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Hilary Swift

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Humans are exceptionally diverse, but we all have something in common: We’re Homo sapiens, and we share a common ancestor. But the story of how we arose, spread around the globe, and acted along the way is still emerging as scientists find new clues. Below are 10 remarkable things we learned about ancient humans in 2022, and how they affect our understanding of humanity’s journey.

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Two people explore a cave in Malaysia. Many ancient humans used caves as shelter hundreds of thousands of years ago. (Image credit: Khaichuin Sim via Getty Images)

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Here at Well+Good, we recently spoke with registered dietitian Mia Syn, MS, RDN, author of Mostly Plant-Based, who shared some of the top short- and long-term benefits of following a predominantly plant-based diet. One of the biggest takeaways? That consuming more plant-based whole foods—like fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds—can help reduce your risk of chronic illness and boost your longevity.

However, like all things in life, moderation is key—and certain foods can have an adverse effect on your health (yes, even plant-based ones) when consumed in excess. According to Syn, this includes added sugars, alcohol, and—today’s topic of discussion—saturated fat.

The good news? “Nearly all plant foods—with a few unique exceptions, like coconut and palm oil—are free of saturated fat, which is directly linked to elevated cholesterol levels,” Syn says. If that doesn’t highlight the significant heart health benefits you’ll reap when you prioritize adding plant foods to your diet, we don’t know what does. Here, we followed up with the registered dietitian to learn more about why it’s important to note the saturated fat content in all foods, including plant-based ones. Plus, she explains what the hype around coconut oil is really about.

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Photo: Stocksy/ Mindy Lopez Dunlap

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A backlash against industrial-size solar farms is brewing. At least 75 big solar projects were vetoed across the United States last year, compared to 19 in 2021. And between January 2021 and July 2022, planning permission for 23 new solar farms was rejected across England, Wales, and Scotland, when only four projects were refused between 2017 and 2020—representing the highest rejection rate in five years. Decarbonization, to some extent, risks getting bogged down by planning objections. People very often don’t want solar farms in their backyard.

France, though, appears to have a solution: transforming its parking lots into solar farms nationwide. The French Senate has approved a bill requiring new and existing lots with more than 80 spaces to be at least half covered with canopies of solar panels that sit over the parking spaces. Assuming the bill comes into effect later this year, parking lots with more than 400 spaces must be compliant by 2026; smaller ones with 80 to 400 spaces will be given until 2028.

Because they’re in abundance and cover large areas, parking lots are obvious candidates for doubling up as solar arrays. But that’s only part of the potential benefit. It makes sense aesthetically and logistically too—mass parking tends to be right next to energy-hungry urban areas, and it’s hard to make a vast asphalt lot any uglier. It’s a “no-brainer solution to providing clean electricity without wasting space,” says Joshua Pearce, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Western Ontario.

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Photograph: DAMIEN MEYER/Getty Images

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The summer of 2018 was affectionately nicknamed the Summer of Scam, as everyone on the internet devoured New York Magazine’s Anna Delvey long read—and every other scam-themed article that followed. But four years later, Summer of Scam is still going strong. My team at Truly*Adventurous has published a handful of features about con artists over the years, and we find that the best stories are the ones that give that coveted, special access to the swindler’s thinking, their notes on the back of the napkin. Because why wonder “what were they thinking?” when you can have them tell you exactly that—if you believe them, of course. (Check them all out time permitting.)

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Image by Boris SV/Getty Images

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Photo: Stocksy/Nataša Mandić

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Mike LaPointe has the envious job of figuring out how to get space exploration to the science fiction future.

He and his colleagues fund high-risk, high-reward projects as part of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, or NIAC, which last week announced grants to 14 teams exploring fantastical ideas. Many of them won’t pan out. But some—perhaps the lunar oxygen pipeline or the space telescope mirror that’s actually built in space—could become game changers.

“We’re looking at anything from back-of-the-napkin kind of concepts to things that are conceptualized but not developed yet,” LaPointe says. “These are things looking 20 to 30 years down the road to see how we could drastically improve or enable new types of NASA missions.” For example, while efforts to slightly boost a chemical rocket engine’s efficiency would be laudable, that’s not far out enough for the program. A proposal for a completely new system that could replace chemical rockets would fit right in.

NASA awards these grants annually, mostly to academic researchers in the United States. This new batch of awards is for Phase 1 projects, which each receive $175,000 to conduct a nine-month study that researchers will use to lay out their plans in more detail, run tests, and design prototypes. A promising few will make it to Phase 2 and get $600,000 for a two-year study. After that, NASA will award $2 million to a single exceptional project to fund a two-year Phase 3 study. 

Some of the competitors may ultimately find a home at NASA or with a commercial partner; others may have an indirect effect on space exploration by paving the way to spin-off technologies. For example, the startup Freefall Aerospace’s inflatable space antenna began as an NIAC project. A NIAC proposal for a rotorcraft on the Red Planet inspired the Martian helicopter Ingenuity.

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In the case of the thylacine, the first step is sequencing the extinct animal’s DNA – the genetic blueprint contained in every single cell of the body. Pask did this in 2017.

“The great thing about the thylacine, is that as it was such an important marsupial every major museum wanted one in their collection, so there are hundreds of samples around the globe, and some are exceptionally preserved,” says Pask.

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From an Australian frog that swallowed its own eggs to woolly mammoths, scientists are getting ever closer to being able to bring long-lost species back from the dead.

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Undergoing clinical trials around the world is a brain surgery that doesn’t need an incision or produce any blood yet drastically improves the lives of people with essential tremor, depression, and more. The procedure, known as a focused ultrasound, aims sound waves at parts of the brain to disrupt faulty brain circuits causing symptoms.

“Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive therapeutic technology,” said Dr. Neal Kassell, founder, and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. “We’ve said that focused ultrasound is the most powerful sound you will never hear, but sound that someday could save your life.”

Kassell describes the way it works as “analogous to using a magnifying glass to focus beams of light on a point and burn a hole in a leaf.”

“With focused ultrasound, instead of using an optical lens to focus beams of light,” he added, “an acoustic lens is used to focus multiple beams of ultrasound energy on targets deep in the body with a high degree of precision and accuracy, sparing the adjacent normal tissue.”

Kassell served on the board of Insightec — a leading maker of focused ultrasound machines — more than 10 years ago, according to an Insightec spokesperson. As a result, he holds .03% of the company’s private shares. Kassell told CNN the financial aspect doesn’t drive his interest in focused ultrasound procedures.

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Brenda Hric consults with neurosurgeon Dr. Jeff Elias, who conducted her focused ultrasound.

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