Or maybe we brought the knowledge up the evolutionary tree with us. Monkeys are well known to use tools....sharp pointed rocks...to break open oysters and clams to eat them. It's not required that we discard useful skills learned way early on just because we evolved to stand upright.
Not all nixtamalization was done with ashes. The history of it goes back as far as the history of maize, and the two came down through time together from the development of maize in Mesoamerica. Lime was primarily used to treat the corn. At such an early time that pottery stable enough to be put directly on the fire had not been developed, food was boiled by putting hot rocks into the pot with the food. Limestone was common, and if you boil limestone in water it dissolves calcium hydroxide from the stone, creating a strongly alkaline solution. That is what causes the nixtamalization, just like the lye from wood ashes. Part of the result was that the maize was softened, the outer hull removed, nutrition was much improved and the maize could be made into a dough, unlike plain ground corn.
Sadly, today, this has changed.
There are a few exceptions.
I wish I were joking, but as it turns out, we're all getting dumber than previous generations. They don't say what the current decline in cognitive function has reached, but they tested people at the CO2 levels expected by the end of this century and found they were 21% dumber when breathing that atmosphere: https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-huge-reduction-in-intelligence-study-reveals
Thank god we didn't keep their skill of throwing poop. Just think what a debate in congress would look like if we did.
I can assure you that it is happening without the effects of higher CO2 levels. I fear it is more due to laziness and lack of effort - it appears people just aren't interested in making an effort to learn any more. With all the knowledge of the world available on their phones, there isn't any concerted effort to "know things" and people just look stuff up. Unfortunately, since they haven't bothered to learn, they haven't the slightest idea whether it is true or correct and are incapable of critical thinking to evaluate the information. This is regularly seen with the growing anti-science/anti-intellectual movements within the population (USA especially) - ignorance is prized and education vilified.
I think they're referring to the Van Allen belts, which are a product of Earth's magnetism. I'm not sure how far they extend into space, but it's entirely possible that the moon is within their influence. Mars, however, doesn't have them. That's one of the (many) reasons I think Elon Musk's supposed plan for a Mars colony is pure BS.
The earth is flat, the moon landing was faked and evolution is a lie....
