World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back
Boomerangs are generally associated with Aboriginal culture in Australia.
However, rare finds in the historical record outside Australia suggest they were used across different continents.
The oldest known boomerang from Australia dates to about 10,500 years ago, made from wood. But the oldest images of boomerangs in Australia are rock art paintings 20,000 years old, according to National Museum Australia.
A wooden boomerang dating back 7,000 years has been found in Jutland, a peninsula between Denmark and Germany, while fragments of a 2,000-year-old oak boomerang – which does come back – has been found in The Netherlands.
The research by a team of scientists from Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK is published in the journal PLOS One.
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BreakingNews.ie
22 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
'We need to become more AI literate', says Irish expert
Artificial intelligence (AI) learning should go beyond the basics of AI literacy to equip students for the future, according to an Irish expert. Dr Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin is head of the Department of Technology Enhanced Learning at Munster Technological University (MTU), where he leads the development and management of online and blended programmes, promotes research into the enhancement of teaching and learning through technology, and supports the mainstream use of technology-enhanced learning. Advertisement In an interview with , Dr Ó Súilleabháin said AI learning should go beyond the basics to help students get a more complete understanding. "I think the best we we can do is become more AI literate which goes beyond just teaching people how to design the right prompts for these generative AI systems and to help people to kind of understand what these systems are doing, how they're built and some of the ethical issues arising in their use, and in the way that they're now moving towards the mainstream. "I think that's that's absolutely critical. We have to go beyond simply giving people instructions and guidelines about how to use this technology. People need to understand where this technology has come from, what's going on in the background. "I think we need to understand this is just a kind of a statistical echo, if you like, of what humans do and it might have the same structure or texture of the kind of responses and products of a human mind." Advertisement Dr Ó Súilleabháin said the attitude to AI among university educators is mixed. While some would think students would be more positive about AI, he said they share many of the same concerns. "How can we prepare our students for a world in which these tools are available and maybe even a world of work where these tools are an important part of how work is conducted and organised? I think a lot of higher education institutes and the sector of education in general are maybe kind of balancing caution and curiosity at the moment. "It's a mixture. I mean the whole thing reminds me somewhat of when the World Wide Web came about. It was was originally developed in the 1990s and a lot of people initially overestimated its short term impact, but perhaps underestimated its long term impact. "I think that's probably the case with generative AI at the moment. I think a lot of the fears and and optimism perhaps around how it's going to change things overestimates how quickly those changes are going to to happen. Advertisement "But I do think over time there's going to be some significant changes to the way in which we live and work and play and communicate. We're going to have to work towards some kind of future where we begin to do more and more things in tandem with this new technology. "I think the academic response is maybe spread along that that continuum if you like." Students' fears He added: "I think they're more mixed than people might realise [students]. They're concerned about this new technology and what it means for their role as students and for our role as as educaters. I think they're very concerned about what it means for the future in cases of jobs that are going to disappear or at least certain job roles that are going to be changed dramatically. "I guess one of the big questions parents have is 'what courses should my son or daughter do that are going to prepare them for this world of AI'? Advertisement "What are the old jobs that are going to be challenged? "It's hard to say what jobs aren't going to be challenged by it. In many ways, we're maybe witnessing the same kind of change that automation brought to blue collar work many decades ago. "We may be seeing a similar automation of so-called white collar work or certain professions now." Detecting the misuse of AI is one area that is a hot topic in education across the board, particularly at third level. Advertisement 'Arms race' Dr Ó Súilleabháin said: "It's more difficult to detect and I think it is going to be something of an arms race. Even the tools I would be familiar with have both false positives and false negatives. "False positives is very problematic in terms of knowing what to do with the results of such a such a tool that you don't end up accusing somebody unfairly. "But I think in many cases it might be a bit of a misdiagnosis. We we need to think about is how we assess students and how learning is evidenced and just what it is that we're trying to provide for students... and the future that we're trying to prepare them for. "So for sure it's a concern and in some cases there are assessments where we shouldn't allow any AI and others where we should allow a certain amount of AI. In others perhaps there are assessments where we should give people free rein. "We need to work out ways of figuring out what that looks like. I guess in in a way that's fair and equitable and and makes for a better educational experience. "And it goes back to an earlier point about preparing students for a world in which these tools are widely used and are going to be increasingly sophisticated and increasingly integrated. "The way we do everything increasingly won't be a choice whether to use generative AI or not, it will be embedded in our office, in our operating systems in our smart devices." In an interview with , Dr Ó Súilleabháin said AI learning should go beyond the basics to help students get a more complete understanding. Despite the challenges, he feels there are a number of big opportunities when it comes to AI and education. These include tailoring learning for students with different needs, removing some of the mundane aspects of the role for educators to give them more time with students, and preparing students for how AI will change work. "I think it's very important with any technology to be proactive... to look at its applications and to see how that aligns with our strategic priorities, at institutional level and nationally as well. "I would like so see us moving towards thinking about how we can use generative AI as a partner, how we can work with it in tandem. "I suppose the ideal, that may be overly optimistic, is that generative AI takes away some of the drudge work, the routine work and frees us up to do the more creative things, the more human things. "In the the the world of education, it's a people business. It's about relationships. It's about trust. So concentrating on that stuff, providing mentoring and support and encouragement to students. All of that will still fall to those of us who who teach and support learners. "Working out how that new hybrid relationship can best be supported and and scaffolded, I think that's essential work to be done." AI is opening up new possibilities for personalised learning for students. He added: "In education, I think we need to prepare our users. We need to prepare learners for a world in which humans and machines are working, that the potential here is for is for AI to to augment what humans can do. "To augment human intelligence in education, that means AI allowing teachers and technology to work closely together, not in competition. "This will give us a situation where we can support certain yet to be determined routine tasks while freeing up educators and others to focus on what they do best in terms of the mentoring and motivating, and guiding of students. "AI is opening up new possibilities for personalised learning for students, there are a lot of opportunities I think in terms of greater accessibility. "So you take students who have particular needs, the ability of the generative AI perhaps to take something and and provide it in different formats and in different modalities to boost their confidence and understaning. "I think the key is balance that AI is seen as a tool, not as a teacher, not as something to replace teaching or as something to replace learning. "It's something that that should be there to support human judgement rather than rather than replace it." Some AI sceptics have argued it should be banned outright in education, but Dr Ó Súilleabháin argued this would be a negative step. "Banning it would not be technically or operationally feasible, and driving its use underground would not be a positive development because things would then be happening out of sight in a way where we can't provide any guidance or direction. "Certainly it's a concern that some other countries perhaps are engaging in certain industries more thoughtfully and in a more proactive way with the technology. "OK, you wouldn't want to see existing inequities, let's say being exacerbated in the way that that things develop, so whatever the benefits are they need to be fairly and and widely distributed.. "Human judgement is always needed. I mean, for me, we'll always need to be on either side of the technology. If you like to put it in simple terms, we're the ones creating the inputs, the prompts. We're the ones applying human judgement." Assessment Assessment is another area where there is debate on the use of AI. Dr Ó Súilleabháin said it could be useful in ongoing assessment and projects, but added there would always be human judgement necessary. "I think already with digital learning, we're seeing a blurring of the line between the learning process and the assessment process more and more. "The students are producing learning evidence, so I think we're moving away from that paradigm where student get ushered into sports halls every summer, and they have to kind of pour their hearts out and get this one shot at showing that they've achieved with learning outcomes. "I think there's various points at which the the AI can assist with the assessment process from the start. It could be used for formative assessment purposes, so that's where the feedback is more about feeding into the learning process. I think for the higher stakes assessment, you're still going to want the the human in the pilot seat there as it were. But I mean in the analogy maybe the AI is there as a co-pilot."
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
How dem make anti-venom from man wey snake bite 200 times
Di blood of one US man wey deliberately inject imsef wit snake venom for nearly twenty years don lead to "unparalleled" anti-venom, scientists tok. Antibodies find in Tim Friede blood don shown to protect against deadly doses from one wide range of species in animal tests. Current therapies gatz match di specific species of venomous snake wey bite anyone. But Oga Friede 18-year mission fit lead to ogbonge step of finding universal anti-venom against all snakebites - wey dey kill up to 140,000 pipo evri year and leave three times as many needing amputations or facing permanent disability. In total, Mr Friede don endure more dan 200 bites and more dan 700 injections of venom e prepare from some of di world deadliest snakes, including multiple species of mambas, cobras, taipans and kraits. E bin want build up im immunity to protect imsef wen e dey handle snakes, documenting im exploits on YouTube. But di former truck mechanic tok say e don "completely screw up" early on wen two cobra bites wey happun in quick succession leave am in coma. "I no wan die. I no wan lose one finger. I no wan miss work," e tell BBC. Oga Friede motivation na to develop beta therapies for di rest of di world, explaining: "E just become lifestyle and I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing as hard as I fit push - for di pipo wey dey 8,000 miles away from me wey don die from snakebite". 'I go love to get my hands on some of your blood' Currently dem dey make anti-venom by injecting small doses of snake venom into animals, such as horses. Dia immune system dey fight di venom by producing antibodies and dem go harvest am to use as therapy. But venom and anti-venom gatz dey closely matched becos di toxins for venomous bite no be di same from one species to anoda. Dem even get wide variety within di same species – anti-venom wey dem make from snakes from India dey less effective against di same species for Sri Lanka. One team of researchers begin dey search for one type of immune defence wey dem dey call broadly neutralising antibodies. Instead of targeting di part of toxin wey make am unique, dem dey target di part wey make am common to entire classes of toxin. Dat na wen Dr Jacob Glanville, chief executive of biotech company Centivax, come across Tim Friede. "Immediately I look say 'if anybody in di world don develop dis broadly neutralising antibodies, e go be am' and so I reach out," e tok. "Di first call, I be like 'dis fit dey awkward, but I go love get my hands on some of your blood'." Oga Friede agree and di work dey ethically approved becos di study go only take blood, rather dan give am more venom. Di research focus on elapids – one of di two families of venomous snakes – such as coral snakes, mambas, cobras, taipans and kraits. Elapids primarily use neurotoxins in dia venom, wey dey paralyse dia victim and e dey fatal wen dem stop di muscles e need to breathe. Researchers don pick 19 elapids identify by di World Health Organization as being among di deadliest snakes on di planet. Dem don begin to source for Oga Friede blood for protective defences. Dia work, dey detailed in di journal Cell, identify two broadly neutralising antibodies wey fit target two classes of neurotoxin. For experiments on mice, di cocktail mean say di animals bin survive deadly doses from 13 of di 19 species of venomous snake. Dem bin get partial protection against di remaining six. Dis na "unparalleled" breadth of protection, according to Dr Glanville, wey say e "likely cover a whole bunch of elapids for wey no get current anti-venom". Di team dey try to refine di antibodies further and see if adding fourth component fit lead to total protection against elapid snake venom. Di oda class of snake – di vipers – dey rely more on haemotoxins, wey dey attack di blood, rather dan neurotoxins. In total around one dozen broad classes of toxin in snake venom, wey also include cytotoxins dey directly kill cells. "I think in di next 10 or 15 years we go get somtin effective against each one of dis toxin classes," Prof Peter Kwong, one of di researchers for Columbia University, tok. And di hunt continue inside Oga Friede blood samples. "Tim antibodies dey really quite extraordinary - e bin teach im immune system to get dis veri, veri broad recognition," Prof Kwong tok. Di ultimate hope na to get either single anti-venom wey fit do evritin, or one injection for elapids and one for vipers. Prof Nick Casewell, na di head of di centre for snakebite research and interventions for di Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - e tok say di breadth of protection report bin dey unusual and provide "strong piece of evidence" wey get feasible approach. "No doubt say dis work move di field forward in exciting direction." But e caution say "plenti work still dey to do" and di anti-venom still go need extensive testing bifor dem fit use am in pipo. But for Oga Friede, reaching dis stage "make me feel good". "I dey do somtin good for humanity and e bin dey veri important to me. I dey proud of am. E dey pretty cool."
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
‘It's something that happens': are we doing enough to save Earth from a devastating asteroid strike?
It is a scenario beloved of Hollywood: a huge asteroid, several miles wide, is on a collision course with Earth. Scientists check and recheck their calculations but there is no mistake – civilisation is facing a cataclysmic end unless the space rock can be deflected. It may sound like science fiction, but it is a threat that is being taken seriously by scientists. Earlier this year, researchers estimated that asteroid YR4 2024 had a 3.1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032, before revising that likelihood down to 0.0017%. This week, new data suggested it was more likely to hit the moon, with a probability of 4.3%. If that happens, the 53- to 67-metre (174ft-220ft) asteroid previously called a 'city killer' will launch hundreds of tonnes of debris towards our planet, posing a risk to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts. Before that, in April 2029, 99942 Apophis – an asteroid larger than the Eiffel Tower – will be visible to the naked eye when it passes within 32,000km of Earth. This attention-grabbing close encounter has prompted the UN to designate 2029 as the international year of planetary defence. When it comes to apocalyptic asteroid strikes, there is precedent, of course. Most scientists believe such an event hastened the demise of non-avian dinosaurs 66m years ago. 'This is something that happens,' said Colin Snodgrass, a professor of planetary astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. 'Not very often, but it is something that happens. And it's something that we could potentially do something about.' As Chris Lintott, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford, told the UK parliament's science, innovation and technology committee this week, the risk posed by an asteroid originating beyond our solar system is minimal. Instead, he said, the greater threat comes from those in our cosmic back yard. 'Most asteroids in the solar system exist in the asteroid belt, which is between Mars and Jupiter, but they become disrupted, usually by encounters with either of those planets, and they can move into orbits that cross the Earth,' said Lintott, who presents the long-running BBC astronomy series The Sky at Night. 'Then it's just a case of whether we're in the wrong place at the wrong time.' The chances of an enormous asteroid – the type that did for the dinosaurs – hitting Earth is admittedly low. 'We think there's one of these every 10m to 100m years, probably,' Lintott told the Guardian. 'So I think you'd be right to ignore that when you decide whether to get up on a Thursday morning or not.' Snodgrass said there were 'precisely four' asteroids big enough and close enough to Earth to be considered 'dino-killers', and added: 'We know where they are, and they're not coming anywhere near us.' But damage can also be done by smaller asteroids. According to Nasa, space rocks measuring about one to 20 metres across collided with Earth's atmosphere resulting in fireballs 556 times over 20 years. Many collisions have occurred over the oceans, but not all. 'Chelyabinsk is the best example,' Lintott said. In 2013, a house-sized space rock – thought to have been about 20 metres across – exploded in the air above the Russian city with a force of nearly 30 Hiroshima bombs, producing an airburst that caused significant damage and hundreds of injuries, mostly from broken glass. Less dramatically, in February 2021 a space rock thought to have been just tens of centimetres across broke up in Earth's atmosphere, with fragments landing in the Cotswold town of Winchcombe in the UK. Thankfully, the damage was confined to a splat mark on a driveway. The types of asteroids we should perhaps be most concerned about are those about 140 metres across. According to Nasa, asteroids around that size are thought to hit Earth about once every 20,000 years and have the potential to cause huge destruction and mass casualties. The space agency has a congressional mandate to detect and track near-Earth objects of this size and larger, and a suite of new technological advances are helping them do just that. On Monday, the first images from the Vera C Rubin observatory in Chile were released to the public. This telescope is expected to more than triple the number of known near-earth objects, from about 37,000 to 127,000, over a 10-year period. In just 10 hours of observations, it found seven previously unspotted asteroids that will pass close to the Earth – though none are expected to hit. Also in the offing, though not planned for launch before 2027, is Nasa's near-Earth object (Neo) surveyor. Armed with an array of infrared detectors, this is 'the first space telescope specifically designed to detect asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth', the agency says. Lintott said: 'Between those two, we should find everything down to about 140 metres.' He said such observations should give scientists up to 10 years' warning of a potential collision. The European Space Agency (Esa) is planning a near-Earth object mission in the infrared (Neomir) satellite. Slated for launch in the early 2030s, this will help detect asteroids heading towards Earth that are at least 20 metres in diameter and obscured by the sun. Assessing the emerging capabilities, Edward Baker, the planetary defence lead at the UK's National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) at RAF High Wycombe, said: 'I think we're in a good place. I can't see a situation like [the film] Don't Look Up materialising at all – though I wouldn't mind being portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio.' As our ability to spot near-Earth asteroids increases, Lintott said, we should get used to hearing about asteroids like YR4 2024, which initially seem more likely to hit Earth before the risk rapidly falls towards zero. He described the shifting probabilities as similar to when a footballer takes a free kick. 'The moment they kick it, [it looks like] it could go anywhere,' he said. 'And then as it moves, you get more information. So you're like: 'Oh, it might go in the goal,' and then it inevitably becomes really clear that it's going to miss.' Of course, scientists aren't just monitoring the risks to Earth. They are also making plans to protect it. In 2022, Nasa crashed a spacecraft into a small, harmless asteroid called Dimorphos that orbits a larger rock called Didymos to test whether it would be possible to shift its path. The Dart mission was a success, reducing Dimorphos's 12-hour orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes. In 2024, Esa launched a follow-up to Nasa's Dart mission, called Hera. This will reach Dimorphos in 2026 and carry out a close-up 'crash site investigation'. It will survey the Dart impact crater, probe how effectively momentum was transferred in the collision and record a host of other measurements. Esa hopes this will provide crucial insights that can be used to make deliberate Dart-style impacts a reliable technique for safeguarding Earth. 'Dart was much more effective than anyone expected it to be,' Lintott said. 'And presumably that's something to do with the structure of the asteroid. I think we need to know whether Dart just got lucky with its target, or whether all near-Earth asteroids are like this.' For the most part, scientists say the threat of an asteroid strike does not keep them up at night. 'We're safer than we've ever been and we're about to get a lot safer, because the more of these things we find, the more we can spot them on the way in,' Lintott said. As Esa has quipped on its merchandise: 'Dinosaurs didn't have a space agency.'
