An ancient skull pulled from a cave in Laos suggests human beings wandered out of Africa and dispersed through Southeast Asia much earlier than previously thought.

The fairly-intact, 63,000-year-old skull was discovered by a University of Illinois anthropologist, Laura Shackelford, according to a university news release. This find dials back the clock on mainland Southeast Asia's earliest known human migrants by about 20,000 years, according to Shackelford's research.

The takeaway: this discovery suggests that humans didn't always simply follow the coast as they drifted out of Africa. Early migrants also pushed into what Shackelfod calls "very different types of terrain": higher-altitude mountains in Laos, which is quite distant from the nearest sea.

Our understanding of humankind's origins is forever evolving. The "dawn monkey" theory, furthered by an American paleontologist, contends that man's earliest predecessors were extremely tiny primates in Asia that gradually wandered towards Africa where, 5 million years ago, they spun off into breeds that preceded modern human beings.

This syncs with the discovery of a "Siam Ape," a long-extinct 15-pound simian whose bones were found in Thailand. (My interview with the Thai scientist who found the bones is here.)

That could mean the simian spark of humanity began in Asia, laid the foundation for species that later drifted into Africa, where some species evolved into modern humans that then reversed their ancestors' paths and pushed back towards Asia.

If you enjoy peering inside the minds of the world's super rich, take a spin through the 2012 "Wealth Report."

Compiled by Citibank, and a property consultancy called Knight Frank, it's a lengthy analysis based partly on interviews with the super rich. (Definition: people with more than $25 million in investable assets.)

Yes, the report contains musings on why yacht sales are down and the pros and cons of buying a sports franchise. But that's not the most interesting part.

The study predicts that Singapore -- that little Southeast Asian city-state with loads of Type A zeal -- will be the world's richest nation by 2050.

And by that, they mean its per capita GDP at purchasing power parity. (For those who skipped economics class, this attempts to more accurately measure the average income by considering inflation, cost of living and exchange rates.)

According to Citibank's 2050 prediction, the top five countries by this measure will be:

1. Singapore: $137,710

2. Hong Kong: $116,639

3. Taiwan: $114,093 (Congratuations, Taiwan, Citibank analysts think you'll make it 2050 without being consumed by China.)

4. South Korea: $107,752

And sliding in at number five, the only non-Asian nation, the U.S.: $100,802

But there are glaring questions about these numbers, which are based on Citibank's own analysis.

According to the report, Singapore is already the top GDP per capita champ with a figure of more than $56,000. But that doesn't account for tiny, oil-rich Qatar, which leads most rankings with an average of more than $92,000 according to the World Bank. And there's no mention of super-affluent Luxembourg either.

Regardless, Singapore is genuinely affluent and the report suggests why.

In interviews with "high net-worth individuals" around the globe, the Wealth Report asked the super rich about their "favorite things."

In response, Indians said cars and gadgets, Latin Americans said traveling and Africans said safaris.

The favored items of extremely wealthy Singaporeans?

"Books and reading materials."

The clump of bulbous eyes fixed to most spiders' faces is missing from a newly discovered species found in a pitch-black Southeast Asian cave.

Introducing the "Sinopoda Scurion."

Its face is bald but for flecks of hair and a mean set of pincers. (Those teeth are less menacing than they appear: the little creature boats a mere six-centimeter leg span, according to the Senckenberg Institute scientist who found it.) Research suggests that this species inhabits caves so devoid of light that it flung its useless eyeballs aside at some point in its evolutionary past.

More interesting still is that the spider has corporate endorsement.

The other nine spiders discovered by this scientist, Peter Jäger, received relevant names derived from the Lao tongue. "Sinopoda Scurion" has a cousin, for example, with two eyes. It's name is "Sinopoda Soong," the latter word meaning "two" in Lao. Another cousin has the surame "cave."

But "Scurion" is a) a Swiss maker of high-end headlamps used by Jäger and b) a patron of biodiversity programs. As Senckenberg notes on its Web site, "With a one-off donation to (the Patrons of Biodiversity program) it is possible to immortalise a name of ones choice."

Hear that, corporate patrons of biodiversity? For the right price, Sinopoda Pizza Hut or Sinopoda Hyundai could someday creep blindly through Laos' darkest corners.

Most meteorologists will tell you the flood crisis now paralyzing the Philippines' capital was started by a typhoon named Saola.

But not in the Philippines. They'll tell you the misery in Manila is the work of a typhoon named Gener.

So which name is correct?

Both are.

Internationally recognized names for major weather phenomena are approved by a United Nations agency, the World Meteorological Organization, which has carved the planet into multiple zones. Countries within that zone get to offer up names from their native tongue.

That's why storms that terrorize Asia aren't named Paulina or Patrick.

They might be called "Gulap" (Thai and Lao for "rose") or "Nangka" (Malay and Indonesian for "jackfruit"). Both are pulled from the current list, which shows that the name Saola was submitted by the Vietnamese government. (You can check out the full list of names here.)

But that's not good enough for the Philippine government, which is adamant that its yearly barrage of typhoons receive names familiar to Filipinos. The nation's central weather agency, which goes by the acronym PAGASA, maintains its own list.

The result: the Philippines has been hit this year by storms named Enteng, Ambo and Carina. 

More from Global Post: In submerged Manila, Filipinos form digital rescue squads

Or, as the rest of the world called them, Khanun (a Thai name), Mawar (a Malaysian name) and Talim (a Filipino name).

Yes, that's right. Even when the rest of the world uses a name submitted by the Philippines, the government still insist on using a Filipino-friendly name of its own choosing.