Free Republic

Researchers excavating 500-year-old graves in southern Peru have unearthed 192 human spines threaded onto reed posts. Describing this remarkable discovery in the journal Antiquity, the authors say this unusual assemblage of human vertebrae may have provided a means for indigenous people to reconstruct dead bodies damaged by European grave robbers. The skewered spines were recovered from burial sites in the Chincha Valley, where the local community was decimated by famine and disease epidemics following the arrival of Europeans. According to the researchers, the Chincha population declined from over 30,000 households in 1533 to just 979 half a century later, and...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused congressional Republicans of hanging up their spines when it comes to dealing with former President Donald Trump. In an interview with MSNBC's Willie Geist, part of which aired on Friday, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee described Republicans as having been completely taken over by the influence of Trump.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pointing to his victory in Tuesday’s recall election as evidence that voters want Democrats to pursue more stringent measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Asked in an interview with CBS News what his recall win means for Democrats, Newsom said it proved “that we need to stiffen our spines and lean in to keeping people safe and healthy.” “Don't be timid. Lean in,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, it's not just about formal authority of setting the tone and tenor on masks — on vaccines and masks. But it's the moral...

Genetic comparison with chimps suggests that losing chunks of DNA – including one associated with penis spines and facial whiskers – played a crucial role in making us human. Scientists have identified a clutch of subtle genetic changes that have shaped our minds and bodies into the unique form that sets humans apart from chimpanzees and the rest of the animal kingdom. The work by researchers in the US represents a landmark in a search that has occupied philosophers and scientists for millennia and one that goes to the heart of understanding what it means to be human. The findings...