A 12,000-year-old clay figurine and artistic restoration showcasing a woman with a goose from Nahal Ein Geb II
Laurent Davin
A diminutive 12,000-year-old clay figure featuring a goose on the back of a woman might illustrate an animistic ritual linked to mating between a gander and a human.
Measuring just 3.7 centimeters tall, this sculpture was uncovered in 2019 at the archaeological site of Nahal Ein Geb II in Israel, though its importance wasn’t fully appreciated until 2024.
The site was inhabited by the Natufians, a group of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who established settlements in the region. Known as the direct ancestors of the Neolithic farming communities, the Natufians are credited with early agriculture throughout the Middle East.
To the casual observer, it might be challenging to discern the figure’s components; Laurent Davin, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, expressed certainty, stating it clearly depicts a goose on the woman’s back.
“Upon extracting this small clay form from its packaging, I instantly recognized a human figure with a bird resting atop,” Davin recalls. “What I held was an extraordinary artifact, 12,000 years old, notable for both its subject and craftsmanship.”
There are ancient sculptures and paintings illustrating human-animal interactions, in addition to even older hybrid sculptures dating back 40,000 years, like the “Lion Man” discovered in Germany. Davin asserts this elegant piece is “the earliest figurine representing human-animal interaction” ever found.
Geochemical analyses indicated the statuette was heated to around 400 degrees Celsius. Davin notes the artist skillfully modeled the clay, showcasing a keen awareness of anatomy and how light and shadow play into the scene.
He and his team do not propose that the figure represents a literal event, such as a female hunter with a captured goose. Instead, Davin believes the goose was artistically rendered in a mating position.
“We view this portrayal as an imaginative interaction between animal spirits and humans,” he explains. “Such themes are prevalent in animistic cultures globally, particularly reflecting erotic dreams, shamanistic visions, and mythology.”
Researchers also found fingerprints on the figurine, likely made by its creator. Due to its small dimensions, it likely belonged to a young adult or an adult female of any gender.
Paul Tacon, a professor at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, not involved in the research, presents an alternative interpretation of the statue. “Having grown up in Canada and recalling Canada geese, [it] “It reminds me of their aggressive behavior. They often charge and leap onto one’s back, pecking at the head or neck,” he observes.
“The tale of a woman being pursued by a goose could represent an altercation rather than an intimate union, though the exact significance may remain elusive.”
Ancient caves, the origins of humanity: northern Spain
Explore the world’s oldest cave paintings in this picturesque region of northern Spain. Journey back 40,000 years and learn about the lives, play, and work of our ancestors. Every cave, filled with ancient Paleolithic art and awe-inspiring geological wonders, narrates a unique and timeless tale.
Police have disrupted an international network believed to be smuggling tens of thousands of stolen phones from the UK, marking their most significant effort against phone theft in London, according to law enforcement officials.
The criminal organization is thought to have smuggled as many as 40,000 stolen mobile phones from the UK to China in the past year, claiming that up to 40% of all mobile phones stolen in the capital were involved.
The police initiated Operation Echosteep in December 2024 after intercepting a shipment containing about 1,000 iPhones destined for Hong Kong at a warehouse located near Heathrow Airport.
According to police, nearly all the recovered phones had been reported stolen.
Authorities intercepted additional shipments and utilized forensic evidence from the packages to identify suspects.
After apprehending a man with 10 stolen mobile phones at Heathrow on September 20, he was charged with possession of stolen goods, the police unit reported.
During the investigation, officers also found two iPads, two laptops, and two Rolex watches.
Further investigation indicated that the same individual had made over 200 trips between London and Algeria in the past two years, according to police.
Three days later, two other men in their 30s were arrested in northeast London on suspicion of possessing stolen property.
Numerous mobile phones were discovered in vehicles, with approximately 2,000 additional devices located at properties linked to the suspects.
These individuals were subsequently charged and detained, police confirmed.
Additionally, two more men in their 30s were arrested on September 25 on allegations of money laundering and handling stolen goods.
Officers also seized several stolen devices during their search operations.
Police mentioned that one man had indicated that further investigations were ongoing.
In total, officers have arrested 46 individuals over two weeks, including 11 arrests related to a criminal gang involved in the theft of new iPhone 17 delivery vans.
An additional 15 arrests were made last week on suspicions of theft, handling stolen goods, and conspiracy to commit theft, according to the Metropolitan Police.
More than 30 suspicious devices were also uncovered while searching 28 locations in London and Hertfordshire.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed gratitude to the police for “addressing concerns in London,” noting a 13% and 14% decrease in crime rates this year.
“This operation is undeniably the largest of its kind in British history, and it was humbling to witness the Met’s efforts in targeting leaders of international smuggling operations as well as street-level robbers,” Khan commented.
However, he urged the mobile phone industry to collaborate with law enforcement to make it challenging for smugglers to utilize stolen devices.
“Criminals are profiting millions by reusing stolen mobile phones and selling them abroad, granting others access to cloud services,” he remarked. “The current situation is simply too simple and too lucrative.
“We will persist in urging the mobile phone industry to take rapid action to prevent this crime by making it impossible to use stolen devices.”
“To effectively combat this issue and create a safer London for all, we require coordinated global action.”
“We are pleased to report that we have made significant progress in understanding the importance of these efforts,” stated Det Insp Mark Gavin, Senior Investigation Officer at Operation Echosteep.
Gavin highlighted that smugglers are particularly targeting Apple products due to their high profitability overseas, with handsets fetching up to £300 and stolen devices selling for as much as $5,000 (£3,710) in China.
This increase in phone theft is mirrored in numerous cities globally, with around 80,000 devices reported stolen in London last year, according to the Met.
Commander Andrew Featherstone, the Met’s lead on phone theft, stated:
In Guests, the largest cinema at the Venice Film Festival, will converge for the premiere of Frankenstein. The stunning portrayal of Guillermo del Toro mirrors that of the creator who played God and crafted a monster. When a young scientist resurrects a body for his peers, some see it as a deceit, while others react with anger. “It’s hateful and grotesque,” shouts a hidden elder, and his concern is partially warranted. Every technological advancement unseals Pandora’s box. I’m uncertain about what will be craved or where this will lead me.
Behind the main festival venue lies Lazarete Vecchio, a small, forsaken island. Since 2017, it has hosted Venice Immersive, an innovative section dedicated to showcasing and promoting XR (Extended Reality) storytelling. Previously, it served as a storage facility, and before that, as a plague quarantine zone. This year’s judge, Eliza McNitt, recalls a time when construction halted as human bones were uncovered. “There’s something unforgettable about presenting this new form of film at the world’s oldest film festival,” she remarks. “We are delving into the medium of the future, while conversing with ghosts.”
This year, the island is home to 69 distinct monsters, ranging from expansive walk-through installations to intricate virtual realms accessible via headsets. Naturally, Frankenstein’s creations draw the attention of its makers, and McNitt acknowledges similar worries surrounding immersive art, which is often intertwined with runaway technology that poses a threat to all of us, frequently associated with AI.
“Immersive storytelling is a fundamentally different discussion than AI,” she states. “Yet, there’s a palpable anxiety regarding what AI signifies for the film industry. It largely stems from the false belief that a mere prompt can conjure something magical. The reality is that utilizing AI tools to cultivate something personal and unique is a collaborative effort involving large teams of dedicated artists. AI is not a substitute for humans,” she emphasizes, “because AI lacks taste.”
“Each experience requires a leap of faith”… Zan Brooks, left, experiencing the reflection of a small red dot. Photo: Venice immersion
McNitt has embraced AI tools early on and recently employed them in the autobiographical film Ancestra, set for release in 2025. She suspects that other filmmakers are not far behind. “I believe this experience here is merely the beginning of experimenting with these tools,” she says. “But next year, we will likely see deeper involvement in all aspects of these projects.”
The immersive storytelling segment at the Venice Film Festival aligns seamlessly with the film itself, encouraging attendees to view it as a natural progression or heir to traditional cinema. Various mainstream Hollywood directors have already explored this avenue. For instance, Asteroids, a high-stakes space thriller about disastrous mining expeditions, led by Dagriman, the Swingers director, reflects this trend. His production partner, Julina Tatlock, states that the interactive short films effectively brought Liman back to his independent roots, allowing him to conceive and create projects free from studio constraints. Asteroids is a labor of love, entwining elements of a larger narrative that could still be recognized as a feature of conventional cinema. “Doug is fascinated by space,” she adds.
The clouds possess a similar cinematic quality, floating above 2000 meters. This passionate arthouse drama depicts a grieving family pursuing the spirits of their deceased wives through the pages of uncompleted novels. Taiwanese director Singing Chen, adept in both traditional film and VR, believes each medium possesses unique strengths. “Immersive art was a pathway to film,” she remarks. “Even with the arrival of film, still images retain their potency and significance; they do not overshadow photographs. They affect us in ways distinct from moving images.”
Films in the Venice lineup are largely familiar. We often recognize the actors and directors, allowing for intuitive engagement with the storylines. In contrast, the artwork on the island can span a vast range—from immersive videos and installations to interactive adventures and virtual worlds. In the afternoon space, visitors can engage with the interactivity of an arcade game featuring Samantha Gorman and Danny Canisarro’s faces, along with a whistletop tour of Singapore’s cultural history. Every experience demands a leap of faith and hinges on a willingness to get lost. You might stumble, but you may also soar.
Visitors often meander through a dazzling…dark room. Photo: Venice immersion
Three projects stand out from this year’s Venice showcase. The Ancestors by Steye Hallema are lively ensemble interactives where visitors first form pairs, then expand into large families, viewing photos of their descendants on synchronized smartphones. This experience is unique in its pure focus on community, joyful yet slightly chaotic, embodying the essence of a good family. If Ancestors emphasizes relationship significance, here the form and content are beautifully synchronized.
The extraordinary blur by Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg (likely the most sought-after ticket on the island) explores themes of cloning and identity, Genesis and extinction, requiring an impromptu immersive theater approach. It shifts perspectives, creating a bizarre, provocative, and enticing experience. As it concludes, users face a chilling VR representation of aging—a messenger from the future. The eerie, decrepit figure approaching me made me feel a year or two older than I actually am.
If there’s a real-world parallel to the Frankenstein scene, where an enraged scientist screams “hate” and “obscene,” it occurs when a middle-aged Italian finds himself in a dispute with the producer of sensory installations dubbed the Dark Room as he ferries to the island. He accuses the producer of being a Satanist. They assure him it’s not the case. “Maybe it’s not,” he responds. “But you did Satan’s bidding.” In truth, dark rooms are splendid and not at all demonic. Co-directed by Mads Damsbo, Laurits Flensted-Jensen, and Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup, this vivid ritual tale immerses participants in a dynamic, intense journey through various corners of queer subculture, nightclubs, and backrooms, ultimately leading them across the sea. It’s captivating, disquieting, and profoundly moving. Visitors often navigate aimlessly, as I noted.
Initially, many stories at Venice oversimplified the experiences to comfort newcomers intimidated by technology. However, the medium is now gaining assurance. It has matured from its infancy to adolescence. This art form has evolved to become more robust, daring, and psychologically intricate. It’s no coincidence that many immersive experiences at Venice explore themes of ancestors and descendants, examining the connections between both. Moreover, numerous experiences unfold in mobile environments, fragile bridges, and open elevators. The medium reveals its current state—somewhere between stages of transit, perpetually evolving. It journeys between worlds, fervently seeking its future trajectory.
The asteroid called Donald Johansson was captured by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during a flyby on April 20, 2025. On the closest approach, the spacecraft was at a distance of 960 km (600 miles).
Donald Johansson is a carbonaceous asteroid located in the inner region of the main asteroid belt.
It was discovered by American astronomer Shertebas at the Siding Spring Observatory on March 2, 1981.
Donald Johansson had previously observed a large brightness variation over a 10-day period, so some of the expectations of members of the Lucy team were confirmed when the first image showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary.
However, researchers were surprised by the strange shape of the narrow neck that connects the two leaves.
“The asteroid Donald Johansson has an incredibly complex geology,” says Dr. Hallevison, principal investigator at Lucy, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute.
“A detailed study of complex structures reveals important information about the building blocks and collision processes that formed planets in the solar system.”
This image of the asteroid Donald Johansson was taken by Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (l’lorri) by the closest approach from a 1,100 km (660 miles) range. Image credits: NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL/NOIRLAB.
From a preliminary analysis of the first available images collected by the spacecraft L’Lorri Imager, Donaldjohanson appears to be larger than originally estimated.
“In this first set of high-resolution images returned from the spacecraft, we cannot see a perfect asteroid because the asteroid is larger than the imager’s field of view,” the scientists explained.
“It takes up to a week for the team to downlink the rest of the encounter data from the spacecraft. This dataset provides a more complete image of the overall shape of the asteroid.”
“The NASA Headquarters researcher, Dr. Tom Staller, a scientist with the Lucy Program,” said:
“When Lucy reaches the Trojan asteroid, the chances that she may truly open a new window into the history of our solar system are immeasurable.”
Lucy’s first asteroid flyby target, Dinkinesch and Donald Johansson, are not the main science targets of the mission.
As planned, Dinkinesh Flyby was testing the mission’s system, but the encounter was a full dress rehearsal, with the team conducting a series of close observations to maximize data collection.
Data collected by Lucy’s other scientific instruments, the L’Ralph Color Imager and infrared spectrometers and L’TES thermal infrared spectrometers, will be acquired and analyzed over the next few weeks.
Lucy spacecraft will spend most of the rest of 2025 traveling through the main asteroid belt.
Lucy will encounter the mission’s first major target, the Jupiter Trojan Novel, in August 2027.
That’s probably The second asteroid encounter It was released for Lucy in 2021 as Quest to turn 11 Space Lock. A close approach should help scientists better understand the early solar system when planets are forming. The asteroid is Ancient leftovers.
The upcoming flyby is a 2027 dress rehearsal in which Lucy reached the first so-called Trojan asteroid near Jupiter.
Sunday’s spacecraft, making three scientific instruments, observes a harmless asteroid known as Donald Johansson. The encounter takes place 139 million miles (223 million kilometers) from Earth, the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
A paleontologist named Lockheed Martin, the asteroid, the architect and operator of the spacecraft, is in mission control for all actions. He discovered Ethiopian fossil Lucy 50 years ago. The spaceship is named after a famous human ancestor.
NASA’s Lucy approaches 596 miles (960 kilometers) to this asteroid, an estimated 2½ miles (4 kilometers), but much shorter in width. Scientists should consider their size and shape better after a short visit. The spacecraft zooms at over 30,000 mph (48,000 kph).
The asteroid is one of countless fragments believed to have arisen from a massive collision 150 million years ago.
“It’s not going to be a basic potato. We already know that,” said Hal Levison, chief scientist at the South West Research Institute.
Rather, Levison said the asteroid could resemble bowling pins and snowmen like Arocos, the Kuiper Belt object that NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft visits in 2019. Another possibility is that two elongated but separate asteroids are far apart.
“We don’t know what to expect, and that’s what makes this so cool,” he said.
There is no communication with Lucy during the flyby as the spacecraft is keeping its antenna away from Earth to track the asteroid. Levison expects to have most of the scientific data within a day.
Lucy’s next stop, “Main Event,” is a Trojan asteroid that, as Levison calls it, shares Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun. A herd of Trojans preceded the largest planet in the solar system, circles the sun. Lucy visited eight people from 2027 to 2033, some of which will be paired with two.
Lucy’s first asteroid flyby came in 2023 as she passed Little Dinkinesh, located in the main asteroid belt. The spaceship discovered a mini-moon around it.
Green spots show where the aurora brightens the sky in Neptune
NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, Heidi Hammel (Aura), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC)
For the first time, researchers discovered infrared aurora swirling in Neptune’s atmosphere, examining decades of scientific speculation.
When NASA’s Voyager 2 mission was flew by Neptune in 1989, I found an appetizing hint of aurora activity in the clouds of Ice Giant. However, scientists were unable to verify the phenomenon at the time because existing equipment was too weak. Now, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally provided the power to detect them.
“This really was a fulfillment of long-standing expectations.” Heidi Hammel Washington, DC, Astronomical Research Association.
Hammel and her colleagues used NirSpec from JWST, a powerful infrared imaging tool, to capture spectral images of Neptune and analyze light at various wavelengths emitted by the planet. In 2023, researchers used musical instruments to detect Uranus’ infrared aurora. This time I found it on Neptune too.
The images allowed Hammel and her team to begin building a map of Neptune’s magnetic field. This is particularly exciting as the planet is known to have some of the rarest magnetic poles in the solar system.
Unlike Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, Neptune’s magnetic poles are not at the center of their rotating poles. Instead, “they are offset by almost half the planet’s radius,” says Hammel. As a result, the aurora appears as an irregular mass far closer to the equator.
In addition to detection of Auroras, observations of JWST showed that the ionosphere of Neptune, a layer of charged particles that covers several planets, was cooled. Now, on average, it’s about 10% colder than when the Voyager 2 passed 34 years ago. A similar change was detected on Uranus.
The authors of the new study are unclear why this cooling occurred, but they hope that the upcoming JWST observation period, scheduled for 2026, will provide more clues.
Radcliffe’s wave visualization, a series of dust and gas clouds (marked here) throughout the Milky Way. Approximately 400 light years from the sun, marked yellow
Alyssa A. Goodman/Harvard University
Our solar system passed through vast waves of gas and dust about 14 million years ago, darkening the views of the Earth’s night sky. The waves may have left a trace on our planet’s geological records.
Astronomers previously discovered large ocean-like waves of milky stars, gas and dust that ripple up and down for millions of years. One of these closest and most studied is the Radcliffe waves, about 9,000 light years wide and only 400 light years from the solar system.
Now, Efrem Maconi The University of Vienna and his colleagues discovered that the waves of Radcliffe once were far closer to us, surpassing the solar system 11 to 18 million years ago.
Maconi and his team used data from Gaia Space Telescope, which tracked billions of stars in the Milky Way, to identify recently formed groups of stars within the Radcliffe Wave, and identify the dust and gas clouds that formed from them.
Using these stars, they tracked the cloud orbits in time to reveal historic locations to show how the entire wave was moving. They also calculated the past paths of the solar system, rewind the clock for 30 million years, and discovered that the waves and our sun were approaching intimately about 15-12 million years ago. It is difficult to accurately estimate when the intersection began and ended, but the team believes the solar system is within the wave range around 14 million years ago.
This would have made Earth’s galactic environment as dark as it is today, as we currently live in a relatively empty space realm. “If we are in a dense region of interstellar media, that means that the light coming from the stars will dim,” says Macconi. “It’s like being on a foggy day.”
The encounter may have left evidence in Earth’s geological records and deposited radioactive isotopes on the crust, but considering how long ago it happened, this would be difficult to measure, he says. It says it is useful to find such a galactic encounter, as explaining the geological record of the Earth is a continuous problem. Ralph Schoenrich University College London.
More speculatively, the crossing appears to have occurred during a period of cooling, known as the mid-Miocene. Maconi said the two could be linked, but this would be difficult to prove. Schoenrich thinks that is unlikely. “The rule of thumb is that geology outweighs the influence of the universe,” he says. “When you move around the continent or disrupt ocean currents, you need more because climate change is occurring.”
Uranus’ strange magnetic field may be much less strange than astronomers first thought, and it could mean that Uranus’ largest moon is much more active and perhaps even has a global ocean It means that there is.
The only direct measurement of Uranus’s magnetic field was obtained by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew close to the planet in 1986. The spacecraft’s measurements suggested that the magnetic field was skewed, meaning it was not aligned with the planet’s rotation, and that it was an anomalous field. It is rich in highly energetic electrons and lacks the plasma that is common in the magnetic fields of other gas giant planets like Jupiter. Astronomers at the time thought the results were so strange that they either invoked complex physics to explain the measurements or simply dismissed them as evidence that Voyager 2’s instruments had gone awry.
now, jamie jasinski Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California reanalyzed Voyager 2 data and found that a rare explosion of solar wind that crushed Uranus’ magnetic field just before the spacecraft arrived may have distorted the data, causing the measurements to I discovered that it was disturbed. This means everything we thought we knew about Uranus’ magnetic field may be wrong, Jasinski says. “This is almost like resetting everything,” he says.
Jasinski and his team found that the solar wind compressed Uranus’s magnetic field to a size that typically occurs only 4 percent of the time. But for the past 40 years, scientists have assumed that is the normal state of affairs. Jasinski says the collapse of the magnetic field explains some of the strange results so far, including the lack of plasma and high-energy electrons.
If there is indeed plasma in Uranus’ magnetic field, and Voyager 2 just happened to miss it, it’s possible that not all of it came from the planet itself. Some may have come from Uranus’ moons, the largest of which are called Titania and Oberon. Until now, these moons were thought to be inert, but new research leaves open the possibility that they may be geologically active after all. This is consistent with recent calculations that suggest there may be a hidden ocean on the moon. “The solar wind may have wiped out all evidence of an active satellite just before the flyby occurred,” Jasinski said.
Pierre Maslow, a statistician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, stated that Paris is considered the highest risk city among all European capitals. Heat exposure concerns in 854 European cities.
The Olympic Village in Paris will feature a wildlife-friendly rooftop, environmentally-friendly building materials, and green spaces including a public park.
However, as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the event, no air conditioning will be installed in the players’ rooms. Instead, the complex will rely on natural airflow cooling and groundwater cooling systems. Organizers mentioned that even in the heat, nighttime temperatures do not exceed 79 degrees. Read more here.
A study in Nature Climate and Atmospheric Science suggests that heatwave temperatures are on the rise in comparison to 2003. Temperatures could now reach up to 7 degrees F higher than during the 2003 heatwave.
During the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo, extreme heat affected many athletes, leading to rescheduling of events. About 110 athletes suffered heatstroke during the Tokyo Games due to high temperatures. Endurance events were moved to Sapporo to deal with the heat.
The absence of spectators at the Tokyo Games helped reduce the burden on medical staff, according to Shota Tanaka, a part-time researcher at Kokushikan University. However, this is an issue that Paris must consider as the number of heatstroke cases is expected to be high.
Tanaka added, “Holding the Olympics in August is fundamentally a risky idea from a heatstroke perspective.” Athletes typically prepare for the heat several weeks before the games.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
