Daily briefing: Ice-age art hints at how humans flourished

What the report says

Nature’s Daily Briefing highlighted new archaeological finds from Hohle Fels Cave in Germany, where researchers have long studied evidence of some of Europe’s earliest Homo sapiens. The latest discoveries include two small mammoth-ivory bird figures, resembling ptarmigans, and pieces of a flute made from vulture bone. Nature reported that the figurines show one bird with spread wings and another in a resting posture.

The briefing frames the finds as part of a broader body of cave art and crafted objects that could illuminate early human thought, symbolism and culture during the Ice Age. Archaeologist Nicholas Conard, who leads the excavation, argues that such artistic skill points to a significant advance in cognitive and cultural complexity, possibly helping Homo sapiens succeed in harsh European environments while other human groups disappeared.

The same Nature newsletter also summarized several science developments: an airborne mission using a modified jet and a high-altitude NASA aircraft to study wildfire-generated pyrocumulonimbus clouds; the first trial of an experimental vaccine targeting Bundibugyo Ebola; and a study suggesting a gene variant may help some anole lizards hold on during hurricane-force winds.

Nature also noted a preprint analysis of more than 116,000 PLOS papers finding fewer retractions among articles with public peer-review reports, while cautioning that authors who choose open review might already be more confident in their work or more committed to open-science practices. A further opinion item warned that cholera remains a serious global problem, especially where conflict, flooding and unreliable clean-water access undermine prevention.