marketrent
marketrent OP t1_jcxohcn wrote
Reply to Saudi Arabia stone ruins were pilgrimage sites, where an ancient cult gathered to sacrifice animals about 7,000 years ago by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked summary^1 by study^2 co-authors Melissa Kennedy and Hugh Thomas:
>In the 1970s, the first archaeological surveys of northwest Saudi Arabia identified an ancient and mysterious rectangular structure.
>The sandstone walls of the structure were 95m long, and although it was determined to be unique, no further study of this unusual site was undertaken.
>These structures are now known as mustatils (Arabic for rectangle).
>In 2019–2020, we undertook excavations at a mustatil site called IDIHA-0008222. The structure, made from unworked sandstone, measures 140m in length and 20m in width.
>Excavations in the head of the mustatil revealed a semi-subterranean chamber. Within this chamber were three large, vertical stones.
>We have interpreted these as “betyls”, or sacred standing stones which represented unknown ancient deities.
>
>Surrounding these stones were well-preserved cattle, goat, and gazelle horns. The horns are so well preserved that much of what we find is the horn sheath, made of keratin – the same substance as hair and nails.
>We found only the upper cranial elements of these animals: the teeth, skulls, and horns. This suggests a clear and specific choice of offerings.
>Further analysis suggests the bulk of these remains belonged to male animals and the cattle were aged between 2 and 12 years. Their slaughter would have formed a significant proportion of a community’s wealth, indicating these were high-value offerings.
>While recording these structures after rain, we noted that almost all mustatils pointed towards areas that held water.
>Current evidence suggests that the mustatils were in use between 5300 and 4900 BCE, a time when Arabia was green and humid.
>However, within a few generations, the ancient inhabitants of Saudi Arabia began to reuse these structures, this time to bury human body parts.
^1 Enigmatic ruins across Arabia hosted ancient ritual sacrifices, Melissa Kennedy and Hugh Thomas, 16 Mar. 2023, https://theconversation.com/enigmatic-ruins-across-arabia-hosted-ancient-ritual-sacrifices-201574
^2 Kennedy M, Strolin L, McMahon J, Franklin D, Flavel A, et al. (2023) Cult, herding, and ‘pilgrimage’ in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia: Excavations at a mustatil east of AlUla. PLOS ONE 18(3): e0281904. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281904
marketrent OP t1_jcvmucl wrote
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Gerry Shih, Karishma Mehrotra, and Shams Irfan:
>Indian authorities severed mobile internet access and text messaging for a second day Sunday across Punjab, a state of about 27 million people, as officials sought to capture a Sikh separatist and braced for potential unrest.
>The statewide ban — which crippled most smartphone services except for voice calls and some SMS text messages — marked one of the broadest shutdowns in recent years in India, a country that has increasingly deployed the law enforcement tactic, which digital rights activists call draconian and ineffective.
>Three Punjab residents who spoke to The Washington Post said life had been disrupted since midday Saturday.
>“My entire business is dependent on internet,” said Mohammad Ibrahim, who accepts QR code-based payments at his two clothing shops in a village outside of Ludhiana and also sells garments online. “Since yesterday, I’ve felt crippled.”
>In each of the past five years, Indian officials have ordered internet shutdowns more frequently than any other government, according to the New York-based advocacy group Access Now, which issues annual reports on the practice.
>Authorities in Punjab deployed a tactic that is usually seen in another restive Indian region: Jammu and Kashmir. The majority-Muslim region in India’s far north has experienced internet disruptions more than 400 times in the past decade, according to the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), a New Delhi-based nonprofit.
^1 Gerry Shih, Karishma Mehrotra, and Shams Irfan for the Washington Post/Jeff Bezos, 19 Mar. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/19/india-punjab-intermet-ban-amritpal-singh/
marketrent OP t1_jcmgemh wrote
Reply to Roman tomb reveals burnt remains left in place, covered by bricks, sealed with lime, encircled by bent and broken nails — rites to restrain the dead from rising by marketrent
From the linked summary^1 by Jennifer Ouellette:
>Archaeologists excavating an early Roman imperial tomb in Turkey have uncovered evidence of unusual funerary practices.
>Instead of the typical method of being cremated on a funeral pyre and the remains relocated to a final resting place, these burnt remains had been left in place and covered in brick tiles and a layer of lime.
>Finally, several dozen bent and twisted nails, some with the heads pinched off, had been scattered around the burn site.
>It's the 41 broken and bent nails—25 bent at a 90 degree angle with the heads pinched off, 16 bent and twisted but otherwise whole—recovered from the site that set this cremation apart.
>These were not coffin nails, which are usually found intact, and nails weren't used in the construction of the funeral pyre.
From the peer-reviewed article^2 by Johan Claeys, et al.:
>Aside from the application of nails to symbolically fix the spirit, heavy weights were also used in an attempt to immobilise the physical remains of a potential revenant (Ogden 2002: 164–66; Alfayé 2009: 191–97).
>The curse ‘sit tibi terra gravis’ (‘may the earth rest heavily upon you’) was sometimes used in contrast to the epitaph ‘sit tibi terra levis’ (‘may the earth rest lightly upon you’) that was commonly reproduced in Roman funerary inscriptions in full or abbreviated (‘s.t.t.l.’) form (Tolman 1910: 5 & 21).
>The combination of nails and bricks designed to restrain the dead with the sealing effect of the lime strongly implies a fear of the restless dead.
>Regardless of whether the cause of death was traumatic, mysterious or potentially the result of a contagious illness or punishment, it appears to have left the dead intent on retaliation and the living fearful of the deceased's return.
^1 Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica/Advance Publications, 17 Mar. 2023, https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/bent-nails-at-roman-burial-site-form-magical-barrier-to-keep-dead-from-rising/
^2 Claeys, J., Van de Vijver, K., Marinova, E., Cleymans, S., Degryse, P., & Poblome, J. (2023). Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos. Antiquity, 97(391), 158-175. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.171
marketrent OP t1_jcjqpwv wrote
Reply to The FTC is looking into Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Snap, Twitter, Pinterest, and Twitch’s advertising practices by marketrent
From the linked^1 content:
>The FTC is “seeking information on how these companies scrutinize and restrict paid commercial advertising that is deceptive or exposes consumers to fraudulent health-care products, financial scams, counterfeit and fake goods, or other fraud.”
Further reading:^2
>The amount of money consumers have reported losing to fraud that originated on social media platforms has skyrocketed since 2017. In 2022 alone, consumers reported losing more than $1.2 billion to fraud that started on social media, more than any other contact method, according to FTC data.
>The Commission also is seeking information about how the social media and video streaming companies ensure that consumers are able to identify commercial advertising on their platforms as advertising.
>The orders, which the companies are required to comply with by law, were sent to: Meta Platforms, Inc.; Instagram, LLC; YouTube, LLC; TikTok, Inc.; Snap, Inc.; Twitter, Inc.; Pinterest, Inc.; and Twitch Interactive, Inc.
^1 Jay Peters for The Verge/Vox Media, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/16/23644215/the-ftc-is-looking-into-meta-youtube-tiktok-snap-twitter-pinterest-and-twitchs-advertising-practices
^2 FTC issues orders to social media and video streaming platforms regarding efforts to address surge in advertising for fraudulent products and scams, 16 Mar. 2023, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/ftc-issues-orders-social-media-video-streaming-platforms-regarding-efforts-address-surge-advertising
marketrent OP t1_jchnc8r wrote
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Joe Lofaro:
>MindGeek, the Montreal-based parent company of the controversial website Pornhub, has been acquired by a private equity firm.
>Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), an Ottawa-based firm, announced Thursday it is taking over the company, which has faced criticism in recent years for allegedly hosting illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, on the world's largest porn site.
>ECP's website describes itself as a firm that seeks "investment and advisory opportunities in industries that require principled ethical leadership."
>The terms of the deal are not being made public. MindGeek, which was founded in Montreal in 2004, has a vast portfolio that also includes other pornographic properties, such as YouPorn, Redtube, Brazzers, Men.com, and Sean Cody.
^1 Joe Lofaro for CTV/Bell Canada, 16 Mar. 2023, https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/pornhub-owner-mindgeek-sold-to-private-equity-firm-1.6316373
marketrent OP t1_jcd05dz wrote
Reply to Sauropod specimen found in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region may have had the longest neck of any known dinosaur — measuring about 15.1 m, more than the height of the Hollywood sign by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from the linked content^1,2 about research funded by numerous organizations, including the United States National Science Foundation, The Royal Society of London, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
From the linked summary:^1
>Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum was discovered in approximately 162-million-year-old rocks from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China in 1987 by the China–Canada Dinosaur Project team, for which it was named in 1993.
>Although Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum is known only from a handful of bones from the neck and skull, the research team was able to reconstruct its evolutionary relationships and thus make comparisons to the unusually complete skeletons of its closest relatives.
>This allowed them to conclude that Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum had a neck approximately 15.1 meters long, the longest of any known sauropod.
>Lead author Dr Andrew J. Moore, Stony Brook University palaeontologist, said, ‘All sauropods were big, but jaw-droppingly long necks didn’t evolve just once.
>‘Mamenchisaurids are important because they pushed the limits on how long a neck can be and were the first lineage of sauropods to do so. With a 15-metre-long neck, it looks like Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum might be a record-holder – at least until something longer is discovered.’
ETA:
>The question of how sauropods managed to evolve such long necks and large bodies without collapsing under their own weight has puzzled scientists since their discovery.
>When studying Mamenchisaurus the team were able to use computed-tomography (CT) scanning to reveal that the vertebrae were lightweight and hollow with air spaces comprising about 69–77% of their volume, similar to the lightly built skeletons of birds.
>However, such featherweight skeletons would also be more prone to injury. To combat this Mamenchisaurus had 4-metre-long rod-like neck ribs, bony extensions of the vertebrae that created overlapping bundles of rods on either side of the neck.
>These bundles would have stiffened the neck of Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, increasing its stability.
^1 New fossil analysis reveals dinosaur with the longest neck of any animal ever, 15 Mar. 2023, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/new-fossil-analysis-reveals-dinosaur-with-the-longest-neck-of-an.html
^2 Andrew J. Moore, Paul M. Barrett, Paul Upchurch, Chun-Chi Liao, Yong Ye, Baoqiao Hao & Xing Xu (2023) Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 21:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2023.2171818
marketrent OP t1_jbedvx3 wrote
Reply to Rising prices created the opportunity for U.K. housebuilders to extract larger profits — reaching £70,000 (at 2016 prices) per dwelling by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from the authors’ linked content.^1,2
From the linked summary:^1
>Our research compared 22 publicly available national datasets, looking at the period between 1998 and 2020.
>One of the datasets is known as gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) of new homes, which is published by the Office for National Statistics and reflects the sale prices of new houses minus the land prices.
>It includes the costs of things like labour, materials and subcontractors, plus whatever profit the builder makes from the sale.
>We also compared GFCF per dwelling to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) index.
>We were able to calculate land prices by working out GFCF per new dwelling and deducting this from the average price of new houses in a given year.
>This clearly demonstrated that the land price per house has flatlined since 1998 at £48,000 per home, per the graph below (land prices are the green line).
From the peer-reviewed paper:^2
>Prices of components, other than land value, are obtained from gross fixed capital formation data and construction output.
>When corrected for inflation, these have risen by factors of 1.7 and 2.0, respectively, over 1998–2018.
>By including the self-employed, the total labour per new-build private dwelling is derived which has risen 2.4 to 3.0 man-years over 2011–2020.
>Since 2000, construction companies’ gross operating surplus per job has risen much faster than compensation of employees per job.
>This extra gross operating surplus, which can be associated with profit, totalled £11.6b in 2019 reaching £70k (at 2016 prices) per new private dwelling in 2019.
>Rising prices have created the opportunity for housebuilders to extract larger profits.
^1 Builders are making thumping profits by over-charging for new homes – new findings, Simon Roberts and Colin Axon, 7 Mar. 2023, https://theconversation.com/builders-are-making-thumping-profits-by-over-charging-for-new-homes-new-findings-200750
^2 Roberts, S. and Axon, C. (2022) Analysing the rising price of new private housing in the UK: A national accounting approach. Habitat International 130 102690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102690
marketrent OP t1_jbbbflh wrote
Reply to Patient with prostate cancer developed an ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent, showing symptoms consistent with foreign accent syndrome — likely due to his immune system attacking his nervous system by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked summary^1,2 by Vishwam Sankaran:
>The 50-year-old man from North Carolina, who had metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, showed symptoms consistent with foreign accent syndrome (FAS), according to a recent study in the British Medical Journal.
>The new research marks the first reported instance of a person developing FAS linked to a prostate cancer diagnosis.
>While the 50-year-old lived in England in his 20s and had friends from Ireland, the case study mentions that he had reportedly never spoken with the Irish accent.
>“His accent was uncontrollable, present in all settings and gradually became persistent” until his death, researchers wrote in the study.
>Scientists suspect the patient‘s voice change was likely due to paraneoplastic neurological disorder (PND) – a condition in which a cancer patient’s immune system attacks their nervous system, including parts of the spinal cord, nerves and muscles.
>“His presentation was most consistent with an underlying PND,” they said.
>FAS is a speech disorder that causes a sudden change to a person’s speech patterns, with previous studies finding it to be a condition linked to brain damage, such as following a stroke.
>Since the first-ever diagnosis of the condition in 1907, there have so far been over 110 known cases of the syndrome across the world.
^1 Scientists reveal why American man with prostate cancer developed ‘uncontrolled’ Irish accent, Vishwam Sankaran for the Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/american-man-irish-brogue-prostate-cancer-b2292537.html
^2 Broderick A, Labriola MK, Shore N, et al. Foreign accent syndrome as a heralding manifestation of transformation to small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer. BMJ Case Reports CP 2023;16:e251655. http://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2022-251655
marketrent OP t1_jb79s3e wrote
Reply to First archaeological correlate of the Egyptian rebellion described on the Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE — Evidence of violent destruction across the ancient city of Thmouis, in Egypt’s Nile delta, ca. 204-186 BCE by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked summary^1 by Jay Silverstein, co-author of the research paper:^2
>Professor Robert Littman, of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and I uncovered evidence of the civil war at Tell Timai – the ruins of the ancient city of Thmouis in Egypt’s Nile delta.
>The archaeological evidence has revealed widespread destruction from the time of the rebellion, 204-186BC.
>In 2009, evidence of burned buildings with ceramic vessels still in place first suggested that there had been a catastrophic event at Tell Timai.
>The destruction was widespread and followed by a levelling and rebuilding of the ruined city.
>Over the following years, evidence including weapons and unburied bodies that graphically pointed to an episode of extreme violence accumulated.
>Establishing the precise timing of events in archaeological excavations is difficult.
>The range from radiocarbon dating, for instance, is often too broad to provide a concise date that aligns with historic records.
>
>At Thmouis, however, one room held evidence that allowed for more accurate dating.
>A hoard of coins on the floor dated to the reign of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV, while all of the coins from the levelling layer dated to Ptolemy VI.
>A dinner setting for four also had some distinctive vessels following an Athenian style that placed them in the first quarter of the second century BC during the reign of Ptolemy V.
>Thmouis was rebuilt as a city full of Greek colonists and soon became the regional seat of power as the Ptolemaic dynasty took power away from Egyptian temple priests who participated in the rebellion.
>The transformation of Thmouis from a small tributary town to a regional capital reflects the hand of an oppressive government that wanted to make sure that no major revolt from the people they ruled would ever pose a threat to their control again.
^1 I dug for evidence of the Rosetta Stone’s ancient Egyptian rebellion – here’s what I found, 6 Mar. 2023, https://theconversation.com/i-dug-for-evidence-of-the-rosetta-stones-ancient-egyptian-rebellion-heres-what-i-found-200318
^2 Silverstein, J. E., and Littman, R. J. (December 27, 2022) Archaeological Correlates of the Rosetta Stone’s Great Revolt in the Nile Delta: Destruction at Tell Timai. Journal of Field Archaeology https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2158569
marketrent OP t1_jb76v7b wrote
Reply to First archaeological correlate of the Egyptian rebellion described on the Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE — Evidence of violent destruction across the ancient city of Thmouis, in Egypt’s Nile delta, ca. 204-186 BCE by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked summary^1 by Jay Silverstein, co-author of the research paper:^2
>Professor Robert Littman, of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and I uncovered evidence of the civil war at Tell Timai – the ruins of the ancient city of Thmouis in Egypt’s Nile delta.
>The archaeological evidence has revealed widespread destruction from the time of the rebellion, 204-186BC.
>In 2009, evidence of burned buildings with ceramic vessels still in place first suggested that there had been a catastrophic event at Tell Timai.
>The destruction was widespread and followed by a levelling and rebuilding of the ruined city.
>Over the following years, evidence including weapons and unburied bodies that graphically pointed to an episode of extreme violence accumulated.
>Establishing the precise timing of events in archaeological excavations is difficult.
>The range from radiocarbon dating, for instance, is often too broad to provide a concise date that aligns with historic records.
>
>At Thmouis, however, one room held evidence that allowed for more accurate dating.
>A hoard of coins on the floor dated to the reign of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV, while all of the coins from the levelling layer dated to Ptolemy VI.
>A dinner setting for four also had some distinctive vessels following an Athenian style that placed them in the first quarter of the second century BC during the reign of Ptolemy V.
>Thmouis was rebuilt as a city full of Greek colonists and soon became the regional seat of power as the Ptolemaic dynasty took power away from Egyptian temple priests who participated in the rebellion.
>The transformation of Thmouis from a small tributary town to a regional capital reflects the hand of an oppressive government that wanted to make sure that no major revolt from the people they ruled would ever pose a threat to their control again.
^1 I dug for evidence of the Rosetta Stone’s ancient Egyptian rebellion – here’s what I found, 6 Mar. 2023, https://theconversation.com/i-dug-for-evidence-of-the-rosetta-stones-ancient-egyptian-rebellion-heres-what-i-found-200318
^2 Silverstein, J. E., and Littman, R. J. (December 27, 2022) Archaeological Correlates of the Rosetta Stone’s Great Revolt in the Nile Delta: Destruction at Tell Timai. Journal of Field Archaeology https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2158569
marketrent OP t1_jaz0vao wrote
Reply to comment by pewpewbrrrrrrt in Cosmic rays reveal measurements of a concealed corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza by marketrent
>pewpewbrrrrrrt
>Dam, I read the whole article and here you edited all the filler out.
‘Tis an excerpt, to encourage reading the linked work by Jennifer Ouellette.
marketrent OP t1_jaxj288 wrote
Reply to Cosmic rays reveal measurements of a concealed corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from linked^1 and hyperlinked^2 content:
From the linked summary^1 by Jennifer Ouellette:
>In 2016, scientists using muon imaging picked up signals indicating a hidden corridor behind the famous chevron blocks on the north face of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
>The following year, the same team detected a mysterious void in another area of the pyramid, believing it could be a hidden chamber.
>Two independent teams of researchers, using two different muon imaging methods, have now successfully mapped out the corridor for the first time, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications.
>As we’ve reported previously, there is a long history of using muons to image archaeological structures, a process made easier because cosmic rays provide a steady supply of these particles.
>
>For this latest work, one team used muon radiography to map the shape and location of the secret corridor, placing detectors at various points around the pyramid.
>Specifically, they used nuclear emulsion films (supplied by colleagues at Nagoya University in Japan), which can detect particles without an electric power supply.
>A second team deployed three gaseous detectors, or muon telescopes, outside the pyramid, supplied by the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy (CEA) at Durham University in the UK.
>The results of the two independent analyses confirmed the presence of a corridor-like void.
>The corridor is about 9 meters long (29.5 feet), with a transverse section of 2×2 meters (6.5×6.5 feet), and most likely slopes upward, although where it leads remains a mystery.
From the research article:^2
>In this paper, we report on the first precise analysis of the void found with cosmic-ray muon radiography behind the North Face Chevron and named the ScanPyramids North Face Corridor (NFC).
^1 Scientists have mapped a secret hidden corridor in Great Pyramid of Giza, Jennifer Ouellette for Condé Nast’s Ars Technica, 3 Mar. 2023, https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/scientists-have-mapped-a-secret-hidden-corridor-in-great-pyramid-of-giza/
^2 Procureur, S., Morishima, K., Kuno, M. et al. Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons. Nature Communications 14, 1144 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36351-0
marketrent t1_jatkudc wrote
Reply to comment by marketrent in Scientists discover corridor in Great Pyramid of Giza by Magister_Xehanort
(Reuters content last updated 3 Mar. 2023 7:04 AM UTC, retrieved 3 Mar. 2023 11:29 PM UTC)
marketrent t1_jatjqu6 wrote
The press conference was about further study of a corridor discovered ca. 2016.
From the linked Reuters content:^1
>A hidden corridor nine metres (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday.
According to the research article^2 published 2 Mar. 2023 in Nature Communications:
>In 2016 and 2017, the ScanPyramids team reported on several discoveries of previously unknown voids by cosmic-ray muon radiography that is a non-destructive technique ideal for the investigation of large-scale structures.
>Among these discoveries, a corridor-shaped structure has been observed behind the so-called Chevron zone on the North face, with a length of at least 5 meters.
Emphasis added.
^1 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/scientists-discover-corridor-great-pyramid-giza-2023-03-02, last updated 3 Mar. 2023 7:04 AM UTC, retrieved 3 Mar. 2023 11:29 PM UTC
^2 Procureur, S., Morishima, K., Kuno, M. et al. Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons. Nature Communications 14, 1144 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36351-0
ETA: annotations.
marketrent OP t1_jaqem61 wrote
Reply to comment by Ballongo in After flying four astronauts into orbit, SpaceX makes its 101st straight landing — ‘I just feel so lucky that I get to fly on this amazing machine.’ by marketrent
Falcon 9 “made its first successful landing back on Earth” with “SpaceX’s 20th launch” of the rocket:
>A little more than seven years have passed since the Falcon 9 rocket made its first successful landing back on Earth. That was just SpaceX's 20th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket.
marketrent OP t1_janqhaw wrote
Reply to Sea creatures in Greek manuscript and Norse mythology may have been whales with mouths agape — Fish instinctively swim toward apparent shelter of creature’s mouth, a phenomenon depicted in ancient texts as early as 2,000 years ago by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from the linked^1 and hyperlinked^2 content.
From the linked summary:^1
>In 2011, Bryde’s whales in the Gulf of Thailand were first observed at the surface of the water with their jaws open at right angles, waiting for fish to swim into their mouths.
>Scientists termed the unusual technique, then unknown to modern science, as “tread-water feeding”.
>Around the same time, similar behaviour was spotted in humpback whales off Canada’s Vancouver Island, which researchers called “trap-feeding”.
>In both behaviours the whale positions itself vertically in the water, with only the tip of its snout and jaw protuding from the surface.
>Key to the technique’s success, scientists believe, is that fish instinctively shoal toward the apparent shelter of the whale’s mouths.
>Flinders University scholars now believe they have identified multiple descriptions of the behaviour in ancient texts, the earliest appearing in the Physiologus – the Naturalist – a Greek manuscript compiled in Alexandria around 150-200CE.
>
>In the Naturalist – a 2,000-year-old text that “preserves zoological information brought to Egypt from India and the Middle East by early natural historians like Herodotus, Ctesias, Aristotle and Plutarch” – the ancient Greeks referred to the creature as aspidochelone.
>Dr John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, and the study’s lead author, made the discovery while reading Norse mythology, about a year after he had seen a video of a whale tread-water feeding.
>He noted that accounts of a sea creature known as hafgufa seemed to describe the feeding behaviour.
>The most detailed description appeared in a mid-13th-century Old Norse text known as Konungs skuggsjá – the King’s Mirror. It reads:
>>“When it goes to feed … the big fish keeps its mouth open for a time, no more or less wide than a large sound or fjord, and unknowing and unheeding, the fish rush in in their numbers. And when its belly and mouth are full, [the hafgufa] closes its mouth, thus catching and hiding inside it all the prey that had come seeking food.”
>The researchers noted: “Definitive proof for the origins of myths is exceedingly rare and often impossible, but the parallels here are far more striking and persistent than any previous suggestions.”
^1 Ancient texts shed new light on mysterious whale behaviour that ‘captured imagination’, Donna Lu for The Guardian, 28 Feb. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/01/ancient-texts-power-new-light-shed-on-mysterious-whale-behaviour-that-captured-imagination
^2 McCarthy, J., Sebo, E., and Firth, M. Parallels for cetacean trap feeding and tread-water feeding in the historical record across two millennia. Marine Mammal Science 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13009
marketrent OP t1_jam36nr wrote
Reply to After flying four astronauts into orbit, SpaceX makes its 101st straight landing — ‘I just feel so lucky that I get to fly on this amazing machine.’ by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Eric Berger:
>A Falcon 9 rocket blasted into the starry sky above Florida early on Thursday morning, sending four astronauts safely on their way into low-Earth orbit.
>Thursday morning's flight carried NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, the mission commander, and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, its pilot, along with United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, both mission specialists.
>Just prior to launch, Bowen offered these words to the SpaceX launch team: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Crew-6 is ready for launch." Bowen was quoting from Shakespeare's play "Henry V."
>Upon reaching orbit, Hoburg was clearly pumped about the heart-pounding experience he had just gone through.
>"As a rookie flier, that was one heck of a ride, thank you," he radioed back to SpaceX's flight control center. "I would say this is an absolute miracle of engineering and I just feel so lucky that I get to fly on this amazing machine."
>
>After the Falcon 9 rocket separated—with the second stage and Dragon motoring toward orbit—the first stage burned back toward Earth. A few minutes later it made a bullseye landing on the Just Read The Instructions drone ship.
>Monday morning's launch was the 207th overall flight of the rocket.
>A little more than seven years have passed since the Falcon 9 rocket made its first successful landing back on Earth. That was just SpaceX's 20th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket.
>For a time, after that first landing, SpaceX had several misses as it continued to experiment with landing on a drone ship, as well as enduring a few mishaps.
>However, since a drone ship landing failure in February 2021, SpaceX had reeled off 100 consecutive successful booster landings.
>Monday morning's return made for lucky no. 101.
^1 Eric Berger for Condé Nast’s Ars Technica, 2 Mar. 2023, https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/on-its-second-attempt-the-crew-6-mission-soared-into-orbit-early-thursday/
marketrent OP t1_ja75n83 wrote
Reply to Shortly before liftoff, SpaceX cancels a crew launch due to igniter issues — "Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-6 due to a TEA-TEB ground system issue." by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Eric Berger:
>At just over two minutes to go before SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was due to launch a crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station early on Monday, the mission was scrubbed due to an issue with igniter fluid.
>NASA's Crew-6 mission had been due to take off at 1:45 am ET from Launch Complex 39-A in Florida, at Kennedy Space Center.
>During the space agency's webcast, the host first mentioned the issue with the TEA-TEB igniter fluid about five minutes before the anticipated liftoff time. Mission operators were not able to clear the technical issue before the instantaneous launch window opened.
>The crew was safe on board the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
>NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, the mission commander, and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, its pilot, along with United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, both mission specialists, will egress the vehicle later on Monday morning after propellant is off-loaded from the rocket.
>
>Shortly after the scrub, SpaceX tweeted a little bit more information about the cause: "Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-6 due to a TEA-TEB ground system issue," the company said.
>TEA-TEB is a combination of triethylaluminum (TEA) and triethylborane (TEB). Essentially, these are two different metal elements each linked to three hydrocarbon atoms.
>These molecules are held together by rather tenuous bonds that break easily. When it comes into contact with oxygen, therefore, TEA-TEB spontaneously combusts.
>Given the danger involved in working with the chemical, SpaceX probably made a good decision to stand down Monday morning's launch.
^1 Eric Berger for Condé Nast’s Ars Technica, 27 Feb. 2023 07:15 UTC, https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/spacex-scrubs-crew-6-launch-due-to-an-issue-with-its-igniter-fluid/
marketrent OP t1_ja5s8gw wrote
Reply to Caught between Microsoft's and Google's search war, the ad industry grapples with a 'exciting and terrifying' new reality by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Ryan Joe, Lara O'Reilly, and Lauren Johnson:
>As Microsoft and Google duke it out to control the future of search, the advertisers and publishers who rely so much on search-generated traffic are struggling to figure out how it will impact their businesses.
>"It's possibly the most enormous set of changes in the tech industry since the birth of the web in the '90s," said Paul Bannister, chief strategy officer of CafeMedia, which oversee the ads business for about 4,000 publishers, like Merriam-Webster and the food blog Half-Baked Harvest.
>While both Microsoft and Google are racing to bring AI-powered search to consumers, they have said nothing to either publishers or advertisers about how these tools will impact traffic and ad revenue, multiple sources told Insider.
>Microsoft declined to comment. Google didn't respond in time for publication.
>"It's simultaneously exciting and terrifying," said Chris Schimkat, global head of analytics at the IPG-owned performance marketing agency Reprise Digital.
>"But for a lot of marketers in particular, if this is taking over content writing and image generation, where can we continue to provide value? And that's going to be a pretty prominent question."
>
>One of the biggest concerns is that if AI-powered search engines provide all the information people need without them having to click through to any websites, it will reduce traffic and ad revenue for publishers.
>Bannister doesn't think AI-powered search will change advertising drastically in the short term, but even small changes can have an impact on business.
>"If it decreases search click throughs by 3%, that's 3% less page views to a lot of sites," he said. "So I think it's right to be worried. But we also want to get the facts and figure out how it's going to work and what are the new opportunities."
>Many publishers are familiar with how their traffic has been chipped away by search engines as they've evolved.
>"We've been dealing with this shrinking search landscape for many years now, as Google and the likes have tried to answer these questions directly within search results," said Kyle Sutton, director of SEO and product at the publisher Gannett, which owns USA Today and local news sites.
>"Look no further than sports scores. You know that used to be guaranteed traffic?"
>Now, when people search for scores or similar types of basic information, Google populates the answer in a module called a Featured Snippet on the search page, Sutton noted.
^1 Ryan Joe, Lara O'Reilly, and Lauren Johnson for Axel Springer’s Insider, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/the-search-war-between-microsoft-and-google-has-the-ad-industry-caught-in-the-crosshairs-2023-2
marketrent OP t1_ja2nv92 wrote
Reply to Danish waters contain about 100,000 times more plankton than microplastics — and if microplastic particles enter their mouths, copepods usually spit them out by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from the linked summary^1 about research^2 at Danmarks Tekniske Universitet.
From the linked summary:^1
>To collect the samples, the researchers used equipment that can capture far smaller plastic particles than those picked up by the equipment that’s usually used to collect plastic in the oceans.
>This is because the researchers are particularly interested in particles that are so small that copepods—which make up a significant part of the marine food chain—can eat them.
>Specifically, particles that measure less than 300 micrometres (one thousandth of a millimetre) and down to 10 micrometres.
>The researchers found between 25 and 100 microplastic particles per cubic metre of water collected. In the samples with the highest measured concentration, this corresponds to one plastic particle per 10 litres of water.
>By contrast, the samples contained about 100,000 times more plankton than microplastics.
>According to PhD student Gunaalan Kuddithamby, not many studies have used this method—both because it is difficult to collect the samples and because it is expensive and time-consuming to analyse them.
>
>Video footage from the laboratory experiments shows that in four out of five cases, the copepods spit out the plastic particles.
>“Even though they catch thousands of particles in their tiny mouthparts, they can tell that they’re not food, either because of the structure or taste of the particles.
>“They taste hundreds of particles a minute, but when a plastic particle goes in, they spit it out,” explains Torkel Gissel Nielsen.
>“If they do eat the microplastic particles, we’ve shown in other experiments that they excrete them—just like kids who’ve accidentally eaten small beads,” he says.
>This also means that the microplastics don’t bioaccumulate when the copepods become meals for larger organisms, which in turn are eaten by larger animals, and so on.
^1 Danish waters are filled with plankton, not microplastics, Miriam Meister, 26 Feb. 2023, https://www.dtu.dk/english/news/all-news/danish-waters-are-filled-with-plankton-not-microplastics?id=725e4330-f790-4e43-a2c8-e1518961d4b2
^2 Gunaalan Kuddithamby et al. Abundance and distribution of microplastics in surface waters of the Kattegat/ Skagerrak (Denmark), Environmental Pollution 318, 120853 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120853
marketrent OP t1_ja2jjw3 wrote
Reply to ‘Mermaid mummy’ at Enjuin temple, Japan — a mythical creature supposedly caught in a fishing net circa 1741 — consists of paper, cloth, cotton, animal hair, fish bones, scales and other components by marketrent
“We have worshipped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” the head priest said. “I hope the research project can leave (scientific) records for future generations.”^1
Excerpt from the linked content^2 about research^3 at Kurashiki University into the origins of folklore:
>Five researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts here and other organizations had been analyzing the mermaid to determine its true identity since February last year.
>The team used X-rays, a high-resolution CT scanner and other modern equipment for the study.
>They said some real biological parts were found in the mermaid.
>For example, the lower body contains bones from perhaps the tail and dorsal fins of a Sciaenidae fish, while the mummy’s jaw was that of a carnivorous fish.
>But they found no major bones in the spine or rib cage. And the jaw was the only bone in the head.
>The body’s interior consisted mainly of a mold of cloth, paper and cotton.
>The head was almost entirely made of cotton, along with plaster and similar materials, they said.
>The surface of the upper body was created with thin layers of paper, with puffer fish skin and animal hair glued to it, according to the study.
>
>Based on scales peeled from the lower body, the researchers said it is highly likely that the mermaid was created in the late 1880s.
>The researchers tried to conduct a DNA analysis, but no DNA was detected in the mermaid.
>Kozen Kuida, 61, chief priest at Enjuin temple, said after the study that the mermaid mummy will remain a prized possession of the temple.
>“Many people in this area came here and joined hands to pray (to the mermaid), so it holds their thoughts,” Kuida said at a news conference.
>“Now we have learned that it was molded with things that were alive. We want to continue to protect it with great care.”
>How Enjuin temple acquired the mermaid mummy in the first place remains a mystery.
^1 Scientists try to unravel mystery of eerie ‘mermaid mummy’, Kunio Ozawa for the Asahi Shimbun, 19 Feb. 2022, https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14543351
^2 Study finds ‘mermaid mummy’ largely a molded object, Kunio Ozawa for the Asahi Shimbun, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14834950
^3 人魚ミイラの実態解明/圓珠院所蔵『人魚のミイラ』研究最終報告, 7 Feb. 2023, https://www.kusa.ac.jp/news/2023/02/20230207mermaid.html
marketrent OP t1_ja2f22p wrote
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Isabel Woodford:
>A Colombian court this month hosted its first legal trial in the metaverse, and now hopes to experiment again with virtual reality, authorities told Reuters.
>At the two-hour hearing held by Colombia's Magdalena Administrative court, participants in a traffic dispute appeared as avatars in a virtual courtroom.
>Magistrate Maria Quinones Triana's avatar dressed in black legal robes.
>The country is among the earliest worldwide to test real legal hearings in the metaverse, immersive virtual reality to make digital spaces feel more lifelike, often with avatars representing each participant.
>The case - brought by a regional transport union against the police - will now proceed partly in the metaverse, potentially including the verdict, Quiones said. She did not rule out metaverse hearings elsewhere.
>"This is an academic experiment to show that there it's possible... but where everyone consents to it, (my court) can continue to do things in the metaverse," she added.
^1 Reporting by Isabel Woodford in Mexico City; additional reporting by Herbert Villarraga in Bogota; editing by David Gregorio. Reuters, 24 Feb. 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombia-court-moves-metaverse-host-hearing-2023-02-24/
marketrent OP t1_ja0r9to wrote
Reply to AI image generator Midjourney blocks porn by banning words about the human reproductive system by marketrent
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Melissa Heikkilä:
>The popular AI image generator Midjourney bans a wide range of words about the human reproductive system from being used as prompts, MIT Technology Review has discovered.
>If someone types “placenta,” “fallopian tubes,” “mammary glands,” “sperm,” “uterine,” “urethra,” “cervix,” “hymen,” or “vulva” into Midjourney, the system flags the word as a banned prompt and doesn’t let it be used.
>Sometimes, users who tried one of these prompts are blocked for a limited time for trying to generate banned content. Other words relating to human biology, such as “liver” and “kidney,” are allowed.
>Midjourney’s founder, David Holz, says it’s banning these words as a stopgap measure to prevent people from generating shocking or gory content while the company “improves things on the AI side.” Holz says moderators watch how words are being used and what kinds of images are being generated, and adjust the bans periodically.
>The firm has a community guidelines page that lists the type of content it blocks in this way, including sexual imagery, gore, and even the 🍑 emoji, which is often used as a symbol for the buttocks.
>Some terms relating to the male reproductive system, such as “sperm” and “testicles,” are blocked too, but the list of banned words seems to skew predominantly female.
>The prompt ban was first spotted by Julia Rockwell, a clinical data analyst at Datafy Clinical, and her friend Madeline Keenen, a cell biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
^1 Melissa Heikkilä, MIT Technology Review, 24 Feb. 2023, https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/24/1069093/ai-image-generator-midjourney-blocks-porn-by-banning-words-about-the-human-reproductive-system/
marketrent OP t1_j9y4xd8 wrote
Reply to Workers tasked with moving products in the U.S. food and beverage supply chain are at a high risk of severe injuries and fatalities — Grocery wholesalers and grocery retail stores saw the highest number of injuries, followed closely by the warehousing and storage groups by marketrent
Findings in title quoted from the linked summary^1 and peer-reviewed research paper.^2
From the linked summary:^1
>The researchers used a database maintained by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate all severe injuries in the six years from 2015 to 2020 in the food supply chain.
>Their results documented 1,084 severe injuries and 47 fatalities during the six-year period although the researchers noted that actual figures could be twice as high.
>Data indicated that 2020 saw a significant increase in severe injuries as compared to previous years.
>In findings published this morning (Feb. 24) in the Journal of Safety Research, the researchers reported that fractures of the lower extremities were most prevalent, with the most frequent accident event type being transportation-related, such as pedestrian-vehicle incidents.
>Large retailers that sell food along with many other products — such as Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco — were not included in the research, Michael pointed out.
>“It would not have been possible for us to determine which of their accidents and injuries were related to moving food products. If we had somehow been able to include their statistics, of course, the injury numbers would be considerably higher.”
From the peer-reviewed research paper:^2
>In this paper, the term “product movement” is used somewhat synonymously with the typical “materials handling” terminology.
>Materials handling involves the lifting, movement, protection, storage, control, and placement of various kinds of materials. It can be done manually or using semiautomatic or automated equipment to move products from manufacturer to warehouse to retailer (Brauer, 2016).
>Grocery wholesalers and grocery retail stores saw the highest number of injuries, followed closely by the warehousing and storage groups.
>This was the first research to investigate occupational injuries related to transport packaging and related product movement in the food supply chain.
^1 Workers moving products in the U.S. food supply chain at high risk of injury, Jeff Mulhollem, Penn State University, 24 Feb. 2023, https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/workers-moving-products-us-food-supply-chain-high-risk-injury/
^2 Judd H. Michael and Serap Gorucu. (2023) Severe injuries from product movement in the U.S. food supply chain. Journal of Safety Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.02.007
marketrent OP t1_jd0vp9q wrote
Reply to comment by fighterace00 in Saudi Arabia stone ruins were pilgrimage sites, where an ancient cult gathered to sacrifice animals about 7,000 years ago by marketrent
>fighterace00
>The word cult is not even mentioned in the article at all.
‘Cult’ is the first word in the title of the peer-reviewed research article:
>Kennedy M, Strolin L, McMahon J, Franklin D, Flavel A, et al. (2023) Cult, herding, and ‘pilgrimage’ in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia: Excavations at a mustatil east of AlUla. PLOS ONE 18(3): e0281904. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281904