🔎 The Curiosity Files #14
Curiously exploring the mysteries of our past, present, and future
“Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure behind reality?” Albert Einstein
Welcome to The Curiosity Files!
Twice a week, I’ll journey through the most fascinating discoveries across ancient history, human origins, space, consciousness, cutting-edge science and the unexplained.
🗿 Ancient Mysteries, Archaeology & Lost Civilizations
Scientists who found hidden 'city' beneath Egypt's Giza pyramids reveal data that ‘proves’ the find.
As the debate over what lies beneath Egypt's Giza pyramids continues, the scientists at the center of the dispute have shared new details they believe will silence critics.
New study challenges the story of humanity's shift from prehistoric hunting to farming.
This research shows that humans were not just passive participants in this process; they played an active and crucial role in the transition. Factors such as varying population growth rates and mortality rates—driven by competition between hunter-gatherers and farmers—shaped the agricultural development of these regions.
Neanderthal-like stone tools unearthed in China could rewrite human history.
The Middle Stone Age, a crucial time in human evolution between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago, is usually believed to have been a dynamic period of progress in Europe and Africa, but rather static in East Asia. Now, though, scientists have found Quina technology at an archaeological site in southwestern China dated to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, challenging this assumption.
Tomb of the Unknown Pharaoh: A New Discovery.
The tomb of the unknown pharaoh, a colossal 3,600-year-old structure, surfaced near Abydos in a remarkable archaeological breakthrough. This find ranks as Egypt’s second royal tomb discovery of 2025. Earlier, experts located Thutmose II’s tomb near Luxor in February.
Once Lush Sahara Was Home to a Surprisingly Unique Group of Humans.
A new genetic analysis suggests the humans who called this 7,000-year-old version of the Sahara home largely kept to themselves, genetically speaking.
Rare Merlin and King Arthur text found hidden in binding of medieval book.
In 2019, researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered fragments of a classic Merlin and King Arthur legend in their collections, tucked inside the recycled binding of a wealthy family’s property record from the 16th century. But at the time of discovery, the text was impossible to read. Now archivists have finally been able to peer inside the obscured texts—without ever needing to physically handle the long-lost pages.
🌌 Cosmic & Space Mysteries
Space Volcanoes Tell the Explosive History of Mars, Venus, and Multiple Moons.
Volcanic features have been observed on our fellow rocky planets, Venus and Mars, but they largely appear to be inactive right now. Some scientists, however, have suggested that current volcanic activity on Mars and Venus may not be so far-fetched after all, with new evidence emerging from recent studies.
The volcano Olympus Mons on Mars. (Image Credit: Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock) Is the Universe inside a Black Hole?
The spins of some early galaxies could be a clue that the entire observable universe exists within a black hole—except, that is, for all the evidence to the contrary.
Humans orbit Earth over north, south poles for first time with SpaceX Fram2 mission.
SpaceX’s private Fram2 crew has taken humans where they have never flown before.
Scientists are baffled after discovering a bizarre rock on Mars that's like NOTHING they've ever seen.
New images captured by NASA's Perseverance rover this month show an alien-like mass comprised of hundreds of the millimeter-sized spheres.
Mars may hold a massive water reservoir, enough to flood the planet up to nine feet.
Fresh data from the MARSIS suggests the underground water reservoir extend up to 2.2 miles deep.
🧠 The Mind, Consciousness & the Origins of Life
Is Consciousness The Final Reality? - Questioning The Material Universe
The interview explores the fundamental premises of Analytic Idealism. Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, known for developing this philosophical system, discusses the nature of consciousness, life, God, and AI with Natalia Vorontsova.
Scientists discover major differences in how humans and AI 'think' — and the implications could be significant.
Study finds that AI fundamentally lacks the human capability to make creative mental connections, raising warning signs for how we deploy AI tools.
🦠 Evolutionary Oddities & Life on Earth
There's more to evolution than genes.
Neo-Darwinian orthodoxy holds that life’s immense variety emerged through the action of natural selection on random genetic mutations. But, argues microbiologist James Shapiro, there is strong evidence that the mutations driving evolution are not random at all, but rather are the result of organisms modifying themselves. This upends the orthodox picture of life’s complexity as emerging out of simpler, lower-level physics, in a bottom-up direction. Instead, to understand complex living organisms we need to see biology as influencing the level of physics, in a top-down direction.
Hidden forces shape plants from the inside out.
A study by biologists and biophysicists at Université de Montréal reveals how plants build their organs in three dimensions. The scientists discovered that cells in inner tissue grow much faster than the epidermis, therefore shaping the young organ from the inside out.
Examining The Multicellular Behavior Of Magnetotactic Bacteria.
In a recent study, NASA-supported researchers gained new insight into the lives of bacteria that survive by grouping together as if they were a multi-cellular organism. The organisms in the study are the only bacteria known to do this in this way, and studying them could help astrobiologists explain important steps in the evolution of life on Earth.
Electron microscopy image and cartoon of a MMB consortium, highlighting its characteristics features that includes a hollow space at the center of the cell consortium. George Shaible et al. PLOS Biology 2024
🚀 Cutting-Edge Science & Technology
The machines are rising — but developers still hold the keys.
Increasing use of AI in software development will make developer decisions and judgment more important, not less.
Apple Quietly Working on AI Agent to "Replica" a Human Doctor.
The secret initiative — dubbed Project Mulberry and nicknamed "Health+" — aims to give a facelift to Apple's fairly basic Health app, along with integrating a "health coach." Bloomberg described the service as being powered "by a new AI agent that would replicate — at least to some extent — a real doctor."
Brain waves become spoken words in AI breakthrough for paralysis.
California-based researchers have developed an AI-powered system to restore natural speech for paralyzed people in real time and using their own voices.
🛸 The Unexplained & the Unusual
Can UFOs Be Summoned or Signalled? A New Scientific Initiative Has Plans To Verify Such Claims This Year.
Skywatcher’s team say this structured approach – complete with falsifiable experiments – will help bridge the gap between anecdotal UAP experiences and ‘credible, scientifically validated discoveries.’
UAP disclosure advocates call for transparency on drone incursions.
Two former defense officials who helped spur major efforts during previous congressional sessions to drive government transparency on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) returned to the Hill last week for closed-door discussions with several lawmakers about that issue and emerging challenges associated with drones.
Chilling declassified CIA file reveals aliens committed 'revenge massacre' after UFO was shot down.
According to the report, Soviet troops shot down a flying saucer hovering over the Soviet military unit in Siberia roughly 35 years ago. In the document, summarizing a 250-page top secret file acquired by US intelligence agents, eyewitnesses said five aliens climbed out of their wrecked craft, combined themselves into one creature, exploded in a burst of intense energy, and turned 23 soldiers into solid rock.
🌀 Beyond the Known
Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex.
A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.
World’s largest collider finds first-of-its-kind clue to the universe’s origins.
The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment observes the first-ever asymmetry in baryon decay, offering fresh insight into the matter–antimatter imbalance.
New DESI Results Strengthen Hints That Dark Energy May Evolve.
New results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration use the largest 3D map of our universe ever made to track dark energy’s influence over the past 11 billion years. Researchers see hints that dark energy, widely thought to be a “cosmological constant,” might be evolving over time in unexpected ways.
How nothing could destroy the universe.
The concept of nothing once sparked a 1000-year-long war, today it might explain dark energy and nothingness even has the potential to destroy the universe, explains physicist Antonio Padilla.
Which story intrigued you the most? Let me know in the comments below and provide links to any curiosities you have found!
Until next time, stay curious!
Hey, I like your content but it’s a little difficult to locate. When I see your notes with the interesting quotes, and click on them, it directs me to your main content page. After scrolling for a while I sometimes still can’t find the subject you originally posted the note about. Is there a way of making your articles more findable? Maybe separating them out to different pieces instead of all I the same page? Just a thought
Every section here hits hard—black hole universe theory, bacteria acting like multicellular life, and magnetotactic behavior? Insane. But the Mars spheres and that “revenge massacre” declassified doc… wild. This feels like a peek into tomorrow’s history books. Keep these coming.