Jingszo !

The largest were the baths built by the emperor Diocletian (284–305). Around 3,000 people a day could bathe at this 13-hectare complex.

These baths, like most, contained a room (the caldarium) heated by air ducts in the walls and floors. The floors were so hot special sandals were worn.

Another room leading from it was milder (the tepidarium), before bathers entered the frigidarium, which contained a cold pool. A 4,000-square-metre outdoor swimming pool was the central feature.

Public baths also often featured gymnasiums, libraries, restaurants and exercise yards.

Baths and the grim reality of slavery

Baths were places of great social importance, and nudity allowed bathers to show off their physical prowess.

Archaeological evidence suggests even dentistry was performed at the baths.

Behind these images of indulgence, however, lay the grim reality of slavery. Slaves did the dirtiest work in the baths.

They cleaned out cinders, emptied toilets and saw to the clearing of drains.

Slaves came to the baths with their owners, whom they rubbed down with oil and cleaned their skin with strygils (a type of scraper). They entered the baths through a separate entrance.

On occasion, it is of vital importance to consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live on. Take coral reefs, for example. Given how much they've been studied, you'd think we've learned just about everything about them by now. But talk to a marine biologist, and they will quickly disabuse you of this notion.

A majority of the things that are out there on coral reefs are simply unknown to us or haven't been formally described or named

Soft and stony corals locked in a feud millions of years in the making

Corals come in a dizzying kaleidoscope of forms, and their lineage is incredibly ancient. Anthozoa—the group that contains all corals and sea anemones, plus a hodgepodge of animals with grabby tentacles called gorgonians, zoanthids, sea pens and others—originated roughly 771 million years ago.

Soon after Anthozoa split in two, one group—the Hexacorallia—would evolve into stony corals and their many relatives (black corals, various sea anemones). The other, Octocorallia, evolved into soft corals and their respective relatives (gorgonians, organ pipes, sea pens, etc.). This means that what we typically refer to as corals are made from two vastly different lineages that are less related to each other than land plants are to algae.

A team of scientists is proposing a bold alternative to the Big Bang theory, suggesting that our universe may have formed inside a colossal black hole residing in a larger, parent universe. The Big Bang theory, along with Einstein's general relativity, has successfully explained major cosmological phenomena, including the cosmic microwave background, the universe's large-scale structure, and its accelerating expansion often linked to dark energy.

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft, Exploring Solar System Origins, Is Back on Track after Thrusters Lost Power

This explorer spacecraft is heading to a rare asteroid with a naked metal core. It could hold clues to how Earth began

The robotic spacecraft Psyche has regained propulsion after a snag cut its propellant system in April. Engineers had to switch to a backup system, and full thruster operations resumed last week. The satellite is now on schedule to fly by Mars in May 2026—and then slingshot into orbit around a very unusual asteroid (also named Psyche) in August 2029. The propulsion problem had put this schedule, and indeed the entire mission, in jeopardy for a while. “In another few weeks, if some things we tried didn’t work, the blood pressure would have started to rise,” says Linda Elkins-Tanton, the mission’s principal investigator and a planetary scientist at Arizona State University.

Why It Matters

About 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system was a cloud of gas and dust with no planets.Astronomers used to think planets grew very slowly, over hundreds of millions of years, as gravity gradually clumped the gas and dust together. But more recent evidence points to a much faster process involving high-energy hit-and-run collisions among dust, pebbles and rocks that crashed together and then got blown apart within a short time. Some of these crashes might have melted metals to form a core (such as the one found at the center of Earth) and surrounded it with a rocky rind. Our planet’s core is many hundreds of miles deep, however—too far down to observe directly and accurately.

But the asteroid Psyche, circling the sun between Mars and Jupiter, may have an exposed metal core. Radar reflections indicate this is at least partially so, says Jim Bell, an Arizona State University planetary scientist, who is in charge of the Psyche spacecraft’s multispectral imaging cameras. “If it was covered by rock, we wouldn’t get the signal that we’re seeing,” he says. That signal indicates substances composed primarily of nickel and iron. So a flyby of the asteroid could provide the first close-up view of what a planet’s core looks like and answer questions about how it formed.

What’s Next

The problem with the craft’s xenon gas thrusters appeared to be caused by a defective valve, and when engineers switched to a second fuel line, the craft regained motion. When Psyche meets up with its asteroid namesake in 2029, the probe’s instruments should be able to detect any uncovered core metal that collisions have blasted clean of rock. The orientation of magnetic particles in that core, like tiny compass needles, could indicate whether the asteroid once had a magnetic dynamo, as Earth’s core does. Remarkably, if there were impacts of debris on the molten metal, they could have splashed up and then frozen, leaving sharp cliffs for spacecraft cameras to show us.

More about Psyche

The asteroid Pysche orbits at about three astronomical units, or AU, from the sun (Earth’s orbit is at one AU). It’s often described as “potato shaped,” with a diameter of 140 miles and a surface area of 64,000 square miles.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-psyche-spacecraft-exploring-solar-system-origins-is-back-on-track/

Slop Bowls Are a Marker of Human Civilization Dating Back to Mesopotamia

The humble bowl-dwelling midday mush dates back nearly to the start of human civilization. Recent tests run on “bevel-rimmed bowls,” found in abundance at Mesopotamian archaeological sites, suggest that these cheaply made, disposable containers were likely used to serve up pre-cooked meals made of grains, dairy, and meat.

The Roman Empire also ran on fast casual. Thanks to excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, we know more about the ancient food counters known as thermopoliums, where locals would line up for hot dishes including meat, bread, cheese, and vegetables.

Recent genomic analysis of a skull fragment from Newgrange, Ireland, revealed a rare case of incest. Together with a wider network of distantly related passage tomb interments, this has bolstered claims of a social elite in later Neolithic Ireland. 

Here, the authors evaluate this social evolutionary interpretation, drawing on insecurities in context and the relative rarity of engendered status or resource restrictions in the archaeological record of prehistoric Ireland to argue that the status of individuals during this period is better understood through unstable identity negotiations. Inclusion in a passage tomb, while ‘special’, need not equate to a perpetual elite.

It is perhaps fitting to end with the words of O’Kelly himself: “We have no way of knowing in what way the people who were put inside Newgrange were special; it does not necessarily follow that they were royal or priestly, they may have been special in some quite different way.”

As the next step in extraterrestrial exploration, many engineers and scientists revealed their intense interest in enabling multiplanetary human life, including colonizing Mars.

This study demonstrates that architecture on Mars can be realized by designing a synthetic community, including diazotrophic cyanobacteria and filamentous fungi, which produce large amounts of biomaterials to bond Martian regolith particles into a consolidated body.

Through 3D printing, a wide range of structures can be fabricated, such as buildings, houses, tables, and chairs.

Within the synthetic community, diazotrophic cyanobacteria will (1) fix carbon dioxide and dinitrogen from the atmosphere and convert them into oxygen and organic nutrients to help the survival and growth of filamentous fungi and (2) increase the concentration of carbonate ions by photosynthetic activities.

Filamentous fungi will (1) bind metal ions onto fungal cell walls and serve as nucleation sites for biomineral production and (2) enhance the growth of cyanobacteria by providing them with water, minerals, and carbon dioxide. In this study, such coculture systems have been created and displayed robust growth solely based on Martian regolith simulants, air, light, and an inorganic liquid medium without any additional carbon or nitrogen sources.

The cyanobacterial and fungal growth in such coculture systems is much more robust than their axenic growth due to mutual interactions.

The amounts and morphologies of the precipitated crystals vary remarkably depending on the cultivation condition.

Highlights

• Comparative analyses of 163 genomes uncover major adaptive changes in ant evolution

• Caste-associated genes maintained synteny despite high rates of macrosynteny loss

• Juvenile hormone, insulin, and MAPK pathways regulate queen-worker caste differentiation

• Co-evolving social traits left coherent signatures of selection on overlapping gene sets

Summary

Ants originated over 150 million years ago through an irreversible transition to superorganismal colony life. Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes, including newly generated whole-genome sequences of 145 ant species, reveal extensive genome rearrangements correlated with speciation rates. Meanwhile, conserved syntenic blocks are enriched with co-expressed genes involved in basal metabolism and caste differentiation. Gene families related to digestion, endocrine signaling, cuticular hydrocarbon synthesis, and chemoreception expanded in the ant ancestor, while many caste-associated genes underwent positive selection in the formicoid ancestor. Elaborations and reductions of queen-worker dimorphism and other social traits left convergent signatures of intensified or relaxed selection in conserved signaling and metabolic pathways, suggesting that a core gene set was used to diversify organizational complexity. Previously uncharacterized genetic regulators of caste development were confirmed by functional experiments. This study reconstructs the genetic underpinning of social traits and their integration within gene-regulatory networks shaping caste phenotypes.

The statuary of Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty, is believed to have been targeted for violent destruction by Thutmose III, her successor. Yet the condition of the statues recovered in the vicinity of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri varies considerably and many survive with their faces virtually intact.

Through the examination of archival material from the original excavations, the author offers an alternative, more utilitarian, explanation of the treatment of these statues. Rather than outright hostility, much of the damage may instead derive from the ‘deactivation’ of the statues and their reuse as raw material.

In recent years, the proliferation of conspiracy theories has surged across both traditional and digital media platforms, capturing the attention of scholars and the public alike. While much of the prior research has centered on unraveling the psychological impulses that drive individuals toward such beliefs, a burgeoning area of inquiry seeks to explore the profound societal implications that these beliefs carry. One domain of critical concern is sustainability—the intricate balance of social equity, environmental stewardship, and economic viability necessary for the continuation of human civilization. Emerging evidence suggests that conspiracy beliefs may pose significant challenges to sustainable development, undermining efforts to foster healthier societies, safeguard ecosystems, and maintain robust economies.

At the heart of the investigation lies the recognition that conspiracy theories seldom exist in isolation as harmless curiosities. Instead, they often function as vehicles that erode trust in scientific institutions, governmental authorities, and collective action mechanisms. This skepticism can attenuate public health initiatives by cultivating resistance to vaccinations, mask-wearing, and other preventive measures crucial for community well-being. Consequently, the social sustainability of populations is jeopardized, as diminished health outcomes and increased polarization fracture social cohesion and threaten fundamental human rights.

A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the universe.

In one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth.

The Vera C Rubin observatory, home to the world's most powerful digital camera, promises to transform our understanding of the universe.

If a ninth planet exists in our solar system, scientists say this telescope would find it in its first year.

It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of our universe.

This once-in-a-generation moment for astronomy is the start of a continuous 10-year filming of the southern night sky.

Animal teeth were amongst the most common materials utilised for personal ornament production during the Stone Age, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.

The results suggest that several different methods of tooth extraction are viable, but cooking animals using boiling or a pit method is highly efficient. These methods lead to high extraction rates with no tooth damage, while also rendering the meat from the skull edible and the bones usable for other applications, such as tool production.

Time, not space plus time, might be the single fundamental property in which all physical phenomena occur, according to a new theory by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist.

The theory also argues that time comes in three dimensions rather than just the single one we experience as continual forward progression. Space emerges as a secondary manifestation.

"These three time dimensions are the primary fabric of everything, like the canvas of a painting," said associate research professor Gunther Kletetschka at the UAF Geophysical Institute. "Space still exists with its three dimensions, but it's more like the paint on the canvas rather than the canvas itself."

Link to Paper:

https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/epdf/10.1142/S2424942425500045

By the time Curiosity’s current location formed, the long-lived lakes were gone in Gale Crater, the rover’s landing area, but water was still percolating under the surface­. The rover found dramatic evidence of that groundwater when it encountered crisscrossing low ridges, some just a few inches tall, arranged in what geologists call a boxwork pattern. The bedrock below these ridges likely formed when groundwater trickling through the rock left behind minerals that accumulated in those cracks and fissures, hardening and becoming cementlike. Eons of sandblasting by Martian wind wore away the rock but not the minerals, revealing networks of resistant ridges within.

The ridges Curiosity has seen so far look a bit like a crumbling curb. The boxwork patterns stretch across miles of a layer on Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain whose foothills the rover has been climbing since 2014. Intriguingly, boxwork patterns haven’t been spotted anywhere else on the mountain, either by Curiosity or orbiters passing overhead.

Summary

The manufacture and use of tools, while widespread in terrestrial animals1, has been less frequently reported in marine taxa. In cetaceans, clear examples of tool use are largely restricted to foraging contexts, with no reports of cetaceans fashioning tools by modifying objects. Here, we report evidence of the widespread manufacture and use of allogrooming tools in a population of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca ater).

Our work demonstrates the formation of nanoscale cavities in clay which is correlated with partial exfoliation, caused by the amino acid GABA. The findings of this study exemplify that irreversible structural changes in clay are induced by interaction with a meteorite-common, non-proteinogenic, weakly-interacting species that is not expected to undergo polymerisation, but instead creates 3D nanocompartments.

This sheds a new light on the possible significance of off-world organics, which possess a relatively high abundance of GABA and other exotic amino acids. It also demonstrates the need to revisit the role of clays beyond the synthesis of life’s building blocks, and explore their role in prebiotic compartmentalisation.

Apart from the field of origin of life, the unique exfoliant behaviour uncovered in this work introduces sustainable clay alteration possibilities for various applications in environmental, material and surface sciences. These include, among others; layered crystal engineering, toxic waste storage/management, soil treatment, development of Van-der-Waals heterostructures and diverse applications in the emerging field of nanogeochemistry.

A bold new era in space science has begun: ESA and OHB have officially partnered to launch LISA, the world’s first space-based gravitational wave observatory.

Flying three spacecraft in a triangle 2.5 million km apart, LISA will “listen” to ripples in spacetime from the most cataclysmic events in the cosmos, like colliding black holes. It’s not just a technological marvel, but a gateway to exploring hidden aspects of the Universe and challenging the very laws of physics.

Do ants think? Do bees feel?

Animals were once considered mindless – incapable of thoughts or feelings. 

These views dominated common thought for millennia, until research indicated that mammals and birds can think and feel similarly to how we do.

Now the magnifying glass is being aimed even lower – the six-legged kingdom.

Is bigger better?

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle placed insects and arachnids 10th in his scale of nature hierarchy, stamped between snails and jellyfish. 

It’s clear creepy crawlies are capable of something akin to thoughts. However, most seem to display very simple behaviours.

Swarm intelligence

Hymenoptera, the order enveloping bees and ants, exhibit complex behaviours like selective attention and social learning – both of which have long been observed in animals once thought to be of some ‘higher order’.

Each bee is an individual with a unique external experience, capable of deciphering conflicting food sources and potential threats and directing attention appropriately. 

Bee-haviour

Kit says it’s important to understand that bees are able to think and have some sort of feelings.

We seem to uncover more about their cognitive capacities every day.

Shocked researchers even managed to coax bumblebees into playing soccer.

A spinning universe isn't the only universe

To understand why a rotating universe implies more than one universe, Poplawski refers to "frames of reference." These are sets of coordinate systems that are integral to physics, which allow motion and rest to be measured.

Imagine two scientists, Terra and Stella. Each is in their own frame of reference, but Terra on Earth, Stella in a spacecraft traveling past our planet. Terra sees Stella's frame of reference (the spacecraft) moving in relation to her own (the Earth), which is at rest. Stella, meanwhile, sees her frame of reference at rest while it is Terra's frame of reference in motion as the Earth races away.

Poplawski pointed out that if the universe is rotating, then its frame of reference is rotating, and that only makes sense if it is rotating in relation to at least one other frame of reference.

"If the universe is rotating, it must rotate relative to some frame of reference corresponding to something bigger," he continued. "Therefore, the universe is not the only one; it is a part of a multiverse."

We found that the human niche began to expand substantially from 70 ka and that this expansion was driven by humans increasing their use of diverse habitat types, from forests to arid deserts. Thus, humans dispersing out of Africa after 50 ka were equipped with a distinctive ecological flexibility among hominins as they encountered climatically challenging habitats, providing a key mechanism for their adaptive success.

A research team led by Occidental College has identified a previously unknown symbiosis; deep sea spiders that cultivate and feed on bacteria that oxidize methane.

Three undescribed species of Sericosura sea spiders were discovered to host dense layers of methane- and methanol-consuming microbes on their exoskeletons. The microbes not only thrive there but serve as a dominant primary nutritional source for the spiders.

"I Located A UFO Base In Arizona!" (ft. Ross Coulthart) Jesse Michels

If it exists, Planet Nine would be a true giant, roughly 5-10 times the mass of Earth, orbiting somewhere between 400-800 times farther from the Sun than our planet does. At such an enormous distance, it would be incredibly faint and nearly impossible to spot with traditional telescope searches that rely on detecting reflected sunlight....

After this meticulous analysis, the researchers identified two candidates. Both objects appear in the predicted location and emit the amount of infrared light that theory suggests Planet Nine should produce. While this doesn't constitute definitive proof, it represents the most promising lead in the search for our Solar System's hidden giant.

These discoveries mark an important milestone, but the journey isn't over. The candidates require follow up observations with more powerful telescopes to confirm whether they're truly moving in ways consistent with Planet Nine, or whether they're imposters, perhaps background galaxies or other astronomical objects.

If confirmed, the discovery of Planet Nine would revolutionise our understanding of how our Solar System formed and evolved. It would also demonstrate the power of thinking creatively about astronomical searches, sometimes the best way to find something isn't to look directly at it, but to feel its warmth instead!

This work shows that humans have been using the site for much of the last 48,000 years or more. Occupations bridge the Middle to Later Stone Age transition, which occurred sometime between about 40,000 and 25,000 years ago in southern Africa.

That transition is a time period where we see dramatic changes in the technologies people were using, including changes in raw materials selected for making tools and a shift towards smaller tools. These changes are poorly understood due to a lack of sites with occupations dating to this time. Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1 is the first site on the southern coast that provides a continuous occupational record near the end of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and documents how life changed for people living on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain.

Before the Ice Age, people there collected marine resources like shellfish when the coastline was close to the site. As the climate began to cool and sea levels dropped, they shifted their focus to land-based resources and game animals.

The Bogong moth follows the stars to fly hundreds of miles

Since stars appear in predictable patterns each night, scientists suspected they might help lead the way. They placed moths in a flight simulator that mimicked the night sky above them and blocked out the Earth’s magnetic field, noting where they flew. Then they scrambled the stars and saw how the moths reacted.

When the stars were as they should be, the moths flapped in the right direction. But when the stars were in random places, the moths were disoriented. Their brain cells also got excited in response to specific orientations of the night sky.