Thursday, October 15, 2026

Genetic Study Offers Clues to Survival in the Peruvian Andes

BUFFALO, NEW YORK—A new study suggests that Indigenous Andeans in Peru have more copies of the gene for amylase, a saliva-based digestive enzyme, than any other population in the world, according to a Live Science report. Amylase breaks down complex starches into simple sugars, making starches easier to digest. Omer Gokcumen of the University of…

Neolithic Figurines Uncovered in Northeastern Anatolia

ESKISEHIR, TURKEY—Four headless terracotta figurines have been unearthed at Kanlitaş Höyük, a Neolithic mound in northeastern Turkey, Türkiye Today reports. Ali Umut Türkcan of Anadolu University said that the artifacts, made in the Porsuk cultural tradition, were discovered in lower layers of fill in rectangular buildings at the site. He suggests that the heads may…

Celtic Tomb Unearthed in Germany
Ancient Engineering

Celtic Tomb Unearthed in Germany

Gold rings BAD CAMBERG, GERMANY—EuroNews reports that a Celtic wagon burial has been discovered in central Germany. Hesse state archaeologist Udo Recker said that the tomb, which was found during work to build a solar park, is more than 2,000 years old and belongs to the Hunsrück-Eifel culture. It contained several gold rings of varying…

Defining Autonomy for Wellness Robots in Senior Care

An examination of how socially assistive wellness robots could support the seven dimensions of senior wellness, and how a framework can measure their autonomy.What Attendees will LearnWhy the senior care crisis exceeds incremental automation. Demographic pressure, workforce shortages, and a daily wellness-programming gap all strain traditional care models.What defines a wellness robot as a category.…

Why Orbital Data Centers Are Harder Than Silicon Valley Thinks

“Space computing, the final frontier, has arrived,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared at the Nvidia GTC conference in March.Indeed, the idea of data centers in orbit has gone from science fiction to a serious spending category. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has acquired xAI (also Musk’s) and is planning a constellation of space-based data centers. Google, not…

Artifacts Recovered in The Netherlands
Ancient Engineering

Artifacts Recovered in The Netherlands

Fibula EMMEN, THE NETHERLANDS—According to a report in the NL Times, more than 3,000 artifacts were recovered during environmental work in the Nieuwe Drostendiep stream valley in the northeastern section of the Netherlands. The objects include tools from the Paleolithic period and the Bronze Age; medieval jewelry and jewelry dated to the second century B.C.;…

Private Citizen Returns Ancient Vessel to Cyprus
Ancient Engineering

Private Citizen Returns Ancient Vessel to Cyprus

Black Polished ware hemispherical bowl with incised decoration NICOSIA, CYPRUS—The Cyprus Mail reports that an ancient ceramic vessel has been reclaimed from an online auction and returned to Cyprus after a year-long investigation. Cypriot officials who monitor online activity determined that the vase was in the hands of a collector in Canada, who eventually agreed…

2,000-Year-Old Bones from Scotland Studied
Ancient Engineering

2,000-Year-Old Bones from Scotland Studied

Researchers observed lesions and fractures on the woman's cranium. YORK, ENGLAND—Cuts found on the inside of an Iron Age woman’s skull suggest that her brain may have been cut out before burial, according to a CNN report. The woman’s remains were discovered with those of a teenaged boy in 2000 under a cairn in northern…