How many of us grew up hearing, “respect your elders; they know best”? As much as we may not have wanted to hear it at the time, as we grew and matured, we gradually started to see it was true. Perhaps our elders were always one step ahead of us – even prehistorically.

In early January, archaeologists investigating an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Tuscany uncovered a unique find: a tightly closed tin container with extraordinarily well-preserved medicine dating back to approximately 140-130 B.C. The results of deep analysis offer a sneak peek into the true complexity and sophistication of ancient medications. According to lead researcher Gianna Giachi,

 “The research highlights the continuity from then until now in the use of some substances for the treatment of human diseases. The research also shows the care that was taken in choosing complex mixtures of products – olive oil, pine resin, starch – in order to get the desired therapeutic effect and to help in the preparation and application of medicine.”

Were our ancestors paving the way for our medical advancements? Maybe; but perhaps not in the exact way we would think. Instead of thinking technologically, let’s consider something even more primal: nature. To many, this discovery indicates that natural medicines are not only practical, but have been used for thousands of years because of their effectiveness. Quoting Alain Touwaide, scientific director of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions,

 “This information potentially represents essentially several centuries of clinical trials. If natural medicine is used for centuries and centuries, it’s not because it doesn’t work.”

Although the shipwrecked boat, the Relitto del Pozzino, was first discovered in 1974, the analysis of the ancient pills found on board only began two years ago. After several studies conduced by light microscopy and a scanning electron microscope to analyze the pills’ organic elements, it has been determined that the medication was actually used to treat dry eye, a condition still prevalent today.

Since very few ancient medications have been discovered elsewhere, this finding provides great insight into prehistoric medical treatments. Additionally, it shows us that common problems facing men and women thousands of years ago haven’t changed, even today. That, or our ancestors were just always looking out for our best interests – even for our eyes. Remember: take your pills and eat your carrots!

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According to the groundhog’s predictions earlier this month, spring is just around the corner – and nothing says late winter/early spring quite like a bombardment of spiders. Wait, spiders?

Although the months of February and March may bring hodge-podge visions of overpriced candy and flowers, beads and boobies, and bunnies and neon-colored eggs to mind, this is actually prime time of the year for spider play; or, at least, that’s what the past two years in recent history seem to show.

Last March, we reported the heebie-jeebies filled story of the ballooning spiders in Australia that were essentially cocooning over 8,000 homes to escape from flooding. Creepy, and kind of gross, but a once-in-a-lifetime unfortunate turn of events, yes? No.  Just this past Sunday, a web designer in Brazil captured this little gem on video:  footage of what appears to be thousands of spiders falling from the sky.

Unsettling as this scene may be, according to Leticia Aviles, student at the University of British Columbia,

“The phenomenon observed is not really surprising. Either social or colonial spiders may occur in large aggregations, as the one shown in the video.”

Okay, so it’s normal, but why are they doing this? The answer is simple: it’s how they hunt. Are the hairs standing up on the back of your neck yet?

The good news is the spiders are not actually raining from the heavens, nor are they flying. What’s happening here is similar to a real-life optical illusion. Experts say the spiders in the video are spread out across a large network composed of individual webs which are very fine and mostly invisible – hence the falling or flying illusion. Oh, okay. So the spiders aren’t falling, they just have a gigantic invisible web in the sky. I feel much better!

What experts can’t seem to agree on, however, is what species of spider these sky dwellers belong to, or where they’re headed. Some scientists believe the spiders to be of the social species, Anelosimus eximius, which weaves communal webs, live together throughout adulthood, and share  childcare duties. Other arachnologists are of the thought that these spiders actually belong to the Parawixia bistriata colony, a species which also works together in a community but are known to dissolve before the spiders make their own single families. Think two different hippie colonies: one stays together for life, while the other splits up before moving on to have babies and a family of their own, away from their wild  youths. Ladies and gentlemen: hippie spiders!

It remains uncertain whether these spiders are setting up camp for a while or simply in the process of dispersing, and unfortunately, those answers may remain unanswered until someone – or something – can get a good photo of the translucent web or an up-close shot of the spiders. Fortunately, despite which species these spiders fall into, their venom is not believed to be harmful to humans. So, who’s ready to make their first million-dollar photograph?

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