology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:32:03 EDT news616257122 DNA analysis of mummified poop reveals two pre-Columbian Caribbean cultures ate a wide variety of plants, like maize, sweet potato, and peanuts—and tobacco and cotton traces were detected too, according to a study published October 11, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jelissa Reynoso-García from the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mummified-poop-reveals-pre-columbian-cultures.html Archaeology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 14:00:02 EDT news616237168 New research published by a team at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania finds that experiencing days in which the temperature exceeds previous highs for that time of year affects people's perception of weather trends. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-experiencing-record-breaking-days-affects-perception.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:48:03 EDT news616247281 A large team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Europe, has found evidence backing up work by Persi Diaconis in 2007 in which he suggested tossed coins are more likely to land on the same side they started on, rather than on the reverse. The team conducted experiments designed to test the randomness of coin flipping and posted their results on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-flipped-coins-fair-thought.html Mathematics Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:10:01 EDT news616244808 Whether or not people choose to attend a climate protest partly depends on its expected size. When they expect a larger protest, they are less likely to take part—as Universität Hamburg's Cluster of Excellence for climate research (CLICCS) shows in a publication in the journal Nature Climate Change. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-climate-protests-size.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 10 Oct 2023 11:37:16 EDT news616156633