Did Wilma have to remind Fred to sort the recycling? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Life wasn’t easy four hundred thousand years ago. There was no Cave Depot! What to do when your sharp rock breaks? Recycle it! Archaeologists recently found that early humans
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To live or to die…? Depends on your. . . teeth? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. One hundred and eighty million years ago, gigantic marine reptiles ruled the seas. Then, water levels began rising… dramatically! Not all seafaring reptiles could adapt. So, who survived
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Hey…do I have something in my teeth? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Dental records are often used for identification. What other tales can our teeth tell about us?? Christina Warinner at the Max Planck Institute and fellow researchers picked through some plaque history. While
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You are special – yes you are! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Animals evolved to specialize for life in their environment. For example, polar bear fur is designed for life in the Arctic. Those warm coats would be sweltering in the desert! But we
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Before there was Tequila, there was … pulque? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, and possibly the earliest alcohol of Mesoamerica: Pulque. Like Tequila, pulque is distilled from the sap of agave plants. The Aztecs drank it in the 1400s. And it’s still consumed in
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Let’s give evolution a high five! Literally! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Primates are our closest relative. But our hands evolved very differently. They don’t have nearly the dexterity we do. How did we humans get to be so…handy? Many anthropologists think it’s because
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The humanities! Not so HUMAN? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Long ago, homo sapiens weren’t the only people on the block. Before modern humans arrived from Africa, Europe was home to Neanderthals. We usually think of this sister species as brutish and uncultured. And
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Think filing your taxes is a pain? Imagine doing it in macramé! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. It may sound far-fetched but that’s exactly how the ancient Incas kept records. With colored, knotted strings called khipu. Colonial documents verify that khipu were used in
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Archaeologists dig deep and find jawbones, soup spoons, a curse??? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Yes, that is exactly what archaeologist Richard Buckley of the University of Leicester in England found, after excavating an important Roman settlement from about three hundred AD. In addition
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