Bili Buzz - Popular Science, Nature, Medicine, Archeology, Future & Myths

Scientists have pushed back the start date for humanity’s addiction to chocolate. Using new techniques, Cornell University anthropologists discovered caffeine and theobomine, which comes from cacao, in numerous pottery shards dating to 1100 BC.

The shards, discovered in the Ulua Valley of Honduras, at a site called Puerto Escondido, were probably pieces of a drinking vessel. Based on the shape of the chalice, the scientists say that the liquid contained inside was probably a bit more like beer than hot chocolate.

Apparently, a brewing company is working with the scientists to reproduce it. Do they actually think it’s going to taste any good?

OK, so scientists say it’s been extinct for 250 million years, but this giant arthropod might still keep me out of large bodies of water for a long, long time.

British paleontologists announced that they had discovered the 18-inch-long fossilized claw of an ancient sea scorpion. The size of the claw suggests that the scorpion itself would have been about eight feet long.

Forget Jaws. This thing is much scarier. Lead scientist Simon J. Braddy of the University of Bristol says the scorpion was probably the lead predator in its environment, and would’ve eaten just about anything. But it probably wouldn’t have spent too much time on land, if any at all, because it wouldn’t have been able to support its own weight.