Crowning glory

Japan has its share of ancient human fossils that form part of the historic puzzle of the evolution of homo sapiens. Among these is the 20,000-year-old bones of the “Ushikawa Man” excavated during quarrying in the late 1950s in the city of Toyohashi, about 225 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

However, the result of a review of the fossils published on 1 December 2024 in the journal Anthropological Science revealed the bones were from an ancient brown bear, University of Tokyo anthropologist Gen Suwa said in an email, Live Science reports.

The Ushikawa Man’s humerus bone from the upper arm and the end or head of a femur bone from the leg turned out to be the radius bone from the forearm of a brown bear (Ursus arctos), Suwa told Live Science. The femur was also found to be from a brown bear.

Meanwhile, a transgender woman from Kansas City, USA showed in a viral social media video six human ribs inside a transparent plastic bag labeled LabCorp.

Emily James said the bones were removed from her in a $17,000 cosmetic surgery intended to reduce her waist line, New York Post (NYP) reports.

James received a suggestion from a commenter to boil the bones down to a broth, but she said she had a different plan for her ribs.

“I plan on having someone make a crown out of them,” the 27-year-old told Caters News, according to NYP.

James’s planned rib crown would be in commemoration of her unusual surgical procedure. She asked followers if they knew anyone who could do it.