Science has no answer for—and apparently little interest about—a phenomenon Austronesian sailors may have used as long as 6,000 years ago. Ben Taub has the story, conjectures, and potential impacts for our understanding of physics, ocean animals, and human ingenuity. Speaking of ancients surpassing modern knowledge, Mysterious New Behavior Seen in Whales May Be Recorded in Ancient Manuscripts. Researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia believe “a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales around the world” may have been recorded over 2,000 years ago by the Norse. Not only that, but the historical records of “hafgufa” may harken back to earlier works, and many “sea serpent” stories perhaps came from real, observed whale behavior. Another surprise: Archery May Have Originated in Europe 40,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought, according to a team of scholars. They describe the problems in arriving at their discovery, their means of solving them, and the potential impact upon determining why “modern” humans outlasted the Neanderthals. And Steel Was Already Being Used in Europe 2,900 Years Ago, Shows Study. “[A]n international and interdisciplinary team” led by a University of Freiburg (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) archaeologist used its own innovative combination of theorizing and creative testing of the theory to date steel’s appearance in Spain far before previously thought. (WM)
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