November 22, 2024: The alphabet emerged earlier than we thought, 3D shapes with no corners, and climate change sped up hurricane winds this year. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Human ancestors started using and making implements long before the advent of easily recognized stone tools such as hand axes. Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images | | | • Climate change amplified wind speeds in every hurricane in the 2024 season, according to a new analysis. | 5 min read | | | • Bird flu has infected two young people, and researchers are worried the virus may be mutating. | 5 min read | | | • Mathematicians are using AI tools that could help them solve centuries-long mysteries, and even discover answers well beyond human mental capabilities. | 5 min read | | | Clay objects discovered during a dig at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra were engraved with symbols that may be part of the earliest known alphabet. Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University (CC by) | | | Archaeologists discovered four finger-size clay cylinders in a tomb holding six skeletons in northern Syria. One of the cylinders bears the word "silanu," which may be a name, the scientists say. Small holes drilled into the cylinders suggest the objects were perhaps used as labels on jars of food or other goods, placed in the tomb to accompany occupants into the afterlife. The tomb was in the ancient city Tell Umm el-Marra, between modern-day Aleppo and the Euphrates River. Radiocarbon dating indicated the clay of the cylinders is nearly 4,500 years old.
Why this matters: Scientists previously thought that the first alphabet was created around 1900 B.C.E. by people speaking a Semitic language on the Sinai Peninsula in what is now Egypt. That alphabet, called Proto-Sinaitic, is based on hieroglyphic symbols repurposed as letters. The discovery of hieroglyphic-based language on the cylinders shows the alphabet may have arisen at least 500 years earlier than that.
What the experts say: "It changes the entire narrative of how the alphabet was introduced," says Glenn Schwartz, an archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University who discovered the cylinders. | | | Mathematicians have discovered a new kind of shape. So-called "soft cells" are shapes that can fit together to completely fill a flat surface or a three-dimensional space with as few corners as possible. In two dimensions, soft cells have two corners bridged by curves. But in 3D, these curvy, almost organic forms have no corners at all.
How they did it: By examining the geometry of tilings, also called tessellations, a team of Hungarian mathematicians realized that it seemed impossible to create a tessellation with shapes with fewer than two corners. The scientists discovered that in three dimensions, it is possible to tessellate with objects that have no corners at all. Once the researchers identified the new shapes, they began to see them all over the place—in nature, art and architecture.
What the experts say: "To even imagine that you can tile space with no vertices," is quite original, says mathematician Joseph O'Rourke of Smith College, who wasn't involved in the study. "I found that quite surprising and very clever." | | | Violet Frances; Source: "Soft Cells and the Geometry of Seashells," by Gábor Domokos, Alain Goriely, Ákos G. Horváth and Krisztina Regős; February 6, 2024; arXiv:2402.04190 (reference) | | | If you're enjoying all the science we cover in this newsletter, dive deeper with a subscription to Scientific American. You'll have access to all our articles and will be supporting crucial science journalism. | | | • Investigative genetic genealogy (IGG)—which relies on genealogical and genetic data to reverse engineer family trees—has helped exonerate only a handful of wrongfully-convicted individuals. But it should be used more widely by wrongful conviction organizations, write David Gurney and James R. Mayer. Gurney is an assistant professor of law at Ramapo College, and Mayer is legal director of the Great North Innocence Project. Concerns or skepticism about the science or ethics behind IGG have been largely answered, they say. "A host of IGG practitioners and teams ... have developed robust policies and procedures around use of the technique." | 5 min read | | | If you kept up with Today in Science this week, you've got a leg-up on today's science quiz. Also, here's today's Spellements puzzle. Remember to send any science words that are missing from the puzzle to games@sciam.com. This week, Paul found tuatara (a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand). Great catch. | | | MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK | | | • Exotic Powder Pulls Carbon Dioxide from the Air at a Record Rate | 3 min read | • The Surprising New History of Horse Domestication | 15 min read | • The Arecibo Message, Earth's First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50 | 10 min read | | | • Celebrated nurse Florence Nightingale revolutionized data visualization. She created snappy graphics interwoven with compelling stories to attract attention and engage readers about important public health issues. For example, she showcased how poor sanitation and overcrowding caused unnecessary deaths of soldiers. Her diagrams received wide media attention and resulted in meaningful policy reform, even many years after they were published. Check out some of the best examples of her work here. | 4 min read | | | This Sunday, November 24, will be the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Lucy fossil. In honor of this milestone, read all about how Lucy was discovered, what made her so influential, and what paleoanthropologists are still learning from this hominin. Lucy's legacy is 3.2 million years old, one that we are still uncovering. | Thank you for reading Today in Science this week. I welcome your feedback, suggestions, and thoughts: newsletters@sciam.com. Have a great weekend! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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