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

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 magnified view of the prosthesis before (left) and after (right) conservation. In the left image, we see a) traces of shiny, yellow metal (most likely gold) covering the woolen pad; and b) a trace of green corrosion indicating copper. In the right image, we see c) felted fabric that fits into the nasal cavity; d) a loop through which a white linen thread passed and connected the fabric to the metal plate; e) a metal plate to replace the absent hard 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.