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Categories: Anthropology: General, Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published Lasers and chemistry reveal how ancient pottery was made -- and how an empire functioned


Peru's first great empire, the Wari, stretched for more than a thousand miles over the Andes Mountains and along the coast from 600-1000 CE. The pottery they left behind gives archaeologists clues as to how the empire functioned. In a new study researchers showed that rather than using 'official' Wari pottery imported from the capital, potters across the empire were creating their own ceramics, decorated to emulate the traditional Wari style. To figure it out, the scientists analyzed the pottery's chemical make-up, with help from laser beams.
Published Surprising similarities in stone tools of early humans and monkeys


Researchers have discovered artefacts produced by old world monkeys in Thailand that resemble stone tools, which historically have been identified as intentionally made by early hominins. Until now, sharp-edged stone tools were thought to represent the onset of intentional stone tool production, one of the defining and unique characteristics of hominin evolution. This new study challenges long held beliefs about the origins of intentional tool production in our own lineage.
Published Virtual reality games can be used as a tool in personnel assessment


Fast gamers are more intelligent: Intelligence can be predicted through virtual reality games.
Published Researchers unveil smart contact lens, capable of implementing AR-based navigation


A research team has introduced core technology for smart contact lenses that can implement AR-based navigation through a 3D printing process.
Published Hunter-gatherer childhoods may offer clues to improving education and wellbeing in developed countries


Hunter-gatherers can help us understand the conditions that children may be psychologically adapted to because we lived as hunter-gatherers for 95% of our evolutionary history. And paying greater attention to hunter-gatherer childhoods may help economically developed countries improve education and wellbeing.
Published The colors on these ancient pots hint at the power of an empire


Comparing the colors on pieces of ancient Peruvian pottery revealed that potters across the Wari empire all used the same rich black pigment: a sign of the empire's influence.
Published The world's first horse riders


Researchers have discovered evidence of horse riding by studying the remains of human skeletons found in burial mounds called kurgans, which were between 4500-5000 years old. The earthen burial mounds belonged to the Yamnaya culture. The Yamnayans had migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to find greener pastures in today's countries of Romania and Bulgaria up to Hungary and Serbia.
Published Archaeological study of 24 ancient Mexican cities reveals that collective forms of governance, infrastructural investments, and collaboration all help societies last longer


Some cities only last a century or two, while others last for a thousand years or more. Often, there aren't clear records left behind to explain why. Instead, archaeologists piece together clues from the cities' remains to search for patterns that help account for why certain places retained their importance longer than others.
Published Genomic study of indigenous Africans paints complex picture of human origins and local adaptation


An international team of researchers analyzed the genomes of 180 indigenous Africans from a dozen ethnically, culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse populations. The results shed light on the origin of modern humans, historical migrations, linguistic evolution, and local adaptation, and lay the groundwork for more people to benefit from precision medicine.
Published The future of touch


Haptic holography promises to bring virtual reality to life, but a new study reveals a surprising physical obstacle that will need to be overcome.
Published Waxing and waning of environment influences hominin dispersals across ancient Iran


A world-first model of paleoclimate and hydrology in Iran has highlighted favourable routes for Neanderthals and modern human expansions eastwards into Asia. The findings reveal that multiple humid periods in ancient Iran led to the expansions of human populations, opening dispersal route across the region, and the possible interactions of species such as Neanderthals and our own Homo sapiens.
Published Oldest human genome from southern Spain


A new study reports on genomic data from a 23,000-year-old individual who lived in what was probably the warmest place of Europe at the peak of the last Ice Age. The oldest human genome recovered from the southern tip of Spain adds an important piece of the puzzle to the genetic history of Europe.
Published Mysterious new behavior seen in whales may be recorded in ancient manuscripts


In 2011, scientists recorded a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales around the world. Now, researchers in Australia think they may have found evidence of this behaviour being described in ancient accounts of sea creatures, recorded more than 2,000 years ago. They believe that misunderstandings of these descriptions contributed to myths about medieval sea monsters. Whales are known lunge at their prey when feeding, but recently whales have been spotted at the surface of the water with their jaws open at right angles, waiting for shoals of fish to swim into their mouths. A clip of this strategy was captured in 2021 and went viral on Instagram. This strategy seems to work for the whales because the fish think they have found a place to shelter from predators, not realising they are swimming into danger. It's not known why this strategy has only recently been identified, but scientists speculate that it's a result of changing environmental conditions -- or that whales are being more closely monitored than ever before by drones and other modern technologies.
Published Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved


Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.
Published Augmented reality headset enables users to see hidden objects


Researchers developed an augmented reality headset called X-AR that combines computer vision and wireless perception to find hidden objects in a room and then guide the wearer to retrieve the targeted item.
Published Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth



By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.
Published Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark


Scientists who study the origins and evolution of the plague have examined hundreds of ancient human teeth from Denmark, seeking to address longstanding questions about its arrival, persistence and spread within Scandinavia.
Published Wireless, soft e-skin for interactive touch communication in the virtual world


Sensing a hug from each other via the internet may be a possibility in the near future. A research team recently developed a wireless, soft e-skin that can both detect and deliver the sense of touch, and form a touch network allowing one-to-multiuser interaction. It offers great potential for enhancing the immersion of distance touch communication.
Published Hands-free tech adds realistic sense of touch in extended reality


Researchers have demonstrated a new hands-free approach to convey realistic haptic feedback in virtual reality (VR). Their 'multisensory pseudo-haptics' uses a combination of headset visuals and tactile feedback from a wrist bracelet to convey sensations of touch.
Published Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East


A recent excavation in Megiddo, Israel, unearthed the earliest example of a particular type of cranial surgery in the Ancient Near East -- and potentially one of the oldest examples of leprosy in the world.