modern | Common News Update

Sep282020 by adminNo Comments

Modern humans moved into Western Europe 5,000 years earlier than previously thought

Science

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Modern humans were occupying parts of Western Europe at least 38,000 to 41,000 years ago, 5,000 years earlier than previously thought. The discovery and analysis of ancient stone tools in a Portuguese cave -- detailed Monday in the journal PNAS -- suggests modern humans were along Europe's Atlantic Coast at the same time that Neanderthals occupied the region. Advertisement Paleontologists have been excavating the Portuguese cave known as Lapa do Picareiro for more than 25 years, but until now, researchers had failed to turn up evidence that modern humans might have arrived prior to the disappearance of local Neanderthals. During recent digs, researchers unearthed stone tools similar to those associated with early human populations at the other end of the continent, where...

May122020 by adminNo Comments

Longer overlap for modern humans and Neanderthals

Science

Modern humans began to edge out the Neanderthals in Europe earlier than previously thought, a new study shows.Tests on remains from a cave in northern Bulgaria suggest Homo sapiens was there as early as 46,000 years ago.This is up to 2,000 years older than evidence from Italy and the UK.Around this time, Europe was populated by sparse groups of Neanderthals - a distinct type of human that vanished shortly after modern humans appeared on the scene.There's considerable debate about the length of time that modern humans overlapped with Neanderthals in Europe and other parts of Eurasia.This has implications for the nature of contact between the two groups - and perhaps clues to why Neanderthals went...

Apr92020 by adminNo Comments

Modern Family: US TV comedy bows out after 11 series

Entertainment

Modern Family, one of America's most popular comedies, drew to a close on Wednesday night after 250 episodes across 11 series.Wednesday's two-hour finale on US network ABC began with a documentary and concluded with a two-part episode.The show, which follows three different branches of the same family, has been a huge success with viewers and critics since its debut in 2009.However, viewing figures have dropped in recent years. After the finale aired on Wednesday, the show's fans took to social media to bid farewell.Ellen DeGeneres tweeted: "Thank you to every single member of the cast and crew of Modern Family for consistently making us laugh and cry for 11 seasons. You've been a huge part of all of our lives and we miss you already.""Congrats to all my ...

Oct282019 by adminNo Comments

Origin of modern humans ‘traced to Botswana’

Science

Scientists have pinpointed the homeland of all humans alive today to a region south of the Zambesi River.The area is now dominated by salt pans, but was once home to an enormous lake, which may have been our ancestral heartland 200,000 years ago.Our ancestors settled for 70,000 years, until the local climate changed, researchers have proposed. They began to move on as fertile green corridors opened up, paving the way for future migrations out of Africa."It has been clear for some time that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago," said Prof Vanessa Hayes, a geneticist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia."What has been long debated is the exact location of this emergence and sub...

Oct182019 by adminNo Comments

Anne Hathaway lost equilibrium with bipolar role for ‘Modern Love’

Entertainment

NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway said playing a bipolar lawyer in Amazon's anthology series Modern Love was one of the most difficult experiences of her career. Written and directed by John Carney (Once, Sing Street,) the show is based on an iconic New York Times column written by different people each week. It begins streaming Friday. Hathaway's episode casts her as Lexi, a brilliant, vivacious lawyer who has spent most of her life hiding her condition. Lexi meets handsome, sweet Jeff (Gary Carr) in a grocery store when she is at her lovable best, but the date they arrange for later in the week finds her in the deepest of depressions. Her chronic absences at work also are putting her job in jeopardy. "I wasn't fully prepared for what it was going to take to represen...