🦴 9 things I learned this week
Hey folks! From a fossil collected in Roman Britain to AI-generated bird sightings, here are nine things that caught my attention recently.
The oldest known ichthyosaur fossil collected by a human was picked up in Roman Britain around 1,800 years ago. Someone carried the spinal bone from the Kent coast to Colchester, where it was later dropped into a pit with pottery, animal remains and a Roman toilet spoon. It may have been kept as a sacred relic, or simply because its owner found it interesting.
“Researchers let AI models run a simulated society. Claude was the safest—and Grok committed 180 crimes and went extinct within 4 days.”
To raise awareness of extreme heat, the Japan Meteorological Agency asked the public to name days when temperatures reach 40°C or higher. The winner was kokushobi, meaning “cruel heat day”. The term was used for the first time on 21 July, when three cities in Japan reached 40°C.
AI-edited bird photos are putting research at risk. Experts warn that altered images posted on birdwatching platforms are creating false sightings and undermining data used by scientists.
Humanity may have spoken tens of thousands of languages between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago, far more than the roughly 7,500 spoken today. A new model suggests the decline began long before European colonialism, as early multinational empires spread their languages, cultures and diseases.
A US study of 159 local newspaper closures found that police departments became more likely to classify reported rapes as unfounded after local coverage disappeared. Researchers also found signs that some homicides may have been reclassified as suicides, suggesting that local newspapers play an important role in holding police accountable.
Some of Lithuania’s earliest Christians may have been immigrants. Isotope analysis of a medieval cemetery in Vilnius found that several people buried there before Lithuania officially converted in 1387 had probably arrived from regions now in western Ukraine and southern Poland.
Managers withheld feedback in about one in four cases, even when a worker had performed well. In a recent study, negative feedback was especially likely to be kept back when it would not affect the worker’s next decision or when the evidence was uncertain, suggesting managers were trying to protect their self-esteem.
Up to 30,000 people may have been tried for bigamy in England and Wales over the past 400 years. Despite its rarity, the crime was once punished by execution, branding, whipping or transportation. More recent offenders have faced prison, fines or community service.
And that’s it for today! Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, share it with a friend or ten. And if you really enjoyed it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription: it helps support my work and means a lot.
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Cover art: Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.