Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 14h

The photo here is quite something

oxfordre.com/neuroscience...

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 14h

Just found out that sperm whales make their clicks with *a pair of lips* inside their heads 🤯

(actually inside one of their nasal passages, the other is used only for breathing, the clicks reflect twice inside their heads to amplify them before being 'beamed' out)

5 1 30

Reposted by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 15h

Further evidence that games can be understood stratigraphically

Cherub @polygoncherub.bsky.social · 1d

This is the hill that I stand my ground on.

Best game design:

4 2 35

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 15h

now wondering what is the best real archaeological analogue for this

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 16h

I consulted quite widely on the science, so not sure why I was credited in that way. They also did not include my title.

I don't think the interpretation given for the El Sidron site (where body processing and cannibalism occurred) as a "brutal massacre" was based in evidence.

1 1

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 17h

Short article I wrote* on recent advances in the story of early Homo sapiens is now available online!

*commissioned as accompanying BBC Human series, although tbh I did not love their Neanderthal episode :-(

www.sciencefocus.com/science/huma...

We didn’t conquer the world alone. This is humanity’s untold origin story | BBC Science Focus Magazine

We’re discovering there were more characters, and more acts, in the tale of how Homo sapiens spread across the globe.

www.sciencefocus.com

5 22 59

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 17h

🏺 This book mostly makes me wonder what image Sally Rosen Binford might have chosen of herself if she'd written her own archaeological magnum opus

(of course, one might argue whether she would ever have chosen to write such a book or centre herself on its cover in the first place...)

Dr. Angry Anarchist (Free 🇵🇸) @archhelmer.bsky.social · 1d

Giving a lecture on settlement archaeology this week so you KNOW I had to include my favorite archaeological book cover of all time 😂🏺

The original cover art for Lewis Binford's book "In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record" which features a scene of 4 people outside, 2 in traditional Inuit clothing. In the foreground is a photo of the author, a white man in his 60s with white hair and a beard wearing a sweater vest and big 1980s-era glasses who is gesturing like he is mid-lecture. (He looks like a dweeb)

1 2 14

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 17h

🧪🦣🏺 Interesting, wondering if applicable to the Altamura #Neanderthal, and also if taphonomy of concretions matters, e.g. an exposed body covered in calcite vs. one gaining concretions within sediment

Stewie Stewart @stewiestewart.bsky.social · 1d

Ancient microbial DNA and proteins preserve in concretions covering human remains

Archaeological remains covered with concretions, including human bones, are commonly found in certain areas and time periods of interest for understan…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 2 22

Reposted by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Vanessa is the name of the Doctor! @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 19h

This is so dangerous

Luke Steuber @lukesteuber.com · 1d

Generative video is going to destroy the world. Here I am, at a protest I never went to in a city that doesn’t exist being arrested by cops I’ve never met

2 17 35

Reposted by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 3d

Also, if you're "in bed with flu", it's almost certainly Covid.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 3d

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet

The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

christinapagel.substack.com

35 230 400

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

"Sharing the Gospel" apparently means a 100-strong crowd blocking a road (legally?) and yelling "Jesus Saves" at the top of their lungs while staring ahead, unsmiling.

Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 3d

Christian Nationalists from the so-called 'King's Army' took to the streets of London's Soho to intimidate LGBT+ people. A clear sign of growing Christian Nationalist extremism in the United Kingdom.

Open-mouthed men and women in paramilitary style tracksuits stand in military foundation on Old Compton Street. They wear crucifixes and the label KING's ARMY. Overlaid is Humanists UK's headline: 'Christian Nationalist mob "King's Army" targets Soho, London's gay district'

1 4 17

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

🧪🦣🏺 Strong criticisms of recent study claiming super-ancient origin forlineage leading to H. sapiens, which is contradicted by DNA that points strongly to a last common ancestor more like 600,000 years ago rather than +1 million.
Also, geopolitics & nationalism often intersect with #HumanOrigins

Manuel Will @manuelwill.bsky.social · 3d

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen? | via BR24
br.de/nachrichten/... @br24.de
#Evolution #Anthropology

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen?

Bisher waren Forschende sich weitgehend einig: Der Homo sapiens hat sich einst in Afrika entwickelt und von dort aus verbreitet. Eine neue Studie über die Rekonstruktion eines fossilen Schädels aus Ch...

br.de

14 41

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

This is is course good news but its tempered by so much carnage.
I still think a single democratic state offers a way forward, with a long term reconciliation process centring on building a future for all children in the region.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

The Israeli military said Friday that a cease-fire had come into effect at noon and that its soldiers were repositioning themselves within Gaza. Here's the latest: nyti.ms/43feq5J

1 2 8

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

He deserves the widest adoration
(I have no idea if he was in personality some sort of cad or sociopath so that comment is purely for aesthetics 😆)

1

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

they give you a 30 day trial (which isn't consecutive but cumulative) so you can really try it out

1 2

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

well can't vouch for it creating BETTER writing habits but it helps me produce MORE chaos, and find things WITHIN my chaos 😂
seriously, absolutely worth the money just for the search function, but the double-pane is so useful, and ability to see and organise all files (chapters, sub-sections)

1 4

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

Upping the game, presenting one of my favourite #HistoricalHotties, Holbein's sketch of Simon George, 1530s (I much prefer it to the finished portrait). 🗃️

1 3 29

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

🙄 I wouldn't acknowledge my spellchecker in my books any more than I would my pen or my keyboard. That's because they are inanimate tools. not colleagues or collaborators.

[I might however acknowledge *the human developers* of Scrivener, as creators of this fantastic writing project software!]

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 4d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

4 5 30

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 4d

yes the power differential is always an issue with this kind of context

1

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 4d

Noticed the other week that there's not nearly enough #HistoricalHotties content here on Bluesky, so am posting one of the OGs, Antinous
(amirite @emmasouthon.bsky.social )

Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 6d

Marble bust of Antinous depicted as Dionysus with a bronze vine wreath on his head.
The bust, found at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, was part of Marquis Giampietro Campana's collection and was regarded as one of his finest sculptures. Emperor Alexander II of Russia bought it in 1861 for the Hermitage.