The Makapansgat pebble or Makapansgat cobble is a carved jasper pebble with clear markings of a crude rendition of a human face, in fact at least two possible faces. The stone's chemical makeup prevents natural weathering effects to render both blastomic metapmorphis and shape erosion at the time of formation, even if all surfaces were polished naturally afterwards which indicates the requirement for foreign biological intervention. Some scholars argue that it is the oldest known manuport, though it should be noted that original interpretations of the stone were taken from the perspective that no "man-like creature" could have been intelligent or expressed art because they were not white.Raymond A. Dart, the original discoverer of the pebble, was later credited with providing the scientific racism that formed the basis for Apartheid.
Investigating ancient human DNA preservation on cave walls and in rock art
Previous efforts to link Palaeolithic cultural records to specific populations through DNA analysis have focused on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments, and artefacts. In this study, we explore whether rock art, a spatially distinct expression of human activity, can also preserve DNA traces from its creators. We analyse DNA preservation in pigment samples collected in and around 24 rock art panels from 11 caves across Spain and Portugal, including simple marks (from nine sites), hand stencils (Maltravieso Cave, Extremadura, Spain), and figurative paintings (Cave of Altamira, Cantabria, Spain). We recover traces of ancient human mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, unaccompanied by faunal DNA, from a pigmented calcite crust at Escoural Cave (Portugal), as well as from an unpigmented cave wall sample from the same site. The absence of faunal DNA in both samples suggests direct DNA deposition through human contact. In contrast, three additional unpigmented samples, from Escoural and Covarón Cave (Asturias, Spain), yielded mixtures of human and faunal DNA, suggesting indirect deposition. Although our results do not conclusively link ancient human DNA preservation to the generation of cave art, we show that traces of human DNA can persist on cave walls for thousands of years.
Edouard Joseph d’Alton’s Illustrations of Animal Skeletons (1821–1838)
Meticulous illustrations from an atlas of animal bones, including those of the tiny squirrel and the tall giraffe, the domesticated camel and the extinct giant ground sloth.
TikTok and the Evolution of Digital Blackface
On the app, users drape themselves in the trappings of Black culture—and steal the viral spotlight. It’s exploitation at its most refined and disturbing.
Face of a Bird, Legs of an Eagle: The Hybrid Venus in Medieval Texts of Image Magic and the So-Called Talisman of Catherine de’ Medici
This article examines the imagery of the goddess Venus in medieval sources of astrological magic, focusing on a zoomorphic hybrid Venus characterized by avian features. Furthermore, the article examines the transmission of this motif into early modern printed sources and talismans. The most renowned among surviving items related to the hybrid Venus is the 18th-century medallion known as Catherine de Medici’s talisman, depicting on one side a classical Venus figure, and on the other, a seated Jupiter alongside a hybrid with the head and feet of a bird. In previous scholarship it has been argued that the hybrid figure, interpreted as Venus, derives from Cornelius Agrippa and the medieval magical compendium Picatrix. The study demonstrates that the same hybrid Venus appears in several other medieval sources predating Agrippa and independent of the Picatrix. These sources, explored in this article in detail, offer a new insight into the evolution of the zoomorphic Venus, providing a deeper understanding of the ways in which non-Christian and non-classical astrological iconography was transformed and found pathways within medieval literature. Based on the findings of this research, De sigillis attributed to Arnoldus Saxo, seems to provide the most direct model for depicting two distinct Venus figures within the same talisman. The article further argues that the avian hybrid Venus was a dynamic figure among non-classical hybrids, appearing in a relatively wide range of sources, including contexts where astrological hybrids were a rarity.
propublica/weepeople
A typeface of people sillhouettes, to make it easy to build web graphics featuring little people instead of dots.
Chronology and ecology of early islanders in the Philippines: The Mindoro Archaeology Project
The investigation and excavation of caves and rockshelters located at the southern end of Occidental Mindoro produced significant artefacts, data, and information related to the initial arrival and colonization of the Philippine archipelago by anatomically modern humans. The sites provided several indications for the increasing adaptation to maritime environments and delivered evidence for their behavioural and technological complexity. Mindoro lies along a direct route to reach the main islands of the Philippines coming from the Asian mainland via Borneo and Palawan. Since 2010, surveys conducted in the karstic regions of Ilin Island and Sta. Teresa, Magsaysay have mapped and explored over 40 caves and rockshelters. Particularly the sites of Bubog 1, Bubog 2, Cansubong 2 Cave, and Bilat Cave, have delivered cultural and biological materials that chronicle human habitation and adaptation to maritime and coastal environments over a period of 35–40,000 years. Early islanders in the region intensively foraged for molluscs and other marine invertebrates along the coast, employed different techniques to catch a variety of reef and pelagic fish as well as terrestrial animals, and were embedded in maritime networks with access to transfer routes, through which technology, information, and ideologies were disseminated over long distances and across Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and possibly also reaching the Southeast Asian mainland. The results of the archaeological research in Mindoro contribute to our understanding of the processes of human island adaptation, complement ongoing research on the peopling of Southeast Asia, and enhance current knowledge of prehistoric subsistence strategies across the region.
Social Insects : Ecology and Behavioural Biology
1 online resource; Here is a guide to the ecology of social insects. It is intended for general ecologists and entomologists as well as for undergraduates and those about to start research on social insects; even the experienced investigator may find the comparison between different groups of social insects illuminating. Most technical terms are translated into common language as far as can be done without loss of accuracy but scientific names are unavoidable. Readers will become familiar with the name even though they cannot visualize the animal and could reflect that only a very few of the total species have been studied so far! References too are essential and with these it should be possible to travel more deeply into the vast research literature, still increasing monthly. When I have cited an author in another author's paper, this implies that I have not read the original and the second author must take responsi bility for accuracy! Many hands and heads have helped to make this book. I thank all my colleagues past and present for their enduring though critical support, and I thank with special pleasure: E.]. M. Evesham who fashioned the diagrams;]. Free, D.J. Stradling and]. P.E.C. Darlington who supplied photographs; D.Y. Brian and R.A. Weller who were meticulous on the linguistic side; and G. Frith and R.M. Jones who collated the references. List of plates 1. Fungus combs of Acromyrmex octospinosus and Macrotermes michaelseni. 13 2. Mouthparts of larval Myrmica; 1 Introduction -- 2 Food -- 2.1 Termites as decomposers -- 2.2 Wasps and ants as predators -- 2.3 Sugars as fuel save prey -- 2.4 Seed eaters -- 2.5 Leaf eaters -- 2.6 Pollen eaters -- 3 Foraging by individuals -- 3.1 Foraging strategy -- 3.2 Worker variability -- 4 Foraging in groups -- 4.1 Communication about food -- 4.2 Group slave-raiding -- 4.3 Tunnels and tracks -- 4.4 Nomadic foraging -- 5 Cavity nests and soil mounds -- 5.1 Cavities and burrows -- 5.2 Soil mounds -- 6 Nests of fibre, silk and wax -- 6.1 Mounds of vegetation and tree nests -- 6.2 Combs of cells -- 7 Microclimate -- 7.1 Environmental regulation -- 7.2 Metabolic regulation -- 8 Defence -- 8.1 Painful and paralysing injections -- 8.2 Toxic smears and repellants -- 9 Food processing -- 9.1 Mastication, extraction and regurgitation -- 9.2 Yolk food supplements -- 9.3 Head food glands -- 10 Early population growth -- 10.1 Food distribution -- 10.2 Colony foundation -- 10.3 The growth spurt -- 11 Maturation -- 11.1 Simple models of reproduction -- 11.2 Social control over caste -- 11.3 Males in social Hymenoptera -- 11.4 Maturation in general -- 12 Reproduction -- 12.1 Caste morphogenesis -- 12.2 Copulation and dispersal -- 12.3 Production -- 12.4 Summary -- 13 Evolution of insect societies -- 13.1 Theories of individual selection -- 13.2 Models of these theories -- 13.3 Group selection -- 13.4 Conclusions -- 14 Colonies -- 14.1 The colony barrier -- 14.2 Queen number and species ecology -- 14.3 Queen interaction and queen relatedness -- 15 Comparative ecology of congeneric species -- 15.1 Ant and termite races -- 15.2 Desert ants and termites -- 15.3 Ants and termites in grassland -- 15.4 Forest ants and termites -- 15.5 Wasps and bumblebees -- 15.6 Advanced bees -- 16 Communities -- 16.1 Temperate zone communities in grass and woodland -- 16.2 Desert communities -- 16.3 Tropical rain forest -- 16.4 Conclusions -- 17 Two themes -- 17.1 Plant mutualism -- 17.2 Social organization -- References -- Author index
Egyptian blue is the oldest artificially produced pigment known to Man. It was in use since about 3100 BC in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome.
Egyptian blue is the oldest artificially produced pigment known to Man. It was in use since about 3100 BC in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome.
Tipographia
Visual archive of graphic design, typography and things printed in Portugal. A collection by...
The fungal mind: on the evidence for mushroom intelligence | Psyche Ideas
The evidence for fungal intelligence is in: they can operate as individuals, make decisions, learn, and have short-term memory
The Great Season — 13FOREST Gallery
On Friday, January 24, 13FOREST Gallery will open The Great Season, an exhibition of new and recent acrylic work by painter Nicole Duennebier. Dark and sumptuous, The Great Season highlights a fantastical six-panel painting that associates the random beauty of nature with an elaborate 19th-century parlor game. Set against black backgrounds, Duennebier’s complex forms strongly refer to Baroque still-life paintings in which fruits and vegetables simultaneously emerge and pass into different stages of maturity. A key difference in Duennebier’s work is that, rather than render images of everyday objects, she bases them on her fascination with biology, particularly bacteria, fungi and other objects hidden from view. Referring to her use of darkness, the artist states that her inky backgrounds are “like a primordial soup, a pool of black that springs forth a decadent and sometimes horrible growth.” Each of the paintings in the show is associated with lush proliferation. In Bright Beast After Nature, for instance, a black background gives rise to a nebula of unfolding, biomorphic forms that seem to divide and overtake one another. Painted in thin, translucent layers, the work suggests a still life captured in only one of many stages it will eventually pass through. With Bright Beast Dissected View Duennebier gives an equally fantastic image of the engine behind such proliferation. Similar to vivisections seen in science textbooks, the painting shows the surface of a soft, woolly plant and the interior, biological source of its existence. In content the “engine” plays with the idea of a still life, but one made of flowers, vegetables and animal viscera. Duennebier’s centerpiece in The Great Season is a vast, six-panel painting titled, Hydnellum Myriorama. Its title refers to a type of fungus found in nature and to a Victorian card game – myriorama – in which children could arrange a series of illustrated cards to form hundreds of different landscapes. In Duennebier’s six panels are hybrid images that resemble Baroque still lifes, coral, fur, crystals and close-ups of microscopic fauna. Each of the forms emerges from nothing and stands bathed in a common light source. Despite the panels’ differing environments, Duennebier negates their importance by enabling viewers to arrange the panels into aesthetic experiences of their own choice. With Hydenellum Myriorama, the random potential of generation and decline in nature is given its parallel in art. Of her own work Duennebier states: “My interests in natural phenomenon (dermoid cysts, fungus, invasive flora/fauna) and my love of candied Old Master opulence always seem to be present in my painting… Painting with attention to detail, I’ve become accustomed to the fact that nature in itself, or anything living really, never totally allows you to have a perfectly idealized experience. Everything is always spewing, dripping, rotting a little.”
Alt text: Black-and-white illustrations of a bat, a peacock, an elephant, and some kind of a monkey with their skeletons on top of faint silhouettes of their bodies. The bat and peacock also have studies of their skulls on the page
The Public Domain Review
From Comparative Osteology (1821–38) with illustrations by the Italian-born German naturalist Edouard Joseph d’Alton, an artist and art history professor whose students included a young Karl Marx. More of his wonderful images here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/comparative-osteol…
Cellosophy
Exploring the origins of intelligence and agency, starting with unicellular organisms such as bacteria, choanoflagellates and other protists.
Switter
A cautionary tale
Principles of Minimal Cognition: Casting Cognition as Sensorimotor Coordination
What Physical ‘Life Force’ Turns Biology’s Wheels? | Quanta Magazine
For the First Time, a Cell Built From Scratch Grows and Divides | Quanta Magazine
www.science.org
Cognition without brains? Learning and memory in microorganisms
Learning Outside the Brain: Integrating Cognitive Science and Systems Biology
Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024
‘Now we don’t have a safe place’: sex workers’ social media site Switter shuts down amid legal fears
Switter: My six week rollercoaster ride
Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Social media for sex workers, IGF 2019 | Kollektiv.e
A Memorial for Switter, a sex worker-friendly social network
