🦴 Tasmanian Devil, Earliest Galaxies, Ancient Human Diet

Ancient humans devoured each other at least 1.45 million years ago, stars and galaxies formed earlier than astronomers had suspected, and the Tasmanian devil will get a vaccine to fight the spread of contagious cancer.

Human diet

The 1.45-million-year-old hominin bone features cuts similar to the butchery marks from stone tools found on fossilised animal bones. The location of the cuts suggests they were made to carve up the carcass for food. This appears to be the earliest evidence that ancient humans ate each other, but scientists refrain from calling it cannibalism as the bone is from an unidentified hominin species.

Oldest galaxies

Astronomers unveiled results from one of the deepest astronomical night sky surveys by the James Webb Space Telescope. They identified some of the earliest galaxies ever seen — from within the first 650 million years after the Big Bang. The survey revealed that stars and galaxies formed and evolved much earlier than scientists had suspected.

Devil's vaccine

The Tasmanian devil could soon receive a vaccine to combat the spread of a deadly and contagious cancer that has killed up to 80 per cent of an iconic Australian marsupial. The devil facial tumour disease vaccine should make tumour cells visible enough for the immune system to fight them off. If the vaccine proves safe and effective in a small group of captive Tasmanian devils, researchers will deliver it to wild populations as edible baits. In a world where humans habitually destroy the planet, this news offers a glimpse of hope: at least we could help one species survive.

Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere)

Illustration: Elia Kabanov feat. MidJourney.