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The African skull aged 3.8 million years old is giving researchers a peek into humanity’s evolutionary history, a new study suggests.

The discovery explains what the face of a possible ancestor of the species famously represented by Lucy – the well-known Ethiopian skeleton discovered in the mid-1970s – may have looked like.

This thesis has been published in the British journal Nature, which was reviewed by superiors. The fossil cranium represents a specimen from a time interval between 4.1 and 3.6 million years ago when early human ancestor fossils are extremely rare, researchers say.

It looks like a white powder and has nearly the same density as liquid water.

Several archaeological finds from across the ancient Greek world have revealed the advanced state of ancient Greek plumbing systems.

Although plumbing is rarely the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of advanced civilizations – indeed, the gleaming columns of stunning temples are a much more typical image in the popular imagination – adequate hygiene and sanitation are a cornerstone of any sophisticated and functioning society.

The ancient Greeks installed plumbing, drainage systems, and infrastructure to supply water to their cities. As urban areas grew, and political life increasingly revolved around the polis (city), ensuring that these areas were adequately sanitized and had access to clean water became more important.

Facebook turns 20 years old today, and if you don’t like it, I’m sure you have your reasons.

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook on February 4, 2004, in his Harvard dorm room. Thomas Lake says there are valid reasons today to dislike Facebook, but for him and many others it’s a living journal of 21st-century life — a virtual museum that otherwise would not exist.

Continue reading “As Facebook turns 20, I have something to confess” »

Newly developed memory cell combines high-speed performance with low power consumption.

But one question intrigued scientists: “What happens if fluid is sucked in through the arms: Does the device rotate, in what direction, and why?”

High-tech experiment to understand the fluid dynamics

In this new study, researchers from New York University conducted tests to better understand the dynamics of flowing fluids and their impact on sprinkler structures.

Ancient concepts of the relational interdependence of humans and nature are being revived.

Ergot is the spore form of the fungus Claviceps purpurea. Ergot alkaloids are indole compounds that are biosynthetically derived from L-tryptophan and represent the largest group of fungal nitrogen metabolites found in nature. The common part of ergot alkaloids is lysergic acid. This review shows the importance of lysergic acid as a representative of ergot alkaloids. The subject of ergot and its alkaloids is presented, with a particular focus on lysergic acid. All methods of total lysergic acid synthesis—through Woodward, Hendrickson, and Szantay intermediates and Heck coupling methods—are presented. The topic of biosynthesis is also discussed.