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Those who enjoy wine may have prehistoric reptiles to thank for today's beverages The earliest fossil grape from the Western Hemisphere is approximately 60 million years old, scientists discovered. A group of scientists with Chicago's Field Museum recently discovered grape fossil seeds that could connect dinosaurs to today's numerous wine offerings. The South America study found nine new species of fossil grapes dating back to at least 19 million years ago — with the oldest one found in a 60-million-year-old rock. Dr. Fabiany Herrera, assistant curator of paleobotany at The Field Museum, led the study. The discovery proved that grapes...

On this date in 1987, then President Reagan made his famous Tear Down This Wall Speech. “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace–if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe–if you seek liberalization: come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

...Bone fragments in a piece of fossilized excrement at a new museum in northern Arizona — aptly called the Poozeum — are among the tinier bits of evidence that indicate T. rex wasn't much of a chewer, but rather swallowed whole chunks of prey.The sample is one of more than 7,000 on display at the museum that opened in May in Williams, a town known for its Wild West shows along Route 66, wildlife attractions and a railway to Grand Canyon National Park...Inside, display cases filled with coprolites — fossilized feces from animals that lived millions of years ago —...

Sejanus' Fall...Tiberius soon grew suspicious of his minister's ambitions... he acted slyly: he began promising Sejanus even greater honours, and probably also allowed him to marry Livilla; in the meantime, he began showing indirectly that the praefect had lost his favour. For example, he left the consulship in May and forced Sejanus to do the same; he began criticizing some of Sejanus' friends while praising others; and in his letters to the Senate, he stopped including Sejanus' titles. He began showing affection for his nephews Gaius (better known as Caligula), the last surviving son of Germanicus, and Tiberius Gemellus, Drusus'...

In 524 BC, a force of 50,000 Persian soldiers travelled across the Western Desert of Egypt. Their intended target was The Oracle of Amun, however the army would not make it. They would instead disappear in a sandstorm, in a legend that still draws curiosity today.realhistory videosFinding The Remains Of 50,000 Persian Soldiers That Vanished In A Sandstorm | The Lost Army | 49:21Real History | 213K subscribers | 472,772 views | June 12, 2024

A hoard of 1,700-year-old coins has been discovered in central Israel by researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), according to a Live Science report. The 94 silver and bronze coins, which date to between A.D. 221 and 354, had been hidden in a public building in Lod, a city known to the Romans as Diospolis. The building is thought to have been destroyed during the last known Jewish revolt against Roman rule, known as the Gallus Revolt, for Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus, who ruled the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire at the time. The cities of Tiberias and...

The conservancy that oversees the SS United States has launched an urgent $500,000 fundraising campaign to help cover relocation expenses for the historic ship amid its uncertain future. The 1,000-foot ocean liner, which still holds the transatlantic speed record it set more than 70 years ago, must leave its berth on the Delaware River in Philadelphia by Sept. 12, a federal judge ruled earlier this month. Besides finding a new home, the conservancy also must obtain funds for insurance, tugs, surveys and dock preparations for moving the ship, which is incapable of self-propulsion. The group is focusing its efforts on...

New insights into the function of the world's oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves...Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.Fast forward to 2020,...

A study shows that repetitive tasks carried out by ancient Egyptian scribes – high status men with the ability to write who performed administrative tasks – and the positions they sat in while working may have led to degenerative skeletal changes.Researchers in Prague, Czech Republic, examined the skeletal remains of 69 adults males, 30 of whom were scribes, who were buried in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt...They identified degenerative joint changes that were more common among scribes compared to men with other occupations.These changes were in the joints connecting the lower jaw to the skull, the right collarbone and the...

Many scientists have called the “alien” mummies found in Peru a hoax. But a new study shows something different. Recent analysis of one of the humanoids named Maria showed that it has biological similarities to humans, but with many morphological and anatomical structural differences. It turned out that the elongated skull of the mummified humanoid does not show any signs of artificial deformation. Scientists were also able to find out that the mummy was created between 240 and 383 AD, reports the Daily Mail. .... Snip.... Scientists found that the mummy did not have hair and external ears, that is,...

Artistic reconstruction of two species of trilobite an instant before burial in a flow of volcanic ash 510 million years ago. Image credit: © Prof. A. El Albani, Univ. Poitiers =================================================================== Trilobites that date back 508 million years have been found preserved in volcanic matter, revealing never-before-seen details in 3D form. Their fossilization was so rapid that tiny shells have been preserved in situ, and soft tissues including mouthparts and internal organs can still be seen. The trilobites were entombed in pyroclastic flow, which is the hot, dense material that comes hurtling out of volcanoes sometimes reaching speeds as high...

Surfers at Santa Cruz’s Cowell Beach are used to sharing the ocean with wildlife. On occasion, they’ve been chased by aggressive otters, and white shark numbers are on the rise in an adjacent cove. On the morning of June 24, though, a far more enigmatic and elusive creature made an appearance, and gave the surfers a bit of a scare. In a photo captured by Santa Cruz resident Eric Mendelson from a nearby bluff, the creature’s dorsal fin is sticking out of the water, looking decidedly shark-like. But in another remarkable photo, Mendelson captured the animal’s bizarrely shaped head and...

Found this on Twitter while perusing the material generated by last night's debate.This is gettin' real y'all.

Dravidians are an ethno-linguistic people group predominantly found in southern India, Sri Lanka, but also Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. The historical origin of Dravidians is a highly contested topic with theories that are often heavily politically motivated. But an increasing number of archaeological, linguistic and genetic studies seem to slowly uncover an ever-developing yet consistent story. Dravidians probably started out from the southwest of Iran (around Zagros mountains) when migrants from the Proto-Elamite period of the Elam civilization, probably in a bid to escape the increasingly domineering Sumerian civilisation and to spread their own culture (proto-elamite scripts are...

A small, 1,600-year-old papyrus fragment discovered in a German archive has been revealed to contain the earliest known copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, an early Christian text describing the childhood of Jesus that once enjoyed enormous popularity but was not canonized into the New Testament.

Experts have found a rare bronze bust depicting one of the most colourful characters in Roman history – the mad, sexually-depraved Emperor Caligula.Considered lost for nearly 200 years, the 5-inch-tall bust was originally excavated at Herculaneum, a Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79...After a determined decade-long search, the bust has been found by Dr Silvia Davoli, curator of Strawberry Hill and historian at the University of Oxford...At some point in the 18th century, the bust was gifted to renowned English writer and politician Horace Walpole (1717-1797) by Sir Horace Mann, a distant relative who...

Lokiceratops rangiformis made its home in parts of what's now northern Montana and is thought to have the largest frill horns ever seen among its kind to date. A reconstruction of Lokiceratops surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana, USA. Illustration: Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scientists have discovered a new, very cool-looking dinosaur. The intricately horned beast is a relative of the famous Triceratops and has been named Lokiceratops rangiformis. It’s thought to have roamed around the western half of North America over 78 million years ago, back when the continent was...

Throughout history, archaeologists have uncovered countless tools from early civilizations. The majority are made of stone, but a group of Spanish experts discovered incredible rock crystal weaponry. One of the most spectacular crystal daggers, dating back to at least 3,000 BC, demonstrates the extraordinary ability of the sculptor.The incredible find occurred at the Montelirio tholos, a megalithic tomb in southern Spain. This gigantic site, which spans 50 meters, is made up of massive slate slabs. The place was excavated between 2007 and 2010. Scholars from the University of Granada, Seville, and the Spanish Higher Council for Scientific Research published a...

King Ghezo ruled Dahomey from 1818 to 1858, a period marked by military conquests and the transformation of the region's economy, heavily reliant on the slave trade. The kingdom of Dahomey, with its capital at Abomey, was a dominant power in West Africa, known for its aggressive raids on neighboring regions to capture slaves. These captives were either traded for European goods, forced to work on royal plantations, or sacrificed in elaborate voodoo ceremonies.Local legends claim that several structures within the palace complex in Abomey, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were constructed using a mortar that included the blood...

Researchers have discovered why some people remain uninfected by the COVID-19 virus—even after their nasal cavities are exposed to it.According to a recent study, these people have faster and more subtle immune responses than those who develop symptomatic COVID-19.“These findings shed new light on the crucial early events that either allow the virus to take hold or rapidly clear it before symptoms develop,” Dr. Marko Nikolić, senior author of the study and honorary consultant in respiratory medicine at the University College London, said in the press release.The study, published in Nature on Wednesday, was a human challenge study conducted by...