Humans

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

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

New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss

Humans

26 October 2022

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The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries writes astrophysicist Jillian Scudder. Her offbeat tour of the universe, with its weird and wonderful facts, will have us looking at the night sky afresh. On sale 3 November.
PETER KRAMER/NETFLIX
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Manifest‘s fourth season continues the uncanny story of airline passengers who landed five years too late. It stars Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh as Ben and Michaela Stone (pictured above). The first half of the season comes to Netflix on 4 November.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
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The Pluto Story is astronomer Ian Robson’s tale of … More

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

A young child found in an unmarked coffin in an Austrian crypt was exceptionally well preserved, and his bones and organs show signs of rickets and pneumonia

Humans

26 October 2022

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre
A close-up of the mummified child’s handA. G. Nerlich et al/Frontiers
An infant born into an aristocratic Austrian family in the 17th century died overweight but may have been deficient in vitamin D, according to researchers who conducted a “virtual autopsy” on the mummified body.
Scans of the surprisingly well-preserved body revealed knobbly extensions on the rib joints typical of rickets, caused by lack of vitamin D, as well as thick layers of fat – which probably helped the tissues mummify. The findings suggest the child was overfed and underexposed to sunlight, leading to his death, says Andreas Nerlich at the Academic Clinic Munich-Bogenhausen in Germany.
Nerlich and his colleagues examined the infant’s remains after an unmarked wooden coffin was discovered in a crypt near a castle in Upper Austria. The crypt had constant airflow and a stable temperature, which probably helped dry out the child’s body. “We have here one of the very rare cases where such an aristocratic infant spontaneously mummified – and was available for a scientific investigation,” he says.Advertisement
Radiocarbon dating of the body, combined with records of the crypt’s construction, led the researchers to estimate that the child was buried approximately 400 years ago. Given the infant’s approximate age at death – between 10 and 18 months old – and silk wraps indicative of aristocratic birth, they suspect the child was Reichard Wilhelm, who lived from 1625 to 1626, the first-born son of the Count of Starhemberg.
Based on computed tomography (CT) scans of the body, the researchers confirmed that the child was male, and his bone measurements and tooth eruption were consistent with a child of about a year old.
The infant mummy found in the cryptA. G. Nerlich et al/Frontiers
Scans of his rib bones revealed rachitic rosary, a condition typical of severe cases of rickets. Rickets results primarily from a lack of vitamin D, which the body produces when exposed to ultraviolet sun rays. While his leg bones weren’t bowed – a tell-tale sign of rickets in older children – that may have been because the infant wasn’t walking yet, says Nehrlich. One arm bone, however, appeared slightly bent.
The infant’s lungs were inflamed, suggesting he may have died of pneumonia – a disease known to occur more frequently in children with rickets, he says.
“The combination of obesity along with a severe vitamin deficiency can only be explained by a generally ‘good’ nutritional status along with an almost complete lack of sunlight exposure,” says Nerlich.
It is unclear whether this combination of traits was common, but early infant death rates were generally high compared with today in upper social classes during the Renaissance, says Nerlich.
Journal reference: Frontiers in Medicine, DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.979670

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A ballistics analysis has raised new questions about the role of the US Army in the 1918 Porvenir massacre, where Texas Rangers killed 15 unarmed Mexican boys and men

Humans

25 October 2022

By Jeremy Hsu
The 1918 Porvenir massacre occurred at the US-Mexico borderTexas Historical Commission
The first archaeological investigation of the site of a century-old massacre at the US-Mexico border has unexpectedly found bullets and cartridge casings for US military weapons.
On the morning of 28 January 1918, Texas Rangers and local ranchers, escorted by the US Army’s 8th Cavalry, rounded up 15 boys and men of Mexican descent from the town of Porvenir, Texas, and shot them execution-style. None of that is disputed. But new evidence suggesting that both civilian and military weapons were used raises … More

Shops are stocking up on pumpkins for Halloween. While I haven’t always been a fan of squashes, I’ve been charmed by how such unlikely fruits came to spread worldwide, says Penny Sarchet

Humans

| Columnist

19 October 2022

By Penny Sarchet
Shutterstock/JamesChen
IN PARTS of the world where autumn is underway, squashes are now on the menu, and shops are stocking up on pumpkins for Halloween. I haven’t always been a fan of squashes, but the more I have learned about their evolutionary history, the more I have been charmed by how such unlikely and unpromising fruits came to spread worldwide.
There is a beguiling diversity of squashes and pumpkins, and their range of shapes, sizes and colours gives them much aesthetic appeal. But they all belong to one genus – Cucurbita – and fall broadly into only six main species or subspecies. … More

What is consciousness, and why do we simultaneously seek it out and dread it in other entities? Ray Nayler’s staggering novel has grand ambitions and even provides a few answers, finds Sally Adee

Humans

19 October 2022 More