Skull rewrites story of human evolution; Autism and Tylenol; discovery of wind coming from black hole

The world, the universe and us

Episode 322

An ancient skull discovered in China may have just rewritten the story of human evolution. It’s widely accepted that the common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals came out of Africa. But this skull upends that assumption - potentially showing human evolution began in Asia. Discover how a new reconstruction of the Yunxian fossil skull could push back human origins by 400,000 years.

Tylenol does not cause autism. The US government has made headlines with claims that this common painkiller, also known as paracetamol, is playing a big role in what’s been falsely dubbed the ‘autism epidemic’. As Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr call for pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, we discuss what we know from science, and hear from medical experts of the danger of this new advice.

Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, is more active than we thought. Historically our black hole has seemed rather quiet. But a new discovery shows the first clear evidence of winds - streams of hot gas - coming from it. The finding could help us figure out what Sag A* looks like and what it’ll do in the future.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(01:05) This skull could rewrite the story of human evolution

(16:39) Autism and Tylenol

(26:26) Black hole discovery

Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet, with guests Michael Marshall, Grace Wade, Alex Wilkins, Chris Stringer, Arthur Caplan and Gretchen Goldman.

To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/
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