This is the first in a two-part series on the past and present of the areca, better known as the betel nut. When you think of the frequently addictive substances so many of us use to make it through ...

Betel nut prices fluctuate frequently. In this stall in Port Moresby they sell for one kina per nut (20 pence) - Torbjörn Wester/The Telegraph David Taim, a civil servant in Port Moresby, the capital ...

Traces of a psychoactive compound has been detected in the dental plaque of a Bronze Age woman buried in Thailand some 4,000 years ago, making it the earliest direct chemical evidence of humans ...

Most people have never heard of it, but betel nut is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substances on Earth. We’ve seen it chewed everywhere from remote villages to bustling cities - yet ...

Scientists analyzed preserved dental plaque from a woman at a 4,000-year-old burial site and said they found evidence of betel nut use. Outside researchers say more evidence is needed to establish ...

A groundbreaking study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology has revealed that ancient Southeast Asian civilizations were using psychoactive betel nuts as early as 4,000 years ago. This ...

Mong Shuan was just 16 when she turned to an unconventional source of income: selling betel nuts from a little stall in northern Taiwan. The stimulant, a small, oblong fruit derived from areca palms, ...

For the first time, archaeologists have used advanced scientific techniques on 4,000-year-old dental plaque to confirm traces of betel nut chewing in ancient Thai communities. Betel nuts are usually ...