Homo naledi, Superhenge, and Humankind: NOVA Next Week in Review

This Week’s NOVA Next Feature

Archaeology’s establishment hasn’t always looked kindly on Lee Berger. Then he found a cave full of bones, including Homo naledi . NOVA Next contributor Bobby Bascomb penned this profile of Lee Berger .

In other news:

• Scientist? Artist. Pirate! Who is Joe Davis?
• A new fusion milestone lasted just five milliseconds.
• Physicists are entangling bigger and bigger objects . Not just single particles, but collections of thousands of atoms.
• If you’ve ever bathed in the sun on a tropical white sand beach, you were probably lying in mounds of fish poo .
• Archaeologists have discovered a massive “Superhenge” five times larger than Stonehenge .
• The discovery of Homo naledi fossils in South Africa have reignited the debate over the birthplace of humankind .

What We’re Reading

• A “fake traffic noise” experiment drives one-third of local birds away. [The Atlantic]
• Students who watched a sad video clip could not identify blue-yellow colors as accurately as students who watched a neutral screen saver. [NPR]
• “There are things that I can do that other people can’t,” says Becca Peixotto. “I might not be able to reach the things on the top shelf at the grocery store, but I can sure go in a cave and find some fossils for you .” [PRI’s The World]
• What does science literacy really mean? [Wired]