Sibudu stone tools plant gum red ochre adhesive

Red ochre improved Stone Age glue

Stone segments from Sibudu, South Africa, about 70,000 years old, were fixed with plant gum mixed with red ochre. The ochre strengthened the gum and helped keep it from breaking down when wet. The adhesive let people attach stone parts to sticks in more varied ways and make new tools.

Doctors rejected handwashing even after it dramatically reduced deaths

In 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis required doctors at a Vienna maternity clinic to clean their hands with a chlorinated solution before examining patients. Deaths from childbed fever fell sharply. But his explanation challenged prevailing medical beliefs, and many colleagues resisted it. A lifesaving practice was rejected before the germ theory of disease became widely accepted.

Prisons were meant to deter and reform

As public execution and torture lost support in Europe and the United States, rulers sought punishments that avoided public displays of their violence. Reformers promoted prison in two competing ways: harsh conditions could deter, while another view held that prison could improve a person’s morals.

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Sibudu stone tools plant gum red ochre adhesive

Red ochre improved Stone Age glue

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