Did lead pollution lower IQs across the Roman Empire?

@PopularScience reports on "new research linking lead air pollution to cognitive losses during the Pax Romana."

https://flip.it/FidVo_

The complete study: <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2419630121>

#Roman #Pollution #Archaeology #Science

#history

Five key climate cases that could be decided in 2025.

@FastCompany reports: "Courts will likely hear cases about ESG investing, infrastructure projects, and countries’ responsibility duties to combat climate change."

<https://flip.it/kAFEag>

#ClimateChange #Climate #Law #Science

15 marvelous Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 images, from @PopularScience.

https://flip.it/bZN8B_

#Nature #Photography #Animals #Science

An unlucky child born with a heart condition 17,000 years ago also had the earliest known instance of blue eyes. Based on genetic data from his remains, found in what's now Italy, "the infant most likely had blue eyes, dark skin, and curly dark brown/almost black hair," University of Bologna archeologist Owen Higgins and team write in their paper. Science Alert reports: <https://www.sciencealert.com/17000-year-old-remains-could-be-oldest-evidence-of-blue-eyes>

#Genetics #Archaeology #Italy #Eyes

#history

A building renovation in the Netherlands has led to a bone-chilling discovery: a centuries-old tile floor that's partly filled with sawed-off bones, Live Science reports: <https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/centuries-old-floor-patched-with-sliced-bones-discovered-in-the-netherlands>

#archaeology #Netherlands #Bones

#history

Can you photograph climate anxiety? Photographer Anastasia Samoylova thinks so.

From @CNN: "Samoylova, whose work is currently on display at both the Met Museum in New York and the Saatchi Gallery in London, has garnered critical acclaim for her subtle, anxiety-inducing images of Florida’s collapsing pastel-pink landscapes."

<https://flip.it/KOb0HL>

#ClimateChange #Climate #Photography #Florida

A set of footprints in Kenya reveals that our ancestor Homo erectus lived alongside a now-extinct bipedal hominin 1.5 million years ago. "I would expect the two species would have been aware of each other's existence on that landscape, and they probably would have recognized each other as being 'different, '" Kevin Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University, told @LiveScience in an email. Here’s more on the discovery: <https://flip.it/GVs2ei> #Science #Humans #History #Kenya #Anthropology

Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum returns artifacts to Chile’s remote Easter Island.

@AssociatedPress reports: "In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that the South Sea Islands were settled by seafarers from South America. He brought 5,600 objects back from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. This is the third time objects taken by him are being returned."

https://flip.it/UvLji_

#EasterIsland #Archaeology #Anthropology #Norway #Chile #Science

#history

What a 500-year-old shipwreck can tell us about how we age.

From @[email protected] at @ArsTechnica: "Henry VIII's favorite warship, the Mary Rose, sank in battle in 1545. Archaeologists successfully raised the ship in 1982, along with thousands of articles and the remains of 179 crew members—all remarkably well preserved thanks to the anaerobic conditions of the shipwreck created by the layers of soft sediment that accumulated over the wreckage."

<https://flip.it/x-w9LO>

Here's the original study: <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0311717>

#Archaeology #Shipwreck #Science #Aging

#history

You never know where a town might pop up — even if it was established, and later abandoned, during the Bronze Age. The remains of a town being dubbed al-Natah was recently discovered in an oasis in modern-day Saudi Arabia. al-Natah was built around 2,400 BC and home to about 500 residents. It lasted 1,000 years, but no one knows why it was abandoned. There’s more from @CBSNews: <https://flip.it/y9KClc> #Science #BronzeAge #History #SaudiArabia #Archeology

Scientists say skeletal remains found in a castle well belong to figure from 800-year-old saga.

From CNN: "The 800-year-old Sverris saga, which follows the story of the real-life King Sverre Sigurdsson, includes the tossing of the body of a dead man — later known as 'Well-man' — down a well during a military raid in central Norway in 1197."

<https://flip.it/2-.l5a>

Here's the full study: <https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(24)02301-0>

#History #Archaeology #Norway #Norse #Science #Anthropology

Archaeologists discover 12 skeletons at a buried tomb in Petra, Jordan.

From @npr: "The remains were found beneath the Treasury, also called Al Khazneh, in the ancient city of Petra — famous as a landmark seen in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

https://flip.it/_uNuOZ

#Archaeology #Petra #Jordan #History #Anthropology

700,000 years of Egyptian history finds enormous new home.

NBC News reports: "The public has finally been allowed to visit part of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is the size of 80 football fields."

<https://flip.it/kjvSCo>

#Archaeology #Egypt #Museum #History #AncientEgypt

Lost biblical plant with medicinal properties resurrected from 1,000-year-old seed.

From CNN: "Botanists have grown a long-lost tree species from a 1,000-year-old seed found in a cave in the Judean Desert in the 1980s. The researchers involved in the project say they believe the tree species, which is thought to be extinct today, could have been the source of a healing balm mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts."

<https://flip.it/Ph5Qvo>

#Botany #Plants #Archaeology #Science

#history

Artificial intelligence helps uncover hundreds of unknown ancient symbols hidden in Peru’s Nazca Desert.

From CNN: "The carvings include birds, plants, spiders, humanlike figures with headdresses, decapitated heads and an orca wielding a knife."

https://flip.it/726E_b

Here's the original study from PNAS: <https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407652121>

#Anthropology #Archaeology #Nazca #Peru #Science #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

#history

Archaeologists say they’ve solved the mystery of a lead coffin discovered beneath Notre-Dame.

From @Smithsonianmag: "When excavations at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral unearthed a pair of lead coffins hidden beneath the church’s nave in early 2022, archaeologists immediately recognized the sarcophagi’s significance. Lead, a metal that keeps out moisture and prevents decomposition, has long been the chosen coffin material of the elite."

https://flip.it/7Gqs-_

#NotreDame #Archaeology #Paris #Mystery #Science #History

What a cool image! "Ryan Imperio has been named the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year for a photograph that captures the progression of Baily’s beads during the 2023 annular eclipse."

From the BBC: "Baily’s beads are formed when sunlight shines through the valleys and craters of the Moon’s surface, and are only briefly visible when an eclipse is beginning or ending."

<https://flip.it/2t.WMT>

#Space #Photography #Astronomy #Eclipse

Few things mesmerize like photos of space. And this year’s batch of winners from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition certainly don’t disappoint. Ryan Imperio was named the overall winner for his stunning image that captured the progression of Baily’s beads. See all 11 winners at CNN: https://flip.it/m_9NXQ #Science #Space #Astronomy #Photography #OuterSpace #Sky

Colossal stone monument built 1,000 years before Stonehenge shows neolithic engineers understood science.

From @Smithsonianmag: "A recent study of the Menga dolmen in Spain reveals complex construction techniques used roughly 6,000 years ago."

<https://flip.it/hZTfa9>

Here's the original study from Science Advances: <https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adp1295>

#Engineering #Archaeology #Anthropology #Science #History #Spain

Titanic research dive reveals discovery, decay and new photos.

From NPR: "This summer, RMS Titanic, Inc. — the salvor-in-possession of the wreck — made its first unmanned dive to the site in 14 years. The expedition was armed with high-resolution cameras and scanning equipment, and took more than two million photos of the Titanic."

<https://flip.it/vIkxp5>

#Titanic #Ocean #History #Ship #Shipwreck