Sunday, February 25, 2024

How to develop ‘ethical AI’ and avoid potential dangers

After a year of hype surrounding the latest version of ChatGPT and other new AI tools, governments are starting to make concerted efforts to bring in effective regulations on the use of this powerful technology.

NEWSROOM

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

UNESCO first developed its Recommendations on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence back in 2021, when much of the world was preoccupied by another international threat, the COVID-19 pandemic. The Recommendations, which were adopted by the 194 UNESCO Member States, contain concrete guidance on how public and private money can be channelled to programmes that benefit society.

Since then, a great deal of work has been done to put this guidance into practice, with legislators, experts and civil society representatives meeting at UNESCO forums to share information and report on progress.

Shortly after the 2024 forum, which took place in Slovenia in early February, Conor Lennon from UN News spoke to some of the participants: Aisen Etcheverry, Minister of Science and Technology in the Chilean Government; Irakli Khodeli, Head of the AI Ethics unit at UNESCO; and Mary Snapp, Vice President of Strategic AI Initiatives at Microsoft.

Aisen Etcheverry: We were one of the first countries to not only adopt the Recommendations, but also to implement them, with a model that ensures AI is being used ethically and responsibly. So, when ChatGPT came on to the market, and we saw all the questions it raised, we already had expert research centres in place, and capabilities within the government. Our companies were already working with AI, and we had basically all the pieces of the puzzle to tackle a discussion that is complicated on the regulation side.

Over the last year things have evolved, and we’ve seen an increase in the use of AI by government and agencies, so we launched something similar to an executive order, basically instructions on how to use AI responsibly.

One great example is at the agency charged with providing social benefits. They generated a model that allows them to predict which people are least likely to ask for the benefits that they’re entitled to. Then they send people to go and visit those who have been identified, to inform them of their entitlements. I think it’s a beautiful example of how technology can enhance the public sector, without removing the human interaction that is so important, in the way governments and citizens interact.

UN News: What is your government doing to protect citizens from those who want to use AI in harmful ways?

Aisen Etcheverry: The UNESCO recommendations really helped us to develop critical thinking about AI, and regulations. We have been having public consultations with experts, and we hope that we can present a bill to Congress in March.

We have also been thinking about how we can train people, not necessarily in programming, but to empower those who are using and designing AI, so that they are more responsible for the outcome, from a more social perspective.

On a related subject, we need to remember that there is a digital divide: many people do not have access to digital tools. We need regional and international cooperation to ensure that they benefit from this technology.

Irakli Khodeli: Tackling the digital divide is a big part of the UNESCO recommendations. One of the fundamental ideas on which the agency is based is that science, and the fruits of scientific progress, should be equitably divided amongst all peoples. That rings true for Artificial Intelligence, because it holds so much promise for assisting humans in achieving our socio-economic and developmental goals.

That’s why it’s important that, when we talk about the ethical use and development of AI, we don’t just focus on the technologically advanced part of the world, where the companies are actually wielding these tools, but we also reach out to the global south countries that are in different stages of development, to involve them in this conversation about the global governance of AI.

Mary Snapp: Technology is a tool that can enhance human experience, or it can be used as a weapon. That’s been true since the printing press and it’s true now. So, it’s very important for us, as an industry, to ensure that there are safety breaks, that we know what computers can do and what technology can do, and what it should not do.

Frankly, in the case of social media, perhaps we didn’t address the issues earlier on; this is an opportunity to really work together early on, to attempt to mitigate what could be some more negative effects, while still recognizing the tremendous promise of the technology.

UN News: At the UNESCO meeting in Slovenia, Microsoft signed up to an agreement to develop AI on ethical lines. What does that mean in practice?

Mary Snapp: In 2019, we created an office of responsible AI, that sits within [Microsoft President] Brad Smith’s organization. This office has a team of experts; not only technology experts, but also humanities academics, sociologists, and anthropologists. We do things like “red teaming” [using ethical hackers to emulate real attacks on technology], encouraging the AI to do harmful things, so that we can mitigate that.

We don’t necessarily share exactly how the technology will work, but we want to ensure that we are sharing the same principles with our competitors. Working side by side with UNESCO is absolutely critical to doing this work right for humanity.

This discussion is taken from the latest episode of the UN’s flagship news podcast, The Lid Is On, which covers the various ways that the UN is involved in global efforts to make AI, and other forms of online technology safer.

Guinea’s junta lifts internet curbs

AFP

The military authorities in Guinea have lifted restrictions on internet access, three months after they were imposed sparking protests, AFP correspondents reported Friday.

The move came a day after trades unions in the West African country announced an unlimited general strike from Monday to pressure the junta to release a prominent media activist, cut food prices and restore internet access.

The military, which seized power in a coup in 2021, had said the internet restrictions were needed because of a security “problem”.

On Monday, they dissolved the transitional government, which had been in office since July 2022.

The junta did not give a reason for scrapping the government, a move that has exacerbated tensions in the country.

Under international pressure, it promised to hand back power to elected civilians by the end of 2024 but the opposition has accused it of authoritarian drift.

Journalists have been at the forefront of protests against media censorship.

In addition to curbing access to the internet, the authorities have blocked major television channels and jammed radio frequencies.

Sekou Jamal Pendessa, secretary general of the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG), was arrested in January for “participating in an unauthorised protest”.

He was sentenced on Friday to six months in prison, of which three were suspended, his lawyer Salifou Beavogui told AFP.

“It’s an innocent man who has just been convicted,” Beavogui said, adding he had lodged an appeal.

Unions and media watchdog Reporters Without Borders are demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

It is “a terrible blow to press freedom”, said Jeanne Lagarde of Reporters Without Borders.

Protests have been banned since 2022 by the military, who ousted elected president Alpha Conde in September 2021.

The resumption of internet access overnight Thursday-Friday surprised many in Guinea and sparked a flurry of social media comments.

“This country’s worst enemies are its governments, especially this transitional team,” said one commentator.

“They are trying to curry favour now by making us believe these internet restrictions were the work of only a few people in the dismissed (administration).”

Canadian contribution to private lunar lander could lead to a telescope on the moon

Odysseus lander touched down on the lunar south pole after a nail-biting few days

AND PROMPTLY FELL OVER WITH A BROKEN STRUT

Bob McDonald · CBC Radio · Posted: Feb 23, 2024

This image provided by Intuitive Machines shows its Odysseus lunar lander over the near side of the moon before it descended successfully to the moon's surface. (Intuitive Machines/The Associated Press)

The first private spacecraft to softly land on the moon carries a Canadian instrument that will test the possibility of building an observatory at the Lunar south pole.

The phone booth-sized lander by Intuitive Machines, named Odysseus, launched on Feb. 15 and touched down on Thursday near a small impact crater about 300 kilometers from the moon's south pole.

It was a stressful event with navigation and communication issues, but 15 nail-biting minutes after it landed, mission control confirmed that they were receiving a faint but steady signal from the spacecraft.

"What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we are transmitting," said Intuitive Machines mission director Tim Crain.

"Houston, Odysseus has found his new home."
WATCH | NASA's livestream of the Odysseus lunar landing:

Odysseus carries a suite of twelve instruments, six of which are from NASA and the rest from commercial companies.

The Canadian component, built by space systems company Canadensys, is a miniaturized dual camera with one wide-field lens and one telephoto lens, that will point upwards to take images of the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as other astronomical objects including the Earth.

This is a proof of concept study to determine whether the south pole of the moon is a good place for an astronomical observatory. It will also be a test of whether images from space can be broadcast back to Earth, which is very low on the horizon from the lunar polar regions.

The camera is named ILO-X after the International Lunar Observatory Association, a non-profit enterprise incorporated in Hawaii that promotes the concept of building astronomical observatories on the moon.

Part of the camera system designed by Canadian company Canadensys, which hopes to capture the first images of the Milky Way galactic centre from the surface of the Moon. (Canadensys)

Astronomers would be delighted to have an observatory on the moon because it provides the clear, airless view of the universe that you get from a space telescope, with the added benefit of being on land. That means there are no size limits, and in astronomy, size matters.

While the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have returned astounding images, those instruments were limited by the space available in the nose cone of a rocket. In fact, Webb had to be folded up to take the ride to space.

A telescope on the moon could be built much larger and provide even finer details of the universe. An observatory on the far side of the moon would be shielded from noisy radio chatter bouncing around Earth.

This image from video provided by SpaceX via NASA TV shows Intuitive Machines' lunar lander separating from the rocket's upper stage and heading toward the moon. (SpaceX/NASA TV/The Associated Press)

High-tech industries across the country are building precision scientific instruments and sending them to space. And Canadian scientists have been doing this from the very start of the space race, with our first satellite Alouette One launched in 1962. That made us the third country in space after the Soviet Union and America.

Canada is best known for its astronauts and robotic Canadarm but we have also built satellites such as the Radarsat constellation. We also flew instruments to Mars, including one that measures cloud cover and another that analyzes the chemistry of rocks. Canadian instruments are also part of the James Webb Space Telescope.

We are a space-faring country, but we don't make a lot of noise about it. Rather than build big expensive rockets, we join with other countries and go along for the ride — a much cheaper way to explore space. While our instruments may be small, they still make significant contributions.

Perhaps our little camera on this mission could be a small step that leads to a giant leap for astronomy.

A giant meteorite has been lost in the desert

since 1916—here’s how we might find it

A tale of "sand dunes, a guy named Gaston, secret aeromagnetic surveys, and camel drivers."

JENNIFER OUELLETTE - 2/23/2024,

Enlarge / Chinguetti slice at the National Museum of Natural History.

A larger meteorite reported in 1916 hasn't been spotted since.

Claire H./CC BY-SA 2.0 80

In 1916, a French consular official reported finding a giant "iron hill" deep in the Sahara desert, roughly 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Chinguetti, Mauritania—purportedly a meteorite (technically a mesosiderite) some 40 meters (130 feet) tall and 100 meters (330 feet) long. He brought back a small fragment, but the meteorite hasn't been found again since, despite the efforts of multiple expeditions, calling its very existence into question.

Three British researchers have conducted their own analysis and proposed a means of determining once and for all whether the Chinguetti meteorite really exists, detailing their findings in a new preprint posted to the physics arXiv. They contend that they have narrowed down the likely locations where the meteorite might be buried under high sand dunes and are currently awaiting access to data from a magnetometer survey of the region in hopes of either finding the mysterious missing meteorite or confirming that it likely never existed.

Captain Gaston Ripert was in charge of the Chinguetti camel corps. One day he overheard a conversation among the chameliers (camel drivers) about an unusual iron hill in the desert. He convinced a local chief to guide him there one night, taking Ripert on a 10-hour camel ride along a "disorienting" route, making a few detours along the way. He may even have been literally blindfolded, depending on how one interprets the French phrase en aveugle, which can mean either "blind" (i.e. without a compass) or "blindfolded." The 4-kilogram fragment Ripert collected was later analyzed by noted geologist Alfred Lacroix, who considered it a significant discovery. But when others failed to locate the larger Chinguetti meteorite, people started to doubt Ripert's story.

"I know that the general opinion is that the stone does not exist; that to some, I am purely and simply an imposter who picked up a metallic specimen," Ripert wrote to French naturalist Theodore Monod in 1934. "That to others, I am a simpleton who mistook a sandstone outcrop for an enormous meteorite. I shall do nothing to disabuse them, I know only what I saw."

Encouraged by a separate report of local blacksmiths claiming to recover iron from a giant block somewhere east or southeast of Chinguetti, Monod intermittently searched for the meteorite several times over the ensuing decades, to no avail. A pilot named Jacques Gallouédec thought he spotted a dark silhouette in the Saharan dunes in the 1980s. But neither Monod nor a second expedition in the late 1990s—documented by the UK's Channel 4—could find anything. Monod concluded in 1989 that Ripert had likely mistakenly identified a sedimentary rock "with no trace of metal" as a meteorite.

Still, as Rutgers University physicist Matt Buckley noted on Bluesky, "This story has everything: giant unexplained meteorites, sand dunes, a guy named Gaston, ductile nickel needles, secret aeromagnetic surveys, and camel drivers." So naturally, it intrigued Stephen Warren of Imperial College London, Oxford University's Ekaterini Protopapa, and Robert Warren, who began their own search for the mysterious missing meteorite in 2020.

US Government panel calls for limiting federal purchases of products with ‘forever chemicals’

An influential federal advisory committee is recommending that federal agencies phase out the purchase of products containing the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

In a February 1 letter to the General Services Administration, the GSA Acquisition Policy Federal Advisory Committee lists “minimizing acquisition of products containing [PFAS]” among several calls to improve how the government incorporates climate and sustainability priorities into its billion-dollar purchasing decisions.

The GSA negotiates federal contracts for cookware, furniture, carpets and thousands of other products and serves as the hub for shaping federal purchasing policy. The government buys over $650 billion every year in goods and services, so vowing to shift purchases toward only products free of PFAS would be an enormous chance to push the marketplace to supply safer alternatives to products containing forever chemicals.

Possible paths forward

Actions recommended by the advisory committee include limiting PFAS in purchasing contracts and dropping products containing the forever chemicals from its supply chain if alternatives are available. The advisors say the GSA could also require companies to confirm their products do not contain PFAS when there are cost-competitive alternatives made without the chemicals.

“PFAS, known for their persistence and recognized for adverse effects on human health and the environment, pose a significant concern in the realm of federal procurement,” the letter says. Members of the panel include state, local and federal government officials, industry representatives, academics and other experts.

GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan will now consider the recommendations, which, if adopted, could provide a powerful boost in the fight against the PFAS contamination crisis.

Companies already offer thousands of PFAS-free options for common products, such as carpets, furniture, cookware and food packaging, flooring and floor finishes.

Calling for change

Carnahan chartered the advisory panel in July 2022 to, among other things, provide recommendations to the GSA for “driving regulatory, policy, and process changes required to embed climate and sustainability considerations in federal acquisition.”

The committee was formed following the release of an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and subsequent White House directives that instruct federal agencies to prioritize substitutes for products that contain PFAS.

In December 2022, EWG and 25 other advocacy groups sent a letter to Carnahan outlining recommendations about how the government could phase out the purchase of items containing forever chemicals. The groups cited Biden’s order, saying “the private sector is ready to respond” to the demand for PFAS-free products.

The GSA’s leadership is crucial to ending unnecessary uses of PFAS in the federal government. The recommendations of the advisory committee echo those made by environmental and public health advocates in their letter to the GSA. It is imperative the GSA swiftly adopt and implement the panel’s recommendations.

Other federal agencies have a vital role to play in tackling PFAS, including the Environmental Protection Agency, which has proposed – but not yet finalized – first-time drinking water standards for six PFAS. These chemicals have been studied extensively and are linked to serious health harms, including cancer and damage to the reproductive and immune systems.

But the White House needs to end its delay in finalizing the standards. More than 200 million Americans could be drinking water contaminated with PFAS. The full scale of the problem is likely worse than has already been confirmed. Swift regulatory action is needed to turn off the tap of PFAS pollution.

Health risks

PFAS are among the most persistent compounds in existence, contaminating everything from drinking water to food, food packaging and personal care products. They are found in the blood of virtually everyone, including newborn babies.

Very low doses of PFAS in drinking water have been linked to suppression of the immune system, including reduced vaccine efficacy, and an increased risk of certain cancers. PFAS are linked with increased cholesterol, reproductive and developmental problems and other health harms.

Given these risks, fighting the PFAS contamination problem requires an all-of-government approach, and the GSA now has the opportunity to step up to the challenge.

Archaeology

Researchers find that Żagań-Lutnia5 is an Iron Age stronghold

Image Credit : Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments

By:Mark Milligan

Date:

February 23, 2024

Archaeology

Archaeologists have conducted a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of Żagań-Lutnia5, revealing that the monument is an Iron Age stronghold.

Żagań-Lutnia5 was first discovered in the 1960s near the town of Żagań in western Poland, with previous studies suggesting that the monument could be associated with the Białowieża group of the Lusatian urnfield culture.

The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300–500 BC) in most of what is now Poland. It formed part of the Urnfield systems found from eastern France, southern Germany and Austria to Hungary, and the Nordic Bronze Age in northwestern Germany and Scandinavia.

A recent study led by Dr. Arkadiusz Michalak on behalf of the Archaeological Museum of the Middle Oder River has revealed two parallel sequences of magnetic anomalies at Żagań-Lutnia5 that represent the remnants of earthen and wooden fortifications.

The course of the fortifications were recorded in the northern, western and southern parts of the study area, however, a study of the eastern section was limited due to a sewage collector built in the 1990’s.

Exploratory excavations found four cultural layers with remains of huts and hearths, in addition to a burnt layer from the last phase of occupation that suggests a period of conflict.

According to the researchers, the monument was likely built by the same people who constructed the stronghold in Wicin and a number of verified defensive settlements within the area of the Elbe, Nysa Łużycka and Odra.

As a result of the study, Żagań-Lutnia5 has been added to the catalogue of verified Early Iron Age strongholds located in today’s Lubusz Voivodeship.

Header Image Credit : Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments

Sources : Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments – Archaeological research at the site of Żagań-Lutnia5

Rare copper dagger found in Polish forest

Image Credit : Łukasz Śliwiński

By:Mark Milligan
February 23, 2024
Archaeology

A rare copper dagger from over 4,000-years-ago has been discovered in the forests near Korzenica, southeastern Poland.

Piotr Gorlach from the Historical and Exploration Association Grupa Jarosław made the discovery during a metal detector survey in Jarosław Forest.

Upon realising the significance of the find, Mr Gorlach contacted the Podkarpacie conservator of monuments in Przemyśl and the Orsetti House Museum.

The dagger dates from over 4,000 years ago, a period in which objects made from copper were extremely rare in the Central European Plain.

A preliminary study indicates that the dagger may originate from the Carpathian Basin or Ukrainian steppe, and predates the development of bronze metallurgy for the region.

This transition is traditionally known as the Copper Age and marked a gradual incorporation of copper while stone remained the primary resource utilised.

Dr. Elżbieta Sieradzka-Burghardt from the museum in Jarosław, said: “This is a period of enormous change in the main raw materials for the production of tools. Instead of flint tools commonly used in the Stone Age, more and more metal products appear heralding the transition to the next period – the Bronze Age.”

Daggers during this era were a universal attribute of warriors, however, being made from copper suggests that the owner held a high social status. This is further supported by its size measuring 10.5 cm in length, which for this period is actually very large when compared to other metal objects from the same era.

The dagger has already been added to the collection of the Orsetti House Museum in Jarosław.

Header Image Credit : Łukasz Śliwiński

Sources : PAP – A dagger from over 4,000 years ago found in the forest.

Bronze Age Settlement Found in Switzerland

Friday, February 23, 2024

HEIMBERG, SWITZERLANDD—A Bronze Age settlement thought to have been inhabited between 3,200 and 3,500 years ago has been found in the Swiss Plateau, beside the Aare River, according to a Newsweek report. The ancient village likely sat along a route between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. Researchers from the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern (ASCB) discovered the settlement during an excavation conducted ahead of a construction project. “What is exciting about the Heimberg site is that no settlement from the Middle Bronze Age was previously known at this location,” said ASCB archaeologist Regine Stapfer. Pits filled with stones were among the structures uncovered by the project. The stones, Stapfer explained, appear to have been shattered by heat. “It is not clear what these pits with the fragmented stones were used for,” she said. Similar pits have been unearthed at other Middle Bronze Age sites, however. Researchers think they may have been used to provide warmth or to cook food. Clay may have been extracted from other pits at Heimberg, Stapfer added. The clay would have been used to plaster the wicker walls of houses or to produce the abundant ceramics found at the site. “We know of no burial ground for the settlement and therefore have no evidence of the people who inhabited the settlement,” Stapfer concluded.

Possible Royal Ring Discovered in Denmark

Friday, February 23, 2024

(National Museum of Denmark)

EMMERLEV, DENMARK—Live Science reports that a metal detectorist discovered a gold ring set with a semiprecious red stone in the hamlet of Emmerlev, which is located in the Southern Jutland region of Denmark. Archaeologist Kirstine Pommergaard of the National Museum of Denmark said that the ring has been dated to the fifth or sixth century A.D., and may have belonged to a local royal family connected to the Frankish kings known as the Merovingians, based upon its spirals and trefoil knobs usually associated with Frankish craftsmanship. The red stone could also be a symbol of power, she added. “The gold ring is probably a woman’s ring and may have belonged to a prince’s daughter who was married to a prince in Emmerlev,” Pommergaard said. “Gold is typically [a] diplomatic gift, and we know that people have married into alliances.” She thinks the royal family in Emmerlev may have controlled an area between Ribe, a trade center in Southwest Jutland, and Hedeby, a Danish trade center in what is now Germany. Discoveries of other valuable ancient items in the surrounding area suggest that elites in Southern Jutland may have controlled important trade links and wielded greater influence than previously thought, added archaeologist Anders Hartvig of the Museum Sønderjylland. To read about Iron Age jewelry uncovered on the Danish island of Zealand, go to "Splendid Surprise."

Tool Analysis Suggests Neanderthals Mixed

Compound Adhesives

Friday, February 23, 2024

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—According to a statement released by New York University, stone tools recovered in France from the Neanderthal site of Le Moustier in the 1960s have been reexamined by an international team of researchers. The team, led by Patrick Schmidt of the University of Tübingen, detected traces of ocher and bitumen on several of the scrapers, flakes, and blades. “We were surprised that the ochre content was more than 50 percent,” Schmidt said. “This is because air-dried bitumen can be used unaltered as an adhesive, but loses its adhesive properties when such large proportions of ochre are added,” he explained. The researchers then tested liquid bitumen and bitumen mixed with various levels of ocher. They found that a mix made up of 55 percent ocher and 45 percent bitumen was just sticky enough to hold a stone tool and yet not stick to the hands, making it a suitable handle. Team member Radu Iovita of New York University said that microscopic examination of the ancient tools revealed wear on the sharp edges from use on other materials, and bright polish on other areas of the tools, where they may have been abraded by the movement of the tool within a grip made of ocher and bitumen. “Compound adhesives are considered to be among the first expressions of the modern cognitive processes that are still active today,” Schmidt concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science Advances. To read about the earliest known piece of cord, go to "Twisted Neanderthal Tech."

Neanderthals used surprisingly sophisticated glue 40,000 years ago

Neanderthals crafted sophisticated adhesives from ochre and bitumen.

byTibi Puiu
February 23, 2024

A stone tool glued to a handle using liquid bitumen with the addition of 55 percent ochre. It is no longer sticky and can be handled easily. Image courtesy of Patrick Schmidt, University of Tübingen.

Neanderthals, our closest extinct cousins who roamed Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before modern humans entered the picture, were more intelligent and resourceful than meets the eye. According to new findings, Neanderthals, crafted stone tools using a multifaceted adhesive that is surprisingly effective and clever.

The researchers analyzed ancient tools excavated from Le Moustier, a renowned archaeological site in France. These tools, dating back to the Middle Palaeolithic period, reveal that Neanderthals were not only skilled craftsmen but also possessed a nuanced understanding of materials.

The ancient adhesive is a mixture of ochre and bitumen on the tools — ingredients that require careful selection and preparation.

This finding challenges the long-standing narrative of Neanderthals as mere brute survivors. Instead, they were quite thoughtful innovators, not all that different from our species and their Stone Age technology. The adhesives discovered suggest a level of planning, experimentation, and environmental knowledge that aligns Neanderthals more closely with early modern humans than previously recognized.

“These astonishingly well-preserved tools showcase a technical solution broadly similar to examples of tools made by early modern humans in Africa, but the exact recipe reflects a Neanderthal ‘spin,’ which is the production of grips for handheld tools,” said Radu Iovita, an associate professor at New York University’s Center for the Study of Human Origins

A recipe from the ancient past

The research, a collaborative effort involving experts from New York University, the University of Tübingen, and the National Museums in Berlin, re-examines artifacts that had been largely overlooked since their discovery in the early 20th century. Some of the stone tools are as ancient as 120,000 years old. The tools, once unwrapped from their decades-long slumber, revealed traces of a concoction that is both simple and sophisticated.

By combining ochre, a natural pigment, with bitumen, a type of natural asphalt, Neanderthals created an adhesive that was effective yet elegant. The mixture was adept at binding stone tools to handles without sticking to the hands, a balance that even modern adhesives may struggle to achieve. This composition facilitates the crafting of durable tools while showing a deeper understanding of material properties on the part of the glue’s craftsmen.

While bitumen alone can act as glue, the addition of ochre in just the right amounts (over 50% in some cases) made the ‘product’ a lot better. The researchers recreated the recipe and performed stress tests, proving the effectiveness of the Neanderthal glue.

“It was different when we used liquid bitumen, which is not really suitable for gluing. If 55 percent ochre is added, a malleable mass is formed,” said lead researcher Patrick Schmidt from the University of Tübingen.

Liquid bitumen and the earth pigment ochre prior to mixing.

Image courtesy of Patrick Schmidt, University of Tübingen.

Microscopic analyses further confirmed the use of these adhesives, showing wear patterns indicative of applied grips, not merely accidental smudges. Such evidence points to a deliberate design, pushing back the timeline for complex adhesive use in Europe by thousands of years.
A reflection on human evolution

The implications of this study extend beyond the adhesive itself. The effort to gather materials from distant locations, the precision in mixing, and the application of the adhesive all suggest a level of cognitive sophistication that demands a re-evaluation of Neanderthal society.

Although Neanderthals and Homo sapiens split from a common ancestor roughly half a million years ago, their technological achievements converge into a common thread, suggesting parallel paths of thought and invention.

Previously, researchers uncovered a pendant made from ancient eagle talons and cave paintings in Spain made by Neanderthal artists.

The new study appeared in the journal Science Advances.

Workplace injuries rise after states legalize recreational marijuana

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN NORTH AMERICA DOES MANDATORY

DRUG TESTING TO AVOID THIS FOR OVER THREE DECADES

U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics for 2006 through 2020 show that legal "recreational marijuana sales were associated with a 10% increase in workplace injuries among individuals aged 20 to 34 years," the study authors concluded. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

After states legalize the sale of weed for recreational use, on-the-job injuries rise among younger workers, new research shows.

They note that prior research involving older workers did not show this effect. In fact, older workers' injury rates typically decline after recreational weed is made legal in their state, perhaps because older folk are only using their marijuana to ease pain.

In contrast, the rise in injury among younger workers may be because "marijuana use diminishes workers' cognitive functioning or acts as a gateway to harder drugs," the researchers theorized.

The study was published Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum and co-led by Dr. Joseph Sabia, chair of the economics department at San Diego State University.

As the researchers noted, "since 2012, 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the possession and sale of small quantities of marijuana for recreational purposes."

Would such moves encourage young workers to get high on the job, putting their performance at risk?

To find out, Sabia's group used Bureau of Labor statistics to track changes in the rate of workplace injuries among young employees, before and after laws allowing recreational marijuana sales were adopted in their state.

"Two and 3 years post-adoption, injuries were significantly higher," the research team concluded.

Among 20-to-34-year-olds generally, on-the-job injuries rose by 10% on average, and when the data focused on folks solely engaged in full-time work, the researchers observed an 11.9% rise.

Sabia's group believe that a loosening of laws around recreational marijuana may hurt younger workers, specifically. That's "consistent with the hypothesis that recreational marijuana impedes [their] cognitive function and care," the researchers said.

More information

Find out more about marijuana's effect on work performance at the National Safety Council.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Archaeologists have conducted a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of Żagań-Lutnia5, revealing that the monument is an Iron Age stronghold.

A rare copper dagger from over 4,000-years-ago has been discovered in the forests near Korzenica, southeastern Poland.

Workplace injuries rise after states legalize recreational marijuana

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