This week’s Science News chronicled the good, the bad, and the ugly of technological advances, with a study warning of the next generation of AI “swarms” that could soon invade social media.
The signs of bots on social media are already evident, with more than half of the text written online by 2025 being churned out by large-scale language models. What scientists are warning about this next generation of bots is different. Bots trained to impersonate real humans and swarm as if they were part of an organic movement will adaptively target human users, spread false narratives, and influence public opinion.
Mysterious ‘Cloud People’ tomb becomes ‘most important archaeological discovery’ in Mexico in 10 years
The discovery of a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca was hailed this week by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo as the most important archaeological discovery in a decade.
Built by the Zapotec culture, which believed that their ancestors descended from the clouds and that their souls returned to heaven after death, this ancient tomb is decorated with intricate carvings, including one of an owl holding a human head in its beak. In Zapotec culture, the owl is a symbol of death and the afterlife.
Authorities first learned of the grave’s existence after receiving an anonymous tip about looting at the site. And although some information about this centuries-old civilization has been lost to robbers, this tomb now joins 12 other Zapotec tombs discovered in Oaxaca in the past decade.
More archeology news
-Elaborate 160,000-year-old stone tools discovered in China may not have been made by Homo sapiens
—A 430,000-year-old Greek wooden hand tool is the oldest on record and predates modern humans.
-5,000-year-old ancient Egyptian rock art depicts the ‘horrible’ conquest of the Sinai Peninsula
life’s little mysteries
The fact that the Earth rotates on its axis is a certainty every day, but what about the Sun? Yes, our star rotates, but it turns out that measuring that rotation is complicated by several factors, including different layers and rotation in the same direction as the planet’s orbit.
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Progression of pancreatic cancer in mice
In a groundbreaking study published this week, scientists at Spain’s National Cancer Research Center in Madrid unveiled a triple-drug combination therapy that proved to be significantly effective in eliminating pancreatic cancer in mice.
This announcement is a big deal for many reasons. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly and common forms of the disease, and its aggressive, stealthy tumors quickly become resistant to chemotherapy.
To investigate more effective treatments, researchers in this new study used three drugs to inhibit the mutated gene responsible for 90% of pancreatic cancers diagnosed in humans, two of which have already received regulatory approval in the United States. The results showed long-lasting tumor regression in all mice involved in the study, without significant side effects, paving the way for the development of treatments for humans.
See more health news
— South Carolina measles outbreak nears 790 cases, largest in decades
— In vitro fertilization hormones may one day be administered with painless ‘microneedle’ patches, early research suggests
-UK loses measles-free status again
Also featured in this week’s science news
– Shark attacks in Hawaii spiked in October, and scientists think they know why.
— 50-year-old NASA jet crashes in flames on Texas runway — Removed from Artemis II mission
— “Doomsday Clock” approaches 4 seconds to midnight as unregulated AI and “mirror life” threaten humanity
-More than 43,000 years ago, Neanderthals spent centuries collecting animal skulls in caves. But archaeologists don’t know why
— ‘Previously unimaginable’: James Webb telescope breaks own record again, discovers the most distant galaxy in the known universe
science reading material
Thousands of dams in the United States are at risk of failure, with potentially major public health and economic impacts.
That’s according to new satellite images that reveal dozens of faults emerging from shifting ground beneath structures, including one of Texas’ largest dams. But how will climate change affect this phenomenon? What are the potential consequences? And can anything be done to stop it? Live Science investigated in this news analysis.
something for the weekend
If you’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best opinion articles, crosswords and skywatching guides published this week.
—Giving AI the ability to monitor its own thought processes could allow it to think like humans. [Opinion]
— Live Science Crossword Puzzle #27: The explosion that created the universe — 5 down [Crossword]
— Snow moon will ‘engulf’ one of the brightest stars in the sky this weekend: where and when to see it [Skywatching]
science is in motion
It may not seem like much, but this fuzzy smudge could be a harbinger of an impending revolution in cosmology.
The light, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), comes from MoM-z14, an ancient galaxy just 280 million years after the Big Bang, making it the most distant galaxy yet confirmed.
And this detection is exciting not just because it breaks JWST’s own record, but because MoM-z14 appears to be much brighter and more developed than its very young age would allow. That means studying it, and those who like it, could cause a fundamental rewriting of how the universe evolved.
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