​China made sensational archaeological discoveries off the coast of Taiwan ● Are penguins really monogamous? ● Insults remain in our memory longer than compliments ● Unique burial of a 17th century “vampire” woman

China made sensational archaeological discoveries off the coast of Taiwan

You need to be optimistic in life, because you never know when something good might happen to you. The best example is China, which, after scandals, unrest and great tension with Taiwan, the US and their allies, strikes in archeology exactly where it was least expected. More precisely, off the coast of the Paracel Islands, Xisha in Chinese, a group of islands that is the subject of territorial disputes between China, Taiwan, and also Vietnam.

The experts of the Chinese Academy of Sciences thus give good grades to those who commented on the nonsense that China already has a navy. If they did not exist, it is obvious that such discoveries would no longer exist. Accordingly, at a depth of more than 3,000 meters, three ancient ships were discovered, loaded with porcelain, copper coins and other artifacts that could reveal particularly interesting aspects of China’s past.

This appears to be just the tip of the iceberg, as Chinese archaeologists estimate that other ancient and medieval ships may have suffered the same fate, just waiting to be discovered. In this regard, the Chinese government has announced that it will allocate funds for the first large-scale project, which will last five years and involves an underwater study of the trade routes connecting China with Africa. The dream of Chinese researchers is to identify possible ships that were part of the fleet led by Admiral Zeng He in the 15th century.

For starters, it’s closer, although it’s not specifically mentioned, they’ll probably start off the coast of Taiwan. In conclusion, leave nonsense and conspiracies behind, because this is serious science.

Are penguins really monogamous?

The answer to this question, which has worried many of you, has just been given by scientists from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, cited by LiveScience. I mean, penguins are definitely monogamous, and no. To clarify, if penguins had their own Facebook and needed to post something in the “relationship” section, they’d probably write “it’s complicated.”

New Zealand biologists observed a population of Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) and noticed that their monogamy is somewhat questionable. In particular, they prefer to breed with the same partners, but this does not prevent them from roaming around the colony if they have the opportunity. All kinds of love triangles and even other love geometric figures were often observed, so that you don’t even know who is falling in love with whom. But when they arrive at the nest, the same two share parenting duties.

True, there are also complications here, for example, males raise offspring from different parents. But most of them are nice, they don’t comment. The problems are aggravated by the fact that more and more individuals do not return to their nesting sites. Experts say that against the backdrop of global warming, their food supplies are shrinking, they have nothing to eat, they are also being hunted by killer whales, sea lions, woe betide them. In conclusion, as I said, it is difficult that even monogamy alone does not burn them in these times of constraint.

Insults remain in our memory longer than compliments

A study published in the specialized journal Frontiers in Communication, signed by several Dutch researchers, claims that images have a much stronger and lasting effect on people than kind words.

They protested 80 women, who were deliberately insulted repeatedly. It turned out that insults caused an immediate response in the area of ​​the brain responsible for attention, and their effect lasted much longer than in the case of compliments. The words of hate caused a quick reaction, even if they were not directly addressed to the test participants, which emphasizes the heightened sensitivity of people to conflict or antisocial situations.

The results of the test also show us that we are genetically programmed to react much more strongly to negative emotions than to positive ones, in other words, to remember them longer and react in the same way no matter how many times they are repeated. Between us, maybe it didn’t take that many trials to realize that if you insult a woman a few times and then tell her she’s beautiful, you can count yourself lucky if you get by with just a few looks and the fact that he won’t talk to by you while you are in the world. Finally! It is interesting that the Dutch chose only women for such tests. They probably didn’t have a problem with men because they are even bigger in that area, but one suspects the reactions would be similar.

The unique burial of a “ghoul” woman of the 17th century

A team of archaeologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, cited by ScienceAlert, recently announced the discovery of an unusual grave. The 17th century skeleton clearly belonged to a woman who was considered a vampire by contemporaries. Not only did they believe it, but they acted on it.

Now he is not the first, so to speak, discovered “vampire”. Similar graves have been discovered throughout Europe and the United States. Indeed, the dead were buried with a brick in their mouth, actually, with a stake in their heart, everything was as clear as possible. What’s new this time is that the “vampire” was buried with a sickle attached to his neck, so if he managed to get up there, he would clearly have serious problems with further orientation.

To be sure that everything will work out if the individual gets stuck with a scythe, those who performed the burial ritual tied a strand to the big toe on the right foot every day. According to experts, the key to the whole operation was the lock, because it was not possible to find another rhyme. Where to go crazy with what hangs on your leg?

You can even say that the sickle was just an excess of zeal. In general, there were civilized ways to kill a vampire, not necessarily removing it from the grave, burning its heart and drinking the ashes, as other backward populations of medieval European states did.

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