Are there any giant animals humans haven't discovered yet?

Underground Railroad secrets revealed with drones, lasers and radar | 5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in grave of three Neolithic children | How did doctors perform surgery before modern anesthesia? Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( February 22, 2022 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [Underground Railroad secrets revealed with drones, lasers and radar]( [Underground Railroad secrets revealed with drones, lasers and radar]( (Photo by Margot Daley / Courtesy of Science Channel) Archaeologists and historians have uncovered new insights about the Underground Railroad and the people who risked their lives to escape enslavers in 19th-century America. With technologies such as thermal drones and laser pulses, scientists have peered through overgrown vegetation and under the ground to find tunnels, caves and refuges that offered respite along the dangerous journey to freedom. Many freedom seekers fleeing slavery in the United States found a hard-won path to liberty through a system of secret routes, safe houses and hidden way stations known as the Underground Railroad. This escape network operated from roughly 1830 to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, and it arose during the brutal period in the U.S. when white people in Southern states routinely kidnapped, tortured and enslaved African people and their American-born descendents. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/21) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] History & Archaeology [] [5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in grave of three Neolithic children]( [5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in grave of three Neolithic children]( (The Trustees of the British Museum) Archaeologists in Britain have discovered a 5,000-year-old sculpture, made out of chalk, that has enigmatic motifs engraved on it. The British Museum called it "the most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last 100 years." Found near the village of Burton Agnes in East Yorkshire, the stone sculpture was found alongside a chalk ball and bone pin inside the grave of three children. The archaeologists estimated the three children were 3 to 5, 6 to 9, and 10 to 12 years of age when they died. The two youngest children were found "facing towards each other and possibly holding hands," said Mark Allen, the director of Allen Archaeology, the cultural resources management company that excavated the site. The eldest child was between and had their arms around the two youngest "as if protecting them," Allen said in an email. The chalk sculpture was found above the head of the eldest child. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/22) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Life’s Little Mysteries [] [How did doctors perform surgery before modern anesthesia?]( [How did doctors perform surgery before modern anesthesia?]( (Sergei Pivovarov via Getty Images) In 1811, English novelist Fanny Burney underwent a mastectomy without so much as a shot of whiskey to dim the pain. In letters she wrote to her sister after the operation, she recalls, "I began a scream that lasted unintermittingly [sic] during the whole time of the incision — and I almost marvel that it rings not in my ears still! So excruciating was the agony." In fact, Burney fainted twice from the pain of the incision, which likely came as a welcome relief. Her operation took place during a time when surgical anesthesia was still in its infancy, and the limited options that existed could be unreliable and often dangerous. Historical anecdotes like hers reveal "what a disgusting thing surgery was before anesthesia," said Tony Wildsmith, professor emeritus of anesthesia at the University of Dundee in Scotland, and former Royal Archivist at the Royal College of Anaesthetists in the United Kingdom. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/21) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Are there any giant animals humans haven't discovered yet?]( [Are there any giant animals humans haven't discovered yet?]( (Schmidt Ocean Institute) In 2020, researchers saw for the first time what may be the longest animal ever. The creature, spotted in a deep-sea canyon off Australia, was a roughly 150-foot-long (45 meters) siphonophore. Each member of this group of species is made up of lots of smaller animals called zooids, which connect to form a long, string-like colony similar to a coral but that swims freely in the ocean. Given it took so long for humans to set eyes on this ginormous siphonophore, it raises the question, are there more giant animals humans haven't discovered yet? The answer is almost certainly yes. Scientists are still learning about life on Earth and the siphonophore is one of several giants that humans have found in recent decades. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/20) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Curious Creatures [] [Long-necked dinosaurs probably had even longer necks than we thought]( [Long-necked dinosaurs probably had even longer necks than we thought]( (Stocktrek Images via Getty Images) Imagine a lumbering long-necked dinosaur — perhaps you've seen these herbivores animated in movies, munching on hard-to-reach leaves, or maybe you've visited a mounted skeleton in a museum. But now, get ready for a reality check: Every sauropod neck you've ever seen is likely wrong, a new study finds. Surprisingly few complete sauropod necks have been scientifically documented, and even specimens with relatively complete necks often have misshapen bones, distorted from tens of millions of years in the great outdoors. What's more, paleontologists often can't agree where the neck stops and the backbone begins; and many don't factor in how long sauropod necks would be if tissues such as cartilage and fat were included in models. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/22) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Skull of 'armless' meat-eating dinosaur discovered]( [Skull of 'armless' meat-eating dinosaur discovered]( (Fred Wierum; CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons) Paleontologists in Argentina have uncovered an unusual dinosaur skull that belonged to an "armless," tiny-brained carnivore that lived about 70 million years ago, a new study finds. The newfound species — named Guemesia ochoai for General Martín Miguel de Güemes, a hero of the Argentine War of Independence — is a member of Abelisauridae, a clade of carnivores that roamed what is now South America, Africa and India during the dinosaur age. Full Story: [Live Science]( (2/18) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Daily Quiz [] POLL QUESTION: Where would scientists be most likely to discover a giant, never-before-seen, living animal? (Learn the answer [here]() [Vote]( [In the deep sea]( [Vote]( [Underground]( [Vote]( [On land](   [Sign Up]( | [Update Profile]( | [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Cookies Policy]( | [Terms and Conditions]( CONTACT US: [FEEDBACK](mailto:livescience@smartbrief.com) | [ADVERTISE]( Future US LLC © 1100 13th St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005