To craft early tools, ancient human relatives transported stones over long distances 600,000 years earlier than previously thought

Stone tools unearthed in Kenya reveal that hominins regularly moved raw materials several miles

Smithsonian

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Oldowan stone tools made from a variety of raw materials sourced more than 6 miles away from where they were found in southwestern Kenya.

Durable and versatile tools like these were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

The development of the Oldowan toolkit made it possible for early humans to consume large prey. Around three million years ago, ancient hominins began refining their toolmaking, using hammerstones to strike stone cores and create sharp-edged flakes. By pounding, slicing and scraping, these stone tools could process and refine a greater variety of plant and animal materials.

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Credit: E.M Finestone, J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

In southwestern Kenya more than 2.6 million years ago, ancient humans wielded an array of stone tools—known collectively as the Oldowan toolkit—to pound plant material and carve up large prey such as hippopotamuses.

These durable and versatile tools were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

“People often focus on the tools themselves, but the real innovation of the Oldowan may actually be the transport of resources from one place to another,” said Rick Potts, the senior author of the study and the National Museum of Natural History’s Peter Buck Chair of Human Origins. “The knowledge and intent to bring stone material to rich food sources was apparently an integral part of toolmaking behavior at the outset of the Oldowan.”

In the new Scientific Advances study led by Emma Finestone, the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Finestone and Potts worked with several colleagues to analyze stone tools uncovered on Kenya’s Homa Peninsula, a fossil-rich region that juts out into the eastern margins of Lake Victoria. Potts first surveyed the region’s fossil sites in 1985. In the years since, he has worked closely with colleagues at the National Museums of Kenya to excavate the area’s gullies as part of the ongoing Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project, which Potts co-directs with Queens College professor Thomas Plummer, another co-author of the new paper. Finestone joined the project in 2012, when she began working with Plummer to reconstruct hominin tool behavior on the Homa Peninsula and understand how toolmakers moved around the landscape.

One of the peninsula’s most significant sites is known as Nyayanga and contains archaeological finds dating back some three million years. A series of recent excavations yielded a trove of stone tools and hundreds of butchered hippopotamus bones. In a 2023 paper, Plummer, Potts, Finestone and their colleagues posited that these bones represent the oldest known evidence of ancient hominins using stone tools to butcher large animals.

“Hominins were using stone tools for a variety of pounding and cutting tasks, including processing plant and animal foods and working wood,” Plummer said. “The diversity of activities that used stone tools suggests that even at this early stage of cultural development stone tools enhanced the adaptability of the hominins using them.”

The development of the Oldowan toolkit made it possible for early humans to consume large prey. Around three million years ago, ancient hominins began refining their toolmaking, using hammerstones to strike stone cores and create sharp-edged flakes. By pounding, slicing and scraping, these stone tools could process and refine a greater variety of plant and animal materials.

Finding the right rocks was vital. Oldowan tools needed to be fashioned from stones that were strong yet brittle enough to easily flake. However, the local rocks at Nyayanga are relatively soft, and would produce cutting tools that would quickly dull and pounding tools that would be more likely to shatter. Like using a flimsy plastic knife trying to cut through a well-done steak, these stones would have been of little use for pounding tough plants or breaking animal bones.

As a result, hominins at Nyayanga appear to have brought in stronger stones from other areas. The researchers analyzed the geochemistry of hundreds of stone cores and flakes found at Nyayanga that date back at least 2.6 million years. They discovered that these tools were crafted from volcanic rocks like rhyolite and metamorphic rocks like quartzite. The scientists surveyed local geology and discovered that these rock types were common in drainage basins several miles east of the Homa Peninsula.

According to Finestone, Nyayanga stones are significantly older than other known examples of ancient stone transport. Previously, the oldest evidence of hominins moving rocks over significant distances was a 2-million-year-old site known as Kanjera South that is also located on the Homa Peninsula.

“It’s surprising because the Nyayanga assemblage is early in the Oldowan and we previously thought that longer transport distances may have been related to changes that happened in our more recent evolutionary history,” she said.

The distance ancient hominins traveled for stones analyzed in this study is also noteworthy. While many nonhuman primates carry food and rocks, they only utilize materials that are nearby. Some, like chimpanzees, are known to transport stones over short distances. But the hominins at Nyayanga appear to have consistently procured material from over six miles away.

The ability to transport resources is a major milestone in human evolution. According to Potts, it exhibits ancient hominins’ ability to plan ahead and assess the requirements for processing food. It also illustrates an ability to mentally map their environment and remember locations with high-quality rocks.

“The mental maps of the oldest known hominins to persistently make stone tools well surpassed their immediate surroundings, even surpassing a few miles,” Potts said.

Once ancient hominins brought their lithic haul back to Nyayanga, they fashioned the stones into flakes and cores. But the identity of these toolmakers remains elusive. At the oldest hippo butchery site, the team discovered a molar tooth from a hominin in the genus Paranthropus, a group that sported strong skulls and teeth to grind tough material. Another Paranthropus tooth was found nearby on the surface of the same geological bed. The existence of Paranthropus teeth alongside Oldowan stone tools hints that these hominins may have used stone tools like their close evolutionary relatives in the genus Homo.

However, the case is far from closed.

“Unless you find a hominin fossil actually holding a tool, you won’t be able to say definitively which species are making which stone tool assemblages,” Finestone said. “But I think that the research at Nyayanga suggests that there is a greater diversity of hominins making early stone tools than previously thought.”

The artifacts at Nyayanga also underscore that ancient humans have transported raw materials to fuel technological innovations for millions of years.

“Humans have always relied on tools to solve adaptive challenges," Finestone said. “By understanding how this relationship began, we can better see our connection to it today—especially as we face new challenges in a world shaped by technology."

In addition to Potts, the new paper includes contributions from Rahab Kinyanjui and Michael Petraglia, who also are affiliated with the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program. The study includes authors affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology; University of Oxford; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; George Washington University; University of Nairobi; Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology; University of Nottingham Ningbo China; Illinois State Museum; National Museums of Kenya; Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University; University of Queensland; King’s College London; Sapienza University of Rome; and the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University.

This research was supported by a collaborative agreement with the National Museums of Kenya and the Government of Kenya and by funding from the Smithsonian, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the National Science Foundation, the Leakey Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the Donner Foundation, Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz and the Peter Buck Fund for Human Origins Research.

 

About the National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History is connecting people everywhere with Earth’s unfolding story. It is one of the most visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world’s most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts. The museum is open daily, except Dec. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

About the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History illuminates the world around us and inspires visitors to engage with the natural forces that shape their lives. Since its founding in 1920, the museum has pioneered scientific research to advance knowledge across diverse fields of study and used its outstanding collections, which encompass millions of artifacts and specimens, to deepen the public’s understanding of the dynamic connections between humans and nature. Through its Natural Areas Program, the museum stewards more than 12,500 acres of protected ecosystems across northern Ohio. A community gathering place, educational center and research institution, the museum is a vital resource that serves Cleveland and the nation. For more information, visit CMNH.org.

 

ation site in July 2025. Tan and reddish-brown sediments are more than 2.6-million-year-old deposits where fossils and Oldowan tools are found.

Nyayanga is located on Kenya’s Homa Peninsula, a fossil-rich region that juts out into the eastern margins of Lake Victoria, and it contains archaeological finds dating back some three million years. A series of recent excavations at the site yielded a trove of stone tools and hundreds of butchered hippopotamus bones.

Durable and versatile tools found at the site were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

 

An Oldowan flake that was found alongside a hippopotamus shoulder bone at a hippo butchery site excavated in Nyayanga.

Durable and versatile tools like this one were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

The identity of the toolmakers remains elusive. At the oldest hippo butchery site, the team discovered a molar tooth from a hominin in the genus Paranthropus, a group that sported strong skulls and teeth to grind tough material. Another Paranthropus tooth was found nearby on the surface of the same geological bed. The existence of Paranthropus teeth alongside Oldowan stone tools hints that these hominins may have used stone tools like their close evolutionary relatives in the genus Homo. However, the case is far from closed, according to the researchers.

Credit

T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adu5838 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Selective use of distant stone resources by the earliest Oldowan toolmakers

Article Publication Date

15-Aug-2025

 

Meet Allie, the AI-powered chess bot trained on data from 91 million games

Learning from humans could create better AI agents

Carnegie Mellon University

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Yiming Zhang didn't grow up playing chess. Like many other people, the Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. student discovered the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" during the pandemic and began playing online. However, he quickly realized how unnatural it felt playing against chess bots.

"After I learned the rules, I was in the bottom 10%, maybe 20% of players online," said Zhang, who is part of the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) in CMU's School of Computer Science. "For beginners, it's not interesting or instructive to play against chess bots because the moves they make are often bizarre and incomprehensible to humans."

Zhang's frustration led him to develop Allie, a chess bot powered by artificial intelligence that demonstrates the benefits of AI tools that think like humans. He believes training future AI systems to ponder and deliberate on complex problems could create better agents for use in therapy, education and medicine.

"There's been an obsession with building superhuman AI that's better at math or other reasoning tasks than most humans," said Daphne Ippolito, Zhang's adviser and an assistant professor in the LTI. "But there are a lot of opportunities for us to train AI models to act like humans, and I think that's worth exploring."

Allie plays similarly to a human and can adapt to various strengths, from beginner to expert. It was trained similarly to the language models that underpin modern chatbots, such as ChatGPT. But instead of feeding Allie text from the internet, the team trained it on 91 million transcripts from the popular chess platform Lichess. Exposing Allie to transcripts from chess games played by humans taught it how to make moves a human player would make, take time to contemplate critical positions, and resign when the game is unwinnable.

"I'm excited about how the adaptive methods we used combine classic AI search procedures with modeling of human behavior, and how that combination is better than either method on its own," said Daniel Fried, an assistant professor in the LTI who worked on the project. "Methods like the ones we used have already been applied in complex games such as Diplomacy, and I'm excited to see them used in other tasks where AI needs to act strategically, but in human-compatible ways."

Most chess engines are built with one goal: to win. They simulate countless future moves, pitting variations of themselves against each other in a self-improving loop with the absence of human data. This approach results in systems with nearly unbeatable strength, such as AlphaZero or Stockfish, making them unenjoyable opponents for casual players and beginners.

"Prior to Allie, a chess engine didn't exist that modeled how people think," Zhang said. "Chess bots instantly made moves in complex positions where humans would need time to consider various options, or would continue playing in completely lost positions where humans would normally resign. This made the chess AIs that existed seem unnatural."

When asked about future plans, the team explained that Allie is completely open source, and has amassed nearly 10,000 games since its deployment on Lichess.

"Our project is meaningful because it assesses how people interact with AI that attempts to be humanlike," Ippolito said. "We also deliberately built an open-source platform that people can build from."

Allie was presented at the 2025 International Conference on Learning Representations in Singapore, one of the premier venues for machine learning research. Zhang, Ippolito and Fried collaborated on the project with Athul Paul Jacob, a Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Vivian Lai, a researcher at Visa.

 

UBC Okanagan study suggests fasting effects on the body are not the same for everyone

Extended periods without food might have a different effect on the metabolic and immune systems of people living with obesity

University of British Columbia Okanagan campus

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While fasting has become a popular trend, particularly for people who hope to lose weight, new UBC Okanagan research suggests fasting does not have the same effect on all body types.

Fasting as part of a ketogenic—very low-carbohydrate—diet is becoming more popular, as people aim to burn stored fat as a fuel source for energy when their bodies run low on carbs.

Dr. Hashim Islam, Assistant Professor in UBCO’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences and the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, says fasting and low-carbohydrate meals can benefit many people, but the effects might be different for people living with obesity.

“These diet trends continue to grow in popularity,” says Dr. Islam. “But our study found that people with obesity may respond to fasting differently than leaner individuals, especially in how their immune systems react.”

Fasting has become trendy due to coverage in popular media, but lead author Dr. Helena Neudorf, says scientists also value it because it makes the body switch from burning sugar to burning fat while producing ketones.

She adds that fasting may improve health by changing metabolism to strengthen the immune system and reduce chronic inflammation, which is linked to many diseases.

“However, we wanted to find out if fasting affects metabolism and the immune system differently in people living with obesity compared to those who are lean.”

The research team had people with obesity and their lean counterparts fast for 48 hours. Participants gave blood samples before, during and after the fast, so the researchers could measure hormones, metabolites, metabolic rate, inflammation and activity of T cells—white blood cells that fight infections but can also cause chronic inflammation.

The study, led by Dr. Islam and Professor Jonathan Little’s research groups at UBCO’s Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, was recently published in iScience. It found that people living with obesity had more pro-inflammatory T cells, and kept producing inflammatory signals, even after fasting. This same group also had a smaller increase in ketones and lower levels of important chemical reactions linked to immune regulation—such as ketones attaching to amino acids or proteins.

“We also found the immune cells in lean participants adapted to fasting by burning more fat. This didn’t happen in those living with obesity,” says Dr. Neudorf. “Overall, their shift toward a more balanced, anti-inflammatory state was weaker in this particular group.”

Dr Islam notes that fasting can have health benefits, but obesity seems to reduce its effects on metabolism and the immune system.

“People living with obesity may respond differently to an isolated two-day fast compared to those who are leaner, but we don’t yet know if this is good or bad,” he adds. “Our study shows the complex relationship between nutrition, metabolism and immune function, and that more research is needed to see how fasting can be used as a therapeutic tool for people with different body types.”

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Journal

iScience

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2025.112872. 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Altered immunometabolic response to fasting in humans living with obesity

 

Critically endangered plains-wanderer found in unfamiliar territory

University of Adelaide

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Plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) female Deniliquin New South Wales Australia

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Credit: JJ Harrison

Researchers from the University of Adelaide have found a critically endangered bird known as the ‘Goldilocks’ of the grasslands in a previously unrecorded habitat niche in South Australia.

The Plains-wanderer is a ground-dwelling bird, so evolutionarily unique that it is often referred to as a living fossil.

It was believed to rely exclusively on sparce native grasslands, but new research, published in Ecology and Evolution, suggests its habitat preference may be more flexible than previously thought.

Saskia Gerhardy, a PhD candidate with the University of Adelaide, was part of a team of researchers that discovered the 272 Plains-wanderers in South Australia living at the edge of their current known range.

“It was a surprise to find one Plains-wanderer, let alone 272,” says Saskia.

“South Australia has historically been considered marginal habitat for the species, with fewer than 90 recorded sightings over the past 100 years before we began this project.

“We were immediately interested in understanding why there were so many birds living in habitat that had not been described as suitable for the species.”

To better understand this unexpected habitat, the research team turned to new ecotechnologies, fitting the birds with tiny GPS trackers worn like miniature backpacks.

“They’re lightweight and designed to sit comfortably between the birds’ wings, almost like a little hiking pack. This allowed us to follow their movements across the landscape without disturbing their natural behaviour," says Saskia.

“What we found really surprised us. Plains-wanderers are known to be an extremely picky grassland specialist, but our data revealed that the birds were selecting low, open shrublands dominated by low-growing and prickly Sclerolaena.”

Saskia says this behaviour challenges long-established knowledge of Plains-wanderer habitat use.

“While grassed regions were within our study region, we found the birds were avoiding these areas as they were too dense and did not provide enough open habitat,” Saskia says.

“The fact the birds picked habitat that had specific composition, rather than specific species, suggests that vegetation structure, rather than plant species alone, is the key factor in habitat selection for the Plains-wanderer.

“Our findings suggest a shift in how we understand the species – that Plains-wanderers may be better described as compositional specialists than purely grassland specialists."

This subtle distinction may open up new conservation possibilities for the critically endangered species.

“As the habitat we identified in this study is common throughout much of South Australia’s arid and semi-arid interior, it is possible that there are more hidden Plains-wanderer populations existing throughout this region,” Saskia says.

This discovery highlights the conservation value in studying peripheral populations of endangered animals.

“Peripheral populations are often overlooked, but they can be essential for a species’ long-term survival,” Saskia says.

“These groups might have unique genetic traits, show distinct behavioural adaptations, or act as a buffer if conditions in the core range decline.

“This research shows how even the most surprising findings can help shape a more hopeful future for endangered species.”

The research was carried out on the Bush Heritage Australia-managed Boolcoomatta Station Reserve, Adnyamathanha and Wilyakali Country, 100km west of Broken Hill.

Graeme Finlayson, Bush Heritage Australia's SA Arid Rangelands Healthy Landscapes Manager said the finding were an exciting win in the fight against biodiversity loss.

“Bush Heritage began managing Boolcoomatta as a conservation reserve in 2006," Graeme says.

"Before this research project commenced, we were only detecting Plains-wanderer on the property in ones and twos, so this is a game changer in terms of how we think about the concept of a core range for this species and the likely importance of the Reserve for Plains-wanderer conservation efforts.

“Back in 2019, I spotted three Plains-wanderers in this location whilst out collecting data related to our monitoring of the species, and at the time we really hoped it was a breeding pair.

"To think that now, just a few short years later, we have found more than 250 Plains-wanderers on the reserve is just incredible."

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Journal

Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1002/ece3.71894 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Contrasting Habitat Use at the Range Edge of an Endangered Grassland Specialist: Insights Into Plains-Wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) Habitat Use in a Periphery Population

Article Publication Date

10-Aug-2025

 

DGIST core protein resources center’s research team discovers hazards of “protein absorbative microplastics” to brain cell function

DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)

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A research team led by Director Seongkyoon Choi of the Core Protein Resources Center and Professor Wookyung Yu of the Department of Brain Sciences at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST, under President Kunwoo Lee) revealed that microplastics introduced into the body may bind to proteins in vivo, disrupt the function of brain cells, and act as neurotoxicants. Based on proteomics analysis, the study precisely demonstrated how protein-absorptive microplastics alter biological properties in the body and cause inflammatory responses and cellular function disruptions.

 

□ Although plastics are essential in modern society, many plastics leak into the environment because of low recycling rates and turn into microplastics. As microplastics enter the human body through air, water, and food, there is mounting concern that they can stay in the body and hurt various physiological functions. Specifically, microplastics easily bind to proteins in vivo because of their size and chemical properties. They are likely to induce completely different forms of biological responses than previously observed.

 

□ However, most existing research has focused on the toxicity of plastics, with limited practical studies examining the effects of microplastics bound to proteins, or “protein absorbative microplastics,” on the human body in an in vivo environment. The research team used precise proteomics analysis to examine how microplastics bind to proteins and alter cellular functions.

 

□ The research team first treated mouse serum with microplastics to form the microplastics that absorbed proteins and then treated them with mouse brain-derived neurons and human microglia to analyze their response in vivo. The results confirmed that the microplastics that absorbed proteins disturbed various functions required for sustaining life, such as intracellular protein synthesis, RNA processing, lipid metabolism, and mass transport. These findings suggest that microplastics cause fundamental functional damage at the cellular level, beyond merely physical stimulation.

 

□ Notably, the microplastics that absorbed serum proteins demonstrated the potential to induce inflammatory gene expression, disrupt cell signaling and physiological functions, and act as neurotoxicants if they continue to build up in the body. This study is significant, suggesting that microplastics bound to proteins are more biologically hazardous than plastics. It also offers an entirely new perspective for the risk assessment of microplastics in the future.

 

□ “This study revealed that microplastics interact with proteins in vivo to acquire new biological properties and disrupt the functions of brain cells to act as neurotoxicants,” said Director Seongkyoon Choi of the Core Protein Resources Center, DGIST. “This study is expected to be a key turning point for microplastics research in the future, as it suggests a new perspective for evaluating the hazards of microplastics.”

 

□ This study was funded by the DGIST Institutional Original Project (Project Leader: Principal Researcher Seongkyoon Choi) and the National Research Foundation of Korea Growth Type Postdoctoral Domestic Training Program (Growth Type Postdoctoral Project; Project Leader: Heeyeon Kim). Janbolat Ashim (a PhD program student), Dr. Sangho Ji (Department of Brain Sciences, DGIST), Researcher Heeyeon Kim (Core Protein Resources Center, DGIST), and Researcher Seoungwoo Lee (Division of Biomedical Technology, DGIST) participated in the study as the first authors. Principal Researcher Seongkyoon Choi (Division of Biomedical Technology, DGIST) and Professor Wookyung Yu (Department of Brain Sciences, DGIST) participated as the corresponding authors. The results were published in the July 2025 online edition of Environmental Science & Technology, an international journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in the field of the environment, and registered in Hanbitsa (People Making Korea Shine) under the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC).

 

- Corresponding Author E-mail Address : wkyu@dgist.ac.kr

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Journal

Environmental Science & Technology

Article Title

Protein Microplastic Coronation Complexes Trigger Proteome Changes in Brain-Derived Neuronal and Glial Cells