M.J. Rose

The mysterious smell of rain…

(“Petrichor” is the word for it.)

More about this here.

In the deep past, there were, it seems, many more types of “human” than previously imagined. Who were they? Did we co-exist and even interbreed? Science is rapidly discovering the answers.

Big-Toothed Fossil May Be Primitive New Human
by Jennifer Viegas (Discovery News)

“The first known prehistoric human from Taiwan has been identified and may represent an entirely new species that lived as recently as 10,000 years ago, according to a new study.

The newly discovered big-toothed human, “Penghu 1,” strengthens the growing body of evidence that Homo sapiens was not the only species from our genus living in Europe and Asia between 200,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Anthropologists have learned that Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis (a.k.a. the “Hobbit Human”) lived in Europe and Asia within that time frame. Penghu 1, which is described in the latest issue of Nature Communications, adds to that already impressive list and might have co-existed — and even interbred — with our species…”

For the rest, and a video, click here.

Quantum weirdness is, well, weird. And that is why we love it. It inspires incredible ideas about the mysteries of reality. For example, the concept of “multiple worlds” is more real than not, and that is truly fascinating weirdness. When science bumps up against the esoteric, that is when we must listen…

Parallel worlds exist and interact with our world, say physicists

New theory explains many of the bizarre observations made in quantum mechanics.

By: Bryan Nelson

“Do parallel worlds ever cross paths?

Quantum mechanics, though firmly tested, is so weird and anti-intuitive that famed physicist Richard Feynman once remarked, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Attempts to explain some of the bizarre consequences of quantum theory have led to some mind-bending ideas, such as the Copenhagen interpretation and the many-worlds interpretation.

Now there’s a new theory on the block, called the “many interacting worlds” hypothesis (MIW), and the idea is just as profound as it sounds. The theory suggests not only that parallel worlds exist, but that they interact with our world on the quantum level and are thus detectable. Though still speculative, the theory may help to finally explain some of the bizarre consequences inherent in quantum mechanics, reports RT.com.

The theory is a spin-off of the many-worlds interpretation in quantum mechanics — an idea that posits that all possible alternative histories and futures are real, each representing an actual, though parallel, world. One problem with the many-worlds interpretation, however, has been that it is fundamentally untestable, since observations can only be made in our world. Happenings in these proposed “parallel” worlds can thus only be imagined…”

Read more here.