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There are about six billion people on Earth whose recent ancestry is not from Africa, and science tells us they will have inherited between 1% and 2% of their genome from our closest but now extinct relatives: the Neanderthals. East Asians and Oceanians have also inherited a small amount of ancestry from another close relative of Homo sapiens, the Denisovans. Now a new study suggests that early humans living inside Africa may also have interbred with archaic hominims. These are extinct species that are related to Homo sapiens. George Busby explains the research and its implications.
The lives of slaves in early America were characterised by loss, terror and abuse. Enslaved people sang out their sorrows as their hope for a better life – a musical genre that came to be known as the Negro spiritual. Donna M. Cox explores this poignant, important piece of history.
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Homo rhodesiensis is an example of an archaic human.
wikipedia
George Busby, University of Oxford
Early humans in Africa may have interbred with a ghost population that likely split from the ancestors of humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago.
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A studio group portrait of the Fisk University Jubilee singers.
James Wallace Black/American Missionary Association
Donna M. Cox, University of Dayton
Spirituals were created out of the experience of enslaved people in the US. They weren't songs of anger – but of an abiding belief in the victory of good over evil.
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Environment + Energy
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David Harasti, Southern Cross University; Michael Simpson, University of Sydney; Rebecca L. Morris, University of Melbourne; Ross Coleman, University of Sydney
White's seahorse in Sydney uses seahorse hotels as temporary residence while their natural habitats recover.
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Jennifer Fitchett, University of the Witwatersrand
The unusual weather can be attributed to the Indian Ocean Dipole. This is the difference in sea surface temperatures between the eastern and western tropical Indian Ocean.
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Health + Medicine
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Susan Hardy, UNSW
The official naming of COVID-19 has the tone of a committee decision. Historically, names for diseases have not been quite so well thought out and were more likely to offend.
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Ian M. Mackay, The University of Queensland; Katherine Arden, The University of Queensland
There's no evidence the new coronavirus is airborne. It appears to spread by larger droplets, direct contact and contaminated surfaces or objects.
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En Français
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Scott Lear, Simon Fraser University
C'est connu, l'activité physique a de nombreux avantages pour la santé. Mais elle peut aussi améliorer nos relations amoureuses. Les couples actifs se déclarent plus satisfaits de leur relation.
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Samantha Brennan, University of Guelph
Athlète, danseuse et artiste, le fait que J.Lo puisse encore performer à ce niveau à 50 ans donne de l'espoir à toutes celles qui veulent continuer à progresser - dans la quarantaine et au-delà.
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