Scientists are locked in debate over whether sponges or jellies were the first animal lineage. Plus, the United Kingdom has lost its measles elimination status and a stick that could be the oldest known wooden tool.
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An alder (Alnus sp.) branch shows signs of being worked into shape and used — possibly to dig. (Katerina Harvati, Dimitris Michailidis (photographer))
Wooden objects carrying the marks of carving and use could be the oldest wooden tools ever found. Researchers dated the artefacts, found in what is now Greece, to 430,000 years ago — and suggest they might have been made by early Neanderthals or their ancestors, Homo heidelbergensis. A separate study describes 480,000-old flint-knapping tools made from antler and elephant bone, from what is now the United Kingdom. Organic artefacts are a rare find because they’re less likely to endure than stone, and show how “bone and wood were probably more valuable for our ancient ancestors,” says archaeologist Thomas Terberger. “Imagine how many tools you can make from a single large bone of an elephant.”
The New York Times | 6 min read
Reference: PNAS paper & Science Advances paper
The World Health Organization has announced that the United Kingdom has lost its measles elimination status after a surge in cases in 2024 and sustained transmission in 2025. The country’s status has yoyoed since it was first declared to be measles free in 2017 — it lost the certification in 2019 but regained it in 2021. The latest lapse also reflects a drop in vaccination rates below the 95% threshold required to achieve herd immunity. “It's extremely concerning that in the UK we now have pockets of low or no vaccine uptake,” says infectious-disease researcher Bharat Pankhania. "We urgently need to remedy this situation."
BBC | 3 min read
Last month, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory, CERN, announced that it had secured private donations worth €860 million (US$1 billion) towards the cost of building its next collider, the Future Circular Collider (FCC). The sum is CERN’s biggest-ever philanthropic investment, but only scratches the surface of the around 15 billion Swiss francs (US$19 billion) the FCC will cost to make — if it gets built at all. Some researchers believe CERN should pursue cheaper experimental strategies instead, but physicist Mark Thomson, CERN’s new director-general, is confident the FCC is the right avenue to pursue. “Our focus is on the next machine. The scientific case for that is very, very strong,” he told Nature.
Nature | 5 min read
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