Fermented meat with a side of maggots: A new look at the Neanderthal diet

Researchers reconstruct ancient diets by studying stable nitrogen isotope ratios.

Scientists long thought that Neanderthals were avid meat eaters. Based on chemical analysis of Neanderthal remains, it seemed like they’d been feasting on as much meat as apex predators such as lions and hyenas. But as a group, hominins—that’s Neanderthals, our species, and other extinct close relatives—aren’t specialized flesh eaters. Rather, they’re more omnivorous, eating plenty of plant foods, too.

It is possible for humans to subsist on a very carnivorous diet. In fact, many traditional northern hunter–gatherers such as the Inuit subsisted mostly on animal foods. But hominins simply cannot tolerate consuming the high levels of protein that large predators can. If humans eat as much protein as hypercarnivores do over long periods without consuming enough other nutrients, it can lead to protein poisoning—a debilitating, even lethal condition historically known as “rabbit starvation.”

So, what could explain the chemical signatures found in Neanderthal bones that seem to suggest they were healthily eating tons of meat?

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A secretive space plane is set to launch and test quantum navigation technology

“Testing this tech will be helpful for navigation in contested environments.”

The X-37B, the US Space Force's secretive space plane, will soon take flight again.

On Monday, the Space Force announced that it will fly the small, Space Shuttle-shaped vehicle on the program's eighth mission next month. The launch of the vehicle, on a Falcon 9 rocket, is scheduled to occur no earlier than August 21 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

There are two active X-37Bs in the Space Force fleet, both built by Boeing. The first made its debut flight in April 2010. Since then, the two uncrewed spacecraft have made a succession of longer flights. The first made its longest and latest flight from 2020 to 2022 over a span of 908 days. The second flew more recently, landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base on March 7 after 434 days in orbit.

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Keyphone is a feature phone with swappable keyboard and camera modules (crowdfunding)

Over the past few years we’ve seen a number of efforts to bring physical keyboards back to smartphones. But we’ve also seen a growing number of efforts to make smartphones… less smart, as a way to ensure they’re less distracting…

Over the past few years we’ve seen a number of efforts to bring physical keyboards back to smartphones. But we’ve also seen a growing number of efforts to make smartphones… less smart, as a way to ensure they’re less distracting and addictive. The Keyphone falls into both categories. It’s a relatively simple feature phone that runs a […]

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