This week astronomers have spotted evidence of the rare rainbow-like effect known as a glory on another planet‚ a prehistoric sand sculpture of a stingray might be the world';s oldest animal art‚ and a series of ancient engravings found on volcanic boulders in southern Peru might represent music that was performed during shamanic rituals involving hallucinogenic plants 2‚000 years ago. Finally‚ we ask what';s the longest a bird can fly without flapping its wings?Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletterfor all the biggest science news delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday and Saturday.We May Have Just Seen The First Rainbow-Like Glory On A World Outside Our Solar SystemAstronomers have spotted evidence of the rainbow-like meteorological phenomenon known as glory on another planet. If this were Mars or Jupiter it would be remarkable enough‚ but the planet in question is WASP-76b‚ which is millions of times further away than either of them‚ outside the Solar System. Read the full story hereA 130‚000-Year-Old ";Stingray Sand Sculpture"; May Be World';s Oldest Animal ArtAt first glance‚ this might just look like strangely symmetrical rock. However‚ researchers have recently taken a deeper look at the object and speculate that it may be a prehistoric sand sculpture of a stingray. If thats true‚ it would make the relic the oldest known artwork of another animal. Read the full story hereThis 2‚000-Year-Old Peruvian Rock Art May Depict Psychedelic MusicA series of ancient engravings found on volcanic boulders in southern Peru might represent music performed during shamanic rituals involving hallucinogenic plants 2‚000 years ago. Consisting of what appears to be dancing human figures surrounded by zigzagging lines and other geometric forms‚ the enigmatic art eludes concrete interpretation‚ although a new analysis suggests that these abstract shapes may depict the songs that transported participants to other dimensions during their psychedelic trips. Read the full story hereWorlds Largest Ever Digital Camera Is CompletedThe Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera is now complete. It will soon travel to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory where it will provide an incredible new eye on the southern sky and help us better answer fundamental questions about the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Read the full story hereYes‚ This Adorable Toad Really Has Heart-Shaped PupilsThe yellow-bellied toad is sure to win the hearts of even the most hesitant of anuran appreciators‚ being an adorable little amphibian with heart-shaped pupils. Exactly what the pupil shape means in terms of the toads vision isnt known for certain‚ but the staggering diversity of anuran pupil shape has taught us that previously held associations of pupil shape with lifestyle might not apply to amphibians. Read the full story hereTWIS is published weekly on our Linkedin page‚ join us there for even more content.Feature of the week:Whats The Longest A Bird Can Fly Without Flapping Its Wings?Birds might not be able to get a driving license (boo)‚ but as it happens‚ some of them have found another way to get about while doing minimal exercise: soaring. At one point or another‚ they do have to flap their wings but which one can go the longest without doing so? Read the full story hereMore content:Have you seen our e-magazine‚ CURIOUS? Issue 21 April 2024 is out now. Check it out for exclusive interviews‚ book excerpts‚ long reads‚ and more.PLUS‚ the entire season 3 of IFLScience';s The Big Questions Podcast is available now.

Why did humans take over the world while our closest relatives‚ the Neanderthals‚ became extinct? Its possible we were just smarter‚ but theres surprisingly little evidence thats true.Neanderthals had big brains‚ language and sophisticated tools. They made art and jewellery. They were smart‚ suggesting a curious possibility. Maybe the crucial differences werent at the individual level‚ but in our societies.Two hundred and fifty thousand years ago‚ Europe and western Asia were Neanderthal lands. Homo sapiens inhabited southern Africa. Estimates vary but perhaps 100‚000 years ago‚ modern humans migrated out of Africa.Forty thousand years ago Neanderthals disappeared from Asia and Europe‚ replaced by humans. Their slow‚ inevitable replacement suggests humans had some advantage‚ but not what it was.Anthropologists once saw Neanderthals as dull-witted brutes. But recent archaeological finds show they rivalled us in intelligence.Neanderthals mastered fire before we did. They were deadly hunters‚ taking big game like mammoths and woolly rhinos‚ and small animals like rabbits and birds.They gathered plants‚ seeds and shellfish. Hunting and foraging all those species demanded deep understanding of nature.Neanderthals also had a sense of beauty‚ making beads and cave paintings. They were spiritual people‚ burying their dead with flowers.Stone circles found inside caves may be Neanderthal shrines. Like modern hunter-gatherers‚ Neanderthal lives were probably steeped in superstition and magic; their skies full of gods‚ the caves inhabited by ancestor-spirits.Then theres the fact Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had children together. We werent that different. But we met Neanderthals many times‚ over many millennia‚ always with the same result. They disappeared. We remained.The hunter-gatherer societyIt may be that the key differences were less at the individual level than at the societal level. Its impossible to understand humans in isolation‚ any more than you can understand a honeybee without considering its colony. We prize our individuality‚ but our survival is tied to larger social groups‚ like a bees fate depends on the colonys survival.Neanderthals lived in smaller groups. Esteban De Armas/ShutterstockModern hunter-gatherers provide our best guess at how early humans and Neanderthals lived. People like the Namibias Khoisan and Tanzanias Hadzabe gather families into wandering bands of ten to 60 people. The bands combine into a loosely organised tribe of a thousand people or more.These tribes lack hierachical structures‚ but theyre linked by shared language and religion‚ marriages‚ kinships and friendships. Neanderthal societies may have been similar but with one crucial difference: smaller social groups.Tight-knit tribesWhat points to this is evidence that Neanderthals had lower genetic diversity.In small populations‚ genes are easily lost. If one person in ten carries a gene for curly hair‚ then in a ten-person band‚ one death could remove the gene from the population. In a band of fifty‚ five people would carry the gene multiple backup copies. So over time‚ small groups tend to lose genetic variation‚ ending up with fewer genes.In 2022‚ DNA was recovered from bones and teeth of 11 Neanderthals found in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Several individuals were related‚ including a father and a daughter they were from a single band. And they showed low genetic diversity.Because we inherit two sets of chromosomes one from our mother‚ one from our father we carry two copies of each gene. Often‚ we have two different versions of a gene. You might get a gene for blue eyes from your mother‚ and one for brown eyes from your father.But the Altai Neanderthals often had one version of each gene. As the study reports‚ that low diversity suggests they lived in small bands probably averaging just 20 people.Its possible Neanderthal anatomy favoured small groups. Being robust and muscular‚ Neanderthals were heavier than us. So each Neanderthal needed more food‚ meaning the land could support fewer Neanderthals than Homo sapiens.And Neanderthals may have mainly eaten meat. Meat-eaters would get fewer calories from the land than people who ate meat and plants‚ again leading to smaller populations.Group size mattersIf humans lived in bigger groups than Neanderthals it could have given us advantages.Neanderthals‚ strong and skilled with spears were likely good fighters. Lightly built humans probably countered by using bows to attack at range.But even if Neanderthals and humans were equally dangerous in battle‚ if humans also had a numeric advantage they could bring more fighters and absorb more losses.Big societies have other‚ subtler advantages. Larger bands have more brains. More brains to solve problems‚ remember lore about animals and plants‚ and techniques for crafting tools and sewing clothing. Just as big groups have higher genetic diversity‚ theyll have higher diversity of ideas.And more people means more connections. Network connections increase exponentially with network size‚ following Metcalfes Law. A 20-person band has 190 possible connections between members‚ while 60 people have 1770 possible connections.Information flows through these connections: news about people and movements of animals; toolmaking techniques; and words‚ songs and myths. Plus the groups behaviour becomes increasingly complex.Consider ants. Individually‚ ants arent smart. But interactions between millions of ants lets colonies make elaborate nests‚ forage for food and kill animals many times an ants size. Likewise‚ human groups do things no one person can design buildings and cars‚ write elaborate computer programmes‚ fight wars‚ run companies and countries.Humans arent unique in having big brains (whales and elephants have these) or in having huge social groups (zebras and wildebeest form huge herds). But were unique in combining them.To paraphrase poet John Dunne‚ no man and no Neanderthal is an island. Were all part of something larger. And throughout history‚ humans formed larger and larger social groups: bands‚ tribes‚ cities‚ nation states‚ international alliances.It may be then that an ability to build large social structures gave Homo sapiens the edge‚ against nature‚ and other hominin species.Nicholas R. Longrich‚ Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology‚ Life Sciences at the University of Bath‚ University of BathThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Sometimes it really is your lucky day‚ and for Christopher Columbus that day came on February 29‚ 1504. As well as being a leap day‚ this peculiar date also saw a total lunar eclipse occur in the Caribbean night sky‚ allegedly allowing the famous navigator to trick his native hosts into treating him and his crew like royalty.According to reports attributed to Columbuss son Ferdinand‚ the sneaky move came at a time when tensions between the sailors and the local Arawak people of Jamaica were dangerously fraught. Having been stranded on the island since mid-1503 thanks to an infestation of marine worms eating chunks out of their ships‚ Columbus and his men were initially well-received by the natives‚ yet after more than half a year of supplying their guests with food‚ the Arawaks patience and hospitality were beginning to wear thin.Supposedly‚ things took a sour turn when half of the crew mutinied‚ going on a rampage that saw some Arawak killed and others robbed. Faced with the prospect of famine as their supply of complementary food was subsequently held‚ Columbus is said to have hatched an ingenious plan to save his skin.Fortunately for him‚ all European sailors at the time were equipped with an almanac containing astronomical tables for the period 1475 to 1506. Compiled by the great German mathematicianJohannes Mller von Knigsberg - also known as Regiomontanus - the document provided vital information about the movements of the sun‚ moon‚ planets and stars.A quick glance at the almanac in late February 1504 told Columbus that a total lunar eclipse was imminent. Approaching the Arawak chief‚ Columbus said that his Christian god had become enraged at the locals unwillingness to feed their guests‚ and would obliterate the full moon as a sign of his displeasure.Legend has it that when the lunar eclipse occurred at the exact time specified by Columbus‚ the panic-stricken Arawak begged forgiveness and promised to appease the Christian god by keeping the sailors well-fed. The story goes that from that moment onwards‚ Columbus and his crew wanted for nothing as they continued to wait for a rescue ship‚ which eventually arrived in June 1504.In truth‚ the historical veracity of this legend is difficult to ascertain‚ although we do know that a total lunar eclipse occurred over Jamaica on this date. Typically referred to as the Columbus Eclipse‚ this famous astronomical event has inspired numerous fictional episodes‚ including one incident in Mark Twains 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur';s Court‚ in which the lead character weasels his way out of being burned at the stake by foretelling a solar eclipse.With a total solar eclipse set to occur over North America on April 8‚ this old trick might come in handy for anyone who finds themself in mortal peril at this time.

Robbie Williams‚ the iconic British singer who rose to fame in the 90s with the pop group Take That‚ has long attracted audiences with his chart-topping hits. However‚ beyond his music career‚ Williams harbors a profound interest in the mysterious and unexplained‚ particularly in unidentified flying objects (UFOs).Williams fascination isnt a recent development; it has been a significant aspect of his life for years. His encounters with the unknown have not only piqued his curiosity but have also influenced his work‚ reports dailystar.co.uk.In 2020‚ it was revealed that his hit song Angels was inspired by his childhood experiences with paranormal entities.His interest in the paranormal led him to consider purchasing Skinwalker Ranch in Utah‚ a location infamous for its paranormal activity and UFO sightings. Williams recounted a particularly striking experience in 2008 when a luminous orb appeared outside his studio while he played his song Arizona‚ which lyrically explores the theme of alien contact. This orbs appearance seemed to be synchronized with the song‚ vanishing when the music stopped‚ only to reappear when it played again.Id just written a song called Arizona‚ and its all about alien contact and I was playing that‚ he recalled. I stood on the balcony and there was this big ball of gold light that turned up we thought it was Venus or Mars or something.Then the song stops playing and it disappears.But then we put Arizona on again and the ball turned back up. It happened four times.Williams has openly pondered the purpose behind his experiences‚ speculating whether his celebrity status is meant to serve as a platform for bringing attention to these otherworldly encounters. I sometimes think and I try to separate narcissism and ego‚ unsuccessfully a lot of the time but theres lots of different theories that we all have to do with this stuff but I often wonder if Im supposed to see it because of my public platform‚ he said.Am I supposed to see this so I can talk about it?The post Robbie Williams thinks aliens are targeting him because hes famous appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Ive warned the readers of my books and columns many times to steer clear of any involvement with the upturned wine glass a way of contacting spirits and the deceased that is also known as the Ouija for no good will ever come of it.Most spirits that do come through are out for mischief and will provide wrong information and terrify the sitters of the Ouija session by sometimes telling them that their days are numbered and someone will die.The Ouija also occasionally opens up the premises where the session is being held to all manner of dark forces and doors to evil presences may be opened that can never be shut again.A case in point is the Ouija session that was held one stormy afternoon in 1952 at the Farmers Arms pub in Frankby.The dangerous game was initiated by two women in their thirties who were bored and there were seven sitters in the pub that gathered around a table and placed their index fingers on the base of the upturned glass.One of those present asked the spirits to speak via the glass and then the said glass began to slide around‚ touching some of the 36 paper squares with the letters of the alphabet and the numerals zero to nine scrawled upon them.The glass repeatedly spelt out the name HENRY and everybody laughed; they had expected some dramatic name or message to come through‚ but the laughter quickly ended when the glass flew off the table and smashed itself to smithereens in the coals of the fireplace.There was a noticeable drop in temperature in the pub‚ and as the skies outside darkened‚ the two women who had suggested the Ouija session Janet and June both said they had felt something brush past them.They left the pub and walked towards their respective homes via Montgomery Hill and to their horror‚ the two ladies saw they were being followed by something it looked like a tall man in a long black cape and a hat of the type the Quakers of old used to wear.A violent thunderstorm broke out over Frankby to heighten the suspenseful atmosphere as the sinister figure closed in on the two women and they both started to run and gasp with fear.June said it could be just someone from the Farmers Arms messing about‚ trying to put the frights up them after that glass-dabbling‚ but Janet disagreed she could see that the figure seemed to move along smoothly as if it was on wheels.The shadowy pursuer suddenly picked up speed and the women ran screaming down a lane known as Birch Heys.At this point the terrified women‚ and a man coming out of a cottage on the lane could hear the figure laughing hysterically. The man gave a bemused look at the fleeing women‚ thinking there was just a bit of tomfoolery going on and that the man in black was a prankster known to Janet and June.The women tried to take a short cut to their homes by rushing up the stone steps to a stile to get to the public pathway‚ but here‚ as the heavens exploded with a burst of Biblical thunder‚ the thing seemed to leap onto the women‚ its cloak billowing in the wind.The man from the cottage heard their screams and decided this was not young people fooling about those women sounded as if they were being attacked. He ran to the stile and found the women lying on their backs and the cloaked man in the strange hat had gone.The man could get no sense out of June she was staring wild-eyed at the oppressive low thunderclouds‚ but Janet was in tears. She held her hands to her slender neck which looked red and bruised.She said a ghost had tried to strangle her and June. June had the same bruise marks on her neck. June ended up in a psychiatric hospital and took six months to recover from her ordeal‚ and Janet was plagued with nightmares about the grinning phantom strangler and his glowing evil eyes for many years.An old and much-respected local at the Farmers Arms named George subsequently claimed that Henry the name from the glass had been what we would now call a serial killer he had been responsible for many unsolved murders in the 1900s down the west coast of Wirral and he had made a lot of the killings look like suicides.George claimed that Henry was hanged by the father of a girl who had died at the murderers hands and had been buried at night in a shallow grave not far from the Farmers Arms.The body had been buried face down with a crucifix chained to it to stop the spirit of the evil Henry from rising. Occasionally‚ people walking up Montgomery Hill the lane facing the Farmers Arms have either seen a man in a black cloak following them or heard footsteps of someone close behind them.In a small but beautiful semi on St Andrews Road‚ so called because it is located close to St Andrews Church‚ Bebington‚ there was another visitor from the upturned glass in the summer of 2009. It was July‚ and the elderly couple who owned the semi were visited by their 21-year-old nephew Ryan and his girlfriend Beth both from Heswall.Ryan parked his Volkswagen camper van outside the dwelling and told his uncle he was having trouble finding a place to live since hed left home and was currently looking for a job.Ryans uncle and aunt were due to fly to Spain for a fortnights holiday and let the young couple stay at the house until they returned‚ hoping Ryan would have found employment by then. As soon as the couple were off on their hols‚ Ryan held a party at the semi‚ and during the drinking‚ someone suggested having a go at the Ouija board and claimed they were good at getting messages from spirits.Six people dabbled with the upturned wine glass that night and at one point the glass was seen to move along a table top on its own.Most of the words produced were nonsensical‚ but one of them appeared twice‚ and it was: MATHOLWCH which one of the people at the party a lad from Rhyl who would not get involved in the Ouija session claimed to be a Welsh name.By four in the morning the party was over‚ but many wouldnt stay over at the house because they said there was a sinister presence.Ryan dozed off in a drunken stupor on the sofa with Beth in his arms‚ and he was awakened by Beth screaming at around 4:30am.She said she had awakened to see a man in old fashioned clothes with a terrifying decomposing face leaning over her. His icy kisses had awakened her. She had heard him say to her‚ My dearest‚ I shall draw off your vitality‚ steal but a fraction of your life so I may live again and love you.His accent had a Welsh lilt to it‚ said Beth‚ and as soon as she had awakened and screamed he had vanished as he smiled. Ryan knew his girlfriend was a down-to-earth straight-talking person who never lied and had no interest in the supernatural‚ so he just knew his girlfriend was telling the truth.Two days after this‚ Ryan was standing at the top of the stairs at 10pm‚ looking down to the hall‚ waiting for Beth to come up to bed‚ when he saw a tall grotesque-looking man with a skeletal face in what looked like Victorian attire come to the foot of the stairs.It put its bony fingers on the handrail and the lights went out. They flickered back on the menacing ghoul was about five steps further up the stairs‚ and Ryan swore in terror.The lights went out again‚ throwing the hall into pitch blackness and when they came on again after a few seconds‚ the solid-looking ghost was standing right in front of Ryan‚ who turned and ran into his bedroom.He then heard Beth scream downstairs‚ and so he left the room and saw the ghost had gone‚ and the young man ran down to the kitchen were Beth was hysterical.She said the ghastly-looking ghost had thrown its arms around her and had tried to waltz about with her. She had struck it with a wine bottle and it had vanished.That night‚ the couple left the house on St Andrews Road and have still not returned there.The post Ghosts of the Ouija: How a Simple Game Altered Lives Forever appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Throughout human history‚ there have been many rumors surrounding twins (especially identical ones). Some said that they could know what the other twin was doing‚ even at a great distance‚ and that if one twin was in pain‚ then the other felt these pains.The sadistic Nazi doctor Josef Mengele‚ who performed horrific operations on twins in the Auschwitz concentration camp‚ tried to put these claims to the test by torturing one twin and observing the reaction of the other‚ who was placed in an isolated room. It is not known what results Mengele achieved‚ but stories about the unusually close connection between twins ‚ including mental ones‚ still circulate. From time to time‚ stories appear in the press about the strange behavior of twins‚ which fuel these stories and make more and more people believe in them. One such story came from Scotland. Sophie Walker‚ 17‚ was diagnosed with a rare kidney cancer in October 2017 and has since been undergoing treatment to try to beat the disease after three remissions. Her identical twin sister‚ Megan Walker‚ does not have a tumor‚ but says she experiences the same pain as her sisters. In particular‚ she has pain in the same place in her back where her sister has a diseased kidney.After Sophie was first diagnosed‚ she began experiencing cramps similar to stomach cramps‚ and Meghan immediately began experiencing similar symptoms. Then it happened again with abdominal and back pain. Then Megan began to turn pale‚ like her sister‚ and she began to lose the same weight. People always say how sick she looks shes even paler than her sister. But Megan has had all the tests done and theres absolutely nothing wrong with her. Its so strange‚ said Rebecca Walker‚ the girls mother. The sisters parents are trying not to despair‚ but the doctors have already told them that they will not offer Sophie new treatment methods‚ including experimental ones. So now they are raising money for an operation in another country. Sophie and Meghan are so close‚ they are almost in sync its like one person split into two. How would Meghan live without Sophie? We worry not only for Sophie‚ but also for Meghan‚ says Rebecca Walker. Unfortunately‚ reporters did not provide more details about Sophie and Meghans unusually close bond‚ including whether they sensed each others actions or pain before Sophies cancer diagnosis. The post Twin feels sisters pain from cancer without knowing diagnosis appeared first on Anomalien.com.

With good reason‚ special counsel Jack Smith believes he has an extremely strong case against the former president.

Many of those who profess to care about the state of American democracy have no interest in salvaging the constitutional structure that makes it work.

A retelling of Mark Twains famous novel from the perspective of the black slave Jim is a fitting tribute to‚ and even an expansion of‚ the original.