Today’s top story
An important archaeological site in Chile may be thousands of years younger than first thought, according to a controversial study that threatens to rewrite the earliest history of human settlement in South America.
Monte Verde, a Paleolithic archaeological site in the mountains of southern Chile, stands as one of the oldest human settlements in the Americas and is believed to be 14,500 years old. The discovery in 1976 fundamentally changed the way archaeologists see the arrival of the first Americans on the continent, since the site predates the arrival of the Clovis people through North America by 1,500 years.
But a new study claims the site could be more than 10,000 years younger than first thought, completely overturning the accepted understanding of the site and prehistoric migration patterns. But other experts have called the new paper “extremely poor geological work.”
The trend
A historic heat wave hitting the American West is on track to set monthly records in more than 140 cities, from California to the Plains, this week.
And it’s far from an ordinary one – with the Arizona desert community of Martinez Lake reporting a high of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), breaking the record for highest March temperature ever recorded in the United States.
Some scientists argue that the planet’s increasingly brittle weather extremities are signs that human-driven climate change is accelerating. The debate is happening at the same time as the Iran war, which is already affecting American consumers reconsider the relationship with oil.
Three to read
- Scientists are witnessing the birth of one of the universe’s strongest magnets for the first time, thanks to a “magic trick” of general relativity. (Live Science)
- Carbon dioxide levels are higher than humans have ever experienced. It can change our blood chemistry (CNN)
- Mathematician wins Abel Prize 2026 for solving 60-year-old mystery (New Scientist)
Today’s video
Researchers in China have developed a system to learn humanoid robots’ movement skills based on fragmentary human data. And they have used it for train an android to play tennis.
Although the bot is not yet a match against professional players, it still returned 96.5% in its best performance, according to study that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Say it, said it
Word of the day
Métis — Greek for “wisdom,” and the name of Zeus’s first wife and advisor, who helped him escape from the womb of his father Cronus and whom he repaid by swallowing after learning that she will give birth to a son stronger than him.
Metis, already pregnant with Athena, the goddess of wisdom, helped her daughter escape from Zeus through his forehead. Athena’s birth is depicted in the marble sculptures on the Acropolis, a fragment of which has been found near the remains of a shipwreck at the bottom of the Aegean Sea.
Quote of the day
“Thermodynamics tells you what is possible and what is not possible if the laws of the universe are what we think they are. Until now, no one in four centuries of science has been able to show that the laws of thermodynamics (do not apply).”
Fun and games
The archaeological community is once again locked in heated debate over the timeline for the first settlement of the American continent. But how much do you know about the first people to reach it? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
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