All Stories by Tom Metcalfe
- Archaeology
The mystery of the ‘Plain of Jars’ in Laos may now be solved
The remains of at least 37 people sit in an ancient stone “jar.” They suggest thousands of such jars in Laos are burial vaults.
- Planets
Massive underground lava tube found on Venus
A collapsed structure, which turned up in 30-year-old radar data from Venus, may be one of many underground caves.
- Archaeology
Ancient pottery shows the earliest evidence of humans doing math
The numbers of petals painted on 8,000-year-old pottery showed a distinct numerical pattern.
- Archaeology
60,000-year-old poison arrowheads show early humans’ hunting tactics
Traces of poison on the South African arrowheads hint that people used poisoned weapons 50,000 years earlier than previously thought.
- Fossils
Fossil teeth reveal some dinos were fussy eaters
The type of calcium in those teeth points to what herbivores preferred to eat — whether soft leaves, rough twigs or something else.
