http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org) —In a new study, a European research team suggests that the average intelligence level of Victorian-era people was higher than that of modern-day people. They base their controversial assertion on reaction times (RT) to visual stimuli given as tests to people from the late 1800s to modern times—the faster the reaction time, they say, the smarter the person. http://phys.org/news287999014.html Other Sciences Fri, 17 May 2013 08:44:03 EST news287999014 (Phys.org) —A unique study carried out by researchers from the U.K., Australia and Canada has revealed that babies born to blind mothers don't appear to suffer degraded communication skills compared to babies born to sighted mothers. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers found that not only did the babies of blind mothers perform as well as did babies born to sighted mother's on standard communication tests, but appeared to develop some advantages as well. http://phys.org/news284883544.html Other Sciences Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:19:32 EST news284883544 (Phys.org)—A team of researchers from New Zealand and Australia has found that cultural exchange in human populations sometimes occurs at a much slower rate than genetic divergence. As the group explains in their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they found that a popular folktale was slower to migrate between different groups of people, than were gene transfers. http://phys.org/news279442916.html Other Sciences Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:50:01 EST news279442916 A new, comprehensive review of humans' anthropological and genetic records gives the most up-to-date story of the "Out of Africa" expansion that occurred about 45,000 to 60,000 years ago. http://phys.org/news270134861.html Other Sciences Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:27:51 EST news270134861 (Phys.org)—Research indicates the out-of-Africa spread of humans was dictated by the appearance of favourable climatic windows. http://phys.org/news267125750.html Other Sciences Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:36:14 EST news267125750 On 11 April 2012, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake occurred 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the coast of Sumatra. This earthquake was unusual in that it originated within the plate rather than at a plate boundary. In fact, it is the largest such earthquake in observed human history. The quake originated under the Wharton Basin in the Indian Ocean, where hundreds of kilometers of rock were under crushing tension, causing the plate to deform at its base. But this deforming zone was also absorbing tension as two plates, the Indian and Australian plates, rotated toward each other. http://phys.org/news265640492.html Space & Earth Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:10:01 EST news265640492 (Phys.org) -- The lowly chicken has had a remarkable impact on human history, providing a food source for innumerable people over the years. Modern scientists believe chickens (Gallus gallus) were first domesticated over 5000 years ago somewhere in Southeast Asia, and since that time have been carried to every place that humans exist. Tracking their migration helps historians track human migration. Now new research by a team made up of people from a variety of sciences from around the world has found, using mitochondrial DNA evidence from bones of ancient chickens, what they believe to be the great-grandmother’s of the modern chicken. They have published their findings in the journal PLoS One. http://phys.org/news262863895.html Biology Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:45:27 EST news262863895 (Phys.org) -- Although pointing high-energy lasers at the sky to cause pouring rain is currently a high-tech dream, the motivation behind controlling the weather has existed since the days of our ancient ancestors. Throughout human history, many civilizations developed magical or religious methods in an attempt to increase or decrease precipitation. In light of this history, current techniques that shoot laser beams or launch chemicals into the sky for the same purpose seem to be just the latest manifestation of this goal. http://phys.org/news261636888.html Physics Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:00:01 EST news261636888 Analyzing DNA from four ancient skeletons and comparing it with thousands of genetic samples from living humans, a group of Scandinavian scientists reported that agriculture initially spread through Europe because farmers expanded their territory northward, not because the more primitive foragers already living there adopted it on their own. http://phys.org/news254997585.html Biology Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:30:01 EST news254997585 One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter‑gatherer to agricultural societies. This week's edition of Science presents the genetic findings of a Swedish‑Danish research team, which show that agriculture spread to Northern Europe via migration from Southern Europe. http://phys.org/news254665281.html Other Sciences Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:05 EST news254665281 Ukraine launched Thursday construction of a new shelter to permanently secure the stricken Chernobyl plant as it marked the 26th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster. http://phys.org/news254658670.html Other Sciences Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:31:44 EST news254658670 This week, as tens of millions of Americans awaited the baseball season's first pitches, Brown University psychologist Fiery Cushman was watching more warily for the first beanballs. As someone who studies moral judgment, Cushman recognizes that the intentional targeting of an innocent player to avenge a hit batsman could be a telling exception within American culture, even if the rest of the game is a national institution. http://phys.org/news252841971.html Other Sciences Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:53:02 EST news252841971 Scientists say worldwide collections, existing experts and technology make charting 10 million species in less than 50 years achievable; a necessary step to sustain planet’s biodiversity. http://phys.org/news252590268.html Biology Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:00:01 EST news252590268 The world's surging population is a big driver of environmental woes but the issue is complex and solutions are few, experts at a major conference here say. http://phys.org/news252081194.html Space & Earth Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:40:38 EST news252081194 Vulnerability to climate change presents policy challenges to local, state, regional, national and international entities, particularly at a time when the public and policy-makers still struggle conceptually with the complexities of rising ocean levels, falling water tables and shifting ecoclines. How can we plan sustainably for an unknowable future outcome? Arizona State anthropologist Michelle Hegmon says, look back to simpler times. http://phys.org/news248892940.html Space & Earth Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:55:48 EST news248892940 Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests. http://phys.org/news246709685.html Other Sciences Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:11 EST news246709685 One of the most comprehensive analyses yet done of the ancient history of insect-borne disease concludes for the first time that malaria is not only native to the New World, but it has been present long before humans existed and has evolved through birds and monkeys. http://phys.org/news239459708.html Biology Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:35:18 EST news239459708 An international team of researchers studying DNA patterns from modern and archaic humans has uncovered new clues about the movement and intermixing of populations more than 40,000 years ago in Asia. http://phys.org/news235912965.html Biology Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:23:02 EST news235912965 (PhysOrg.com) -- Throughout much of human history, it has been assumed by both men and women that men are somehow better able to solve so-described spatial problems than are women. This apparent discrepancy has been used to explain the differences in the numbers of men versus women receiving doctoral degrees in the math and sciences, at least in the United States. Now however, new research by Moshe Hoffman, a researcher from the University of California and colleagues suggests that conventional thinking might be wrong. He and his team have published a paper on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that suggests that spatial ability comes more as a result of the environment in which a person is raised, rather than from gender. http://phys.org/news234010005.html Other Sciences Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:40:01 EST news234010005 The space shuttle flew to the International Space Station 37 times, but its retirement leaves NASA reliant on the Russian Soyuz for future trips, raising the question of what would happen if the Soyuz is grounded for an accident or another problem. http://phys.org/news231338306.html Space & Earth Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:39:03 EST news231338306 The short version of human history might go something like this: First we were prey, then we were hunter-gatherers, then farmers — and from that came civilization. http://phys.org/news223897134.html Biology Fri, 06 May 2011 10:39:03 EST news223897134 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are drilling deep into the bed of the fast-shrinking Dead Sea, searching for clues to past climate changes and other events that may have affected human history even earlier than biblical times. They have found that the sea has come and gone in the past—a revelation with powerful implications for the current Mideast. http://phys.org/news215696344.html Space & Earth Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:10:03 EST news215696344 The instability of large, complex societies is a predictable phenomenon, according to a new mathematical model that explores the emergence of early human societies via warfare. Capturing hundreds of years of human history, the model reveals the dynamical nature of societies, which can be difficult to uncover in archaeological data. http://phys.org/news214670580.html Other Sciences Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:43:25 EST news214670580 As director of the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative, the need to address human contributions to global warming is a no-brainer that Bob Doppelt says in his new book requires a mindset tuned into "The Power of Sustainable Thinking." http://phys.org/news141037526.html Space & Earth Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:05:26 EST news141037526