What the scientists are saying…
The trend-setting early humans
The first humans settled in Europe thousands of years earlier than was previously thought – and when they arrived, it seems they influenced local fashions. In 2015, researchers excavating a cave in central Bulgaria found various Upper Palaeolithic items, including a tooth, fossilised bone fragments, tools and jewellery. The inhabitants of the caves were presumed to be Neanderthals, but five years on, the researchers say they have established that the remains were in fact those of Homo sapiens – and they are between 43,000 and 46,000 years old. Until now, it had been believed that the first human migrations to Europe occurred 40,000 years ago. “We are talking about the oldest modern humans in Europe,” said Prof Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig. Among the finds were pendants constructed from bears’ teeth – which are strikingly similar to ones recovered from later Neanderthal sites in France. It is clear from our own DNA that the two species mingled and interbred, and so the researchers believe the likeliest explanation for this is that Neanderthals adopted aspects of H. sapiens culture.
Deadly “wet-bulb” weather on rise
For some time, scientists have been warning that if temperatures keep rising, in large swathes of the world humans will literally die if they spend any significant length of time outside. Now, it seems the “wet-bulb peril” is already here. Of course, the human body cannot survive very hot temperatures; but even relatively moderate ones can become lethal when they are combined with excessive humidity. The threshold is referred to as the “wet-bulb temperature”. It is exceeded when the mercury climbs to above 35ºC, and the humidity is above 90% – but as the temperature climbs higher, then the humidity level required for conditions to become lethal declines. Previous studies had suggested that wet-bulb temperatures would start becoming a serious problem in the last quarter of this century; but a new study has found that they are already occurring. Using data captured by 7,877 weather stations, a team at Columbia University found that the frequency of extreme humid-heat events has doubled over the past four decades, and that the global trend is “steep and significantly upward”. Although not all the conditions recorded were so extreme as to be lethal, wet-bulb temperatures along the Persian Gulf were hot enough that a human would die if exposed to them for a few hours, and in other areas – including parts of North America – they were close to exceeding the level of human tolerance.
The Covid-19 protein
There are many mysteries surrounding Covid-19 – one of which is why it kills far more men than women. At least 60% of the patients who have died of the disease have been male. One reason is thought to be the greater incidence of obesity among men. Now scientists think they have identified another: men with heart disease tend to have higher concentrations of a protein that is believed to be a strong “biomarker” for the disease. Research has suggested that the protein, ACE2, acts as an entry point for the virus, enabling it to invade cells and replicate. When scientists at the University Medical Centre Groningen, in the Netherlands, measured concentrations of the protein in the blood plasma of heart patients in their 60s and 70s, they found that these were far higher in the men than the women. However, since most of the patients didn’t have Covid, the study doesn’t prove a direct link between ACE2 and the disease.
Yoga helps the pain of migraine
People who suffer from migraines should consider yoga, says The Daily Telegraph. Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi taught yoga techniques to a group of sufferers of episodic migraines – defined as four to 14 headaches per month. They were then told to practise at home five days a week for three months, while keeping a diary noting the duration and severity of their headaches, and the painkillers they took. Another group on standard medication were asked to keep a similar record. In both groups, the participants experienced an improvement in symptoms, but in the yoga group, the improvements were far more dramatic, and these people also took half the number of painkilling drugs.