Trudy Myers's Blog
October 9, 2025
7,000-Year-Old Mummies
TheSahara is a vast expanse of sand where the fight for survival can be brutal.But there was a time in the distant past when it was green and flourishing.
Backbetween 14,000 and 5,500 years ago, during the African Humid Period, the Saharahad enough water to support a way of life, rather than being one of the driestplaces on Earth. At that time, it was a savannah where early humans settled forthe favorable farming conditions. Among those people was a mysterious sub-groupwho lived in what is now southwestern Libya. Genetically, they should have beenSub-Saharan. But modern analysis shows that their genes don’t reflect that.
A teamof researchers found two 7,000-year-old naturally preserved mummies ofNeolithic female herders at the Takarkori rock shelter. Usually, geneticmaterial does not preserve well in arid conditions, but in this case, there wasenough fragmented DNA to give some insights into their past and clear up someof the mystery of human populations in the Sahara.
The Takarkori individualsdon’t share DNA with modern humans. The majority of their ancestry stems from apreviously unknown North African genetic lineage that diverged from sub-SaharanAfrican lineages about the same time as modern humans roamed outside of Africa.But the Takarkori people appear to have remained isolated throughout most of theirexistence.
These Takarkori individualswere close relatives of 15,000-year-old foragers from the Taforalt Cave inMorocco. Both the Takarkori and the Taforalt people have about the same geneticdistance from Sub-Saharan groups that existed at that time. This suggests therewas not much gene flow between Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa at the time.Also, the Taforalts have half the Neanderthal genes of non-Africans. TheTakarkori have ten times less. But, both of them still have more NeanderthalDNA than other Sub-Saharan peoples who were around at the time. Although theTarkarkori apparently had less contact with Neanderthals than their morewestern brethren, they must have had more contact than other groups in theirregion. There are also traces of evidence of the Tarkarkori mixing with farmersfrom the Levant (the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea). But otherwise, thegenes of the Takarkori reveal they were mostly isolated. Although geneticallyclose to Northwestern African foragers like the Taforalt, they were distinctfrom Sub-Saharan populations.
It appears there wasnot much genetic exchange in the Green Sahara during the African Humid Period.It was thought that farming spread through the region by migrations, but this researchsuggests another explanation. Perhaps pastoralism spread through culturaldiffusion into a deeply divergent, isolated North African lineage that was widespreadin Northern Africa during the late Pleistocene epoch. In other words, farmingspread through the exchange of practices between cultures rather than themixture of people from migrations.
The Takarkori may haveinherited their genes from a hunter-gatherer group from before animals weredomesticated and farming began. Despite being hunter-gatherers, their ancestorsmade advances in making pottery, baskets, and tools made of wood and bone. Theyalso seemed to stay in one place for longer periods of time.
Possibly the Takarkoristayed isolated because of the diversity of environments in the Green Sahara.These ranged from lakes and wetlands to woodlands, grasslands, savannas andeven mountains. Such differences were probably barriers to interactions betweenhuman groups.
Elsewhere in theSahara, there might be additional mummies or artifacts that could tell us moreabout life in the desert before it dried out.
October 2, 2025
Circling Cyclones
Since we’re currently in hurricane season, it seems a goodtime to talk about hurricanes and cyclones. These types of weather systemsdon’t often find themselves in a traffic jam in Earth’s vast oceans, but whenthey do, there are consequences.
When two storms move too close together, they start toinfluence one another’s strength and track. This tropical tango is known as theFujiwhara effect. That scenario played out this week when Hurricanes Imelda andHumberto danced together off the southeastern US coast.
After devastating the coast of North Carolina, Humbertomoved out to sea, but as it did so, it tugged Imelda to go with it.
On Tuesday (9/30), they were both Category 1 hurricanes andthey were within 467 miles of each other, which is the closest that twoAtlantic hurricanes have come to each other in at least the past 60 years. Twohurricanes churning side-by-side is more common in the Pacific Ocean but rarelyhappens in the Atlantic.
The interactions during these events can vary greatly,which can make forecasting the tracks and intensity a challenge. Imelda’s trackforecast changed dramatically after she was pulled away from the US and towardBermuda.
Both hurricanes struggled in the face of the other’s windshear, with Humberto weakening and finally dissipating Wednesday morning. Afterthat, forecasters expect Imelda to hit Bermuda on Thursday as a Category 2.
In 1921, Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara publisheda paper that said two storms spinning near each other could start rotatingtogether around a common center point. He was right.
How close the storms need to be to trigger the Fujiwharaeffect is dependent on the size of each storm. If two large storms—those thatspan hundreds of miles—get within about 850 miles of each other, they start todance. The distance shrinks to 350 miles for smaller storms.
Closely matched storms will orbit around a common point butthen go their separate ways. The circling tugs each storm off the path theywould have taken. In 2017, Hilary and Irwin had this experience in the eastPacific. They were well matched. Both systems interacted for so long, theyeventually dissipated around the same time.
But if one storm is much stronger than the other, thestronger one could consume the weaker one. In the west Pacific in 2022, thepowerful typhoon Hinnamnor was headed for Taiwan before it met a tropicaldepression that was trying to grow. Hinnamnor and the depression rotated untilthe typhoon devoured the depression. Hinnamnor slowed and weakened for a bit,but when it restrengthened, it took a nearly 90-degree turn from its originaltrack.
In a rare Fujiwhara scenario, two weak storms spinningtogether could merge and create a larger storm,
All of these potential interactions and outcomes pose anincredible forecasting challenge, even for computers. Any small changes in thestrength or size of each storm, or slight deviation from the anticipated trackthrows a model’s complex calculations into chaos.
September 25, 2025
Ancient Note Pad
These days, most people do a lot of their shopping byclicking a few buttons. That might be convenient, but it can make it difficultto keep track of when your new armoire or bookshelf will actually show up. Inancient Turkey, somebody kept such details written down on a palm-sized pieceof clay.
The Accana Mound is the site of the ancient Anatolian cityof Alalah, which served as the capital of the Mukis Kingdom. The ruins foundthere date as far back as 4,000 years ago. At an excavation at the AccanaMound, researchers recently unearthed a small clay tablet inscribed withcuneiform writing. A study of the tablet has narrowed its origin to some timein the 15th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age.
Initial readings of the tablet’s Akkadian cuneiformrevealed details of a major furniture purchase, including an ample number ofwooden tables, chairs, and stools. The experts are still working through the writingand are slowly gathering information about the buyers and sellers involved.Therefore, this small tablet offers a window into the city’s economicprocesses. Alalah was located along a trade route at the time, so it would havebeen a center of commerce in addition to being a capital.
The small piece of clay measures only 4.2 centimeters by3.5 centimeters and is just 1.6 centimeters thick. It weighs 28 grams. Butdespite its small size, the tablet will help paint a much larger picture ofBronze Age Turkey.
There have been other similar discoveries in the region,including in 2023 when another cuneiform tablet was discovered that details thepurchase of an entire city and, one presumes, the furniture in it.
The area was first excavated in the late 1930s. But, afterfinding this clay list of furniture, it seems there’s still plenty of things todiscover.
And who knows? Perhaps the tablet’s details will providesome home-décor inspiration.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...
September 18, 2025
World’s Most Armored Dinosaur
It was the world’s most armored dinosaur, until evolutiondid something strange.
Fossils found in Morocco have revealed that the armoredbody of Spicomellus was also covered in bone spikes that reached nearly a meterin length. The preserved remains are dated to more than 165 million years ago.They also show that the animal lost some of its armor as it evolved.
Spicomellus had a multitude of plates and spikes all overits body. These included meter-long neck spikes, huge spikes projecting upwardsover the hips, and a range of long, blade-like spikes.
Spicomellus was a type of ankylosaur, which were heavilyarmored herbivores with bony skins similar to turtles. They lived from theMiddle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period but went extinct 66 million yearsago when a comet wiped out most dinosaurs.
Sometimes described as ‘walking coffee tables’, ankylosaurswere four-legged, squat and under 10 feet in length.
Usually, species become better at defending themselves overtime. But this discovery showed that ankylosaurs lost some of their protection,despite their environment being more dangerous in the Cretaceous period. Thisparticular fossil is the oldest known ankylosaur. Scientists thought that laterspecies might have inherited similar features, but they didn’t. Therefore,experts believe the fearsome variety of spikes may have actually been used forattracting mates and showing off to rivals rather than for defense.
In later species, the spikes are gone, having been replacedby flat plates, which were likely used only for defense. The scientistsspeculate that as larger and more fearsome predators evolved, ankylosaur armorbecame simpler, less showy, and more defensive. This suggests they wanted todraw less attention to themselves.
The end of Spicomellus’ tail hasn’t been found, but some ofthe vertebrae have been fused together, which suggests it had a club or similartail weapon.
September 11, 2025
The Tree of Life’s First Branch
There was one commonancestor for all animals on Earth. If you trace the history of anycreature—from humans to slugs—you’d eventually follow all the branches of theanimal tree of life back to its trunk.
Coming from the otherdirection, that trunk had to branch off at some point, or we wouldn’t have adiverse collection of animals. Unfortunately, that first split has been elusiveto scientists because it took place around 600 million years ago.
Scientists have figuredout that the first split resulted in the birth of two creatures. One was theancestor of almost all animals, while its “sister” gave rise to just one groupof modern animals.
For decades, scientistshave debated which group of animals came from the “sister” ancestor. They hadtwo contenders—sea sponges and comb jellies. Thanks to new methods that enableresearchers to analyze these animals’ chromosomes, they think they have theanswer.
The key was to look notjust at what genes each animal had, but where those genes were located on thechromosomes. As a creature evolves, chromosomes will rearrange, and genes willmove around. But once genes move, it’s almost impossible for them to return totheir original position. Therefore, whichever animal showed the leastre-shuffling of genes on its chromosomes must have come into existence first.Out of the two options, whichever animal has the least shuffling is the sister.
The team compared theplacements of certain groups of genes in sponges and comb jellies to theplacements of those same groups in their closest single-cell non-animalrelatives. (The single-cell relatives would have been closely related to the“trunk” organism and would have evidence of what that original genome lookedlike.) The closer an organism is to that genome, the less it has changed, andthe more likely it is the sister.
In both the non-animalsand the comb jellies, they found 14 groups of genes located on separatechromosomes. But in the sponges, they found those 14 groups were rearrangedinto 7 groups, which indicated they split from the original genome later thanthe comb jellies.
Consequently, thesister to all other animals, the first to branch off, and the most geneticallyisolated animal is the comb jelly.
Besides answering along-standing biological question, scientists can investigate what thisknowledge tells us about animal evolution, and the mechanisms of thatevolution. And so the search for more answers continues.
Thank goodness theyfigured that out. I don’t think I could have remained sane another day withoutknowing which animal came first.
September 5, 2025
1600 Year Old Churches in Egypt
Archaeologists havefound two 1,600-year-old churches in Egypt’s western desert. This discoveryoffers rare evidence of Christianity’s rise in Egyptian desert settlements.
The churches were foundat Kharga Oasis, an ancient settlement roughly 350 miles southwest of Cairo.The Christian remains include cemeteries, churches, and a mural of Jesus curinga sick man, but the Oasis has been inhabited since antiquity, thanks to undergroundwater sources.
The archaeologistsuncovered the remains of an entire settlement at Kharga Oasis, includingmultiple residential buildings made of mudbrick, with some walls stillretaining plaster. The team also found ovens and large clay jars that were setinto the ground to store food. Other finds included inscribed pottery shards,vessels, glass and stone pieces, and several burials.
However, thecenterpiece of the excavation was the discovery of two churches. Both date backto the early Coptic era, which is Egypt’s Christianization period that began inthe 4th century AD.
One church was a grandbasilica made of mudbrick. It held remnants of a large hall and two aisles.
The second church wassmaller. It had a rectangular layout and was surrounded by the remains of sevenexternal columns. Some of its inner walls were decorated with Copticinscriptions. The remains of service buildings were found to the west of thesmaller church.
This discovery shedslight on the beginnings of the Coptic period in Egypt. It also shows theimportance of Egypt’s western oases as centers of religious and social life invarious eras. It highlights the tolerance and cultural and religious diversityof Egyptian civilization.
August 28, 2025
37,000 Years of Disease
With ancient DNA,scientists have mapped 37,000 years of disease across Europe and Asia.
More than 200 moderndiseases are zoonoses—that is, they can spread to humans from other animals.Both rampant and widespread, zoonoses are often at the center of contemporaryoutbreaks, epidemics, and research. Six out of ten known infectious diseasesare zoonotic, and three out of four new or emerging diseases that affect humanscome from animals.
For a long time,scientists have speculated that these diseases began afflicting societiesaround the time animals were domesticated. But they’ve never had geneticevidence or pinned down a specific timeline—until now.
A team of scientistshave traced the genetic history of 214 diseases across Europe and Asia over thelast 37,000 years. Their findings indicate that the rise of animal husbandryforever shaped humanity’s relationship with disease. However, the timing defiedtheir expectations.
The researchers foundthat zoonotic pathogens emerged roughly 6,500 years ago and spiked 5,000 yearsago. That was surprising because it was several thousand years after humansbegan domesticating animals in Mesopotamia and southeast Asia. But the evidencesays zoonoses initially became prevalent in Asia and Russia as communitiestransitioned from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to nomadic livestock herding orfarming.
Having already tamedhorses, communities began to travel in wagons pulled by oxen, which allowedthem to voyage farther and exchange goods, ideas, and diseases with othercommunities. Though some pathogens may have moved from animals to humans evenearlier, research suggests these changes made the spread more prevalent.
A vast analysis of DNAfrom ancient human remains made this study possible. The researchers extractedremnants of microbial genetic material from the teeth and bones of 1,313 humanskeletons and identified 5,486 DNA sequences from bacteria, parasites, andviruses. Many remains were found in the same graves, indicating that a singlecontagion killed multiple people.
The study builds onexisting evidence that mutations in these pathogens strengthened the immunesystems of the nomads who were the first to get sick, while farmers andhunter-gatherers succumbed to the new diseases. But another study suggestedthat these nomads’ evolving immune systems might have also made themsusceptible to chronic illnesses, like multiple sclerosis.
Understanding the wayspathogens affected humans long ago could help improve modern treatments andmethods for preventing disease.
Successful mutations ofthe past are likely to reappear. So knowledge is important for future vaccines.Knowledge allows us to test whether current vaccines provide sufficientcoverage or new ones need to be developed due to mutations.
Scientists analyzed onesample dating to 5,500 years ago, which contained the world’s oldest knowngenetic trace of yersinia pestis, which caused the plague that killedbetween 30 and 50 percent of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages. It’sjust one example of how zoonoses have had a massive influence on human historyand culture.
Other diseasesidentified in the human remains include malaria (4,200 years old), leprosy(1,400 years old), Hepatitis B (9,800 years old), and diphtheria (11,100 yearsold).
The work has somelimitations. The genes of many viruses are encoded in RNA, which was notstudied. The research might have missed some pathogens that were present at lowlevels. The history revealed is limited to the Eurasian sites where theskeletons were found.
I look forward to theday when my immune system figures out how to avoid covid-19.
August 21, 2025
Nine-Foot-Long Millipede
A long, long time ago,millipedes were nine-foot-long. Weighing in at 110-pounds, this creature iscalled Arthropleura and is the largest arthropod to ever live.
This all happened duringthe Carboniferous period, roughly 300 million to 360 million years ago. The Earth’satmosphere at that time was rich with oxygen, making it possible for someanimals to swell to monstrous size, such as dragonflies with two-foot wingspans.
However, Arthropleurafossils discovered since the 1800s were often only remnants of headlessexoskeletons left behind during molting. A new study states researchers havefinally pieced together what the animal’s head was like. The breakthrough camefrom two well-preserved juvenile Arthropleura fossils found in France. Thesespecimens were less than two inches long, but they provided the first-ever glimpseof Arthropleura’s head.
Apparently, this insect’shead was a rough circle adorned with two antennae, a small mandible hiddenunderneath, and eyestalks protruding from the sides.
Arthropods, are a groupof invertebrates that includes crustaceans, spiders, insects, centipedes andmillipedes. There has been fierce controversy about Arthropleura’s positionon the arthropod family tree since its discovery in 1854. Was it a millipede ora centipede? Scientists weren’t sure.
During examinations ofthe new, complete fossils, scientists found that it had the body of a millipedebut the head of a centipede. It had two pairs of legs per body segment, wherecentipedes only have one pair per segment. Its jaw position resembles that of acentipede, but its shape and antennae are most similar to those of a millipede.One feature is not seen in any living members of the millipede or centipedefamilies—eyestalks. The eyestalks resemble a crab’s, which could point to thecreature having an amphibious youth before becoming terrestrial in adulthood.
Researchers have alsoconcluded that Arthropleura probably chewed on decaying plants like themillipedes of today, rather than hunting prey like a centipede. Its anatomyindicates that it was not carnivorous. It did not have a centipede’s ‘fangs’ orany appendages built for hunting. In addition, having two pairs of legs persegment affected its locomotion and implies it was rather slow.
After piecing togetherthese bits of evidence, the team says the Arthropleura is most closelyrelated to millipedes.
These ancient millipedeslived between 290 million and 346 million years ago, skittering around theEarth’s tropical equator with other massive arthropods, like two-foot-longscorpions. The leading theory for this gigantism is that the oxygenconcentration was estimated at 30% during the Carboniferous era compared to the21% of today. More oxygen in the air may have let insects grow much bigger.
While finding thejuvenile Arthropleura has provided some answers, there are morequestions to be answered with future fossil discoveries. Did the Arthropleurause tracheae for breathing, or lungs like spiders? That’s just one questionthat hasn’t been answered yet.
I find modern insectsare frequently creepy, at least, to my mind. I definitely do not want to comeacross a nine-foot-long millipede.
August 15, 2025
The First Potatoes
The mystery of potatoevolution has been solved—and it involved a tomato.
The potato is a globalfood staple. It was first cultivated thousands of years ago in the Andes ofSouth America before it spread worldwide starting in the 16thcentury. But its evolution has long been a puzzle, until a recent analysisfinally unraveled its origins.
Scientists say that thepotato lineage emerged approximately nine million years ago in South America,through a natural interbreeding event between a wild tomato plant and apotato-like species. This discovery is based on the genomic analysis of 450cultivated types of potatoes and 56 wild species.
This ancienthybridization event led to the appearance of the potato plant’s distinctivetuber—the enlarged structure housing nutrients underground. While the ediblepart of a tomato plant is its fruit, the potato’s value lies in thissubterranean growth. Researchers also identified two crucial genes involved intuber formation, which deepens our understanding of this crop.
Potatoes are one of themost remarkable food staples, combining versatility, nutritional value, andcultural ubiquity. Around the world, people eat potatoes using virtually everycooking method. Although stereotyped as carbohydrates, potatoes offer vitaminC, potassium, fiber, and resistant starch. They are gluten-free, low-fat, andsatiating. They are a nutrient-dense calorie source.
Resistant starch is atype of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and fermentsin the large intestine. This means it feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut.
The scientific name formodern a potato plant is Solanum tuberosum. Its two parents wereancestors of a potato-like species now found in Peru named Etuberosum(which closely resembles the potato plant but lacks a tuber) and the tomatoplant. These two plants shared a common ancestor that lived about 14 millionyears ago, so they were able to interbreed when the hybridization eventoccurred five million years after they had diverged.
The hybridization ledto genes being reshuffled so that the lineage produced tubers, which allowedthese plants to expand into the cold, dry habitats of the rising Andes mountainchain. During the rapid uplift of the Andes, the potato plant could adapt tothe changing environment and thrive in the harsh conditions of the mountains.The tubers stored nutrients for cold adaptation and enabled asexualreproduction to counter the reduced fertility in cold conditions. Therefore,the plant could survive and rapidly expand.
The study’s findingsmay improve cultivated potato breeding to address environmental challenges thatcrops presently face. There currently are roughly 5,000 potato varieties.Potatoes are the world’s third most important food crop for humans, after rice andwheat. China is the world’s leading potato producer.
It is hard to removeall harmful mutations in potato genomes when breeding, but this study may showhow to make a potato free of harmful mutations using the tomato as the chassisof synthetic biology. It may also lead to a new crop species that would producetomato fruit above ground and potato tubers below ground.
The potato and tomatobelong to the nightshade family of flowering plants, which also includestobacco and peppers, among others. The study did not investigate the evolutionof other tuberous root crops that originated in South America such as the sweetpotato and yuca, which belong to different families of flowering plants.
Although the parts ofthe tomato and potato plants that people eat are quite different, the plantsare very similar. If you look at the flowers or leaves of these plants, theyare very similar. And if you let your potato plant produce fruits, those fruitslook like little green tomatoes. But don’t try to eat them; they are prettyyucky.
August 7, 2025
Trash in a Cave
A spelunker found trashin a cave, but it was actually evidence of a lost civilization.
A professional caveexplorer, on a mapping expedition in the Tlayococ cave in Mexico found a hiddenchamber that contained evidence of an extinct civilization.
Yekaterina KatiyaPavlova went to a community in the Sierra de Guerrero to further map theTlayococ cave. When Pavlova and her local guide reached the bottom of the cave,after exploring all that was already mapped, they opted to head into an unknownpassage through a submerged entrance.
The passage led to apreviously unseen room where two engraved shell bracelets sat atop stalagmites.They also found another bracelet, a giant snail shell, and pieces of blackstone discs similar to pyrite mirrors. All of these things dated to more than500 years ago.
When archaeologistslater descended to the cave, they found more items; a bracelet fragment, apiece of burnt wood, and pieces of a total of eight stone discs (two of whichwere complete).
All of the braceletswere made from snail shells—probably a marine species—and were engraved withanthropomorphic symbols and figures. The engravings featured S-shaped symbols(known as xonecuilli), zigzagging lines, and circles to create human faces inprofile. These designs could be meant to indicate deities.
The archaeologistsestimate that the items were left in the cave between 950 and 1521 AD. At thattime, the area was known to be populated by the now-extinct Tlacotepehausethnic group.
One archaeologist feltthe items found could help with interpreting symbolic notions, culturalaspects, manufacturing, and trade of the pre-Hispanic societies in the Sierrade Guerrero.
The archaeologists alsodetermined that the stalagmites were manipulated in pre-Hispanic times to givea more spherical finish, possibly to fit ritual needs. It is felt that thesymbols and representations of characters on the bracelets may be related topre-Hispanic cosmogony regarding creation and fertility. The sealed contexthelps them understand how the ancient inhabitants may have seen these caves—as portalsto the underworld, or as sacred spaces connected to the Earth and the divine.
The black stone discsresemble others from nearby regions, such as El Infiernillo, as well as fromdistant cultures like Huasteca, Mayan states in east-central Mexico.
Historical reports sayextreme cold forced the people living in the Sierra de Guerrero, which islocated over 7,850 feet above sea level, to lower altitudes. Little is knownabout the Tlacotepheuas, other than some 16th-century historical mentions oftheir presence. The shell bracelets could help tell their story.
