Articles for author: Sameen David

Sameen David

Prehistoric Theories
The prehistoric evidence that our ancestors laughed - and why researchers believe laughter may be one of the oldest social technologies the human species ever developed

The prehistoric evidence that our ancestors laughed – and why researchers believe laughter may be one of the oldest social technologies the human species ever developed

Imagine a group of early humans huddled around a fire after a long, dangerous day, suddenly bursting into shared laughter at someone’s clumsy trip or playful gesture. No written language, no smartphones, no memes – yet the raw, contagious sound of laughter still pulling the group closer together. The idea that people were laughing long ...

Sameen David

Prehistoric HumansPrehistoric Theories
Prehistoric science says the moment ancient humans began burying their dead with objects was the moment something neurologically new had entered the world - and researchers are still debating exactly what it was.

Prehistoric science says the moment ancient humans began burying their dead with objects was the moment something neurologically new had entered the world – and researchers are still debating exactly what it was.

Walk for a minute in your mind through a Paleolithic cave. There’s a body laid gently in a shallow pit, sprinkled with red ochre, a shaped tool nearby, maybe an animal tooth or shell close to the hand. Nobody wrote down what this meant, and yet those objects hint at a mental universe that feels ...

Sameen David

Fossils & FieldworkPrehistoric Discoveries
The remote desert region that has produced so many extraordinary fossils in the last 30 years that scientists call it the most important prehistoric site on Earth

The remote desert region that has produced so many extraordinary fossils in the last 30 years that scientists call it the most important prehistoric site on Earth

Out in the baking, rust‑red borderlands of the Sahara, where the wind sounds like static and the horizon never seems to move, there’s a cliff of rock that looks, at first glance, like nothing at all. No signs, no fences, just an endless escarpment of sandstone and dust. Yet in the last three decades this ...

Sameen David

Dino Guides & DestinationsFossils & Fieldwork
The stretch of coastline in England where dinosaur fossils wash out of the cliffs after every storm and anyone can legally collect them

The stretch of coastline in England where dinosaur fossils wash out of the cliffs after every storm and anyone can legally collect them

There’s a place on the English coast where, after every winter storm, pieces of the age of dinosaurs literally fall at your feet. Cliffs crumble, rocks crash onto the beach, and hidden in the rubble are fossils that have waited more than a hundred million years to be seen – and, remarkably, you are actually ...

Sameen David

Fossils & FieldworkPrehistoric Discoveries
Geology says the ground beneath these five American cities sits directly on top of some of the richest untouched fossil deposits on the continent

Geology says the ground beneath these five American cities sits directly on top of some of the richest untouched fossil deposits on the continent

Imagine grabbing a coffee downtown and knowing that, hundreds of feet below your sneakers, there might be the remains of long‑necked dinosaurs, ancient reefs, or vanished oceans quietly sleeping in the dark. In a lot of the United States, that idea is more science fiction than science fact, because cities are often built on young ...

Sameen David

Dino Guides & DestinationsFossils & Fieldwork
The country that has produced more new dinosaur species in the last decade than the rest of the world combined - and most people cannot name it

The country that has produced more new dinosaur species in the last decade than the rest of the world combined – and most people cannot name it

In the last ten years or so, from around 2016 to today, one country has quietly become the world’s dinosaur discovery powerhouse, racking up new species at a pace that leaves every other nation in the dust. It is not the United States, not China, not Argentina, and not some vast, empty desert you’ve seen ...

Sameen David

Lifestyle
Psychology Says People Who Talk to Their Pets Like Children Are Actually Demonstrating a Rare Form of Intelligence Most Adults Have Lost

Psychology Says People Who Talk to Their Pets Like Children Are Actually Demonstrating a Rare Form of Intelligence Most Adults Have Lost

If you’ve ever caught yourself baby-talking your dog in the kitchen or giving your cat a full motivational speech before work, you might’ve wondered if you were losing it. The surprising answer from psychology is almost the opposite: you may actually be tapping into a kind of social and emotional intelligence that many adults slowly ...