17,300-year-old kangaroo is Australia’s oldest rock art
Australian scientists have discovered the country’s oldest known rock art – a 17,300-year-old painting of a kangaroo.
The artwork measuring 2m was painted in red ochre on the ceiling of a rock shelter, BBC News reported.
It was found in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, known for its Aboriginal rock paintings. Its age was determined by radiocarbon-dating ancient mud wasp nests. The findings were published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Researcher Damien Finch, who pioneered the mud wasp dating technique, said it was rare to find mud wasp nests both on top and underneath a single artwork. But the team was able to sample both types to establish the artwork’s minimum and maximum ages.
“We radiocarbon dated three wasp nests underlying the painting and three nests built over it to determine, confidently, that the painting is between 17,500 and 17,100 years old; most likely 17,300 years old,” said Finch, a geochronologist from the University of Melbourne.
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A new combo pill can substantially reduce bleeding caused by uterine fibroids – possibly offering some women yet another alternative to surgery, a new trial finds.
The once-daily medication, which combines a drug called relugolix with estrogen and progestin, is not yet approved in the United States, healthday.com reported.
But it is under review by the US Food and Drug Administration, according to drugmaker Myovant Sciences, which funded the study.
If approved, the drug would join a similar medication – called Oriahnn – that got the green light from the FDA last year for reducing heavy bleeding from fibroids.
Fibroids are non-cancerous growths in the wall of the uterus that are usually harmless. But when they cause significant problems – such as heavy monthly bleeding and persistent pain – treatment may be necessary.
Traditionally, the go-to has been a hysterectomy, or surgical removal of the uterus. But women who plan to become pregnant or simply don’t want a hysterectomy need other options.
One is to have less extensive surgery to remove the fibroids only.
The trouble is that the fibroids often return – especially when there are multiple growths, said Dr. Taraneh Shirazian, a gynecologist who specializes in minimally invasive surgery at NYU Langone Health in New York City.
Shirazian, who was not involved in the new trial, said she is always interested in alternatives for women who do not want surgery or are not good candidates for it.
Fibroids are exceedingly common, Shirazian pointed out, particularly among women of color: Around 70 percent of white women and 80% of Black women develop them by age 50.
Often, fibroids do not cause symptoms, and generally wane after menopause, since estrogen helps fuel their growth.
But for women who do have symptoms, hysterectomy has all too often been the solution, said Dr. Ayman Al-hendy, lead researcher on the trial.
“We do a lot of hysterectomies in the US every year – around 600,000,” said Al-hendy, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. “Most of them are done to treat fibroids.”