ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Mystery solved about the origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf

Posted: 28 Feb 2022 06:55 AM PST

The almost 11 cm high figurine from Willendorf is one of the most important examples of early art in Europe. It is made of a rock called 'oolite' which is not found in or around Willendorf. Anthropologist, geologists and prehistorians have now found out, with the help of high-resolution tomographic images, that the material from which the Venus was carved likely comes from northern Italy. This sheds new light on the remarkable mobility of the first modern humans south and north of the Alps.

What brain-eating amoebae can tell us about the diversity of life on earth and evolutionary history

Posted: 25 Feb 2022 05:58 AM PST

Researchers recently announced that an amoeba called Naegleria has evolved more distinct sets of tubulins, used for specific cellular processes, than previously thought. Their insight has a host of implications, which range from developing treatments for brain-eating infections to better understanding how life on earth evolved such enormous diversity.