Cannibalism

Archaeologists have suggested that Stone Age people sometimes ate one another for nutritional reasons. But a new study suggests that from a calorie perspective, hunting and eating other humans wasn't efficient.

Bison Or Brian? From A Calorie Perspective, Cannibalism Didn't Pay For Paleo Humans

4:52pm April 06, 2017

by Angus Chen

Archaeological records show ancient humans sometimes ate each other. A new study suggests that hunting and eating other humans cost too much effort to be a regular thing. So why'd they do it?

An illustration from 1875 depicts the survivors of the frigate Cospatrick, which caught fire off South Africa's Cape of Good Hope in November 1874. Of more than 470 people on board, just three ultimately survived, and they were reduced to cannibalism.

Cannibalism: It's 'Perfectly Natural,' A New Scientific History Argues

10:00am February 22, 2017

by Angus Chen

It's gruesome, but from a scientific standpoint, there's a predictable calculus for when humans and animals go cannibal, a new book says. And who knew European aristocrats ate body parts as medicine?

Science

She's A Man-Eater, And That's OK With Male Orb-Weaving Spiders

6:42pm June 01, 2016

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Usually in nature, the females choose the males they mate with. But researchers say a type of male orb-weaving spider selects the female — which will cannibalize him afterward.

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The four cuts at the top of this skull "are clear chops to the forehead," says Smithsonian forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley. Based on forensic evidence, researchers think the blows were made after the person died.

Bones Tell Tale Of Desperation Among The Starving At Jamestown

7:48pm May 01, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

The winter of 1609-1610 has been called the "starving time" for the hundreds of men and women who settled the English colony of Jamestown, Va. They ate their horses, their pets — and, apparently, at least one person. Scientists say human bones recovered from the site provide the first hard evidence that the colonists may have resorted to cannibalism.

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