The ObserverArchaeologyCanadian scientists say evidence from cave art all over the world shows digits may have been ritually removed to appease deities or aid social cohesion
Men and women might have had their fingers deliberately chopped off during religious rituals in prehistoric times, according to a new interpretation of palaeolithic cave art.
In a paper presented at a recent meeting of the European Society for Human Evolution, researchers point to 25,000-year-old paintings in France and Spain that depict silhouettes of hands.
Starwatch graphicStarwatchAstronomyGiant gas planet will appear as pale yellow dot of light in nice contrast to silvery moon
A beautiful conjunction between the moon and Saturn takes place this week, easily visible from the southern hemisphere and appearing in the north-western sky mid-evening.
The chart shows the view looking south from London at 6pm on 20 November, a reward for commuters on their way home. As the twilight builds, the moon will already be clearly visible.
Book of the dayHealth, mind and body booksReviewWhat should be the top priority for a parent? A bestseller considers screens, sleep and why children should be listened to, though not always agreed with
It is one of the cliches of parenthood that the behaviour which comes most easily (a reproving tone of voice, say, or an attitude to your child’s tears) reflects what your parents did with you. It takes a while to realise that what feels like instinct is often an inheritance, that just because something comes “naturally” it is not necessarily constructive.
Top 10sBooksFrom Alexandre Dumas to Ian McEwan, writers serve up a dish that’s best prepared only in imagination
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Then he added man. Maybe he wouldn’t have if he’d known what was coming. Anyway, Adam and Eve messed up, God became furious and launched Project Fall of Man. In doing so he also created revenge as a concept.
As my new novel Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd has been published in country after country, I have learned how to answer questions on my general view of revenge as civilly as possible.
UFOs This article is more than 5 months oldThis article is more than 5 months oldA whistleblower has accused the US of a vast cover-up – and claims of ‘non-human’ life suggest the unexplained aerial phenomena issue is not going away
As the world heard tales of recovered alien bodies, crashed extraterrestrial spaceships, and an apparently violent plot to conceal both, not everyone was immediately willing to believe.
The Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, inadvertently swept up in this week’s remarkable UFO congressional hearing in Washington through her role on the House of Representatives oversight committee, seemed determined to not get too carried away by a surge of interest in UFOs that is transfixing much of the US.
MusicObituaryDenis PaytonSaxophonist who put the growl into the Dave Clark FiveFleetingly in the mid-1960s, the Dave Clark Five were second only to the Beatles in their popularity among teenagers, especially in the US. The group's distinctive sound was due in part to the saxophone riffs of Denis Payton, who has died of cancer aged 63.
Born in Walthamstow, east London, Payton was inspired to learn an instrument by listening to traditional jazz.
FrozenDisney's Frozen is the biggest animation hit of all time. Critics were iffy on its release, but the icy tale of devoted sisters and its showstopping songs have won over children around the world. Why can't they let it go?Recently, it looked as if Frozen's icy dominion over our household was finally about to thaw. "I didn't think it was possible to watch Frozen too many times but now I know every word,"
FilmObituaryHazel Douglas obituaryActor whose best known role in a seven-decade career came in a Harry Potter film in her 80s
The actor Hazel Douglas, who has died aged 92, landed her most prominent role in her 80s, when she joined the starry cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), as Bathilda Bagshot, the author of A History of Magic, a textbook used at Hogwarts school, and great-aunt of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
College basketballThe college basketball star became a symbol of the fight against drugs in the 1980s. But it ended up ushering in a discriminatory legal system
Sometimes solutions can have drastic unintended consequences. Mike Krzyzewski, one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, once told the Washington Post: “During my years as a coach, the two most dominant players we’ve faced were Michael Jordan and Len Bias”. Bias was a star for the University of Maryland, and was selected as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, where he would play alongside such legends as Larry Bird.
The ObserverScienceLet us sprayBilled as libido in an atomiser, PT-141 will finally offer women the chance to turn on their sexual desire as and when they need it. Or so the science says. But there are concerns. Will sex in a spray usher in an age of 'McNookie' - quick easy couplings low on emotional nutrition? Julian Dibbell reportsHorn of rhinoceros. Penis of tiger. Root of sea holly. Husk of the emerald-green blister beetle known as the Spanish fly.