Kill. Everyday we read or hear of soldiers or civilians caught in the deadly crossfire of war, of the young or elderly falling victim to one of the horrible illnesses that plagues our fragile planet and of children who lose their lives because they cannot feed themselves or their families cannot feed them.

The word “kill”, “die”, “death” and “dead” are thrown around in mainstream media these days as if they have no meaning. Those who read the news regularly need only a few months to become completely desensitized, I for one find it hard to associate the words with anything unless I see the actual killing or death occur.

It’s like that feeling you get when you look at the same word for a really long time. After a little while it just looks like odd scribbles on a page.

It’s horrible, I know. But so many of us are now like this. Death and destruction are commonplaces in our modern world, wars happen, they come and go like anything else, kids starve and die. It’s a fact of life.

The word “death” is used so often in the media that it has been stripped of everything except its literal meaning: to cease to exist. Really, depending on the context, the word can suggest a plethora of possibilities surrounding the death itself. War (whether founded or unfounded), corruption, greed, lust, hate, torture or worst of all, the most egregious crime man can commit: murder.

Before becoming interested in journalism these words meant something to me. But now, after having studied the craft for a few years and being the media monitor that I now am, they’ve lost everything but their literal meanings.

It’s not that I hate journalism for desensitizing me; I actually thank it for teaching me that these things happen. Murders, killings, deaths, destruction, bombs, war, hate, greed, corruption – all of it is part of life, our society’s gritty underbelly that isn’t hidden under the belly, thanks to journalism.

So, perhaps until I (fingers crossed) succeed in the field and become the traveling international reporter I so desire to become, I will see these words, this language, as representative of normal, everyday occurrences. After I see it firsthand, I know my opinion is likely to change.

Until then.

Who killed the Neanderthals? It’s been a long-standing debate in the anthropological world.‚  A mystery that none can solve.

The disappearance of Neanderthals is odd. A whole species, Homo neanderthalensis, living in modern day Asia and Europe for nearly 200,000 years disappears thousands of years after modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolve.

Many theories have been formulated over the years, some outrageous, some founded in environmental and evolutionary fact. Some say extreme climate change knocked out the Neanderthals’ main food supply: bison and large deer. The Neanderthals, who hunted using very primitive spears, could not catch up with smaller game and thus died of hunger, or so the theory goes.

Another theory flatters modern humans, some believe the Neanderthals were not as smart as or as good at making tools as Homo sapiens and thus went extinct as they competed for land and food, according to Discover Magazine.

Many theories have been ventured, but one remains the most popular. It implies a brutal war and old-fashioned ethnic cleansing on the part of modern humans. Did we, Homo sapiens, slaughter the Neanderthals?

It seems like something we’d do. After all, humans have taken to killing indigenous populations that inhabit land they desire. Humans and Neanderthals were competing for land, food and, ultimately, survival and as the smarter species it is highly likely that we waged war against them and won.

A piece of evidence, discovered in modern day Iraq, suggests at least one case of prehistoric murder. A skeleton found with a deep slice below its ninth rib.

The skeleton, one of nine Neanderthal bodies discovered between 1953 and 1960 in a cave in Iraq, belonged to a 40- to 50-year-old Neanderthal named Shanidar 3.

Duke evolutionary anthropology associate professor Steven Churchill believes a Homo sapien launched a projectile weapon at the Neanderthal, causing the deep cut. “We think the best explanation for this injury is a projectile weapon, and given who had those and who didn’t, that implies at least one act of inter-species aggression” he said, according to Live Science.

A Neanderthal skull was found in France a while ago, suggesting another case of murder. Scalp injury caused by a sharp object hitting the head, an act quite possibly inflicted by a human.

“If the Shanidar 3 case is also a case of inter-specific violence and if Shandiar 3 overlaps in time with modern humans, we’re beginning to get a little bit of a pattern here,” said Churchill, according to Live Science.

Scientific analysis showed Shanidar 3 died as his wound was healing, suggesting the weapon pierced his lung or caused lethal internal bleeding. Without any medicine, Shanidar 3 is thought to have died within weeks of sustaining the injury.

Does this solve the debate? No. Is it a useful clue? Yes.

Would it make a badass movie? Hell yes. Hollywood, get to work.

Authorities have arrested and are questioning a 20-year-old man suspected of carrying out a horrible killing spree at a day care center in Dendermonde, Belgium, the star tribune reports.

The suspect has been accused of stabbing two babies and one female worker to death, as well as seriously wounding at least 12 others, 10 of whom were children.

Horrified parents rushed to nearby Our Lady Hospital to tend to their injured children. Health care workers gave detailed accounts of finding and rescuing crying, slashed babies.

Dr. Ignace Demeyer, leader of emergency services at Our Lady Hospital, told media that of the 10 injured babies, six underwent surgery. He added that at the time of his press conference, all the babies were in stable condition.

“This was a particularly violent attack. All the kids had multiple stab wounds on their legs, arms and all over their bodies,” said Demeyer.

Mayor Piet Buyse offered his condolences to the families of the injured babies, and also condemned the brutal killings.

“An act of great brutality has happened here against our weakest citizens,” he said. “The whole city is united in support for the parents who are in deep grief.”

Prosecutor Christian De Four told media that the attacker rode his bike up to the center around 10 a.m., entered, and immediately began slashing children.

The attacker, after the rampage, supposedly left the center, got back on his bike, and rode away before being arrested shortly after at a nearby supermarket.

The suspect is a man local police say has a history of mental illness. No kidding.

The suspect has yet to officially be charged and is currently being held in custody.