A roundup of Secrets in the News for November 2020.
Plan to retrieve Titanic radio spurs debate on human remains
If you like this, you might like: Abandoning the Titanic
ABC News: NORFOLK, Va. — People have been diving to the Titanic’s wreck for 35 years. No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights. But the company’s plan to retrieve the ship’s iconic radio equipment has sparked a debate: Could the world’s most famous shipwreck still hold remains of passengers and crew who died a century ago? [read more]
"A company’s plan to retrieve the Titanic’s radio has sparked a debate over whether the famous shipwreck still holds human remains." —@ABC https://t.co/BO2T3YbG5x
— Secrets of the Dead (@SecretsPBS) October 19, 2020
2,000-Year-Old Cat Etching Found at Nazca Lines Site in Peru
The New York Times: The image, stretching for 40 yards on a hillside in Peru, shows a creature with pointy ears, orb-like eyes and a long striped tail. It appears to be a cat lounging, as cats often do. Archaeologists stumbled across the faded etching while remodeling a section of a UNESCO heritage site known as the Nazca Lines, Peru’s Ministry of Culture announced last week…[read more]
Something very strange and powerful and beautiful was happening in Peru 2000 years ago. We still don't understand it; perhaps we don't deserve to. ?https://t.co/t178tTp7iG
— Jonathan Shecter (@SheckyGreen) October 20, 2020
To Adapt to a Changing Environment 400,000 Years Ago, Early Humans Developed New Tools and Behaviors
Smithsonian Magazine: Four hundred thousand years ago, extreme environmental changes rocked the East African Rift Valley. Fresh water periodically dried up, and vast grasslands faded away—taking with them the large grazing animals hunted by early humans. But ecological instability didn’t drive people out of the region or into extinction. Instead, it sparked them to adapt with major leaps forward in their behavior and culture. Early humans developed more sophisticated stone tools and weapons, expanded trade networks, and even evidenced the growth of symbolic communication…[read more]
In these challenging times it helps to remember that distinctively human behavior was first forged in times of drastic environmental changes. https://t.co/GvGI557MWR
— Embodied Cognitive Science Unit (@EcsuOist) November 3, 2020
Why did Rome fall?
If you like this, you might like: Hannibal in the Alps
Why did Rome fall? https://t.co/cLj8LTUHgA pic.twitter.com/axZkhXPyfv
— Live Science (@LiveScience) October 31, 2020