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Categories: Anthropology: Cultures, Mathematics: General
Published Oldest architectural plans detail mysterious desert mega structures
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the oldest known scaled building plans in human history.
Published Humanity's earliest recorded kiss occurred in Mesopotamia 4,500 years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Written sources from Mesopotamia suggest that kissing in relation to sex was practiced by the peoples of the ancient Middle East 4,500 years ago.
Published South Africa's desert-like interior may have been more inviting to our human ancestors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Lining the Cape of South Africa and its southern coast are long chains of caves that nearly 200,000 years ago were surrounded by a lush landscape and plentiful food.
Published Human ancestors preferred mosaic landscapes and high ecosystem diversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study finds that early human species adapted to mosaic landscapes and diverse food resources, which would have increased our ancestor's resilience to past shifts in climate.
Published Evidence of Ice Age human migrations from China to the Americas and Japan
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have used mitochondrial DNA to trace a female lineage from northern coastal China to the Americas. By integrating contemporary and ancient mitochondrial DNA, the team found evidence of at least two migrations: one during the last ice age, and one during the subsequent melting period. Around the same time as the second migration, another branch of the same lineage migrated to Japan, which could explain Paleolithic archeological similarities between the Americas, China, and Japan.
Published Extracting the best flavor from coffee
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers explore the role of uneven coffee extraction using a simple mathematical model. They split the coffee into two regions to examine whether uneven flow does in fact make weaker espresso. One of the regions in the model system hosted more tightly packed coffee than the other, which caused an initial disparity in flow resistance. The extraction of coffee decreased the flow resistance further. Understanding the origin of uneven extraction and avoiding or preventing it could enable better brews and substantial financial savings by using coffee more efficiently.
Published Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study.
Published Archaeologists map hidden NT landscape where first Australians lived more than 60,000 years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have used sub-surface imaging and aerial surveys to see through floodplains in the Red Lily Lagoon area of West Arnhem Land in Australia. These ground-breaking methods showed how this important landscape in the Northern Territory was altered as sea levels rose about 8,000 years ago.
Published Research reveals longstanding cultural continuity at oldest occupied site in West Africa
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Stone tools recovered from near the Senegalese coast extend occupation of the region back to 150 thousand years ago and are comparable to those seen across Africa at this time, but uniquely persist in the region until 10 thousand years ago.
Published Scientists recover an ancient woman's DNA from a 20,000-year-old pendant
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international research team has for the first time successfully isolated ancient human DNA from a Paleolithic artefact: a pierced deer tooth discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. To preserve the integrity of the artefact, they developed a new, nondestructive method for isolating DNA from ancient bones and teeth. From the DNA retrieved they were able to reconstruct a precise genetic profile of the woman who used or wore the pendant, as well as of the deer from which the tooth was taken. Genetic dates obtained for the DNA from both the woman and the deer show that the pendant was made between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago. The tooth remains fully intact after analysis, providing testimony to a new era in ancient DNA research, in which it may become possible to directly identify the users of ornaments and tools produced in the deep past.
Published Unraveling the mathematics behind wiggly worm knots
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers wanted to understand precisely how blackworms execute tangling and ultrafast untangling movements for a myriad of biological functions. They researched the topology of the tangles. Their research could inform the design of fiber-like, shapeshifting robotics that self-assemble and move in ways that are fast and reversible.
Published Searching for ancient bears in an Alaskan cave led to an important human discovery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Genetic analysis links 3,000-year-old bone found in cave to modern Alaska Natives.
Published Long distance voyaging among the Pacific Islands
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers has used geochemical fingerprinting to reconstruct long-distance voyages between central and western Pacific Islands during the last millennium A.D.
Published ChatGPT is still no match for humans when it comes to accounting
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source ChatGPT faced off against students on accounting assessments. Students scored an overall average of 76.7%, compared to ChatGPT's score of 47.4%. On a 11.3% of questions, ChatGPT scored higher than the student average, doing particularly well on AIS and auditing. But the AI bot did worse on tax, financial, and managerial assessments, possibly because ChatGPT struggled with the mathematical processes required for the latter type.
Published Rock, paper, scissors: Searching for stronger nonlocality using quantum computers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In the quantum world particles can instantaneously know about each other's state, even when separated by large distances. This is known as nonlocality. Now, A research group has produced some interesting findings on the Hardy nonlocality that have important ramifications for understanding quantum mechanics and its potential applications in communications.
Published Researchers use 21st century methods to record 2,000 years of ancient graffiti in Egypt
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers are learning more about ancient graffiti -- and their intriguing comparisons to modern graffiti -- as they produce a state-of-the-art 3D recording of the Temple of Isis in Philae, Egypt.
Published Ancient DNA reveals Asian ancestry introduced to East Africa in early modern times
(via sciencedaily.com) The largest-yet analysis of ancient DNA in Africa, which includes the first ancient DNA recovered from members of the medieval Swahili civilization, has now broken the stalemate about the extent to which people from outside Africa contributed to Swahili culture and ancestry.
Published Ancient genomes reveal immunity adaptation in early farmers
(via sciencedaily.com) Research has revealed that diversity in genes coding for immunity may have facilitated adaptation to farming lifestyles in prehistoric periods.
Published Cyprus's copper deposits created one of the most important trade hubs in the Bronze Age
(via sciencedaily.com) The coveted metal copper and a sheltered location turned the Cypriot village of Hala Sultan Tekke into one of the most important trade hubs of the Late Bronze Age. Recent excavations confirm the importance of the Bronze Age city in the first period of international trade in the Mediterranean.
Published Indigenous Ashaninka DNA helps geneticists write new chapters of pre-colonial history in South America
(via sciencedaily.com) Geneticists have written new chapters in the reconstruction of pre-colonial Americas history after using DNA from the indigenous Ashaninka people from Amazonian Peru. They have discovered previously unexpected levels of genetic variation in this group and uncovered a strong hint that these people were involved in a South-to-North migration that led to the transition from an archaic to ceramic culture in the Caribbean islands.