Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 13, 2022

How we found Britain's only known Roman mosaic of the Trojan War

The discovery of a previously unknown Roman villa in rural Rutland during the 2020 lockdown was one of the archaeological stories of the year. Villas are emblematic features of the Roman countryside, and many are known across Britain. But this new discovery is unique. It has what could be considered...

Dec 16, 2022

What is a Christmas Yule log?

A Yule log is a Christmas tradition in which a log of wood is progressively burned in a fireplace over several nights. The tradition was once popular in parts of Europe and made its way to North America, but it's now part of the more general tradition of having a...

Dec 19, 2022

What is Occam's razor?

Occam's razor (also spelled Ockham's razor) cuts through complexity with a no-nonsense approach. The philosophical maxim Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate, written by 14th-century Franciscan friar William of Ockham, translates to Plurality must never be posited without necessity. In other words, all else being equal, simplicity is best. So...

Dec 22, 2022

Attila the Hun raided Rome due to starvation, not bloodlust, study suggests

Attila the Hun has been depicted as a bloodthirsty barbarian with an infinite thirst for gold and power. But a new study proposes an alternative explanation for his violent incursions: Attila may have carried out his desperate raids to save his people from drought and starvation. Two thousand years of...

Dec 24, 2022

How the Christmas tree tradition came to be

Why, every Christmas, do so many people endure the mess of dried pine needles, the risk of a fire hazard and impossibly tangled strings of lights? Strapping a fir tree to the hood of my car and worrying about the strength of the twine, I sometimes wonder if I should...

Dec 26, 2022

What does love do to your brain?

Falling in love may hit your heart, but what does it do to your brain? It turns out that falling in love corresponds with the release of key brain chemicals from certain regions of the brain, Dr. Gül Dölen, an associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School...

Dec 27, 2022

10 amazing things we learned about our human ancestors in 2022

Humans are exceptionally diverse, but we all have something in common: We're Homo sapiens, and we share a common ancestor. But the story of how we arose, spread around the globe and acted along the way is still emerging as scientists find new clues. Here are 10 remarkable things we...

Dec 29, 2022

Xerxes, the god-king of Ancient Persia, in All About History 125

The son and grandson of men who had forged the Achaemenid Empire, Xerxes I was born to rule in Ancient Persia, but his path to the throne was not as simple as it might have appeared. Overcoming usurpers and uprisings in major cities, he had to fight for his right...

Jan 7, 2023

Human and Neanderthal brains have a surprising 'youthful' quality in common, new research finds

Many believe our particularly large brain is what makes us human – but is there more to it? The brain’s shape, as well as the shapes of its component parts (lobes) may also be important. Results of a study we published Thursday (Jan. 5) in Nature Ecology & Evolution show...

Jan 11, 2023

Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II's 'handsome' face revealed in striking reconstruction

The face of the ancient Egyptian ruler Ramesses II — possibly the pharaoh of the biblical Book of Exodus who persecuted Moses and the Israelites — has been reconstructed from his mummified remains. And although the pharaoh died in his 90s, his visage has been reverse aged by several decades...

Jan 12, 2023

Prehistoric population once lived in Siberia, but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds

Researchers investigating prehistoric DNA have discovered a mysterious group of hunter-gatherers that lived in Siberia perhaps more than 10,000 years ago. The find was made during a genetic investigation of human remains in North Asia dating from as far back as 7,500 years ago. The study also revealed that gene...

Jan 12, 2023

Mythbusters streaming guide: how to watch Mythbusters online in 2023

It may not seem like a simple Mythbusters streaming guide would be the key to happiness, but test it out and you’ll see it is. In the market for a bit of learning? Explosions? A mustache envied by walruses the world ‘round? Mythbusters provided all that and more in a...

Jan 13, 2023

Martin Luther King Jr.: The iconic civil rights leader

Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor, humanitarian and leader in the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. In numerous speeches, marches and letters, he fought for racial and economic justice and was lauded for his nonviolent approach to civil disobedience. Assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39,...

Jan 17, 2023

Long-lost copy of Newton's famous book 'Opticks' to be auctioned for half a million dollars

A pristine personal copy of Isaac Newton’s book Opticks that was recently found after going missing for a century is going up for auction. Newton’s illuminating treatise analyzes the fundamental nature of light and is considered one of the Scientific Revolution’s three major works on optics. The long-lost copy was...

Jan 24, 2023

Maybe rats didn't spread the Black Death after all, new evidence suggests

The Black Death ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Plague outbreaks in Europe then continued until the 19th century. One of the most commonly recited facts about plague in Europe was that it was spread by rats. In some parts of the world, the bacterium that causes plague,...