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    in Humans

    Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World is an engaging update

    The story of Tutankhamun and his tomb still amazes us. Palaeopathologist Bob Brier’s new book is an accessible guide to the story, but doesn’t break new ground

    Humans

    2 November 2022

    By Jo Marchant
    Tutankhamun’s tomb dazzled Howard Carter when he saw it for the first timeNick Brundle Photography/Getty images
    Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World
    Bob Brier (Oxford University Press)
    WE ARE so familiar with the story of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s 3300-year-old tomb that it has acquired an almost mythical status. On 26 November 1922, Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, broke through a sealed door under Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and poked his candle into the darkness beyond.
    Luckily, it can bear repeating, and to coincide with the centenary of the find, … More

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    in Humans

    Don’t Miss: Great Egyptology from Tutankhamun to Cleopatra’s daughter

    Spotlight on plankton, the ocean’s fascinating, bite-sized creaturesEvery night, plankton take a journey to shallower waters to feed, prompting predators to follow in search of a very small, but tasty, snack. These images are taken from a new book, Planktonia, illuminating their daily ascent More

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    in Humans

    Six archaeological discoveries to rival Tutankhamun's tomb

    From the Terracotta army to the Flores ‘Hobbit’, these are the discoveries that experts argue are more significant than the unearthing of Tutankhamun’s resting place

    Humans

    2 November 2022

    By Jo Marchant
    Ancient chariots from the Yinxu site in ChinaImaginechina Limited/Alamy
    Archaeologists have made many stunning discoveries down the years. These have changed our thinking on how our species became the only humans on the planet, how civilisations arose across the world and how international trade first began.
    As the world marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most famous archaeological finds of all time – the unearthing of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt – New Scientist asked archaeologists who work at sites scattered across the world, from Greece to Indonesia, to nominate the discoveries they think are even more significant.
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    Mycenae Grave Circle
    In the late 19th century, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a circle of six royal graves at the citadel of Mycenae in southern Greece. He found a hoard of golden treasures from the 16th century BC, including the “Mask of Agamemnon”, which Schliemann believed was worn by Mycenae’s mythological ruler, who fought in the Trojan war. That is unlikely, but the find “revolutionised our comprehension of the Mediterranean”, says Jack Davis at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, revealing the previously unknown Aegean civilisations that preceded historical Greece.
    The Mask of Agamemnon, one of the most famous discoveries at MycenaeWorld History Archive/Alamy
    Terracotta Army and the ancient site of Yinxu
    In 1974, workers digging near the city of Xi’an, China, uncovered a life-size clay soldier poised for battle. Archaeologists soon found an entire terracotta army, guarding the tomb of the 3rd-century-BC emperor Qin Shi Huang. Rowan Flad at Harvard University highlights the site along with Yinxu, the last capital of the Shang dynasty (see picture at the top of the page). This city, which dates to the late 2nd millennium BC and so is much older than the Terracotta army, revealed a golden age of early Chinese culture, including palaces, a flood-control system and inscribed oracle bones – the earliest evidence of the Chinese written language. Both “were true discoveries of things and stories that had been long forgotten”, says Flad.
    The Terracotta army began to re-emerge from the ground in the 1970sMelvyn Longhurst China/Alamy
    Hand axes of Hoxne
    In 1797, antiquary John Frere wrote to colleagues describing sharpened flints uncovered by brickworkers in Hoxne, England. The stones lay 4 metres deep, alongside the bones of enormous, unknown animals and beneath layers apparently once at the bottom of the sea. Frere suggested they belonged “to a very remote period… even beyond that of the present world”. His discovery of what we now know are Palaeolithic hand axes “revealed for the first time the long-term, deep-time human past”, says Mike Parker Pearson at University College London, “challenging the biblical notion that the world was created in 4004 BC.”
    Stone Age hand-axes were discovered in Hoxne, England, in the late 18th centuryScience History Images/Alamy
    Uluburun
    This Bronze Age shipwreck, found off the coast of Turkey in 1982, stands as “one of the great underwater discoveries”, says Brendan Foley at Lund University in Sweden. Once described as “Wall Street in a ship“, it transformed historians’ understanding of the era by revealing an astonishing web of trade contacts. The wreck’s vast cargo represented at least 11 different cultures and included weapons, jewellery, ostrich eggs, resin, spices and copper ingots from as far afield as Egypt, Cyprus and Asia.
    A replica of the Uluburun ship wreck, a boat lost in the Mediterranean during a Bronze Age stormWaterFrame/Alamy
    The Flores ‘Hobbit’
    The shock discovery of diminutive humans who once lived on the Indonesian island of Flores was the “JFK moment” of modern archaeology, says Adam Brumm at Griffith University in Australia, in the sense that scientists in the field still remember where they were when they heard the news. The tiny bones, discovered in a cave in 2003, showed that individuals (subsequently dubbed Homo floresiensis) grew to just over 1 metre tall and lived alongside giant lizards. For Brumm, “it was an electrifying and totally unexpected find”.
    Homo floresiensis, an ancient human species that surprised everyoneCicero Moraes et al. (CC BY 4.0)

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    How technology is revolutionising our understanding of ancient Egypt

    A century on from the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, CT scans, 3D printers and virtual reality are bringing the world of the pharaohs – and ordinary ancient Egyptians – into sharper focus

    Humans

    2 November 2022

    By Jo Marchant
    Ula Šveikauskaitė
    A CENTURY ago this month, Howard Carter opened the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun. Within, he found ornate jewellery, beautiful furniture, fine clothing – and that famous gold face mask. Everything was in keeping with a royal burial from the most prosperous period in ancient Egyptian history. Or almost everything, because hidden within the mummy’s bindings, Carter discovered a dagger that seemed out of place.
    The problem wasn’t with its golden sheath. It was with its blade of gleaming iron – a metal the Egyptians didn’t learn to smelt until centuries after Tutankhamun’s death. Carter had a simple explanation. He assumed the dagger was imported, perhaps from the ancient Hittite Empire in Anatolia, where there was an early iron industry. Not until 2016 was it confirmed that the iron originated from much further afield, with the discovery it contains the high levels of nickel associated with meteoric iron. For the Egyptians who wrapped the dagger close to their king’s body, it was a gift from the gods.
    What makes this finding significant is the way it was made – through an X-ray analysis performed without damaging the dagger. It is indicative of a new approach to Egyptology that emphasises preservation over destruction. Whether it is studying mummies without unwrapping them or generating virtual landscapes as they existed millennia ago, we can now make discoveries Carter could have barely dreamed about while leaving artefacts intact for future generations.

    Scanning a mummy is nothing new: X-rays were discovered in 1895, and a few years later, in 1903, Carter carried the … More

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    in Space & Astronomy

    These are our top space images of all time

    We’ve never seen images of space as astounding as those from the James Webb Space Telescope, which shared its first cosmic vistas in July. The pictures have left us dazzled, awestruck and excited for more. They also inspired us to reflect on the top space images past and present. These images have moved us because of their drama, beauty or significance. Here’s how eight Science News staffers answered the question: What’s your favorite space image of all time?

    Apollo 8 Earthrise, taken in 1968

    The Apollo 8 crew orbited the moon 10 times during late December of 1968, capturing this view of Earth.NASA

    Lisa Grossman, astronomy writer, chose Apollo 8’s Earthrise as her top space image. She says: The you-are-there, sci-fi-but-it’s-real feeling of seeing Earth over the edge of the moon gets my imagination going. And something about having the surface of the moon in the image gives me deep chills. I can imagine my own feet in those gray craters, my own eyes looking back at my own Earth. It’s wild. It’s eerie. I love it.

    I feel similarly about the selfie images from the Mars rovers; here’s NASA’s Curiosity rover at Mont Mercou in 2021.

    NASA’s Curiosity rover used a camera on its head and one on its robotic arm to create this selfie with Mont Mercou in March 2021.NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

    You can see the rover and the landscape behind it. That’s our robotic avatar on that planet, rolling around doing our work. Though I’m lukewarm about sending people to do extraterrestrial exploration – I think the risks outweigh the scientific benefits – I have always been a sucker for imagining living on another world. Or at least visiting.

    JWST’s close-up of Neptune, taken in 2022

    Neptune and its rings glow in infrared light in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. It’s the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years.NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, JOSEPH DEPASQUALE/STSCI

    Nikk Ogasa, staff writer for physical sciences, says: There are so many awe-inspiring space images out there, but my favorite from this year was the James Webb Space Telescope’s heavenly shot of Neptune. It is stunning. The image captures the planet’s near-infrared glow in unprecedented detail. Not only can you see the glorious rings, but you can also pick out high-flying methane clouds as bright streaks. It blows my mind that we can see clouds on another world that is billions of miles away.

    Pillars of Creation, first captured in 1995

    After capturing the Pillars of Creation in 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged them for a second time in late 2014 (the image in visible light is shown here).NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team, STSCI/AURA

    Two members of our team selected the Hubble Space Telescope’s second view of the Pillars of Creation, taken in 2014, as their top space image.

    Design director Erin Otwell says: My top space image is the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. It’s my choice because of the awe-inspiring details and the painterly quality of the composition. To me, this image sums up the feeling of studying the cosmos and of creation itself. The towers of gas and dust where new stars are being born compose an almost solid-looking figure. It looks more like a hand than pillars.  

    Maria Temming, assistant editor at Science News Explores, says: I know that claiming the Pillars of Creation as my favorite space image is like saying Starbucks is my favorite coffee. But I don’t care! I love it. I have something of a sentimental attachment to this vista, since it was on the cover of the Great Courses intro to astronomy DVD set that first sparked my interest in space science.

    In an infrared light view of the Pillars of Creation, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in late 2014, stars in and behind the towers of gas and dust are visible.NASA, ESA, Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team

    The iconic, candy-colored images of the pillars in visible light are not the only versions that Hubble has captured. In 2014, the space telescope also took a ghostly picture of the scene in infrared light (above). Light at infrared wavelengths shines through the pillars’ gas and dust, revealing the baby stars swaddled inside these clouds.

    Thomas Digges’ view of the universe, published in 1576

    In this image published in 1576, English astronomer Thomas Digges depicts stars extending far beyond the solar system.Wellcome Collection

    Tom Siegfried, contributing correspondent, chose this diagram as his favorite space image. He says: When Copernicus displaced the Earth from the center of the universe, he pictured the stars as occupying a sphere surrounding the planets that orbited on smaller spheres surrounding the sun. But Thomas Digges, an English astronomer who defended Copernicus, believed the stars extended far beyond the solar system.

    In this image, published in 1576, Digges depicted numerous stars beyond the spheres of the planets, suggesting that the universe was “garnished with lights innumerable and reaching up in spherical altitude without end.” With these words Digges was the first follower of Copernicus to suggest that the universe encompassed an infinite expanse of space.

    The Milky Way’s black hole, released in 2022

    In May 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released this first image of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way.EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE COLLABORATION

    Helen Thompson, associate digital editor, says: Is it extremely blurry? Yes. Is it not even the first time we’ve imaged a black hole? Also yes. But it’s the black hole in our galactic backyard, and we’d never seen it before. There’s something mind-blowing and kind of heartwarming about seeing it for the first time. The Event Horizon Telescope’s first image of Sagittarius A* might not be as pretty as James Webb’s fancy-schmancy pictures, but all of the difficulties that come with imaging black holes and especially this black hole make it so compelling.

    Gravitational lensing of quasar 2M1310-1714, captured in 2021

    Thanks to gravitational lensing, predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity before it was observed, quasar 2M1310-1714 appears as four points of light sitting on a ring around two bright galaxies.ESA, Hubble, NASA, T. Treu

    Elizabeth Quill, special projects editor, says: Within the ring of light at the center of this image are a pair of distant galaxies and a much more distant quasar behind them. The mass of the galactic duo is warping the fabric of spacetime, bending and magnifying the quasar’s light to form what are four separate images of the quasar, each sitting around the ring. It’s a visually powerful example of a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which was predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity before it was ever observed.

    My top space image wows me every time. How incredible that the universe works this way. How incredible that the human mind, a motley product of the universe, could foresee it. And not only foresee it; today’s scientists use gravitational lensing as a tool to study otherwise inaccessible regions of space. It’s both humbling and empowering.

    Pale Blue Dot, taken in 1990

    NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft took this parting image of Earth after completing its tour of the solar system in 1990.NASA, JPL-Caltech

    Christopher Crockett, associate news editor, says: My favorite space image of all time isn’t of a colorful nebula, or a glittering galaxy, or even a certain supermassive black hole. It’s a single dot, seemingly ensconced in a shaft of light.

    After completing its tour of the solar system in 1990, NASA’s Voyager 1 looked back and took a series of parting images – a “family portrait,” it was called – of several planets orbiting our sun. One of the images, which came to be known as the “pale blue dot” photo, captured Earth as seen from roughly 6 billion kilometers away — the most distant image of home anyone has ever taken.

    The image, updated with modern image-processing software and re-released in 2020 (above), remains a reminder of why we explore the universe. Yes, we want to better understand how space and time, stars and planets, galaxies and superclusters work, because we’re curious. But all those questions ultimately come back to trying to understand where we come from and how we fit into all that surrounds us.

    As Carl Sagan emphasized, nothing better captures just how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things than seeing our entire planet reduced to a mere speck of light.

    When I used to give public talks about astronomy, I almost always closed with this image. And I would usually read from Sagan’s reflections on it:

    “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.… on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.… There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” More

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    in Humans

    Large cities lead to more segregation between rich and poor

    Smartphone data from more than 9 million people in the US reveals that big cities lead to greater socioeconomic segregation despite claims they reduce it

    Humans

    28 October 2022

    By Alex Wilkins
    The size and design of cities affect social segregationImage Craft/Shutterstock
    People living in large cities are more segregated, and mix less with those from different socioeconomic backgrounds, than people in small towns, according to an analysis of anonymous phone data from more than 9 million people in the US.
    A longstanding premise of urban design is that cities encourage interactions between different economic groups, and so lead to less segregation. One of the most common ways to measure this segregation is to look at where people live and their corresponding economic status. … More

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    in Space & Astronomy

    Meet the BOAT, the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time

    The brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded recently lit up a distant galaxy — and astronomers have nicknamed it the BOAT, for Brightest of All Time.

    “We use the boat emoji a lot when we’re talking about it” on the messaging app Slack, says astronomer Jillian Rastinejad of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

    Gamma-ray bursts are energetic explosions that go off when a massive star dies and leaves behind a black hole or neutron star (SN: 11/20/19; SN: 8/2/21). The collapse sets off jets of gamma rays zipping away from the poles of the former star. If those jets happen to be pointed right at Earth, astronomers can see them as a gamma-ray burst.

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    This new burst, officially named GRB 221009A, was probably triggered by a supernova giving birth to a black hole in a galaxy about 2 billion light-years from Earth, researchers announced October 13. Astronomers think it released as much energy as roughly three suns converting all of their mass to pure energy.

    NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a gamma-ray telescope in space, automatically detected the blast October 9 around 10:15 a.m. EDT, and promptly alerted astronomers that something strange was happening.

    “At the time, when it went off, it looked kind of weird to us,” says Penn State astrophysicist Jamie Kennea, who is the head of science operations for Swift. The blast’s position in the sky seemed to line up with the plane of the Milky Way. So at first Kennea and colleagues thought it was within our own galaxy, and so unlikely to be something as dramatically energetic as a gamma-ray burst. If a burst like this went off inside the Milky Way, it would be visible to the naked eye, which wasn’t the case.

    But soon Kennea learned that NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope had also seen the flash — and it was one of the brightest things the telescope had ever seen. A fresh look at the Swift data convinced Kennea and colleagues that the flash was the brightest gamma-ray burst seen in the 50 years of observing these rare explosions.

    “It’s quite exceptional,” Kennea says. “It stands head and shoulders above the rest.”

    This series of visible-light images from NASA’s Swift telescope’s ultraviolet/optical instrument shows that the bright glow of the gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A (yellow circle) faded over about 10 hours.Swift/NASA, B. Cenko

    After confirmation of the burst’s BOAT bonafides — a term coined by Rastinejad’s adviser, Northwestern astronomer Wen-fai Fong — other astronomers rushed to get a look. Within days, scientists around the world got a glimpse of the blast with telescopes in space and on the ground, in nearly every type of light. Even some radio telescopes typically used as lightning detectors saw a sudden disturbance associated with GRB 221009A, suggesting that the burst stripped electrons from atoms in Earth’s atmosphere.

    In the hours and days after the initial explosion, the burst subsided and gave way to a still relatively bright afterglow. Eventually, astronomers expect to see it fade even more, replaced by glowing ripples of material in the supernova remnant.

    The extreme brightness was probably at least partially due to GRB 221009A’s relative proximity, Kennea says. A couple billion light-years might seem far, but the average gamma-ray burst is more like 10 billion light-years away. It probably was also just intrinsically bright, though there hasn’t been time to figure out why.

    Studying the blast as it changes is “probably going to challenge some of our assumptions of how gamma-ray bursts work,” Kennea says. “I think people who are gamma-ray burst theorists are going to be inundated with so much data that this is going to change theories that they thought were pretty solid.”

    GRB 221009A will move behind the sun from Earth’s perspective starting in late November, shielding it temporarily from view. But because its glow is still so bright now, astronomers are hopeful that they’ll still be able to see it when it becomes visible again in February.

    “I’m so excited for a few months from now when we have all the beautiful data,” Rastinejad says. More

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    in Humans

    How to make a sweet potato even sweeter: freeze it before baking

    Studies show it is always best to bake your sweet potatoes, rather than boil or microwave them, and there is another trick to take the tubers to the next level of deliciousness, says Sam Wong

    Humans

    26 October 2022

    By Sam Wong
    Shutterstock/Piyaset
    DELICIOUS meals don’t get much simpler than a baked sweet potato. But a little science can tell us how to maximise this dish’s sweetness and deepen its flavour.
    Sweet potatoes are between 1 and 2.5 per cent sugar when raw, but they get sweeter as they cook thanks to the work of amylase enzymes that break down starch into simple sugars. These enzymes are most active at 75°C (167°F).
    A study from 2012 found that the sugar content of one type of sweet potato was almost five times higher after baking for 90 minutes, mainly due … More