Category: Mexico

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Prehistoric Mammoth Traps Were Discovered Outside Mexico City

This is big news.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has revealed at a press conference that ancient traps containing the remains of 14 woolly mammoths were uncovered in Mexico.

At least 15,000 years old, the traps were discovered in Tultepec, a city approximately 25 miles north of Mexico City.

Named “Tultepec II,” the site has been under excavation for about 10 months, and archaeologists working there have discovered around 824 bones from 14 mammoths, including skulls, jaws and ribs. The site has been named a “Mammoth Megasite.”

At the press conference, Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava, the national archeology coordinator at the INAH, said, “It represents a watershed, a touchstone for how we previously imagined groups of hunter-gatherers interacted with these enormous herbivores.”

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Researchers think they now have a better understanding of how the beasts were hunted and used by hunter-gatherers in the Mexico Basin. Twenty or thirty hunters would separate one from the herd and, using torches, lure it into the trap. Once there, the animal would be killed, with most of the body either eaten or used in other ways.

One of the skeletons was laid out in a ceremonial way with evidence that indicated it took several hunts to bring it down completely. The arrangement of the bones points to a level of reverence the hunters had for such a fierce kill.

A Mammoth Museum is already open in Tultepec with a nearly complete wooly mammoth skeleton, discovered there in 2016, on display.

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After Almost Losing His Mother, This Teen Invented a Bra That Can Detect Breast Cancer Early

I bet we’ll be hearing from this young man for many years.

After Julián Ríos Cantú watched his mother endure two bouts with breast cancer, the 18-year-old from Mexico decided he wanted to help out other women who might not have access to affordable healthcare.

Posted by Julián Ríos Cantú on Monday, November 20, 2017

Cantú’s mother ended up having a mastectomy. Standard screenings missed the lumps in his mother’s breasts because her high breast density obscured the growths. Cantú said, “At that moment, I realized that if that was the case for a woman with private insurance and a prevention mindset, then for most women in developing countries, like Mexico where we’re from, the outcome could’ve not been a mastectomy but death.”

Cantú took matters into his own hands, inventing Eva, a “bio-sensing bra insert” that uses thermal sensing and artificial intelligence to create a thermal map of women’s breasts. Abnormal temperatures and tumor growth are related, and an Eva insert can help women detect cancerous growths. It also helps with the self-examination process.

As things stand today, patients don’t have a lot of options for early detection of breast cancer. If you’re under 45, you can’t receive mammograms due to concerns about exposure to radiation. Even if you’re over that age, mammograms can be very expensive.

The Eva technology does not emit any radiation, and women of all ages can wear the insert.

The company has performed clinical trials on more than 2,000 women in Mexico. Eva’s website says,

“Eva’s technology is approved by the FDA as an adjunct method for breast cancer detection in section 884.2980 Teletermographic Systems. Similarly, Eva Clinic operates under the highest ethical standards, strictly following the Official Mexican Standard NOM-041-SSA2-2011, for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, control, and surveillance of breast cancer.”

The product is now available for use at certified Eva clinics, but who knows? Maybe someday it’ll be in our houses, helping women detect breast cancer even earlier.

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American and Mexican Children Play Together on Seesaws Built into the Border Wall

Here’s a feel-good story.

Despite all the current examples of tragedy, hateful rhetoric, and divisiveness in the news, the images of children simply playing together at the US-Mexico border can make us all pause and reflect on what it means to be human.

There’s no doubt that the situation along the US-Mexico border is complicated and has been for many, many years. But two university professors decided to change the tone from “it’s scary and complicated’ to “maybe this can be a little whimsical” by installing seesaws that straddle the border so kids on opposite sides of the fence can play with each other.

How do you like that for breaking down barriers?

The folks behind the project are Ronald Rael, a professor of architecture at the UC Berkeley, and Virginia San Fratello, an associate professor of design at San Jose State University.

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One of the most incredible experiences of my and @vasfsf’s career bringing to life the conceptual drawings of the Teetertotter Wall from 2009 in an event filled with joy, excitement, and togetherness at the borderwall. The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S. – Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side. Amazing thanks to everyone who made this event possible like Omar Rios @colectivo.chopeke for collaborating with us, the guys at Taller Herrería in #CiudadJuarez for their fine craftsmanship, @anateresafernandez for encouragement and support, and everyone who showed up on both sides including the beautiful families from Colonia Anapra, and @kerrydoyle2010, @kateggreen , @ersela_kripa , @stphn_mllr , @wakawaffles, @chris_inabox and many others (you know who you are). #raelsanfratello #borderwallasarchitecture #teetertotterwall #seesaw #subibaja

A post shared by Ronald Rael (@rrael) on

The seesaws were installed at the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, not far from the very busy border of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Rael and San Fratello actually came up with the idea for a “Teetertotter Wall” back in 2009. In his Instagram post, Rael said, “The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S.-Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side.”

Photo Credit: Instagram,rrael

Rael added that the seesaw project “is incredibly important at a time when relationships between people on both sides are being severed by the wall and the politics of the wall.”

Kids simply having fun knows no boundaries, no borders, no walls, and no fences.

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Group of Engineers Proposed a Wall on the U.S./Mexico Border That’ll Pay for Itself

The US/Mexico border has been the subject of some pretty hotly contested debates recently. However, that debate could potentially be settled by a group of 28 engineers from a dozen universities, who came together to propose a wall that they believe would make those who desire a wall happy while also emphasizing alternative energy.

The plan calls for a 2,000-mile industrial park along the border that would contain natural gas pipelines, solar energy panels, wind turbines, and desalination facilities.

The group believes this could be a win-win situation: “Given that most of the southern border lies in arid or semi-arid regions having high solar irradiation and wind, an energy park along the border is both feasible and desirable.”

The engineers estimate that a solar energy park along the whole border would produce the same amount of energy as a nuclear power plant. The wall would also create scores of jobs and help to assist a positive relationship between the U.S. and Mexico based on mutual interests.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Luciano Castillo of Purdue University, the group leader, said, “Democrats want a Green New Deal. Republicans want border security. Both parties could win. It could be a win–win for the U.S. and Mexico, too. This idea could spark a completely new conversation about the border. And we need that.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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