🔎 The Curiosity Files #22

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.

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🗿 Ancient Mysteries, Archaeology & Lost Civilizations

• Cornish tin was sold all over Europe 3,000 years ago, say archaeologists.

  British team says new study ‘radically transforms’ understanding of bronze age trade networks.

• Striking intelligence of Neanderthal stone knappers revealed.

  First appearing in the archaeological record between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago, the Levallois method is a hallmark of Neanderthal tool making in this period.

• The Fountain of Youth: Myth, History, and Science Unveiled.

  This article embarks on a journey through time, exploring the Fountain of Youth’s origins in ancient myths, its significance in Taíno culture, its role in colonial history, its reflection in literature, and its modern pursuit through science. By weaving together these threads, we uncover a story not just of a mythical spring, but of humanity’s relentless quest for longevity and rejuvenation, a quest that continues to inspire and challenge our understanding of life itself.

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📖 Today’s Book

• Hacking the Law of Attraction: For Effortless Manifestations by Richard Gordon

  

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🧠 The Mind, Consciousness & the Origins of Life

• Neuroscientists uncover a fascinating fact about social thinking in the brain.

  When we think about people in our social circle, our brains appear to keep track of two different kinds of comparisons: how others relate to each other, and how others relate to ourselves. A new study shows that these two types of social knowledge are represented by entirely different brain systems.

• Our brains can communicate wordlessly, through our eyes.

  McGill researchers have demonstrated something long assumed: that glances can transmit information about one’s mental state to others without a single word being exchanged. They speculate that this primal ability may have played a role in assuring survival of human society at times when making a sound could have attracted predators.

• Study suggests we don’t just hear music, but ‘become it’

  Researchers show brain rhythms sync with sound to create emotion, movement and meaning.

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🦠 Evolutionary Oddities & Life on Earth

• How Carnivorous Plants Evolved.

  Botanists are beginning to trace the origins of their gruesome appetites.

• Strange microbes give clues to the ancestor of all complex life.

  The origin of complex eukaryotic cells, of the type found in all plants and animals, is shrouded in mystery. Now, strange microbes from wetlands in China are helping us to understand when they first emerged, and what they were like.

• Tomato ripening regulated by the same cellular process that slows aging in animals and humans.

  The mechanism, called autophagy, regulates cellular recycling and operates in all lifeforms apart from bacteria.

• Scientists Think They've Caught Sea Creatures 'Waving' at Each Other.

  Researchers from École Normale Supérieure in France have found evidence of cuttlefish possibly communicating with each other, by waving one of their ten limbs—eight arms and two tentacles—at one another.

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🚀 Cutting-Edge Science & Technology

• US researchers use ancient origami to create next-gen stents, jet wings, sneakers

  Researchers at Georgia Tech are exploring origami’s potential for materials seamlessly transitioning between rigid stability and controlled flexibility – literally “folding” under specific forces.

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🛸 The Unexplained & the Unusual

• Ghosts of the oceans: Russian navy and mysterious USOs

  One particularly strange underwater phenomenon attracted attention of the Soviet Navy’s high command. This mysterious phenomenon was discovered in the 1960s and 1970s. Soviet nuclear-powered submarines encountered strange sounds emanating from moving objects at great depths...

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🌀 Beyond the Known

• New theory of gravity brings long-sought Theory of Everything a crucial step closer.

  Researchers at Aalto University have developed a new quantum theory of gravity which describes gravity in a way that’s compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics, opening the door to an improved understanding of how the universe began.

• Nothing is stronger than quantum connections – and now we know why.

  The mathematics of graphs has helped reveal a principle that limits the strength of quantum correlations – and explains why physicists have never measured any stronger connections in some post-quantum realm.

• Iain McGilchrist challenges Richard Dawkins on the value of truth in science.

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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!