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Scientists piece together the story of humans and dogs
Ancient Dogs And Their Lineage
- Chihuahuas have traces of ancient dogs found in America, while Huskies resemble their ancestors that date back at least 11000 years.
- The scientific study of dogs and wolves DNA reveals that wolves picked up DNA from dogs, but did not transmit any DNA to dogs, even though it is established that dogs have evolved from wolves.
- The reasons about the wolves with intersected dog DNA not being around, or one species of dogs completely wiping out other lineages remain a mystery.
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The domesticated cat
Cats and humans have enjoyed a mostly symbiotic relationship for thousands of years. When and where cats first became domesticated has been a riddle for scientists.
- Some clues first ...
When cats became useful
Cats only became useful to humans when people started to till the ground and store surplus crops. With grain stores came mice, cats were delighted by the abundance of prey, and people were delighted by the pest control.
Over time, as people favored cats with more docile traits, certain cats adapted to this environment, producing dozens of breeds of house cats known today.
Cats over millennia
- The ancient Egyptian reverence for cats is well-known - scientists found a cat cemetery in Beni-Hassan with 300,000 cat mummies. The Egyptian goddess of love, Bastet, has the head of a cat.
- Ancient Romans held a similar reverence for the cat, which were seen as a symbol of liberty.
- Cats became demonized in Europe during the Middle Ages. Many were killed in an effort to ward off evil. Only in the 1600s, the public image of cats began to rally in the West.
- Nowadays, cats are superstars in comic strips and television shows.
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Key Ideas
Microbes
Research found the following difference in stomach microbes of different individuals:
- Intestinal microbes of people living in villages, having a natural diet, are much more complex, and ...
Wrong Baseline Data
Due to the new kinds of microbes discovered in villagers, all the previous research on diet and microbes, which used the baseline data of the Western civilization microbe, thought to be the healthy and normal microbe, is now incorrect.
Digesting Fibre
The Western world has stomach microbial communities that could digest junk food and might re-diversify and recover (to a limited extent) if we just ate more whole grains and veggies.
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Key Ideas
Inventions Come in Stages
Invention often comes in stages and phases, when existing technology is looked at and mixed with new creative insights, a process that sometimes takes thousands of years.
This makes it hard...
The Wheel And The Axle
- The wheel and the axle didn't suddenly spring up, but were a gradual, phased invention, starting with rollers that reduced friction on the ground, and helped the Egyptians and Mesopotamians move heavy objects.
- The oldest discovered axle was found inside a potter’s wheel in a miniature, toy-like form in Mesopotamia. The fact that the center of the wheel is stationary as compared to the circumference is in fact the greatest mechanical insight ever known.
- Combining the wheel with an axle was genius, leading to the invention of the wagon and other transport vehicles.
The Invention of The Full‑Size Wheeled Vehicle
- The name given to the first full-size wheel, according to paleolinguits, was ‘Kweklos’ which meant ‘to turn’.
- The time of this invention is said to be about 5400 years ago, though the exact location of the invention varies from Russia to Slovenia.
- The inventor was a genius in the conception and craft, as he was able to solve engineering, design and woodworking problems to scale up a toy into a full-size wagon.
- It had a profound effect on the productivity of farmers, and it even helped populations move towards other places that were not close to the river and were thus unexploited.