things we liked this week
Jewel of the past An ancient ornament has been uneathedd from the famous Denisova cave in Siberia. It was made by humans, or at lest worn by them. But the power of DNA analysis to reach back 20 000 years to answer this question is awesome, as Nature Briefings explains
A woman who held a deer-tooth pendant some 20,000 years ago left her genetic calling card on the ancient treasure. Scientists unearthed the pendant in Denisova Cave in Siberia, Russia, which was once home to several ancient human species, including the Denisovans. To glean details about who made or wore the pendant, researchers coaxed DNA from inside pores of the tooth — without damaging the priceless item — then compared the genetic sequences with other sets of ancient DNA. The woman was a member of our own species, Homo sapiens, and had north Eurasian ancestry. “It’s almost like you open a time travel machine,” says study co-author Elena Essel.Nature | 3 min read
Read an in-depth analysis of the research
Reference: Nature paper or try the very readable Research Briefing summary by co-author Marie Soressi (Nature | 6 min read, Nature paywall)
Porn to be wild The rational argument against pornography is the way it distorts and tells half truths about the complexities of human sexual and social relationships. The damage this can cause is eloquently described by Alessia Tranchese of the Conversation
https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-talk-about-porn-when-we-talk-about-andrew-tate-20105
Some like it hot But not if you live in parts of Spain and other regions of Southern Europe. Statistically, this catastrophe has to be caused by climate change. What have you got to say to that, Donald Trump?
Seven Reasons why cancer won’t win The World Economic Forum has been sneered at as another talking shop where the great and the good meet up for cocktails and never do anything. But every caricature hides a truth. Here is their very nice summary of the very latest lines in research and why there’s still a great deal to be optimistic about
Another Green World Fans of the old Arena programme on BBC TV will recall the tranquil, elegiac music of Brian Eno which opened it. It sums up memories of warm nights on London’s South Bank in the 1980s as your evening was over and one downed a last G and T before heading off to Waterloo and the long haul to the suburbs. Here’s a sampler
#human evolution #dna #jewels #pornography #misogyny#climat change #donald trump #global warming #WEF #cancer #oncology #brian eno
Learning, Science and Society 