GoKawiilTwenty-minute phone calls from tutors improved children’s maths learning during emergency school closures. Plus, Denisovans made excellent deer hunters and Beatles puns are here, there and everywhere in scientific literature.
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In 2025, researchers used protein analysis to show that a jawbone recovered from ocean sediments off the coast of Taiwan belonged to a Denisovan.Credit: Yousuke Kaifu
A collection of fossils and artefacts recovered from an abandoned quarry in southwestern China has given researchers an unprecedented glimpse into the lives of ancient humans called Denisovans. The items suggest that Denisovans — who lived at the site for at least 30,000 years — crafted bone tools similar to those of the Neanderthals, and were skilled hunters of animals such as deer. “This site’s the full package,” says archaeologist Ben Marwick. “It’s the first site that we have with a long, rich sequence that’s uniquely associated with Denisovans.”
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nature paper 1 & paper 2
Text messages and weekly 20-minute phone calls from a teacher can improve children’s learning during prolonged school closures. The approach offers a relatively cheap way to support children’s mathematics education when schooling is disrupted by natural disasters, pandemics or other emergencies, say the study authors. In a trial across five countries, kids that received both texts and phone calls improved the most. But text messages alone also improved children's learning compared to a control group.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nature paper
At least 3,200 The number of titles of peer-reviewed scientific papers that reference the names or lyrics of songs by The Beatles. (Science | 5 min read) Reference: PLOS One paper (the title of which also contains a Beatles pun)
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