Footage reveals 'miracle eagle chick' in flight https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c047gl9zyx3o Nice story, with an RSPB officer with a familiar name.
Oxygen discovery defies knowledge of the deep ocean 8 hours ago Share Victoria Gill Science correspondent, BBC News•@vic_gill please log in to view this image Getty Images Until this discovery, it was believed that oxygen could not be produced without sunlight Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being produced in the deep ocean, apparently by lumps of metal on the seafloor. About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesising - something that requires sunlight. Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic “nodules” which split seawater - H2O - into hydrogen and oxygen. Several mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process - and damage any marine life that depends on the oxygen they make. please log in to view this image NOC/NHM/NERC SMARTEX The potato-sized metal nodules look like rocks, littering parts of the deep seabed “I first saw this in 2013 - an enormous amount of oxygen being produced at the seafloor in complete darkness,” explains lead researcher Prof Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science. “I just ignored it, because I’d been taught - you only get oxygen through photosynthesis. “Eventually, I realised that for years I’d been ignoring this potentially huge discovery,” he told BBC News. He and his colleagues carried out their research in an area of the deep sea between Hawaii and Mexico - part of a vast swathe of seafloor that is covered with these metal nodules. The nodules form when dissolved metals in seawater collect on fragments of shell - or other debris. It's a process that takes millions of years. And because these nodules contain metals like lithium, cobalt and copper - all of which are needed to make batteries - many mining companies are developing technology to collect them and bring them to the surface. But Prof Sweetman says the dark oxygen they make could also support life on the seafloor. And his discovery, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, raises new concerns about the risks of proposed deep-sea mining ventures. please log in to view this image Science Photo Library/NOAA The scientists worked out that the metal nodules are able to make oxygen precisely because they act like batteries. “If you put a battery into seawater, it starts fizzing,” explained Prof Sweetman. “That’s because the electric current is actually splitting seawater into oxygen and hydrogen [which are the bubbles]. We think that’s happening with these nodules in their natural state.” “It's like a battery in a torch,” he added. “You put one battery in, it doesn't light up. You put two in and you've got enough voltage to light up the torch. So when the nodules are sitting at the seafloor in contact with one another, they’re working in unison - like multiple batteries.” The researchers put this theory to the test in the lab, collecting and studying the potato-sized metal nodules. Their experiments measured the voltages on the surface of each metallic lump - essentially the strength of the electric current. They found it to be almost equal to the voltage in a typical AA-sized battery. This means, they say, that the nodules sitting on the seabed could generate electric currents large enough to split, or electrolyse, molecules of seawater. The researchers think the same process - battery-powered oxygen production that requires no light and no biological process - could be happening on other moons and planets, creating oxygen-rich environments where life could thrive. please log in to view this image Camille Bridgewater The researchers measured the voltages on the surfaces of the metallic nodules The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where the discovery was made, is a site already being explored by a number of seabed mining companies, which are developing technology to collect the nodules and bring them to a ship at the surface. The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has warned that this seabed mining could “result in the destruction of life and the seabed habitat in the mined areas”. More than 800 marine scientists from 44 countries have signed a petition highlighting the environmental risks and calling for a pause on mining activity. New species are being discovered in the deep ocean all the time - it is often said that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the deep sea. And this discovery suggests that the nodules themselves could be providing the oxygen to support life there. Prof Murray Roberts, a marine biologist from the Univerisity of Edinburgh is one of the scientists who signed the seabed mining petition. “There’s already overwhelming evidence that strip mining deep-sea nodule fields will destroy ecosystems we barely understand,” he told BBC News. “Because these fields cover such huge areas of our planet it would be crazy to press ahead with deep-sea mining knowing they may be a significant source of oxygen production.” Prof Sweetman added: “I don't see this study as something that will put an end to mining. “[But] we need to explore it in greater detail and we need to use this information and the data we gather in future if we are going to go into the deep ocean and mine it in the most environmentally friendly way possible.”
Fascinating documentary doing the rounds on BBC and iPlayer at the moment about the vaccine against malaria...latest one just started it's roll-out and us projected to have nearly 75% efficacy in children from preventing malaria, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0021dvf/the-battle-to-beat-malaria The Battle to Beat Malaria Of all the diseases that plague humankind, malaria has put up one of the longest, toughest fights. More than 200 million people fall ill and 600,000 die of it every year, making it among the world’s deadliest diseases. The vast majority of those fatalities are young children - an average of one child every minute. But medical science may now be at an exciting turning point. Filmed with intimate access to key scientists on four continents, this documentary tells the inside story of the development of a new malaria vaccine that could change the very nature of the fight. It's hoped that the vaccine, dubbed R21/Matrix-M™ and developed by many of the same team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, will be the first to meet the World Health Organization’s target of 75 per cent efficacy.
Doubtless some ****s will claim the vaccine will result in all sorts of deaths, mind control by Bill Gates and pollution of our precious bodily fluids. Subject to trials a massive breakthrough.
please log in to view this image Two tectonic plates meet in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. VisualProduction/Shutterstock Witness 1.8 billion years of tectonic plates dance across Earth’s surface in a new animation Published: September 6, 2024 2.42pm NZST Alan Collins, University of Adelaide Using information from inside the rocks on Earth’s surface, we have reconstructed the plate tectonics of the planet over the last 1.8 billion years. It is the first time Earth’s geological record has been used like this, looking so far back in time. This has enabled us to make an attempt at mapping the planet over the last 40% of its history, which you can see in the animation below. The work, led by Xianzhi Cao from the Ocean University in China, is now published in the open-access journal Geoscience Frontiers. Plate tectonics over the last 1.8 billion years of Earth history. A beautiful dance Mapping our planet through its long history creates a beautiful continental dance — mesmerising in itself and a work of natural art. It starts with the map of the world familiar to everyone. Then India rapidly moves south, followed by parts of Southeast Asia as the past continent of Gondwana forms in the Southern Hemisphere. Around 200 million years ago (Ma or mega-annum in the reconstruction), when the dinosaurs walked the earth, Gondwana linked with North America, Europe and northern Asia to form a large supercontinent called Pangaea. Then, the reconstruction carries on back through time. Pangaea and Gondwana were themselves formed from older plate collisions. As time rolls back, an earlier supercontinent called Rodinia appears. It doesn’t stop here. Rodinia, in turn, is formed by the break-up of an even older supercontinent called Nuna about 1.35 billion years ago. Why map Earth’s past? Among the planets in the Solar System, Earth is unique for having plate tectonics. Its rocky surface is split into fragments (plates) that grind into each other and create mountains, or split away and form chasms that are then filled with oceans. Apart from causing earthquakes and volcanoes, plate tectonics also pushes up rocks from the deep earth into the heights of mountain ranges. This way, elements which were far underground can erode from the rocks and end up washing into rivers and oceans. From there, living things can make use of these elements. Among these essential elements is phosphorus, which forms the framework of DNA molecules, and molybdenum, which is used by organisms to strip nitrogen out of the atmosphere and make proteins and amino acids – building blocks of life. Plate tectonics also exposes rocks that react with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Rocks locking up carbon dioxide is the main control on Earth’s climate over long time scales – much, much longer than the tumultuous climate change we are responsible for today. please log in to view this image Iceland is on a plate boundary, which makes for frequent volcanic activity. Thorir Ingvarsson/Shutterstock A tool for understanding deep time Mapping the past plate tectonics of the planet is the first stage in being able to build a complete digital model of Earth through its history. Such a model will allow us to test hypotheses about Earth’s past. For example, why Earth’s climate has gone through extreme “Snowball Earth” fluctuations, or why oxygen built up in the atmosphere when it did. Indeed, it will allow us to much better understand the feedback between the deep planet and the surface systems of Earth that support life as we know it. So much more to learn Modelling our planet’s past is essential if we’re to understand how nutrients became available to power evolution. The first evidence for complex cells with nuclei — like all animal and plant cells — dates to 1.65 billion years ago. This is near the start of this reconstruction and close to the time the supercontinent Nuna formed. We aim to test whether the mountains that grew at the time of Nuna formation may have provided the elements to power complex cell evolution. Much of Earth’s life photosynthesises and liberates oxygen. This links plate tectonics with the chemistry of the atmosphere, and some of that oxygen dissolves into the oceans. In turn, a number of critical metals – like copper and cobalt – are more soluble in oxygen-rich water. In certain conditions, these metals are then precipitated out of the solution: in short, they form ore deposits. Many metals form in the roots of volcanoes that occur along plate margins. By reconstructing where ancient plate boundaries lay through time, we can better understand the tectonic geography of the world and assist mineral explorers in finding ancient metal-rich rocks now buried under much younger mountains. In this time of exploration of other worlds in the Solar System and beyond, it is worth remembering there’s so much about our own planet we are only just beginning to get a glimpse of. There are 4.6 billion years of it to investigate, and the rocks we walk over contain the evidence for how Earth has changed over this time. This first attempt at mapping the last 1.8 billion years of Earth’s history is a leap forward in the scientific grand challenge to map our world. But it is just that – a first attempt. The next years will see considerable improvement from the starting point we have now made. The author would like to acknowledge this research was largely done by Xianzhi Cao, Sergei Pisarevsky, Nicolas Flament, Derrick Hasterok, Dietmar Muller and Sanzhong Li; as a co-author, he is just one cog in the research network. The author also acknowledges the many students and researchers from the Tectonics and Earth Systems Group at The University of Adelaide and national and international colleagues who did the fundamental geological work this research is based on. Geology Gondwana Plate tectonics Earth supercontinents Planet Tectonic plates Deep time Pangea Earth's history Our Audience The Conversation has a monthly audience of 18 million users, and reach of 42 million through Creative Commons republication. Want to write? Write an article and join a growing community of more than 189,400 academics and researchers from 5,038 institutions. 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Pretty amazing bit of engineering... Watch astonishing moment Starship booster caught in mid-air 'chopsticks manoeuvre' please log in to view this image 00:54 Watch astonishing moment Starship booster caught in mid-air 'chopsticks manoeuvre'Close SpaceX's Starship has completed its fifth test flight, as Elon Musk pushes ahead in his quest to one day take astronauts to the Moon – maybe even to Mars. During this flight, the SpaceX team attempted something that had never been done before. Unlike in previous flights, when the booster splashed down in the Indian Ocean, it slowed itself down and descended gently back toward the launchpad for a pair of giant mechanical arms to catch it – in what’s known as the "chopsticks manoeuvre". Watch the moment the SpaceX control room erupted in cheers as the move was successfully completed, an achievement the BBC's Pallab Ghosh described as "absolutely astonishing".
New study on moons of Uranus raises chance of life 6 hours ago Share Save please log in to view this image Pallab Ghosh Science Correspondent•@BBCPallab please log in to view this image SPL Artwork: Uranus and its five largest moons had been thought to be inactive and sterile. The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought. Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say. Much of what we know about them was gathered by Nasa’s Voyager 2 spacecraft which visited nearly 40 years ago. But a new analysis shows that Voyager's visit coincided with a powerful solar storm, which led to a misleading idea of what the Uranian system is really like. Uranus is a beautiful, icy ringed world in the outer reaches of our solar system. It is among the coldest of all the planets. It is also tilted on its side compared to all the other worlds – as if it had been knocked over – making it arguably the weirdest. Advertisement please log in to view this image We got our first close-up look at it in 1986, when Voyager 2 flew past and sent back sensational pictures of the planet and its five major moons. But what amazed scientists even more was the data Voyager 2 sent back indicating that the Uranian system was even weirder than they thought. The measurements from the spacecraft’s instruments indicated that the planets and moons were inactive, unlike the other moons in the outer solar system. They also showed that Uranus’s protective magnetic field was strangely distorted. It was squashed and pushed away from the Sun. A planet’s magnetic field traps any gases and other material coming off the planet and its moons. These might be from oceans or geological activity. Voyager 2 found none, suggesting that Uranus and its five largest moons were sterile and inactive. This came as an enormous surprise because it was unlike the solar system’s other planets and their moons. Advertisement please log in to view this image NASA Miranda, one of the moons of Uranus, photographed by Voyager 2. The new research says the moon possibly has a sub-surface ocean and may even be home to life please log in to view this image NASA Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 to study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune Advertisement But the new analysis has solved the decades-long mystery. It shows that Voyager 2 flew past on a bad day. The new research shows that just as Voyager 2 flew past Uranus, the Sun was raging, creating a powerful solar wind that might have blown the material away and temporarily distorted the magnetic field. So, for 40 years we have had an incorrect view of what Uranus and its five largest moons are normally like, according to Dr William Dunn of University College London. “These results suggest that the Uranian system could be much more exciting than previously thought. There could be moons there that could have the conditions that are necessary for life, they might have oceans that below the surface that could be teeming with fish!”. please log in to view this image NASA The first picture of Uranus was sent back by Voyager 2 in 1986 Advertisement “I’m also so pleased that so much is being done with the Voyager data. It’s amazing that scientists are looking back at the data we collected in 1986 and finding new results and new discoveries”. Dr Affelia Wibisono of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, who is independent of the research team, described the results as “very exciting”. “It shows how important it is to look back at old data, because sometimes, hiding behind them is something new to be discovered, which can help us design the next generation of space exploration missions”. Which is exactly what Nasa is doing, partly as a result of the new research. It has been nearly 40 years since Voyager 2 last flew past the icy world and its moons. Nasa has plans to launch a new mission, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, to go back for a closer look in 10 years’ time. [img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fed7/live/8242f130-a014-11ef-a040-d74242d1f59e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="NASA Plumes of material coming from Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn, indication a sub-surface ocean." class="sc-a34861b-0 efFcac" >NASA Plumes of material coming from Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn, indicating a possible sub-surface ocean. Could the same be true of the Uranian moons? Advertisement According to Nasa’s Dr Jamie Jasinski, whose idea it was to re-examine the Voyager 2 data, the mission will need to take his results into account when designing its instruments and planning the scientific survey. “Some of the instruments for the future spacecraft are very much being designed with ideas from what we learned from Voyager 2 when it flew past the system when it was experiencing an abnormal event. So we need to rethink how exactly we are going to design the instruments on the new mission so that we can best capture the science we need to make discoveries”. Nasa’s Uranus probe is expected to arrive by 2045, which is when scientists hope to find out whether these far-flung icy moons, once thought of as being dead worlds, might have the possibility of being home to life.
Drowning Pool /Off World Scientist Says NASA Lander May Have Accidentally Killed Life on Mars Say it ain't so. Nov 16, 10:00 AM EST by Victor Tangermann please log in to view this image Image by NASA Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch, from the Technische Universität Berlin in Germany, believes that humans may have unintentionally killed life on Mars in the 1970s. NASA's Viking 1 mission in 1976 saw two spacecraft land on the Red Planet's surface and conduct an experiment involving mixing water and nutrients with collected soil samples. The assumption at the time was that life on Mars would behave the same way as it does on Earth, relying on liquid water to survive. Advertisement please log in to view this image As Space.com reports, early results gave researchers a tantalizing hint at the possibility of life on the Red Planet — but despite decades of debate, they've since largely concluded that their readings were a false positive. Schulze-Makuch, however, takes this thorny debate one step further, suggesting that the Viking landers may have indeed found life on Mars — but accidentally killed it with its water-based life-hunting experiments. That's because he argues life on Mars may be relying on salt deposits, much like the organisms that live in the driest places on Earth, such as the microbes habitating the Atacama Desert in Chile. "In hyperarid environments, life can obtain water through salts that draw moisture from the atmosphere," Schulze-Makuch wrote in a commentary for the journal Nature. "These salts, then, should be a focus of searches for life on Mars." "The experiments performed by NASA’s Viking landers may have accidentally killed Martian life by applying too much water," he added. Advertisement please log in to view this image The astrobiologist's hypothesis rebuffs the assumption that NASA scientists made in the 1970s that life needs liquid water to survive. "If these inferences about organisms surviving in hyperarid Martian conditions are correct, then rather than ‘follow the water,’ which has long been NASA’s strategy in searching for life on the Red Planet, we should in addition follow hydrated and hygroscopic compounds — salts — as a way to locate microbial life," Schulze-Makuch wrote. In an interview with Space.com, the researcher suggested that the idea of using table salt to create a brine, in which "certain bacteria thrive," could be roughly applied to life on Mars as well. "The main salt on Mars appears to be sodium chloride," he told the publication, "which means this idea could work." Advertisement please log in to view this image Schulze-Makuch recalled a study that found that torrential rain killed 70 to 80 percent of indigenous bacteria in a region of the Atacama Desert because they "couldn't handle that much water so suddenly." In a similar vein, the Viking landers may have inadvertently killed any sign of life during their experiments. "Nearly 50 years after the Viking biology experiments, it is time for another life detection mission — now that we have a much better understanding of the Martian environment," Schulze-Makuch wrote in his commentary. But for now, this all remains theory. "To make a long story short, we would want to have several different kinds of life-detection methods that are independent of each other, and from there, we could come up with more convincing data," Schulze-Makuch told Space.com. More on life on Mars: Life on Mars May be Trapped Under Ice, NASA Researchers Suggest Advertisement please log in to view this image Share This Article Mars Uber Alles Trump and Musk's Bromance Could Make America's Space Policy a Wild Ride Space Launch Schlamassel It Sounds Like NASA's Moon Rocket Might Be Getting Canceled Digital Breakdown News Outlets Are Falsely Reporting That a NASA Astronaut Is Still in the Hospital Charred Marshmallow NASA Keeping Issue With Moon Rocket a Secret Wheels Keep on Turnin' The Curiosity Mars Rover's Wheel Looks Absolutely Wrecked Jetting Off Nov 17, 7:00 AM EST on the byte China Shows Off Reusable Space Shuttle Old Threads Nov 16, 12:30 PM EST on the byte NASA Complains That Its Spacesuits Are a Decrepit Mess What's Da Problem? Nov 15, 2:15 PM EST on the byte Russia Says Potentially "Catastrophic" Leak in Space Station Isn't a Big Deal READ MORE STORIES ABOUT / Off World Keep up. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to keep in touch with the subjects shaping our future. I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its User Agreement and Privacy Policy Subscribe +Social+Newsletter TopicsAbout UsEditorial StandardsContact Us DISCLAIMER(S) Privacy PolicyTerms & ConditionsDMCA Policy Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. © Recurrent Ventures Inc, All Rights Reserved. 0:01
Happisburgh: Oldest Human Footprints In Europe The Happisburgh footprints are a set of ancient human footprints discovered in 2013 on the beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk. please log in to view this image These footprints, more than 900,000 years old, provide direct evidence of the earliest human presence in northern Europe. The discovery was described as "one of the most important discoveries, if not the most important discovery that has been made on Britain's shores," by Dr Nick Ashton of the British Museum. Footprints from approximately five individuals, including both adults and children, were identified. please log in to view this image They ranged in size from 140 to 260mm, suggesting the individuals were between 2 ft and 5 ft. These footprints are believed to have been made by Homo antecessor, an early human species known to have lived in the Atapuerca Mountains of Spain around 800,000 years ago. However, no hominin fossils have been found at Happisburgh. Analysis suggests that the group, possibly consisting of five individuals, was walking in a southerly direction along mudflats in the estuary of an ancient course of the River Thames, which flowed into the sea farther north when southeastern Britain was connected to the European continent. Archaeologists speculate that the group might have been foraging on the mudflats for seafood, such as lugworms, shellfish, crabs, and seaweed. It is also possible they lived on an island within the estuary, offering safety from predators, and were traveling to the shore at low tide to gather resources. please log in to view this image At the time the footprints were made, the estuary lay in a grassy, open valley surrounded by pine forests, with a climate similar to modern southern Scandinavia. The landscape was home to mammoths, rhinos, hippos, giant deer, and bison, which were hunted by predators like sabre-toothed cats, lions, wolves, and hyenas. Along with a plentiful supply of game and edible plants, the river's gravel beds were rich in flint, a valuable resource for early humans to craft tools. The discoveries at Happisburgh mark the earliest evidence of human activity this far north, dating back nearly 1 million years. Previously, scientists believed that early hominins required warmer climates to survive, but the inhabitants of prehistoric Happisburgh had adapted to the cold, indicating that they may have developed advanced methods of hunting, clothing, shelter, and fire much earlier than previously thought. When the discovery was made in 2013, the footprints were found in the sediment, partially concealed by beach sand, during low tide on the foreshore at Happisburgh. please log in to view this image The sediment had originally been deposited in the estuary of an ancient, now-extinct river and later covered by sand, which helped preserve the surface. This layer of sediment lies beneath a cliff on the beach, but after stormy weather, the protective sand was washed away, leaving the sediment exposed. Due to the unstable nature of the site, the footprints were quickly washed away after their discovery, but archaeologists managed to document them through detailed photographs and 3D scans, preserving the evidence digitally. Happisburgh has yielded numerous significant archaeological discoveries over the years. Due to severe coastal erosion, new material is frequently exposed along the cliffs and beach. Prehistoric finds in the area have been documented as far back as 1820, when fishermen trawling oyster beds offshore found their nets filled with teeth, bones, horns, and antlers from extinct species like elephants, rhinos, and giant deer. In February 1825, an exceptionally high tide swept away sediment, revealing even more prehistoric remains, including an ancient landscape of fossilised tree stumps, animal bones, and fir cones. please log in to view this image Homo antecessorHomo antecessor is one of the earliest known species in the human evolutionary line, believed to have lived around 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago during the Lower Paleolithic era. The species was first discovered in the Atapuerca Mountains of northern Spain in 1994, and the finds have since provided a rare glimpse into early human development in Europe. The most significant site, Gran Dolina, yielded numerous remains that have been attributed to Homo antecessor, offering a profound insight into their physical and behavioural characteristics. Homo antecessor is notable for its combination of primitive and modern traits. Physically, they had a brain size of around 1,000 cubic centimetres, smaller than that of modern humans but larger than earlier species like Homo habilis. Their facial structure was remarkably modern, particularly in their flat face and high cheekbones, traits that are typically associated with later species like Homo sapiens. please log in to view this image However, their skulls also retained robust features, such as prominent brow ridges, linking them to earlier hominins like Homo erectus. The environment in which Homo antecessor lived was challenging. Ice Age conditions likely shaped much of their existence, with fluctuating climates and landscapes that required adaptability. They would have inhabited dense forests, grasslands, and areas near rivers, relying on their resourcefulness to survive. Evidence from fossiliaed remains suggests they were skilled hunters and scavengers, utilising tools to butcher large animals like deer and horses. The tools they left behind, simple stone flakes and hand axes, resemble those of earlier hominins but exhibit slight improvements, indicating a growing sophistication in tool-making techniques. please log in to view this image One of the most controversial aspects of Homo antecessor's life is the evidence of cannibalism. Some of the bones found at Gran Dolina show cut marks, consistent with butchery, and are thought to be the remains of other Homo antecessor individuals. This has led researchers to theorise that cannibalism was not just for survival during times of scarcity but perhaps also had social or ritualistic significance. The reasons for this behaviour remain speculative, but it highlights the complex social dynamics that may have been present within their communities. The discovery of Homo antecessor has provoked significant debate among paleoanthropologists, particularly regarding its place in the human evolutionary tree. Some researchers argue that Homo antecessor could be a direct ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern humans, while others see it as a distinct offshoot that eventually became extinct. The debate revolves around the question of whether Homo antecessor represents a transitional species, bridging the gap between earlier African hominins and later European populations, or if it was an evolutionary dead end. please log in to view this image Genetic studies have yet to yield conclusive answers, partly because extracting DNA from remains as old as Homo antecessor has proven incredibly difficult. Despite the uncertainty surrounding its lineage, Homo antecessor remains a key figure in the understanding of human evolution, particularly in Europe. Their presence in Spain marks some of the earliest evidence of hominins in Western Europe, suggesting that they were part of a wave of early human migration out of Africa. This movement into Europe would have required Homo antecessor to adapt to new and challenging environments, reflecting the species’ ability to survive in diverse and often harsh conditions. In summary, Homo antecessor stands as a testament to the early stages of human evolution in Europe, embodying both the primitive traits of earlier hominins and the emerging modernity that would eventually lead to Homo sapiens. Their fossilised remains, tools, and the evidence of complex social behaviours, such as hunting and possible cannibalism, offer a window into a species that, while not fully understood, plays a crucial role in the story of humanity’s ancient past. please log in to view this image If you enjoyed this blog post, please follow Exploring GB on Facebook for daily travel content and inspiration. Don’t forget to check out our latest blog posts below! Thank you for visiting Exploring GB. 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14 Deliberately Evil Historical Punishments Designed To Be More Painful Than Death please log in to view this image Christopher Myers Updated June 6, 2024898.0K views14 items please log in to view this image most horrendous conditions in human life have been created by other humans. We maim, torture, and humiliate individuals to penalize them for their actions with callous indifference to their suffering, or in some cases, with the intent to cause as much pain as possible. The purpose of punishment is arguable: some believe human beings punish criminals to reduce crime through deterrence or maybe to rehabilitate offenders. Some think it's to rid criminals from society in efforts to protect the public, but undoubtedly there have been punishments intended to cause pain to the condemned. There are cases, both ancient and modern, of men and women burned, drowned, and torn apart all with the intention of punishing them for their real and, in some cases, suspected crimes in the most painful manner. Assyrian Prisoners Of War Were Flayed please log in to view this image Many today think removing a person's skin from their body is a medieval European form of punishment and torture due to popular culture depictions, most notably in Game of Thrones, but it was rarely ever used in medieval Europe. According to medieval historian Dr. Larissa Tracy, there is only one verifiable case of flaying between the 11th Century to the 16th Century: a Venetian commander Marcoantonio Bragadin was flayed by the Ottoman Turks after surrendering at the siege of Cyprus in 1571 CE. Flaying was most prevalent in the Assyrian Empire from the 14th Century BCE until 610 BCE. The Assyrians were known for their military strength. By the 9th Century BCE, Assyria dominated northern Mesopotamia. After defeating their enemies in combat, the Assyrians punished anyone who opposed them by destroying their cities and flaying the nobility. King Ashurnasirpal recorded his victory over one city that resisted his conquest: I flayed as many nobles as had rebelled against me [and] draped their skins over the pile [of corpses]; some I spread out within the pile, some I erected on stakes upon the pile … I flayed many right through my land [and] draped their skins over the walls. Flaying was not only used to punish those who opposed the Assyrians but also to instill fear in anyone who considered to do the same. Persian Criminals Were Subjected To The Boats Originally attributed to the ancient Persians, this alleged form of punishment was used on only the worst criminals. Presented as a common form of Persian execution in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, scaphism, also known as the boats, firstly required the victim to be laid flat in a boat. Another boat with holes to allow the victim’s head, hands, and feet to protrude was then laid over. The executioners forced the victim to drink a mixture of honey and milk, and covered the victim’s exposed body parts with that same drink. The victim was left in the boats, and nature took its course. With nowhere else to go, the victim was forced to excrete where they lie, flies swarmed the victim, and they were left until they were completely devoured. Plutarch specifically mentioned the execution of Mithridates, a soldier who killed the brother of Persian King Artaxerxes in the 5th Century BCE. Supposedly, Mithridates finally died after 17 days of torture. As brutal as this method may be, it is questionable whether or not it ever existed. Mithridates’s execution is the only instance of it. The first mention of this execution was from a Greek physician to the Persian court, Ctesias, who supposedly saw Mithridates’s execution firsthand. His account, however, has been lost, furthermore, both ancient historians who have referenced him or his work claim and modern historians argue to whether his work is reliable. Plutarch’s own history of Artaxerxes and scaphism was written 400 years after the event took place, and uses Ctesias’s History as his source. Vestal Virgins Were Buried Alive If They Broke Their Oath please log in to view this image Photo: Rudolf Cronau Wikimedia Commons Public Domain The Vestal Virgins were the priestesses to Vesta the goddess of home and hearth and held one of the most important religious roles in Rome. They acted as religious symbols of Rome as well as representations of the city and its citizenry. As such, Vestal Virgins were expected to make a lifetime commitment to the role, and the rules that come with it. The Vestals had to remain abstinent from sex their entire lives; they were expected to remain a symbol of purity, for as long as they were to remain both pure and unharmed, so will the city they signify. The role was not taken lightly, for if any Vestal Virgin were to break her oath, she was executed as a sacrifice. Because of the symbolic and sacred aspect to the Vestals, if one broke her vow of celibacy, many perceived her as a former purity now tainted. No one wanted to be responsible for her death, and become tainted themselves, so the solution was to bury the Vestal alive and allow nature to kill her. The Vestal was paraded around the city until she was brought to a small chamber by the Colline gate. Given only a lamp and a small amount of food, she was sealed in and left to die. Roman Parricides Faced Poena Cullei In Roman law, different forms of murder entailed different forms of punishment depending upon the severity of the murder. Parricide, killing one’s own parent or parents, sought a crueler form of punishment than other forms of homicide. When a person was convicted of the crime, they were condemned to Poena Cullei. This form of capital punishment required the condemned was whipped, before putting a wolf-skin bag over their head, and made to wear wooden-sole clogs. They were then tied in an ox-leather sack with a dog, a rooster, a viper, and a monkey, taken to a river or sea by black oxen, and thrown in the water to drown. Poena Cullei was rarely used as a form of punishment. Roman biographer Suetonius wrote only those who confessed to patricide were actually sentenced to Poena Cullei. In 118 CE Emperor Hadrian allowed Poena Cullei to be substituted by “being thrown to wild beasts”, but only a century later the practice was considered obsolete. Medieval Murderers Were Broken On The Wheel Breaking on the wheel, aka breaking with the wheel, was a form of punishment primarily used in Western Europe during the early modern period to penalize murderers or thieves. Though the specifics were different from region to region, the condemned was generally tied to a wheel or cross, then struck with either a wooden wheel or an iron bar. Depending on the desired amount of pain inflicted before the death blow, the executioner chose where to strike. If he was feeling merciful, the executioner started at the neck, but if not, he began by striking at the condemned’s legs. Prisoners Of War In Wallachia Were Impalled please log in to view this image Photo: Unknown Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Impalement is a crude form of torture and execution used from antiquity into the 20th Century in which a large, sharpened stake is thrust through a person's body from between their legs and is pierced through their entire body. The victim died after anywhere between a few hours and a couple of days of agonizing pain. The most notable use of impalement was by Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, aka Vlad the Impaler. When Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II invaded Wallachia in 1462, he was greeted by the impaled corpses of Ottoman prisoners of war rather than the Wallachian army. Criminals Were Dismembered On The Rack please log in to view this image Photo: Michael Sch. Wikimedia Commons Public Domain The rack was a form of torture and punishment commonly associated with the medieval era, but it originated in ancient history. The criminal was tied down by their limbs, and the executioner spun a crank, which pulled the criminal’s limbs apart. The punished was stretched until their limbs were dislocated, and there were moments when the condemned's limbs were completely separated from their body. Emperor Nero used the rack to force a confession of an assassination conspiracy from one of the head conspirators, Epicharis. On the first day, the rack dislocated her legs so by the second day she was unable to walk herself to the rack. Rather than suffer the rack, she tied a noose around her neck and used her body weight to suffocate herself. Dutch Conspirators Were Tortured With Rats And Hot Coals During the Eighty Years' War, Northern Holland governor Diedrich Sonoy used torture to legitimize and strengthen his authority over the region. He arrested eight men and charged them for a conspiracy to burn down a number of villages in Holland. For one of the condemned victims, Nanning Koppezoon, Sonoy put him on the rack and placed rats on him under a ceramic vessel. He put hot coals on the vessel, and with nowhere else to run from the heat, the rats burrowed into Koppezoon's body. Sonoy then put the hot coals into Koppezoon’s wounds. Though this method of torture is prevalent in movies and popular culture, there are not many cases when this method was actually used. Iranian Political Dissidents Were Subjected To White Torture please log in to view this image Photo: Ehsan Iran Wikimedia Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic A modern form of torture referred to colloquially as “White Torture” was used as a punishment and silencing measure on political dissidents, and reporters in Iran after an attempt of political reform in the 2000. Used primarily to force detainees to sign confessions and provide information on their political affiliations, White Torture was a form of psychological torture, which combines prolonged solitary confinement and sensory deprivation. Former prisoner Amir Fakhravar said the pain and anguish from white torture far exceeded any physical torment he received from beatings and broken bones. American Political Enemies Were Tarred And Feathered please log in to view this image Photo: Unknown Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Though prevalent mostly in the North American colonies, cases of tarring and feathering in the United States date up until the early 20th Century. The punished individual was covered in hot tar and feathers. Tarring and feathering was primarily enacted or provoked by revolutionary organizations, for example, the Sons of Liberty, as well as by mob justice, rather than as a state-sanctioned form of punishment. It gained much of its popularity the decade leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Crowds gathered to tar and feather British officials or individuals with anti-revolutionary predilections as an act of punishment and humiliation. Tarring and feathering continued into the early 20th Century. A notable case was on the night of August 19th, 1918 in Luverne, Minnesota when German-American farmer John Meints was kidnapped, whipped, tarred and feathered, then ordered out of state with the threat of death. He was accused of being a German sympathizer in the later years of World War I because he refused to participate in a war bond drive. Roman Criminals Were Crucified please log in to view this image Photo: Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Crucifixion was a combination of punishment and political spectacle used by the Roman Empire. Individuals were whipped, forced to carry a wooden cross, or a similar structure, and fixed onto the cross by rope or nails and finally left until the condemned died. The cross could be propped in any orientation, but it depended mostly on how long the executioners wanted the condemned to live before their inevitable death. Those who died were rarely buried; their remains were usually left to be eaten by wild animals. Heretics Suffered Through The Auto Da Fé please log in to view this image Photo: Jan Luykens Wikimedia Commons Public Domain The Auto Da Fe was a ceremonial procession and burning at the stake during the Inquisition most notably in Spain and Portugal. The ceremony was used partially as a punishment for all heretics, a recognition and display of sin for those who repented, a symbolic reaffirmation of religious faith for all within society, and lastly an execution of those who refused to repent. The ceremony was not execution simply for the sake of killing those who were found to be heretics but as a form of punishment, which incorporated the whole society in the cleansing of heresy. Heretics were lined up according to the hierarchy of their guilt. They included Jews, Muslims, Protestants, foreigners, sodomites, and blasphemers. Those with lesser crimes started the procession while those with greater crimes were last. They were led in procession throughout the city, both in an act of repentance and humiliation. They were given opportunities to repent their heresies, but at the end of the procession, those who did not repent were led out of the city and burned. Suspected Witches Were Drowned please log in to view this image Photo: Unknown Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Ordeal by Water, aka swimming a witch, was a form of combined trial and punishment used on suspected witches in the East Slavic world and later England. Women suspected of witchcraft were tied up and cast into deep water. Those who sunk were considered innocent while those who floated were considered witches and promptly executed by fire. Regardless of the outcome of this ordeal, the woman was killed. Many believed water was a pure and cleansing element. Thus if a person was thrown into the water and they floated, they must have dabbled with the occult, because the water did not accept them. Yakuza Members Mutilate Their Fingers Yubitsume is an act of self-penance still utilized by the Japanese Yakuza. Individuals within the Yakuza, or indebted to them, sever parts of their own finger with a hammer and chisel to demonstrate a sincere apology or as a punishment if they were to violate the Yakuza code or not pay their bets. This practice is not limited to a single cut, but rather another knuckle is severed with each mistake made. The punishment is multi-faceted in purpose; firstly the victim suffers through the pain of amputating their own finger thus deterring them from making more mistakes. Secondly, it identifies the offender as someone who broke the Yakuza’s rules in an effort to deter others from doing the same
