M.J. Rose

This is a beautiful piece of research. Enjoy!

For Inca Road Builders, Extreme Terrain Was No Obstacle
Npr.org

“One of history’s greatest engineering feats is one you rarely hear of. It’s the Inca Road, parts of which still exist today across much of South America.

Back in the day — more than 500 years ago — commoners like me wouldn’t have been able to walk on the Inca Road, known as Qhapaq Ñan in the Quechua language spoken by the Inca, without official permission.

Fortunately, I have Peruvian archaeologist Ramiro Matos by my side. He is the lead curator of an exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian called “The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire.”…”

For the rest, and to listen to the story, click here.

Scientists “reanimate” an extinct 30,000-year-old “giant” virus that was discovered  in the permafrost of Siberia…

The World’s Largest Virus Was Just Resurrected From 34,000-Year-Old Permafrost

By Joseph Stromberg (smithsonian.com)

It’s not a threat to humans, but does show that ancient viruses can persist for millennia and remain a potential health threat

“Deep within the Siberian permafrost, nearly 100 feet underneath the frozen ground, it sat dormant, for centuries and centuries. Above ground, the glaciers receded, ancient humans arrived, and eventually, civilization developed.

Now, it’s been thawed and revived, thanks to a team of French scientists. It’s a virus, and its zombie-like resurrection goes to show that the microbes can persist for far longer than scientists have previously imagined.

For tens of thousands of years, the virus remained entirely frozen. The microbe, however, wasn’t quite dead—partly because any virus, by the standards of biology, can’t be truly be described as alive. All viruses require host cells to reproduce, and in between reproductive cycles, they persist as an inert particle called a virion, roughly analogous to a plant’s seed…”

Read more here.

Did this previously unknown human ancestor invent the concept of burying their dead?

Photo credit: A reconstruction of Homo naledi’s head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans. University of the Witwatersrand, National Geographic Society and the South African National Research Foundation.

New Species Of Human Discovered In South Africa
by Justine Alford (IFLS)

“Brace yourself: this discovery is huge. So huge that its profound implications will shake up our very own family tree. The University of Witwatersrand, in collaboration with National Geographic, is proud to announce a remarkable story of human heritage. The discovery of an early human ancestor that sits beautifully within our own genus of Homo. I ecstatically present to you, Homo naledi.

This incredible fossil find comes from the richest single hominin assemblage so far discovered in Africa. A gift that keeps on giving, the species not only enlightens us on the origins and diversity of man, but also seems to display a behavior long believed to be unique to humans, even perhaps a defining feature of our species: deliberately disposing of its dead in an isolated chamber. The discovery has been published in two papers in the open access journal eLife.

A textbook-worthy accident, H. naledi was first stumbled upon two years ago by amateur cavers during an exploration of a cave system known as Rising Star, located within South Africa’s famous Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. From this, the Rising Star Expedition was born, starting in November 2013 with a 21 day exploration involving a team of 60 scientists and volunteer cavers. Expecting to recover a single skeleton, just three days in they realized they had much more than that, “something different and extraordinary,” research leader Lee Berger said at a press event IFLScience attended.

That something different turned out to be not several, but 15 individuals from a single hominin species, represented by more than 1,500 fossil elements found within a single chamber in total darkness some 90 meters (295 feet) from the entrance….”

For the rest and more photos, click here.