More stories

  • in

    Time to drop the outdated and unfair anonymity rule in organ donation

    The rise of social media means decades-old rules requiring that the identities of deceased organ donors and organ recipients remain secret are fast becoming obsolete

    Humans

    | Comment

    15 June 2022

    By Charles Weijer and Nicholas Murphy
    Simone Rotella
    IN JUNE 2012, Canadian teen Tyler Schwering died after an accident. Knowing it is what he would have wanted, Tyler’s mother, Kim LeBlanc, consented to organ donation on his behalf. That decision saved the life of Dave Allingham, who received Tyler’s heart the next day. A year later, after finding one another with the help of social media, LeBlanc and Allingham met. Both say the experience was life-changing.
    “Seeing what has come of something horrible has given me peace,” says LeBlanc. Allingham, now free of his heart condition, welcomed the chance to express his gratitude. “I cherish the gift I’ve been given,” he says. “Tyler’s legacy … More

  • in

    Beyond Measure review: How measuring the world betrays its human side

    Our neat ways of measuring tend to seem like they have always existed. A romp through history shows it is much messier and more human than that

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    By Chris Stokel-Walker

    Ancient Egypt’s systems of measurement were based on the human bodyScience History Images/Alamy
    Beyond Measure
    James Vincent
    Faber

    WE TAKE the certainty of measurements for granted, but their story is as complicated and changeable as any other part of human culture. Journalist James Vincent makes this clear in his new book, which explores the history of calculating things.
    Beyond Measure is a pacy romp through time and space, moving from ancient Egyptians with their body-centric measuring systems to present-day scientists seeking to standardise measurement. But it isn’t just the stories of … More

  • in

    Is Uttoxeter’s World Parts Centre the answer to the world’s problems?

    Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    Josie Ford
    Spare parts
    Crisis in the stationery cupboard as our veteran laptop’s power plug finally expires. Now who will sell us a legacy LAVAFLO charging cable from 2003 (2nd edition)?
    Seventy-eight per cent battery charge might just last us until we reach Uttoxeter (just off the UK’s A50 road) and JCB’s promising-sounding “World Parts Centre”. Reader Paul Ticher finds comfort in its recent arrival, given “all the damage we are currently doing to our planet”. (But you can see how his mind works: on the sad occasion of his father’s passing, Paul tells us he called on the services of a … More

  • in

    The Biggest Number in the World review: A brilliant guide to googology

    The largest numbers are so huge you need special notation to write them down. David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee’s new book on big numbers will take you to the edge of mathematics

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    By Timothy Revell
    Reaching far along the number line requires mathematical booster technologyGrant Faint/Getty Images

    DR EVIL (aka Adam Elga) walked up to a blackboard in front of a packed auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and wrote a single 1. It was a slow but tactical start to the 2007 Big Number Duel, an event described on its posters as: “Two competitors. One chalkboard. Largest integer wins.”
    The Mexican Multiplier (aka Agustin Rayo) wasn’t happy with such a slow start, so he filled in the blackboard with … More

  • in

    Jellyfish Age Backwards review: Exploring nature's secrets to ageing

    Why do some jellyfish age backwards? Does intermittent fasting really make us live longer? Find out how much science knows about ageing in this whistle-stop tour

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    By Chen Ly

    FROM the Epic of Gilgamesh to alchemists’ quest to find the fabled philosopher’s stone, stories of perilous, yet ultimately fruitless, pursuits of immortality are ubiquitous. Even today, humanity seems determined to unlock the secrets of a long life. But now we look to science, not legend.
    In Jellyfish Age Backwards, molecular biologist Nicklas Brendborg takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the science of ageing. We begin with a visit to a few of the many natural wonders that defy our ideas of ageing. These include the 400-year-old shark that roams the … More

  • in

    Don't Miss: Oddball heroes return in The Umbrella Academy season three

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

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    Courtesy Of Netflix
    Watch
    The Umbrella Academy is back for a third season, in which the adopted-sibling superheroes meet their less dysfunctional counterparts in an alternative reality. Available to watch on Netflix from 22 June.

    Read
    The Digital Republic
    is possible, says Jamie Susskind. He explains how – with proper governance and new institutions, rights and regulators – freedom and democracy can survive despite powerful digital technologies. Buy from 23 June.
    Wired Productions/Keoken Interactive
    Play
    Deliver Us the Moon sends you to Earth’s moon as humanity’s last astronaut, on an open-ended, do-or-die mission to find a missing energy source and save our world. Available on PlayStation 4, … More

  • in

    Crimes of the Future review: Is Cronenberg sci-fi compelling or chaos?

    David Cronenberg’s latest outing is a fascinating sci-fi tale that sets out to be a transgressive exploration of human evolution, but ends up sunk by flaws in its internal logic

    Humans

    15 June 2022

    By Davide Abbatescianni

    Viggo Mortensen plays an artist who can grow new organsNikos Nikolopoulos/Neon
    Crimes of the Future
    David Cronenberg
    Now playing in US cinemas; UK dates pending

    SURGERY is the new sex – or at least it is in the world envisioned by David Cronenberg in his latest outing, Crimes of the Future, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month.
    The story takes place in an unsettling future, where humans have adapted to an environment they have polluted for decades – or is it centuries, perhaps millennia? In this dystopia, body modification represents … More

  • in

    AI finds hidden evidence of ancient human fires 1 million years ago

    An AI tool has spotted subtle evidence of changes in flint tools that indicate ancient humans had cooking fires at a 1-million-year-old archaeological site in Israel

    Humans

    13 June 2022

    By Colin Barras
    The heat of a fire can make lasting changes to nearby stonesChris Howes/Wild Places Photography/Alamy
    An artificial intelligence tool has revealed hidden evidence of ancient fire at a 1-million-year-old archaeological site in Israel. Applying the technology at other sites could revolutionise our understanding of when and where humans first began controlling fire, which is widely considered to be one of the most significant innovations of all time.
    Archaeologists already have a few techniques for identifying whether ancient humans used fire. For instance, you can look for signs that prehistoric bones are discoloured – or that stone tools are warped – in a way that is consistent with exposure to temperatures of 450°C or more. But this sort of evidence is rarely found at sites that are more than 500,000 years old.
    Last year, a group of researchers in Israel unveiled a deep-learning AI tool that can identify subtler signs of fire caused by exposure to temperatures of between 200 and 300°C. The team trained the algorithm by gathering chunks of flint from non-archaeological sites in the Israeli countryside, heating them to particular temperatures in the lab and then tasking the AI with identifying subtle changes in the flint’s response to UV light.Advertisement
    Now, the team, working with Michael Chazan at the University of Toronto in Canada, has used the algorithm to look at flints from a 1-million-year-old ancient human site called Evron Quarry in Israel.

    “The reason we chose Evron Quarry was that it uses the same kind of flint they had used in the previous study,” says Chazan. “But there was just no reason to think there would be evidence of burning there.”
    To Chazan’s surprise, the AI tool suggested that many of the flint tools at the site had been heated, mostly to temperatures of about 400°C.
    The team then took a closer look at chunks of bone recovered from the site and, using existing techniques, confirmed that they had been heated too. Chazan says no one would have bothered testing the bones for heat exposure without the flint results from the AI.
    The clustering of the heated stones and bones hints that ancient humans had control over fire at Evron Quarry, rather than this being evidence of natural wildfire.
    At the moment, there is a small amount of evidence that humans were using fire 1.5 million years ago. However, Chazan thinks the AI tool could be used to test a popular hypothesis that fire – and cooking – was widespread between about 1.8 and 2 million years ago. “In the past, I’ve said: no, I don’t really think that’s right,” says Chazan. Now he isn’t so sure.
    Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2123439119
    Sign up to Our Human Story, a free monthly newsletter on the revolution in archaeology and human evolution

    More on these topics: More