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Hulu's original movie "Palm Springs" is the comedy we needed this summer
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti get stuck in an infinite wedding time loop.
03 August, 2020
- Two wedding guests discover they're trapped in an infinite time loop, waking up in Palm Springs over and over and over.
- As the reality of their situation sets in, Nyles and Sarah decide to enjoy the repetitive awakenings.
- The film is perfectly timed for a world sheltering at home during a pandemic.
<script async="true" src="https://widgets.stackcommerce.com/js-deal-feed/0.1/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Everyone remembers Bill Murray's hilarious time loop in the 1993 film <em>Groundhog Day</em>. While covering the infamous annual event in Punxsutawney, Murray comes to terms with waking up over and over again in the same situation. The movie is responsible for making "Groundhog Day" a metaphor for dealing with monotonous and unpleasant situations. <br></p><p>That's what happens when Sarah (Cristin Milioti), a maid of honor at a <a href="https://stackmedia.io?pub_id=2340&utm_source=0a0b0cv5038&utm_medium=1a0b0cp393&utm_term=scsf-414922&utm_content=100-a0x1P000004slmlQAA" target="_blank">Palm Springs</a> wedding, wakes up the morning after the ceremony only to discover the wedding is that day. She approaches Nyles (Andy Samberg), who she connected with the prior evening, to figure out what's happening to her. </p><p>Nyles has been in the time loop for some time. The story flips the generic romantic comedy on its head as the two figure out how to navigate this shared reality together. </p><p><a href="https://stackmedia.io?pub_id=2340&utm_source=0a0b0cv5038&utm_medium=1a0b0cp393&utm_term=scsf-414922&utm_content=100-a0x1P000004slmlQAA" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Palm Springs</em></a> is a perfectly timed release in a nation that feels like it's stuck in a time loop during the pandemic. In fact, the film offers another perspective from the fear portrayed in the media on a daily basis: the triumph of love during a time of immense confusion and frustration. Instead of being weighed down by the stress of the situation, the characters adapt to their circumstances while learning plenty about themselves along the way. </p><p><em>Palm Springs</em> is a Hulu Original. <a href="https://stackmedia.io?pub_id=2340&utm_source=0a0b0cv5038&utm_medium=1a0b0cp393&utm_term=scsf-414922&utm_content=100-a0x1P000004slmlQAA" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sign up for a free 30-day trial now</a>. After the trial period expires, enjoy a subscription starting at only $5.99/month. </p><p><em>One month free trial offer valid for Hulu (ad-supported) or Hulu (No Ads) plans only. Offer valid for new and eligible returning subscribers only. After free trial ends subscription fees apply starting at $5.99/mo unless canceled. Cancel anytime. Terms apply.</em></p><p><em>Sponsored by Hulu</em></p>
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Live tomorrow! Unfiltered lessons of a female entrepreneur
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and best-selling author Charles Duhigg as he interviews Victoria Montgomery Brown, co-founder and CEO of Big Think, live at 1pm EDT tomorrow.
06 August, 2020
Big Think LIVE
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<p>
Women today are founding more businesses than ever. In 2018, they made up 40% of new entrepreneurs, yet in that same year, they received just 2.2% of all venture capital investment. The playing field is off-balance. So what can women do?
</p><p>
<strong>They can get candid with each other. </strong>In this Big Think Live session, <a href="https://youtu.be/vJNpOHQdSsg" target="_blank">Victoria Montgomery Brown</a>, co-founder and CEO of Big Think, and Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, will discuss entrepreneurship, decision-making, and leadership lessons from Victoria's new book, <a href="https://www.harpercollinsleadership.com/digital-goddess/#order?utm_source=bigthink&utm_medium=authorsite&utm_content=preorder&utm_campaign=digital-goddess-bigthink" target="_blank"><em>Digital Goddess</em>: <em>The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur</em></a>. The book is a raw and real roadmap for any woman who has ever thought about striking out on her own, and will empower you to get meetings, raise money, and make hard choices—and never get so serious that you can't still have fun doing what you love.
</p><p>
<em>Ask your questions for Victoria Montgomery Brown during the live Q&A!</em>
</p><p>
<em>Join the live stream at 1pm EDT on Friday, 7 August.</em>
</p><h2>STREAMING LINKS</h2><p>
<strong><a href="https://edge.bigthink.com/live_streams/106" target="_self">Big Think Edge</a> | <a href="https://youtu.be/_jb0pM9FrZk" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | </strong><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157549491758527" target="_blank">Facebook</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157549491758527" target="_blank"></a></strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157549491758527" target="_blank"></a>
</p><p>
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</p><p>
<strong>Victoria Montgomery Brown</strong> has built and run <a href="http://www.bigthink.com/" target="_self">Big Think</a> for the last 12 years. It's become the leading digital media knowledge company, making people and companies smarter and faster with the world's best thinkers and doers. It wasn't a venture-funded tech darling, born and raised in a Silicon Valley incubator. It's a scrappy, creative, labor of love that was born in a New York City bar and raised in a rented closet in someone else's office. It's had to fight for its existence most of the time. Her new book is <a href="https://www.harpercollinsleadership.com/digital-goddess/#order?utm_source=bigthink&utm_medium=authorsite&utm_content=preorder&utm_campaign=digital-goddess-bigthink" target="_blank"><em>Digital Goddess</em>: <em>The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur</em></a> (available for preorder).
</p><p>
Brown graduated from Montreal's McGill University in 1997 and received her MBA from Harvard Business School in 2003.
</p><p>
<strong>Charles Duhigg</strong> is a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812983599?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank"><em>Smarter Faster Better</em></a><em>,</em> about the science of productivity and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/081298160X?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank"><em>The Power of Habit</em></a>, about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies and societies. Duhigg studied history at Yale, received an MBA from Harvard Business School, and was a reporter at <em>The New York Times</em> for a decade. Today, he is a leading writer on the nature of habits and productivity. He writes books and magazine articles for <em>The New York Times Magazine</em>, <em>The New Yorker</em> and <em>The Atlantic</em>.
</p><div class="rm-shortcode amazon-assets-widget" data-rm-shortcode-id="235cee081340897abf765d4cf877a093" contenteditable="false">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400220610?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">
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<div class="amazon-assets-widget__title" style="display: block;">Digital Goddess: The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur</div>
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<div class="amazon-assets-widget__title" style="display: block;">The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business</div>
<div class="amazon-assets-widget__by-amazon"><!-- <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/081298160X?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">by now at amazone</a> --></div>
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Iron Age discoveries uncovered outside London, including a ‘murder’ victim
A man's skeleton, found facedown with his hands bound, was unearthed near an ancient ceremonial circle during a high speed rail excavation project.
04 August, 2020
Photo Credit: HS2
- A skeleton representing a man who was tossed face down into a ditch nearly 2,500 years ago with his hands bound in front of his hips was dug up during an excavation outside of London.
- The discovery was made during a high speed rail project that has been a bonanza for archaeology, as the area is home to more than 60 ancient sites along the planned route.
- An ornate grave of a high status individual from the Roman period and an ancient ceremonial circle were also discovered during the excavations.
<p>An ancient skeleton of a man dating back to the Iron Age was uncovered outside of London last month, and though archaeologists aren't certain what the cause of death was, clues point to a murder most foul. </p>
Foul Play?
<p>A skeleton representing a man who was tossed face down into a ditch nearly 2,500 years ago with his hands bound in front of his hips was dug up during a high speed rail excavation.</p><p>The positioning of the remains have led archaeologists to suspect that the man may have been a victim of an ancient murder or execution. Though any bindings have since decomposed, his hands were positioned together and pinned under his pelvis. There was also no sign of a grave or coffin. </p><p>"He seems to have had his hands tied, and he was face-down in the bottom of the ditch," <a href="https://www.livescience.com/iron-age-murder-victim-england.html" target="_blank">said archaeologist Rachel Wood</a>, who led the excavation. "There are not many ways that you end up that way."</p><p>Currently, archaeologists are examining the skeleton to uncover more information about the circumstances of the man's death. Fragments of pottery found in the ditch may offer some clues as to exactly when the man died. </p><p>"If he was struck across the head with a heavy object, you could find a mark of that on the back of the skull," Wood said to <a href="https://www.livescience.com/iron-age-murder-victim-england.html" target="_blank">Live Science</a>. "If he was stabbed, you could find blade marks on the ribs. So we're hoping to find something like that, to tell us how he died."</p>Other discoveries at Wellwick Farm
<p>The grim discovery was made at Wellwick Farm near Wendover. That is about 15 miles north-west of the outskirts of London, where <a href="https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/hs2-green-corridor/" target="_blank">a tunnel</a> is going to be built as part of a HS2 high-speed rail project due to open between London and several northern cities sometime after 2028. The infrastructure project has been something of a bonanza for archaeology as the area is home to more than 60 ancient sites along the planned route that are now being excavated before construction begins. </p><p>The farm sits less than a mile away from the ancient highway <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/texttechnologies/cgi-bin/stanfordnottingham/places/?icknield" target="_blank">Icknield Way</a> that runs along the tops of the Chiltern Hills. The route (now mostly trails) has been used since prehistoric times. Evidence at Wellwick Farm indicates that from the Neolithic to the Medieval eras, humans have occupied the region for more than 4,000 years, making it a rich area for archaeological finds. </p><p>Wood and her colleagues found some evidence of an ancient village occupied from the late Bronze Age (more than 3,000 years ago) until the Roman Empire's invasion of southern England about 2,000 years ago. At the site were the remains of animal pens, pits for disposing food, and a roundhouse — a standard British dwelling during the Bronze Age constructed with a circular plan made of stone or wood topped with a conical thatched roof.</p>Ceremonial burial site
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMTk0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDgwNTIyMX0.I49n1-j8WVhKjIZS_wVWZissnk3W1583yYXB7qaGtN8/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C82%2C0%2C83&height=700" id="44da7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="46cfc8ca1c64fc404b32014542221275" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="top down view of coffin" />A high status burial in a lead-lined coffin dating back to Roman times.
Photo Credit: HS2
<p>While these ancient people moved away from Wellwick Farm before the Romans invaded, a large portion of the area was still used for ritual burials for high-status members of society, Wood told Live Science. The ceremonial burial site included a circular ditch (about 60 feet across) at the center, and was a bit of a distance away from the ditch where the (suspected) murder victim was uncovered. Additionally, archaeologists found an ornately detailed grave near the sacred burial site that dates back to the Roman period, hundreds of years later when the original Bronze Age burial site would have been overgrown.</p><p>The newer grave from the Roman period encapsulated an adult skeleton contained in a lead-lined coffin. It's likely that the outer coffin had been made of wood that rotted away. Since it was clearly an ornate burial, the occupant of the grave was probably a person of high status who could afford such a lavish burial. However, according to Wood, no treasures or tokens had been discovered. </p>Sacred timber circle
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMTk0Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NjkzNzQ4Mn0.TVZxpLMQgE7SvfBLJeP9LpOf_RMr57T7r2R-zmbmdr8/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C149%2C0%2C149&height=700" id="bd8b7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ee66520d470b26f5c055eaef0b95ec06" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="An aerial view of the sacred circular monument." />An aerial view of the sacred circular monument.
Photo Credit: HS2
<p>One of the most compelling archaeological discoveries at Wellwick Farm are the indications of a huge ceremonial circle once circumscribed by timber posts lying south of the Bronze Age burial site. Though the wooden posts have rotted away, signs of the post holes remain. It's thought to date from the Neolithic period to 5,000 years ago, according to Wood.</p><p>This circle would have had a diameter stretching 210 feet across and consisted of two rings of hundreds of posts. There would have been an entry gap to the south-west. Five posts in the very center of the circle aligned with that same gap, which, according to Wood, appeared to have been in the direction of the rising sun on the day of the midwinter solstice. </p><p>Similar Neolithic timber circles have been discovered around Great Britain, such as one near <a href="https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/stonehenge-sarsens" target="_blank">Stonehenge</a> that is considered to date back to around the same time. </p>
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Scientists solve the origin of Stonehenge’s sarsen stones
Most of Stonehenge's megaliths, called sarens, came from West Woods, Wiltshire.
03 August, 2020
- Researchers have known Stonehenge's smaller bluestones came from Preseli Hills, Wales, but the source of its sarsens has remained a mystery.
- Using chemical analysis, scientists found a matching source at West Woods, approximately 16 miles north of the World Heritage Site.
- But mysteries remain, such as why that site was chosen.
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
<p>Many mysteries surround <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/" target="_blank">Stonehenge</a>. Who built it and what purpose did it serve? Why that arrangement of megaliths and lentels? How did Neolithic people move and erect such massive stones using 5,000-year-old technology? Because Stonehenge's builders left us no written record, historians, archaeologists, enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, and outright cranks have tried for centuries to translate their prehistoric silence into answers.</p><p>As scientific tools and techniques have advanced, we've learned to better discern the forensic clues left behind in the megaliths, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/stonehenge-site-ancient-burial-ground-dead-came-from-as-far-as-wales-anthropology" target="_blank">inhumed bodies</a>, and landscape of the Salisbury Plain. Today, scientists have traced Stonehenge's "<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E" target="_blank">bluestones</a>"—smaller dolerite stones found in the monument's interior—to quarries in Preseli Hills, Wales. They've also established that the bluestones likely served as grave markers for the people buried there, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/02/revealed-stonehenge-buried-welsh" target="_blank">also from Wales</a>. </p><p>Thanks to our scientific tools, and a reclaimed piece of history, another Stonehenge mystery has been solved. Scientists have pinpointed the source area for most of the monument's extant sarsens. And no, aliens did not carry these megaliths with tractor beams to create <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/travel-interests/arts-and-culture/ancient-sites-built-by-aliens/" target="_blank">an interstellar landing pad</a>. Sorry, cranks. Stonehenge's origin is far more terrestrial, found in a little spot near Marlborough Downs.</p>
Discovering Stonehenge's signature
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyOTYyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ2NDc3Nn0.zb-izy2gdpzY5RboUnWumoX1XqP7WgqqkfANYnMkRSA/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C726%2C0%2C-4&height=700" id="a041b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0e067140288228fad6eac4ba6f39e668" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="men lifting stone with ropes" />In 1958, engineers undertook the task of re-erecting a Stonehenge trilithon that fell in 1797. Three cores drilled into a sarsen disappeared soon after.
<p>"Sarsen" is the common term for the giant sandstone—more specifically, duricrust silcrete—megaliths that enwreathe Stonehenge. Fifty-two of an estimated 80 sarsens remain today. They form both the interior horseshoe and the uprights and lintels of the outer circle, as well as peripheral stones like the Heel and Slaughter Stones. <a href="https://www.livescience.com/22427-stonehenge-facts.html" target="_blank">The largest sarsens</a> stand at about 30 feet tall and weigh around 25 tons.</p><p>The immense size of these boulders sits at the center of one of Stonehenge's most enticing enigmas. How did people, using only Neolithic technology, manage to move and prop up such massive stones? A major piece to that puzzle has been their source, as the answer would inform scientists on the opportunities and challenges facing the builders as they moved the sarsens.</p><p>To find that piece, David Nash, the study's lead author and a professor at Brighton University, and his team analyzed the sarsens using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. This non-intrusive analysis allowed them to generate initial chemical characterizations for the stones' 34 chemical elements.</p><p>"Until recently we did not know it was possible to provenance a stone like sarsen," Nash <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/aaft-mos072720.php" target="_blank">said in a release</a>. "It has been really exciting to use 21st century science to understand the Neolithic past and answer a question that archaeologists have been debating for centuries."</p><p>To further hone in on the source area, the team needed to generate high-resolution chemical signatures by analyzing a sample. Of course, the idea of tearing a sample out of <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/373/" target="_blank">this World Heritage Site</a> would be near sacrilege. Luckily, a previously lost piece of history had recently been returned to the British people.</p><p>In 1958, a restoration program re-erected a Stonehenge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilithon#:~:text=A%20trilithon%20(or%20trilith)%20is,the%20context%20of%20megalithic%20monuments." target="_blank">trilithon</a> that fell in 1797. After lifting the sarsens, engineers discovered cracks in one of the uprights (Stone 58). They drilled out three cores from the stone and inserted metal ties to reinforce its integrity. The holes were filled with sarsen plugs to hide the intrusion. However, the three cores disappeared.</p><p>Flash forward to 2018. Robert Phillips, an 89-year-old U.S. citizen and on-site worker during the restoration, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-48190588" target="_blank">returned one of the three cores</a>. Nash and his team were granted permission to sample a piece from "Phillips' core." They used a plasma mass spectrometer to create a chemical signature for the monument, one they could compare to potential source sites across southern Britain.</p><p>They found a match in West Woods, Wiltshire. Fifty of Stonehenge's 52 sarsens share a chemical signature with the stones in this area, strongly suggesting they were sourced there. The area also sports a high concentration of evidence for early Neolithic activity, adding to its plausibility.</p><p>"To be able to pinpoint the area that Stonehenge's builders used to source their materials around 2,500 BC is a real thrill," Susan Greaney, senior properties historian at English Heritage, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53580339#:~:text=The%20origin%20of%20the%20giant,was%20returned%20after%2060%20years.&text=The%20monument's%20smaller%20bluestones%20have,impossible%20to%20identify%20until%20now." target="_blank">told the <em>BBC</em></a>. "While we had our suspicions that Stonehenge's sarsens came from the Marlborough Downs, we didn't know for sure, and with areas of sarsens across Wiltshire, the stones could have come from anywhere."</p><p>She added the evidence showed "how carefully considered and deliberate the building of this phase of Stonehenge was."</p><p>The study was published in <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/31/eabc0133" target="_blank">Science Advances</a>.</p>For every answer, another question
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyOTYyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzI5NDEzNX0.iNRlen_VApo2Hw6SPd_eiVodaG3UpEb00yD4GX_9JgU/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C164%2C0%2C1&height=700" id="e4fe1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35c8b40c523b6f6f53642c51eaf6ab38" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="stonehenge with low sun in the background" />A view of Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
<p>Thanks to Nash and his team, scientists now know the source of Stonehenge's sarsens. This clue can help them solve other Stonehenge mysteries. That most of the stones were sourced from one location, the study notes, suggests that they were erected at about the same time. It also reveals the routes the Neolithic builders had to traverse with their heavy loads.</p><p>But questions remain. Why did the builders choose West Woods when the Salisbury Plain is dense with sarsen? Why were two megaliths (Stones 26 and 160) sourced elsewhere? And were the missing stones gathered from West Woods or elsewhere? </p><p>These questions only touch on the sarsens. The question that intrigues so many of the monument's visitors remains hotly debated: Who built Stonehenge and why? Was it a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/mar/09/archaeology-stonehenge-bones-burial-ground#:~:text=Stonehenge%20may%20have%20been%20burial%20site%20for%20Stone%20Age%20elite%2C%20say%20archaeologists,-This%20article%20is&text=Centuries%20before%20the%20first%20massive,a%20theory%20disclosed%20on%20Saturday." target="_blank">burial site for the Stone age elite</a>? <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120622163722.htm" target="_blank">A monument marking British unification</a>? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/15/circular-thinking-stonehenges-origin-is-subject-to-new-theory" target="_blank">A Druid Mecca</a>? We don't know, but as scientific tools advance, we may be able to break the prehistoric silence that has laid over Stonehenge for so long.</p>
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Why are there so many humans?
Having lots of kids is great for the success of the species. But there's a hitch.
03 August, 2020
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash
Culture & Religion
Something curious happened in human population history over the last 1 million years.
<p> First, our numbers fell to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/2147" target="_blank">as low as 18,500</a>, and our ancestors were more endangered than chimpanzees and gorillas. Then we bounced back to extraordinary levels, far surpassing the other great apes.
</p><p>
Today the total population of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans is estimated to be only around 500,000, according to the <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/great_apes/" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a>. Many species are critically endangered. Meanwhile, the human population <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2019.html" target="_blank">has surged to 7.7 billion</a>. And the irony is: Our astonishing ability to multiply now threatens the long-term sustainability of many species, including ours.
</p><p>
What happened? Why do we live in the Anthropocene and not a world resembling <a href="http://www.planetoftheapes.com/" target="_blank">Planet of the Apes</a>? We share around 99 percent of our DNA with our great ape cousins, chimpanzees and bonobos. So, what makes us different from our closest relatives that gives us our staggering capacity for reproducing and surviving?
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As an evolutionary anthropologist, these questions have led me to live and study among the Yucatec Maya of Mexico, the Pumé hunter-gatherers of Venezuela, and the Tanala agriculturalists of Madagascar. My research,<a href="#note">*</a> combined with genetic data and other studies, offers clues to what developed in the deep past that has made humans so successful—for better or for worse.
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<p>In the 1970s, the isolated village of Xculoc, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, was home to about 300 Maya people. The maize-farming residents had no electricity or running water. Women hauled water from a 50-meter-deep well using ropes and buckets. They ground maize—the mainstay of their diet—in hand-cranked grinders.</p><p>Then two technologies were introduced that changed these Maya's lives and, ultimately, their population: a gas-powered water pump and two gas-powered maize grinders.</p><p>Using these devices, young women saved about two and a half hours of labor and 325 calories a day. In addition, younger siblings could more easily fetch water and crush maize, freeing up their older sisters' time and literally decreasing their daily grind. That's important because studies have found that heavy subsistence work <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/499550?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank">suppresses ovarian function</a>, whereas reducing labor and raising women's energy balance is associated with a bump in fertility.</p>
<p>Subsequently, the age at which women in Xculoc first gave birth dropped by two years. And according to my long-term research, women who started childbearing after these machines arrived produced significantly larger families than prior generations. By 2003, women who started reproducing in the 1970s had eight to 12 children.</p><p>Saving women time and energy is central to increasing the population. And humans have developed numerous technological and social ways of accomplishing this that differ from our great ape relatives.</p><p>It's important to note that scientists must be cautious about drawing direct analogies between contemporary people or apes and our ancient ancestors. But modern humans and primates are our best tools for inferring how the underpinnings of our numerical success may have evolved.</p><p>Somewhere along the evolutionary road, humans started to favor new ways of having and raising their young. Mothers began weaning their infants earlier. In modern societies where infants rely on their mother's milk and not bottle feeding, babies nurse for two to three years. By contrast, great ape mothers nurse their young for four to six years.</p><p>Breastfeeding is calorically expensive. It takes a mother about 600 extra calories a day to produce milk. So, the sooner she stops nursing, the sooner she can biologically support another pregnancy. In modern societies without contraception, mothers give birth on average every three years. Other great apes may wait as many as six to eight years between births.</p>
<p>Our ancient ancestors also fed, sheltered, and cared for youngsters who were weaned but still growing. This gave them a better chance at surviving than nonhuman great ape young, which fend for themselves after they're weaned. Today a child living in a hunter-gatherer society is twice as likely as a wild chimpanzee to survive to age 15.</p><p>Novel ways of parenting, compared to earlier hominins, meant human mothers were in the unique situation of having multiple dependents of different ages to care for at the same time. I cannot underscore enough how much this sets human mothers and children apart from the other great apes.</p><p>Having lots of kids is great for the success of the species. But there's a hitch. Mothers don't have enough hours in the day to care for their babies full time while providing for their older offspring. That's especially true because the unique aspects of the human diet give mothers a lot of tasks to juggle</p><p>When these ancient life history traits were evolving, our ancestors made their living as hunter-gatherers, who typically eat diverse fare, including fruits, nuts, tubers, roots, large and small game, birds, reptiles, eggs, insects, fish, and shellfish. Cobbling together such a menu requires modern hunter-gatherers to travel, on average, 13 kilometers per day. By contrast, chimpanzees and gorillas roam, on average, 2 kilometers per day.</p>
<p>What's more, hunter-gatherers process most of their food to make it more digestible or to boost the bioavailability of nutrients. And as everyone who prepares food knows, that takes a significant amount of time.</p><p>Among the Pumé hunter-gatherers from the savannas of Venezuela, women spend about three hours a day cracking, mashing, grinding, pounding, sifting, winnowing, butchering, and cooking food. The same is true of Efe women—hunter-gatherers living in the Ituri forest of Central Africa.</p><p>That prep time is in addition to the hours the Pumé and Efe spend foraging and then carrying ingredients back to camp. Furthermore, each processing task requires a specialized technology, which means someone has to collect raw materials and make tools. !Kung women and men in the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa spend about an hour each day making and repairing tools. Savanna Pumé women devote nearly two hours to toolmaking—twice as much as the men.</p><p>Hunter-gatherers also build shelters and hearths to provide a safe place to process ingredients, to store food and tools, and to leave children who may be too young to accompany others on long foraging trips. Plus, they must haul water, chop firewood, fashion clothing, and maintain the social and information networks needed to access geographically dispersed resources.</p>
<p>There are simply not enough hours in the day for any one person to accomplish all this. So, our ancestors came up with a solution.</p><p>That solution was cooperation—but not the kind of task-sharing many species engage in. Hunter-gatherers developed a distinct feature called intergenerational cooperation: Parents help kids, <em>and</em> children help parents.</p><p>This is not a trait we share with the other great apes, who aren't particularly good at sharing food, helping mothers or offspring who aren't their own, or even supporting their own children after they reach a certain age. Nonhuman great ape mothers rarely share meals with their juvenile offspring once they're weaned, and juvenile apes don't offer food to their moms.</p><p>But among humans, intergenerational cooperation means it really does take a village to raise a child. Across cultures, mothers in hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies offer only about half of the direct care an infant receives. Savanna Pumé infants, for example, have an average of nine caretakers besides their mother. Efe infants have an average of 11.</p><p>Fathers and grandparents certainly play important roles in supporting their families. But it's not enough. An average Maya mother is 60 by the time her last child leaves home, so she has very few years after that to be a babysitting or food-collecting grandmother.</p><p>My research suggests a much more obvious source of help has been overlooked: kids. Other than mothers, children provide most of the child care in many cultures. And 7- to 10-year-olds do the bulk of the babysitting.</p><p>Children are also responsible for processing much of the food and running the household. A Pumé boy carries home an average of 4.5 kilograms of wild fruit on days he forages. That's the equivalent of 3,200 calories—enough to feed himself and at least some of his family. (And that's in addition to any snacking he does in the field.) His sister can bring home more than a kilogram of roots (worth about 4,000 calories)—some of which she will eat, but most of which she shares. Among the Hadza hunter-gatherers of East Africa, children forage for five to six hours a day. By age 5, they can supply about 50 percent of their own calories during some seasons.</p>
<p>Children in agricultural communities are also hard workers. Yucatec Maya between the ages of 7 and 14 devote two to five hours a day to domestic and field work. Teens between the ages of 15 and 18 labor about 6.5 hours a day—as much as their parents.</p><p>By the time a Maya mother is 40, she has an average of seven children at home. These children contribute a combined 20 hours of work a day and supply 60 percent of what the family consumes.</p><p>Thanks to this multigenerational help, a woman can spend time doing what only she can do: have more children. So, children increase the population, but their labor is also a built-in engine to fuel their community's fertility and speed up reproduction.</p><p>With intergenerational cooperation and a diversity of dietary strategies, our ancestors multiplied and weathered population bottlenecks. Just after 1800, the human population hit 1 billion.</p><p>The global population then expanded exponentially, largely due to the enhanced survival of both infants and older people. It reached 2 billion in 1927, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, 6 billion in 1999, 7 billion in 2011, and today is at over 7.7 billion.<br><a target="_blank"></a><br>These figures intrigue me as an evolutionary enigma and deeply concern me as a contemporary issue. There is no question, though, that humans have been incredibly successful. The question is: How long can we maintain that success and still be sustainable? The answer, like our secret to growth in the past, stands on the shoulders of cooperation.</p><p><em>* Editor's note: The author derived much of this essay from </em><em>her 47th JAR Distinguished Lecture, "How There Got to Be So Many of Us," which was published in the Winter 2019 issue of the </em>Journal of Anthropological Research<em>.</em></p><p>This work first appeared on <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/" target="_blank">SAPIENS</a> under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-ND 4.0 license</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/human-population-evolution/" target="_blank">original here</a>.<img src="https://www.sapiens.org/track/12597-1596466362813/?dt=Why+Are+There+So+Many+Humans%3F&dl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sapiens.org%2Fevolution%2Fhuman-population-evolution%2F" alt=""><span></span></p>
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Relieve stress through art with the help of these drawing courses
Pencil Kings will guide you from beginner to mastery with industry-leading teachers from Marvel and DreamWorks.
30 July, 2020
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- In a stressful time, art therapy has been shown to relieve stress, stimulate the brain's pleasure center, and help you become emotionally resilient.
- Creating art stimulates the release of dopamine, which in turn raises self-esteem levels.
- Pencil Kings features world-class teachers from Marvel and DreamWorks guiding you through art therapy by drawing.
<script async="true" src="https://widgets.stackcommerce.com/js-deal-feed/0.1/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Creativity is a uniquely human trait. We can dream up gods and demons and give them form through drawing. We can even take a two-dimensional surface and bring our ideas to life in three dimensions. All we need is a little training for our giant imaginations to blossom on the page.<br></p><p><a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle&utm_term=scsf-419763&utm_content=a0x1P000004spmNQAQ&scsonar=1" target="_blank"><strong>Pencil Kings</strong></a> has trained thousands of artists in beginner-to-expert drawing without the high costs of attending a college or university. Since 2010, the company has offered courses taught by <a href="https://www.pencilkings.com/about/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">professional artists</a> from some of the biggest names in the industry, including Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Sony, EA, and Activision.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5836011/#:~:text=Overview%20of%20the%20reviewed%20studies,50%2C51%2C52%5D." rel="noopener" target="_blank">2018 study</a>, published in <em>Beha</em><em>vioral Sciences</em>, discovered that creative endeavors, such as art, have particular relevance to stress prevention and stress management. The team discovered that <a href="https://commerce.sunmedia.ca/sales/the-complete-creative-art-science-of-drawing-bundle?utm_source=torontosun.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-complete-creative-art-science-of-drawing-bundle&utm_term=scsf-413313&utm_content=a0x1P000004sgGHQAY&scsonar=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">creative arts</a> are used intentionally to provoke therapeutic change, and help patients effectively manage traumatic experiences. Over 80% of the studies the team looked at found significant improvement in problems related to stress. And I think we can all agree, these are stressful times.</p><p>In <a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle&utm_term=scsf-419763&utm_content=a0x1P000004spmNQAQ&scsonar=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Pencil Kings Ultimate Character Drawing and Design Course Bundle</strong></a>, you'll gain access to 11 incredible courses, including Gesture Drawing for Beginner Artists, Anatomy For Beginners, Figure Drawing with Style Distortion, Advanced Anatomy for Artists, and more. With lifetime access to these courses, you can take them at your own speed, in whatever order suits your needs, and watch your stress melt away. </p><p>You can sign up for the <a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle&utm_term=scsf-419763&utm_content=a0x1P000004spmNQAQ&scsonar=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Pencil Kings Ultimate Character Drawing and Design Course Bundle</strong></a> on sale now for just $34.99 – an 80% discount from the list price.</p><p><em>Price subject to change. </em></p><div data-react-checksum="-750825353" data-reactid="1" data-reactroot="" style="position: relative;"><a data-reactid="2" href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral-cta&utm_campaign=ultimate-character-drawing-and-design-course-bundle&utm_term=scsf-419763&utm_content=a0x1P000004spmNQAQ&scsonar=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> </a>
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Visitors crowd together as they enjoy the hot weather on the beach on June 25, 2020 in Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
Politics & Current Affairs
- According to new research at the University of Washington, a significant population decline will begin after 2064.
- The reasons include more access to contraception and better education for girls and women.
- Many countries will have to grapple with the social and financial consequences of their decline.
<p>After two centuries of unprecedented growth, human population will begin to shrink after 2064. This is good news for a number of reasons, most importantly because it signals an increase in education of girls and women.</p><p>That's the word from a large team of researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington's School of Medicine. Their <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2.pdf" target="_blank">findings</a> were recently published in The Lancet. </p><p>The team predicts that global population will peak at 9.7 billion around 2064 before dropping to 8.8 billion at the turn of the century. While that contradicts previous findings by the UN, it's still a billion more people than inhabit the earth today. </p><p>For humans to replace the population, the total fertility rate (TFR) has to maintain a level of 2.1 births per woman. Due to improvements in contraception access and more available education for girls and women, the impetus for having children has declined. </p><p>In some regions, the decline has been dramatic. For example, the TFR in Italy and Spain is now 1.2 while in Poland it's 1.17. Even in "high-fertility" regions, the tide is changing. Sub-Saharan African women averaged 4.6 births per woman in 2017; that number is predicted to drop to 1.7 in 2100. Niger has the highest fertility rate in the world: 7 births per woman. In 2100, that is predicted to fall to 1.8. </p><p>Population decline will have major financial consequences; the researchers believe nations have to begin planning for this now. Discussing working-age individuals (aged 20-64 years), they write, </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Huge declines in the number of workers were forecasted in China and India, alongside steady increases in Nigeria. By 2100, India was forecasted to still have the largest working-age population in the world, followed by Nigeria, China, and the USA." </p>
Mapping global population and the future of the world | The Economist
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e2cc6601e6772f8d94e215e973ba61fe"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ur77lDetI9Q?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Dr. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715150444.htm" target="_blank">comments</a> on the study, writing, </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"It offers a vision for radical shifts in geopolitical power, challenges myths about immigration, and underlines the importance of protecting and strengthening the sexual and reproductive rights of women. The 21st century will see a revolution in the story of our human civilisation. Africa and the Arab World will shape our future, while Europe and Asia will recede in their influence."</p><p>Indeed, the populations that will shrink the fastest include Asia and central and eastern Europe. Japan, which has been <a href="https://qz.com/1295721/the-japanese-population-is-shrinking-faster-than-every-other-big-country/" target="_blank">grappling with this reality</a> for years, will drop from 128 million in 2017 to 60 million in 2100; Thailand, from 71 to 35 million; Portugal, 11 to 5 million; and South Korea, 53 to 27 million. </p><p>The study focuses on expansion, though it doesn't discuss how quickly we've reached current levels. After 350,000 years of <em>Homo sapiens</em> on Earth, we hit one billion people in 1804. It took 123 years to add another billion; 33 years to get to three billion; 14 years to four billion. If we hit eight billion by the end of this decade, we'll have quadrupled our population in just a century. </p><p>Those are unsustainable numbers. As the COVID-19 pandemic has proven, supply chain management and health care systems in many countries are broken, especially in America. Thanks to the outsourcing of labor and our for-profit health care model, income inequality is breaking our society. Adding more humans to our population during a pandemic, with seniors being the most vulnerable population, should give us pause.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUwMzI0MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzQwNTU5N30.o9DFv9PFbzzX5zQNq1Ya_3ZwqmFbCyZBTivvxxoxZUc/img.png?width=980" id="571d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7d824e65060bfb1c887081d246f7757f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Stein Emil Vollset, et al.
<p>Of course, procreation is more a biological process than a philosophical one. Survivability is the goal of every species. That said, we've mitigated the potential damage of overcrowding by contraception and education, as the study suggests. Either we need to more fairly distribute resources around the world—tough to imagine in a capitalist system—or pay the price for birthing too many humans. The latter could be quelled if we have fewer children.</p><p>Stein Emil Vollset, Professor of Global Health at IHME and lead author of the study, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715150444.htm" target="_blank">weighs</a> the costs and benefits:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"While population decline is potentially good news for reducing carbon emissions and stress on food systems, with more old people and fewer young people, economic challenges will arise as societies struggle to grow with fewer workers and taxpayers, and countries' abilities to generate the wealth needed to fund social support and health care for the elderly are reduced."</p><p>The researchers believe immigration will be an even more pressing issue in the coming decades. This might mean less surface area being inhabited as people crowd into environmentally and financially robust regions—a forthcoming reality due to climate change anyway.</p><p>In conclusion, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar at University College London comments on the study, noting, "The distribution of working-age populations will be crucial to whether humanity prospers or withers." Depending on your age, you might not have to worry about this, but our children and grandchildren certainly will. </p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://derekberes.substack.com/" target="_blank">Substack</a>. His next book is</em> "<em>Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</em></p>
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