When the 10,000-year-old skeleton known as Cheddar Man was first discovered, researchers assumed that the man had had light skin—in keeping with the widely accepted idea that early Britons had fair complexions, just as their descendants do today. But new research shows that the skin pigment of the world’s earliest known Brit was, in fact, dark brown.
The Christian Louboutin red-soled, high-heeled shoe is so beloved and well-known it generates odes. In the immortal words of Cardi B, “These expensive, these is red bottoms. These is bloody shoes.” But the luxury brand’s distinguishing mark, a red hue known as Pantone 18 1663TP—used on the underside of its shoes since 1992—is the subject of a legal dispute which could leave Louboutin scrambling to stand out.
Japanese police are cracking down on mischievous linguists who they say cost the country billions of dollars annually in illegally translated copies of manga, video games, and magazines.
The dusky gopher frog is small and stout, about three inches long, with warts on its back and a guttural call that sounds like a snore. It lives in the ephemeral ponds of longleaf pine forests in Mississippi. And it’s at the center of a new Supreme Court case that pits a major global timberland owner against US government efforts to bring the frogs back from the brink of extinction.
Poetry is suddenly popular, which ought to make poets happy. But the poems circulating on the internet right now tend to be short, full of feels, and written by young women with lots of Instagram followers—which makes some literati mad. They’re hotly debating whether this kind of social media verse even counts as poetry, or art, at all.
On January 31st, half of the Earth will experience a very special moon moment: “a super blue blood moon.” The term, according to NASA, describes three simultaneous celestial events: a “supermoon,” in which the moon is closer to Earth in orbit and appears 14% brighter than usual; the second full moon of the month, also known as a “blue moon”; and a lunar eclipse, which gives the moon a reddish or bloody tint. As a result, we can expect the heavens to look quite unusual.
The human story keeps changing. Scientists once believed that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago and started migrating from the continent about 80,000 years afterward in the Late Pleistocene era. But last year archaeologists revealed that a fossil in Morocco shows our ancestors were around at least 300,000 years ago. Now, archaeologists in Israel have found more evidence that human history’s not set in stone—more like pencil and paper.
Just by being born, two adorable long-tailed macaques have advanced scientific knowledge dramatically. They’ve only been around for about eight weeks and are being introduced to the world today (Jan. 24), yet these baby primate clones have already done more for the future of scientific research than most humans will do in their whole lives.
Hath not the lobster claws, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as humans? If we boil it, does it not feel?
Since the first industrial revolution in the 18th century, people have grown increasingly alienated from their own production. The fruits of human labor became factory salaries rather than real fruit grown in orchards or other tangibles that could act as evidence for individuals’ skills—their craftiness, if you will. Now, we are well into the fourth industrial revolution, which has blurred the lines between the physical and digital worlds, and we’re ever-more disconnected from the materials around us, relying on tools too complex for us to make or fix ourselves, stressed about the relentless pace of information, and confused by the abstract nature of our days.
We live in opinionated times. Between a relentless news cycle and deep ideological divides, we feel pressure to take positions quickly, often on stories that are still developing, or on topics we know little about.
If you’re hip to linguistics, you already know English is full of foreign words. For example, “hip” is from the 1920s slang “hepcat,” derived from the West African language Wolof, and its word for “one in the know,” a hipikat.
Fifty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Tennessee, there is still a deep racial divide in the US. But tonight (Jan. 15), in Dallas, people of all races, walks of life, and political leanings will gather for a never-before-attempted reconciliation event that honors King’s legacy, called the “Course Correction Conversation.”
The energy giant ExxonMobil claims to be “caught in the crosshairs” of a major political “conspiracy.” The oil company says in a Jan. 9 Texas state court filing that “a collection of special interests and opportunistic politicians are abusing law enforcement authority and legal process to impose their viewpoint on climate change.”
Cuttlefish evolved 21 million years ago, which is plenty of time to develop special skills, like a natural camouflage that instantly transforms their colors and patterns. Humans are still discovering new powers held by these sea chameleons.
Have you ever longed to shine like a star and be part of something great—a major artistic work, say, or a scientific discovery?
Ex-Google engineer James Damore filed a complaint in California state court, seeking class certification for his employment discrimination case against the tech giant, claiming Google is biased against conservative viewpoints, men, and Caucasians, in violation of state employment laws.
Exactly 200 years ago today, on January 1, 1818, the thoughtful monster Frankenstein was unleashed on the world. English writer Mary Shelley’s Gothic Prometheus was made for the modern age; Quartz gave the story a birthday update for the contemporary period.
The doge is not pleased. For the year of the doggo is almost upon us.
It’s important to keep hydrated, of course, but would you buy bottled water if you knew the water was diverted from a forest held in public trust? Would you still pay a private enterprise for bottling the elixir of life without right?
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg must have only reluctantly offered up his company’s Christmas gift to users in the US and UK. Very quietly, on Dec. 22, the Friday before Christmas, Facebook rolled out a tool for users to check their engagement with Russian propaganda. It appeared on the site with no official announcement.
The holiday season is an emotional time for everyone, whether you love family gatherings or hate them, follow tradition slavishly or jettison it altogether. It’s difficult to stay cool in the midst of a shopping, eating, drinking, and gifting frenzy, and to avoid the blues when regular life resumes again.
Baby Jesus was born in a manger because his parents were strangers in a strange land who had to rely on the kindness of strangers, according to Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
You spent all month and most of your money buying a bunch of presents for people you love. And all you got was this lousy t-shirt.
