The World’s Deadliest Bird Was Raised by People 18,000 Years Ago
The New York Times
Researchers studying ancient cassowary egg shells in New Guinea found signs that the sharp-taloned bird was being domesticated.
The southern cassowary is often called the world’s most dangerous bird.
While shy and secretive in the forests of its native New Guinea and Northern Australia, it can be aggressive in captivity. In 2019, kicks from a captive cassowary mortally wounded a Florida man. They don’t take kindly to attempts to hunt them, either: In 1926, a cassowary attacked by an Australian teenager kicked him in the neck with its four-inch, velociraptor-like talons, slitting his throat.
Not a bird it’s advisable to spend too much time in close quarters with, in other words. But as early as 18,000 years ago, people in New Guinea may have reared cassowary chicks to near-adulthood — potentially the earliest known example of humans managing avian breeding.
Some women are stocking up on the medications, saying they are concerned that the new administration could take steps to restrict access.
As the glaciers of South America retreat, the supply of freshwater is dwindling and its quality is getting worse.
It’s something turkey often isn’t — undeniably juicy and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
A rise in the disease in younger people was not followed by an increase in deaths, a study found, and might be a sign of overdiagnosis.
The Homotherium cub was preserved in Siberian permafrost with its dark fur and flesh intact.
A small study found ChatGPT outdid human physicians when assessing medical case histories, even when those doctors were using a chatbot.
For a century, exoplanet hunters have “discovered” planets around a nearby star, only to retract the claims. But the latest find is for real.
The unidentified patient had recently returned from Africa, where the virus has caused a deadly epidemic, health officials said.
The event produces some of the year’s fastest meteors, although the nearly full moon may make them challenging to spot.
Mr. Musk dug into his companies’ budgets, preferring to cut too much rather than too little and to deal with the fallout later. Under Donald Trump, he is set to apply those tactics to the U.S. government.
Behind the scenes at a Chicago zoo, chimpanzees who spent years entertaining humans are learning to befriend their own kind.