Scientists discovered remnants of an Old Stone Age culture, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Beijing, where ancient hominins used a reddish pigment called ochre and crafted tiny, blade-like tools from stone. The archaeological site, called Xiamabei, offers a rare glimpse into the life of Homo sapiens and now-extinct human relatives who inhabited the region some 40,000 years ago.
The newly excavated site lies within the Nihewan Basin, a depression in a mountainous region of northern China. The excavation team found evidence of the culture about 8 feet (2.5 meters) underground, when they spotted a layer of dark, silty sediment that dated to between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating and other analyses. This Stone Age sediment contained a treasure trove of artifacts and animal remains, including more than 430 mammal bones; a hearth; physical evidence of ochre use and processing; a tool made of bone; and more than 380 miniaturized lithics, or small tools and artifacts made of chipped or ground stone.
Molotov cocktails — improvised, handheld firebombs — are emblematic of civil unrest and revolution. Cheap, lightweight and easily concealed, they are probably the most lethal weapon that can be made quickly from easily available ingredients; and so "Molotovs" have been wielded by irregular combatants for almost 100 years, from their first recorded use in the Spanish Civil War up until recent conflicts, including the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Molotov cocktails take their name from the Russian politician Vyacheslav Molotov, who was the foreign minister of the Soviet Union during World War II. According to the American historian William Trotter, the phrase comes from Finnish, where it is "Molotovin koktaili."
Dogs say "woof," cats say "meow" and snakes say "sss." To make this sound, humans have to position their tongues against their front teeth. Snakes don't have front teeth, so how can they make this sound — and sometimes even stick out their tongues at the same time?
It turns out that snakes make that hissing noise a bit farther back in the respiratory system than we do, in a structure called the glottis. The glottis is a tiny opening at the bottom of the snake's mouth that opens when the snake breathes.
NASA's Curiosity rover recently got up close and personal with a tiny, flower-like mineral deposit on the surface of Mars. The beautiful branching rock, which is just 0.4 inch (1 centimeter) wide, looks a bit like a coral or a sponge. Despite its likeness to a living organism, however, the deposit is not alive and is a fairly common sight across the Martian landscape.
Curiosity snapped a picture of the tiny mineral flower on Feb. 25 near Aeolis Mons, also known as Mount Sharp, at the heart of the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale crater, which the rover has been studying since its arrival on the Red Planet in 2012. The image is a composite of multiple shots taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager, which takes close-ups using a magnifying lens. This type of composite photo allows the rover to produce much more detailed images, according to NASA.
(Daniel Ripplinger / DansPhotoArt via Getty Images)
The phrase "the birds and the bees" is a term used to explain the mechanics of reproduction to younger children, relying on the imagery of bees pollinating and eggs hatching to substitute for a more technical explanation of sexual intercourse. It is a way of deflecting the inevitable question that every parent dreads: "Where do babies come from?" and it is an alternative to the explanation that the stork delivers babies.
It is uncertain when the phrase was first used or how it gained popularity. It does not necessarily mean that parents are explaining how birds and bees reproduce. The connection between human sexuality and eggs and pollination is vague, which can cause some confusion among curious children.
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Keep a civil tongue.