Soumya Sagar

Soumya Sagar

Live Science Contributor

Soumya Sagar holds a degree in medicine and used to do research in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco. His work has appeared in New Scientist, Science, Discover, and Mental Floss. He is a passionate science writer and a voracious consumer of knowledge, especially trivia. He enjoys writing about medicine, animals, archaeology, climate change, and history. Animals have a special place in his heart. He also loves quizzing, visiting historical sites, reading Victorian literature and watching noir movies.

Articles by: Soumya Sagar

An image of a child's skeleton in an excavated grave

17,000-year-old remains of blue-eyed baby boy unearthed in Italy

By Soumya Sagar published

The well-preserved remains of a baby boy who died 17,000 years ago in what is now Italy reveal that he had blue eyes, dark skin and curly hair.

A print of a ship with torn sails on a turbulent sea sailing between giant icebergs.

In a 1st, DNA analysis reveals identity of captain cannibalized during ill-fated Franklin expedition

By Soumya Sagar published

Scientists have discovered the identity of a cannibalized victim who sailed on the doomed Northwest Passage expedition of 1845 to 1848.

Top view of a skull (left) and an Xray of the skull (right)

Cocaine found in mummified brains reveal that New World drug came to Italy 200 years earlier than thought

By Soumya Sagar published

Researchers unexpectedly found traces of cocaine in the mummified brain tissue of 17th-century people buried in a crypt in Milan.

A boulder with an inscription chiseled into one of its sides

Paleo-Arabic inscription on rock was made by Prophet Muhammad's companion before he converted, study finds

By Soumya Sagar published

The writing is only the second confirmed inscription whose attribution connects to Muhammad.

Facials reconstruction of two boys created by an artist

1,600-year-old Hun burial in Poland contains 2 boys, including one with a deformed skull

By Soumya Sagar published

Archaeologists in Poland used DNA to identify a double burial that contained the skeletons of two boys who were unrelated.

Artist impression of extinct giant cheetah species Acinonyx pleistocaenicus hunting

Huge cheetah that roamed China 1 million years ago would have stood face to face with a tiger

By Soumya Sagar published

Extinct colossal cat Acinonyx pleistocaenicus was the biggest species of cheetah to have ever lived, scientists reveal.

Neanderthals made parallel marks on this bear bone

130,000-year-old Neanderthal-carved bear bone is symbolic art, study argues

By Soumya Sagar published

The carved bear bone is one of the earliest human-made artifacts with "symbolic culture" unearthed in Europe.

A black-and-white illustration of the two individuals buried arm in arm on top of a horse.

Roman-era skeletons buried in embrace, on top of a horse, weren't lovers, DNA analysis shows

By Soumya Sagar published

A new analysis of a double burial in Austria has revealed that a skeletal couple weren't lovers but likely an embracing mother and daughter.

A hypothetical recreation of yue, with a doctor waiting nearby.

2,500-year-old skeletons with legs chopped off may be elites who received 'cruel' punishment in ancient China

By Soumya Sagar published

The amputated legs of skeletons belonging to two men who lived in ancient China suggests that they were punished for alleged crimes 2,500 years ago.

A close-up of a baby's cleft palate

'Exceptional' prosthesis of gold, silver and wool helped 18th-century man live with cleft palate

By Soumya Sagar published

Archaeologists in Poland have found the 300-year-old remains of a man who had a prosthetic that helped him live with a condition called cleft palate.

Three angles of a tube-shaped bead made of bone.

13,000-year-old bone bead is the oldest of its kind in the Americas

By Soumya Sagar published

Some of the 1st Americans crafted a bone bead nearly 13,000 years ago, making it the oldest of its kind on record in the Western Hemisphere.

The four skulls that archaeologists found buried in a pit.

Headless skeletons in China represent the largest known headhunting massacre from Neolithic Asia

By Soumya Sagar published

Headless skeletons from a 4,100-year-old massacre in China are from victims of the largest known 'headhunt' from Neolithic Asia.

close up of cells lining the human gut, showing multicolored bacterial cells floating just above the gut cells

Mucus-loving gut bug could be key for controlling cholesterol, lab study finds

By Soumya Sagar published

A study conducted in lab dishes and mice finds that mucus-eating bacteria found in the human gut could be key for controlling cholesterol.

monthly calendar set up on a tabletop with its pages turning

'Groundhog Day' syndrome made a man feel like he was reliving the same events

By Soumya Sagar published

A man was convinced that the same events kept happening. The delusion was likely a complication of Alzheimer's.

Close up of a butterfly with blue wings and a black body

All butterflies evolved from ancient moths in North America 100 million years ago

By Soumya Sagar published

Scientists have revealed how butterflies evolved and took over the world in a new tree of life.

microscopic image of the nematode c elegans. specific cells are stained bright green, and others are bright pink

Worms and humans both get 'the munchies,' despite 500 million years of evolutionary separation

By Soumya Sagar published

Researchers found that roundworms gobble down high-calorie foods when exposed to a compound that acts on the same brain receptor as THC.