Tag: stone

From Rocks To Icebergs, the Natural World Tends To Break Into Cubes

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: Researchers have found that when everything from icebergs to rocks breaks apart, their pieces tend to resemble cubes. The finding suggests a universal rule of fragmentation at scales ranging from the microscopic to the planetary. The scientists started their study “fragmenting” an abstract cube in a computer simulation by slicing it with 50 two-dimensional…

Ramps For Disabled People Trace Back To Ancient Greece

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: The ramps for disabled people that smooth entry into many public buildings today aren’t a modern invention. The ancient Greeks constructed similar ramps of stone to help individuals who had trouble walking or climbing stairs access holy sites, new research suggests. That would make the ramps — some more than 2300 years old –…

5 years after New Horizons flyby, 10 cool things about Pluto

Here are 10 of the coolest, weirdest and most unexpected findings about the Pluto system scientists have learned thanks to the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the distant world in 2015. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-horizons-flyby-10-cool-things-about-pluto…

Mysterious Stone Age flint artefacts may be crude sculptures of humans

Hundreds of distinctive flint objects from a Stone Age village in Jordan seem to have been a form of symbolic communication – perhaps even figurines of people Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248126-mysterious-stone-age-flint-artefacts-may-be-crude-sculptures-of-humans/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

‘Astonishing discovery’ of massive prehistoric circle near Stonehenge

An ancient circle of deep trenches has been found near Stonehenge. Scientists say the newly discovery site offers insights into the lives of people who lived in the area 4,500 years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/discovery-massive-prehistoric-circle-trenches-near-stonehenge…

Divers Find Evidence of Prehistoric Mining Operation in North America

Iwastheone shared this article from CBS News:
Experts and cave divers in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula have found ocher mines that are some of the oldest on the continent. Ancient skeletons were found in the narrow, twisting labyrinths of now-submerged sinkhole caves… The discovery of remains of human-set fires, stacked mining debris, simple stone tools, navigational aids and digging sites suggest humans went…