Ancient humans dug up remains of ancestors to use as tools, study suggests
Researchers working at a cave in southern Spain have found evidence that the skeletal remains of ancient humans buried there were dug up, modified and even used as tools by subsequent generations.
2023-09-22 00:20
DRC President Tshisekedi tells UN peacekeepers to leave the country from December
President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has asked for an accelerated withdrawal of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, against a backdrop of successive anti-UN protests over its failure to rein in rebel groups more than 20 years after its deployment to the country.
2023-09-22 00:17
Ukrainians signal fresh progress on southern front amid grinding counteroffensive
Ukrainian officials indicated Thursday that further inroads have been made on the southern front, with some units advancing "deep into the Russian defenses" -- a possible sign of progress amid Kyiv's grinding counteroffensive.
2023-09-21 23:48
Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp. chairman, sending shockwaves through media and politics
Rupert Murdoch, the powerful right-wing media mogul who built and oversaw one of the world's most influential news empires, announced Thursday that he will step down as chairman of his companies, Fox Corporation and News Corporation.
2023-09-21 23:17
Rupert Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox, News Corp
By Helen Coster and Aditya Soni (Reuters) -Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of Fox Corp and News
2023-09-21 22:23
Nine Memphis deputies indicted for death of Black man in Memphis jail
By Brendan O'Brien Nine Memphis-area deputies have been indicted in the killing of a Black man who died
2023-09-21 21:57
King Charles makes historic speech at French senate as he hails 'indispensable' UK-France relationship
King Charles III became the first British monarch to make a speech from France's senate chamber on Thursday, praising the "indispensable relationship" between the UK and its neighbor which he said was "as firm as it has ever been."
2023-09-21 21:56
Five to be charged in UK with spying for Russia
Three men and two women are to be charged with conspiracy to conduct espionage, UK prosecutors say.
2023-09-21 21:27
Family sues Google alleging its Maps app led father to drive off collapsed bridge to his death, attorneys say
Google has been sued by the family of a North Carolina man claiming the company's Maps application last year led him to drive off a collapsed bridge and fall about 20 feet to his death, according to the lawsuit.
2023-09-21 21:17
Scientists have found a novel virus at the bottom of the ocean
Scientists have discovered a new virus in the Pacific that is thought to be the deepest ever found in Earth’s oceans. The so-called bacteriophage virus infects and replicates inside bacteria, and was found in the Mariana Trench, which is the Pacific’s deepest point. Bacteriophages are among the world’s most abundant life forms, and are important for regulating population sizes in the oceans and releasing nutrients. This one, the catchily named vB_HmeY_H4907, was picked up at 8,900 metres below sea level. That is still some way off the 11,000 metre floor of the trench. Min Wang, a marine virologist from the Ocean University of China, said: “To our best knowledge, this is the deepest known isolated phage in the global ocean.” “Wherever there’s life, you can bet there are regulators at work. Viruses, in this case.” Scientists think this virus is likely to be distributed widely in the world’s oceans, despite the fact it has only been discovered. It has a similar structure to its host bacteria group halomonas. These are usually found in sediments and geyser-like openings on the seafloor. They also think the virus is lysogenic, which means it infects the host but does not kill it. Dr Wang said the discovery could inform further research about how viruses survive in the world’s harshest environments. “Extreme environments offer optimal prospects for unearthing novel viruses,” he added. The virus was found in the so-called hadal zone, which the study’s authors said is “the planet’s least explored and most mysterious environment, and it is the deepest habitat for life on Earth’s surface”. The area is named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. Researchers wrote in the study: “These findings expand our understanding of the phylogenetic diversity and genomic features of hadal lysogenic phages, provide essential information for further studies of phage-host interactions and evolution, and may reveal new insights into the lysogenic lifestyles of viruses inhabiting the hadal ocean.” The findings were published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-21 20:58
Saudi Arabia getting closer to Israel normalisation deal, prince says
An agreement creating ties between the two historical foes would mark a huge regional shift.
2023-09-21 20:55
Scientists issue warning about asteroid heading to Earth with force of 24 atomic bombs
Scientists are on alert after NASA confirmed there is a chance an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building could come smashing into Earth. The asteroid is named Bennu after the ancient Egyptian bird god and has been on the space agency’s radar for a long time as they try to prevent it from coming crashing into our planet. Bennu has been categorised as one of the two “most hazardous known asteroids” and, despite the chance of impact standing at 1-in-2,700, it could strike the Earth with the force of 24 times that of the largest nuclear bomb – 1,200 megatons of energy. The carbon-based asteroid is approximately 510 metres wide and experts predict that it will come closest to hitting Earth on September 24, 2182. While the asteroid is quite sizeable, it is not quite as sizeable as the six-mile-wide asteroid which almost completely wiped out the dinosaurs. But, NASA warns that Bennu “could cause continental devastation if it became an Earth impactor”. A space mission launched using NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully taken a sample from Bennu in order for scientists to better understand the potentially dangerous asteroid. On Sunday (24 September) a capsule of the material will be dropped by OSIRIS-REx and returned to Earth where it will be retrieved and the matter inside studied. Davide Farnocchia of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory told the Science Journal: “We improved our knowledge of Bennu's trajectory by a factor of 20.” As scientists work to investigate how much of a risk it could cause, Farnocchia added: “In 2135, we'll know for sure.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-21 20:26