This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here Good morning. In today’s newsletter: OpenAI’s IP theft concerns A deadly stampede in India The threat of ‘a demographic suicide’ […]
NASA has announced two potential plans for retrieving rocks from Mars that may contain evidence of alien life. Since 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been busy collecting rocks and sediments in an ancient Martian lakebed. However, NASA isn’t sure how to get these samples back to Earth for analysis. The original Mars Sample Return Program […]
Map showing the geographical range of the extant giraffe species and subspecies as well as representative male skulls of each subspecies in lateral view. Credit: PLOS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315043 The University of Cape Town, along with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, have conducted a large-scale study identifying significant cranial shape differences between four genetically distinct […]
The world’s most massive science experiment has done it again, detecting hints of the heaviest antimatter particle ever found. This means the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, has given scientists a glimpse into conditions that existed when the universe was less than a second old. The antimatter particle is […]
Left: Sheep skull T54–1 shown from (a) front and (b) left front side. Key Features: (1) raised area between horns, (2) depression with perforation. Right: Sheep skull T54–2 shown from (a) front and (b) left front side, with close-up of the frontal bone area between horn core bases. Key features: (1) smooth area lacking suture, […]
A granite boulder carved more than 35,000 years ago deep in a cave in Israel may be the oldest evidence of ritual practices in the Holy Land, a new study suggests. The grooves carved into the boulder look strikingly similar to the pattern of a tortoise shell. While it’s unknown what this design means, it’s […]
Small, spoon-like objects found on ancient belts may have been used as drug-dosing equipment for battle-ready soldiers during the Roman era, a new study claims. But according to one expert, the multiple leaps of logic may send this hypothesis up in smoke. In a study published Nov. 26 in the journal Praehistorische Zeitschrift (“Prehistoric Journal”), […]
Aerial view of the 2023 exposure in Area I at Shakhi Kora. Credit: Antiquityhttps://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.189 Excavations at a 4th millennium BCE settlement in Iraqi Kurdistan have revealed new clues about the origins of the world’s earliest governing institutions, suggesting they emerged partly from their ability to provide large-scale meals, potentially as payment for labor. However, the […]
Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro Computer Inc., during the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 5, 2024. Annabelle Chih | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares of Super Micro Computer surged more than 30% after a special committee ruled it found “no evidence of misconduct” at the embattled artificial intelligence server maker, and appointed […]
Schematic diagram of fabric residue and weave structure. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-78687-7 China National Silk Museum and the Sichuan Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology have confirmed the use of silk in sacrificial rituals by a Bronze Age civilization in the Yangtze River Basin. The findings provide direct archaeological evidence that silk […]
