One of America’s Oldest Skeletons Stolen
By Emma Gruner, Staff Writer Archaeologists rejoice! Last week, a human skeleton found in a Mexican cave was determined to be over 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest human remains ever discovered on the American continents. The skeleton, believed to belong to a teenage boy, was discovered in the underwater Chan Hol Cave, near Tulúm on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. As if this finding was not enough, the recent history of the...
Researchers find most cancers caused by genetic error
By Emma Gruner, Staff Writer Every year in the United States, 1.6 million people become infected with cancer, with 600,000 of those cases being fatal. In such conditions, it is only natural to pin the blame on an outside source such as cigarette smoke, or solar radiation, or chemical contaminants in our food and water. Surely, we say, our own bodies cannot be that faulty. Yet according to a recent study by Johns Hopkins University,...
Primate brain complexity may be linked to fruit
By Emma Gruner, Staff Writer “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” as the old saying goes. The benefits of a fruit-rich diet for our physical health and well-being is considered common knowledge. Yet new research suggests that fruit may be a mental superfood as well — or at least it was to our primate relatives. According to a recent study, the increased size and complexity of certain primates’ brains may have...
Fluorescent tree frog species glows in the dark
By Emma Gruner, Staff Writer In this era of political ugliness, it is all too easy to become discouraged. As our world appears to crumble with the chaos around us, we find ourselves hoping for something fun, something whimsical, or something no one could be offended by. As it turns out, a team of scientists in Argentina discovered the solution: a glow-in-the-dark frog! Technically speaking, the term is fluorescent. Fluorescence is...
Cancer treatment breakthrough due to a bacteria species
By Emma Gruner, Staff Writer In all of medical research, few fields have been plagued with as much frustration and angst as those involved with cancer. A disease that invades from the inside of the body outwards, cancer afflicts so many people but is still difficult and to treat. It often seems as if cancer evolved solely to thwart humanity’s greatest minds. Yet as our medical pioneers consistently show us, loopholes can always...
