Free Republic

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 9, 2025. Credit: SpaceX Splashdown! SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts and cosmonaut back on Earth | 12:06 VideoFromSpace | 2.02M subscribers | 47,832 views | August 9, 2025

The dispersal of archaic hominins beyond mainland Southeast Asia (Sunda) represents the earliest evidence for humans crossing ocean barriers to reach isolated landmasses. Previously, the oldest indication of hominins in Wallacea, the oceanic island zone east of Sunda, comprised flaked stone artifacts deposited at least 1.02 million years ago at the site of Wolo Sege on the island of Flores. On Sulawesi, the largest Wallacean island, previous excavations revealed stone artifacts with a minimum age of 194,000 years at the open site of Talepu. Now, archaeologists from Griffith University show that stone artifacts also occur at the nearby site of...

Recently, a mysterious discovery has resurfaced on social media, reigniting debates and curiosity worldwide: the so-called "lost city" said to lie beneath the waters off the coast of Cuba. More than 20 years ago, this underwater site first caught the attention of archaeologists and scientists, but it has remained largely unexplored since. Given the renewed interest online, we’ve taken a closer look at the international reports and expert opinions surrounding this fascinating -- yet still unconfirmed -- find that could potentially rewrite parts of human history.In 2001, a Canadian research team reported finding massive stone structures deep beneath the ocean’s...

Archaeologists in Croatia have unearthed the remains of a 1,800-year-old watchtower that was erected to help the Romans defend the "limes" -- the border along the Danube River that marked the frontier of the Roman Empire.Roman artifacts revealed at the site, including military equipment, brooches and ceramic vessels, indicate that the watchtower was constructed in the late second century A.D. and used in the third century A.D., the team reported...During the Marcomannic Wars (circa A.D. 166 to 180), Roman soldiers under the rule of emperor Marcus Aurelius fought several peoples -- including the Germanic Marcomanni who lived north of the...

The ancestors of all modern humans split off from a mystery population 1.5 million years ago and then reconnected with them 300,000 years ago, a new genetic model suggests. The unknown population contributed 20% of our DNA and may have boosted humans' brain function...In a study published Tuesday (March 18) in the journal Nature Genetics, researchers presented a new method of modeling genomic data, called "cobraa," that has allowed them to trace the evolution of modern humans (Homo sapiens).By applying their new method to modern human DNA data published in the 1000 Genomes Project and the Human Genome Diversity Project,...

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have found chemical traces of betel nut chewing in 4,000-year-old teeth from a Bronze Age burial in Thailand -- the earliest direct evidence of psychoactive plant use in Southeast Asia.By analyzing hardened dental plaque, researchers uncovered compounds linked to betel nut, a stimulant that boosts alertness and euphoria...One common side effect of regular chewing is teeth stained a deep reddish-brown or black.However, the absence of these stains does not necessarily mean the habit was avoided. A recent investigation by an international team used a cutting-edge technique to study ancient dental plaque from Bronze Age Thailand,...

The mistakes of Amelia Earhart's final flight, and the physics that could have saved her. What Actually Happened To Amelia Earhart? | 36:35 Veritasium | 18.4M subscribers | 11,336,539 views | November 20, 2024 00:00 Amelia Earhart's final flight 03:33 Who was Amelia Earhart? 05:36 The flight plan 07:13 How celestial navigation works 09:16 Invention of radio technology 12:02 Radio waves explained 22:44 Earhart makes her critical decision 24:55 Communication failures 28:30 "Gas is running low" 31:39 Her desperate final message 33:01 The small detail that could have saved her

Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" shares a DM clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pointing out how incredibly suspicious Nancy Pelosi's stock trading wins have been when discussing what President Trump will do to stop insider trading. Press Goes Silent When Told Ugly Facts of Nancy Pelosi's Stock Wins | 1:51 The Rubin Report | 3M subscribers | 1,260,405 views | August 4, 2025

...archaeological evidence at one site called Madjedbebe in the far north of Australia's Northern Territory suggests the area may have been occupied much earlier -- at least 65,000 years ago.Archaeologists recovered human-made artifacts, including stone tools and ocher "crayons," from the Madjedbebe rock shelter and published their findings in a 2017 study. One difficulty in dating the artifacts, however, was the copious amount of sand on the floor of the rock shelter, which can move easily and cause artifacts to fall farther down, making them look older than they are.Although the research team took steps to counteract this issue and...

This one hour programme retraces Mark Twain's 1867 adventure as a reporter who travels to Europe from Paris and Rome to the Holy Land and ultimately Jerusalem . We hear about his many opinions and criticisms about various places. The Story Of Mark Twain's 1867 Journey To Jerusalem | 54:39 Parable - Free History Documentaries | 425K subscribers | 355,964 views | June 25, 2025

Beirut blast compilation #8 (Only new angles!) | 9:14 Catastrophe Watch | 9.57K subscribers | 32,885 views | August 24, 2024

AP News reports that ocean swells and shifting coastal sands exposed ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs on a beach in Oahu. The carvings were first seen almost a decade ago near a U.S. Army base in Waianae, an hour outside Honolulu, but were quickly swallowed back up again by the sand. Although sections of the artwork have occasionally become visible, said U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii archaeologist Laura Gilda, this is the first time the entire panel has been exposed. The scene consists of 26 petroglyphs -- 18 of which depict anthropomorphic stick figures -- carved across a 115-foot stretch of sandstone. Experts...

A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launched the NS-34 crew from West Texas on Aug. 3, 2025. The crew included: Crypto billionaire Justin Sun, Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, a real estate investor and adventurer; Turkish businessman Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has run an orphanage in Nepal for three decades; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell. Blastoff! Blue Origin launches crypto billionaire and 5 others to suborbital space, nails landing | 11:35 VideoFromSpace | 2.02M subscribers | 4,440 views | August 3, 2025

The Guardian reports that archaeologists excavating at the ancient Roman settlement of Castulo in southern Spain have identified the traces of a building they believe may have once been a synagogue. Near the location of what scholars had once assumed was a fourth- or fifth-century a.d. Christian basilica, the team found fragments of three oil lamps and a roof tile bearing depictions of menorahs, as well as a jar lid inscribed with Hebrew characters. When the researchers reconsidered the identification of the nearby structure as a place of early Christian worship, they found that many features of the building matched...

Harvard science professor Avi Loeb is among experts fascinated by an interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS. Loeb suggests using the sunsetting NASA spacecraft Juno to intercept the object, which he says could be some sort of alien tech, for study. He tells "NewsNation Prime" that Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., thinks the suggestion is worth evaluating. Harvard professor suggests intercepting mysterious object 3I/ATLAS | NewsNation Prime | 6:47 NewsNation | 2.28M subscribers | 46,254 views | August 3, 2025

An ancient Egyptian rock engraving may have been carved at the dawn of the first dynasty, up to 5,100 years ago, a new study suggests...The engraving is stylistically similar to ancient Egyptian rock panels from the protodynastic period and early first dynasty -- periods that aren't well known to archaeologists. These similarities hint that the newfound carving may hold clues about the formation of the Egyptian state, according to the study...The "intriguing new" rock engraving was found on the west bank of the Nile River near Aswan in November 2022, during a survey that was documenting rock art in the...

On November 7, 1492, the Ensisheim meteorite was observed to fall in a wheat field outside the walled town of Ensisheim in then Alsace, Further Austria (now France).It was a stony, triangular-shaped meteorite weighing 127 kilograms. The object can still be seen in Ensisheim's Museum, the sixteenth-century Musée de la Régence.Upon impact, the meteorite created a 1-meter (3 ft 3 in) deep hole. Its fall through the Earth's atmosphere was witnessed at a distance of up to 150 kilometers from where it eventually landed.People living in neighboring areas gathered at the location to raise the meteorite from its impact hole....

Children are always picking stuff up off the ground -- dirt, bugs, rocks, anything shiny. And usually, it's just junk. However, 3-year-old Ziv Nitzan made the discovery of her young life when, on a walk with her family, she picked up a small stone that wound up being a scarab amulet more than one thousand times her age."We were walking along the path, and then Ziv bent down and out of all the stones around her, she picked up this particular stone," Omer Nitzan, Ziv's sister, said in a translated statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority...The family brought in the...

The First Day In August | 2:47 Carole King | 348K subscribers | 62,220 views | January 14, 2017

Chinese archaeologists have uncovered the tomb of Kim Young, a hostage prince from the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla, in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. This remarkable find marks the first formal archaeological excavation of a Tang Dynasty (618–907) royal tomb belonging to the Silla kingdom.The epitaph discovered inside offers a rare, detailed account of Kim Young's life, deepening our understanding of the Tang Dynasty's hostage system and diplomatic ties with Silla, located on the Korean Peninsula, according to reports by the China News Service...The tomb is a single-chamber earthen cave featuring a long sloped entrance passage and a skylight...