Humans
PUBLISHED
This week, the WHO stresses there is no reason to expect a pandemic in the latest on the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak, a discovery at a pond in Thailand has revealed a 120-million-year-old sauropod, the largest ever found in Asia, and prehistoric people were mining a mysterious green mineral 7,000 years ago. Plus, what should we do if we did in fact discover an alien civilization – how about "grand panic"?
Create an IFLScience account to get all the biggest science news delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday and Saturday.
Neanderthals Were Performing Dental Surgery Nearly 60,000 Years Ago – And It Actually Worked
Going to the dentist has never been fun, but imagine how rough it must have been in the era before anaesthetics, handwashing, and shiny, sterile equipment. Go one step further, and picture having your tooth drilled in a cave by a Neanderthal nearly 60,000 years ago. A remarkable discovery has pushed back the earliest known dentistry by 40,000 years. Read the full story here
Crystal Unknown To Science Formed In Trinity Nuclear Test Is “Far Beyond The Limits Of Conventional Synthesis"
The Trinity test was the first detonation ever of a nuclear weapon. On July 16, 1945, at 5:29 am local time, the device exploded with an energy equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT, maybe higher. The destructive force altered its surroundings, including delivering extreme conditions to the soil and creating unexpected configurations of minerals in it. Over 60 years later, new ones are still being found. Read the full story here
WHO Updates Hantavirus Advice, Stressing There’s No Reason To Expect A Pandemic
As another person is placed on a ventilator, the World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to strike the right balance in preventing complacency about the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius without adding fuel to fear-mongering about a COVID-19-like pandemic. That’s leading to careful wording encouraging governments to prepare for more cases, while trying to emphasize that lockdowns and mass deaths are extremely unlikely. Read the full story here
120-Million-Year-Old Sauropod Becomes The Largest Dinosaur Ever Found In Asia, As Heavy As 9 Asian Elephants
An incredible discovery at the edge of a pond in Thailand has led to the identification of the largest dinosaur ever found in Asia. Scientists are calling it “the last titan” because it was found in the region's youngest dinosaur-bearing rocks, dating between 100 and 120 million years old. Read the full story here
Deep In A Remote Mountain Cave, Prehistoric People Were Mining A Mysterious Green Mineral
High up in the Pyrenees Mountains, a cave holds the oldest evidence of intense human occupation in the region. But prehistoric people weren't just sheltering here 7,000 years ago; they were working, hunting for and processing a mysterious green mineral. This may, in fact, be one of the earliest known copper smelting sites. Read the full story here
TWIS is published weekly on our Linkedin page, join us there for even more content.
Feature of the week:
Panic, Politics, And The Importance Of Transparency: What Should We Do If We Ever Actually Discover An Alien Civilization?
On May 8, the Pentagon released 161 government files related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), what we used to call UFOs. They include some never-before-seen material, but also files from the Apollo missions, both transcripts and images, that have been publicly available for decades. There is nothing exciting nor proof of alien life in them, but one file tickled us to no end. And it also made us wonder, what should we do in case we were to discover an alien civilization? Read the full story here
More content:
Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS? Issue 46, May 2026, is available now. This month, we asked, “Do Other Animals Have Pets?” – check it out for exclusive interviews, book excerpts, long reads, and more.
PLUS, the We Have Questions podcast – an audio version of our coveted CURIOUS e-magazine column – continues. In episode 20, we ask, “Can You Learn To Roll Your Rs?”
Our Break It Down podcast now has a new monthly format, coming at you in both audio and visual. So tune in each month to hear about some of the wildest science stories and adventures we’ve been on. Kick off this month with “Artemis II Records, Neanderthal Not-Hybrids, And Introducing ‘Moon Joy’”
The Big Questions season 6 returns in June 2026, so here's our season 5 bonus episode to tide you over until then: Can Magic Be Used As A Tool In Science? You can catch up on the whole of season 5 here.
