Tutankhamun’s Iconic Gold Death Mask Is Getting a New Home Near the Pyramids of Giza Soon, the elaborately decorated artifact will be transferred to the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum, joining more than 5,000 other items from the boy king’s tomb Tutankhamun's gold funerary mask has been on display at the Egyptian Museum for nearly a century. Mostafa Elshemy / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images For nearly a century, visitors have flocked to the Egyptian Museum on Cairo’s Tahrir Square to admire Tutankhamun’s funerary mask, the intricately decorated artifact designed to cover the mummified pharaoh’s face. Starting this summer, they’ll be able to see the mask in its new home, the $1 billion Grand Egyptian Museum located in nearby Giza. Officials will soon transfer the mask to the massive new venue, where it will join more than 5,000 artifacts from the boy king’s tomb. “Only 26 objects from the Tutankhamun collection, including the golden mask and two coffins, remain here [at the Egyptian Museum] in Tahrir,” says Ali Abdel Halim, director of the Egyptian Museum, to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “All are set to be moved soon.” Halim didn’t say when the death mask will be transferred, but the new Grand Egyptian Museum is scheduled to fully open to the public in early July after years of delays. Some portions of the Grand Egyptian Museum have been open since November 2023, with an additional 12 exhibit halls opening last October. All told, the museum complex spans more than 5 million square feet and houses more than 100,000 artifacts, which makes it the largest museum in the world focused on a single civilization. “We spent all this money to build the greatest museum in the world,” said Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist who has twice served as Egypt's tourism and antiquities minister, to NBC News’ Keir Simmons, Charlene Gubash and Mithil Aggarwal in October. “You will see the objects for the first time in an incredible way.” The Untold Secrets of King Tut's Tomb Watch on Tutankhamun's mask has been housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo since 1934, 12 years after British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the pharaoh’s tomb. However, the 123-year-old Beaux Arts venue is small and starting to show its age, so officials decided to relocate Tutankhamun's treasures to the enormous, high-tech Grand Egyptian Museum. At the new facility, the Tutankhamun artifacts will have their own dedicated, climate-controlled wing—one that’s large enough to display all of them together for the first time. Last month, officials carefully transferred 163 Tutankhamun treasures to the new museum, according to an announcement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. That delivery included the pharaoh’s elaborately decorated ceremonial chair, various pieces of jewelry and the canopic chest that held the jars containing Tutankhamun’s organs, reports Artnet’s Sarah Cascone. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, meanwhile, is not closing. Though it has lost Tutankhamun’s treasures and more than 20 mummies, it still has roughly 170,000 artifacts in its collection, per the AFP. Curators say they plan to replace the Tutankhamun artifacts with a new exhibition, though they haven’t shared many details. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Once again, Sam Altman wants to show you the future. The CEO of OpenAI is standing on a sparse stage in San Francisco, preparing to reveal his next move to an attentive crowd. “We needed some way for identifying, authenticating humans in the age of AGI,” Altman explains, referring to artificial general intelligence. “We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and central.” The solution Altman came up with is looming behind him. It’s a white sphere about the size of a beach ball, with a camera at its center. The company that makes it, known as Tools for Humanity, calls this mysterious device the Orb. Stare into the heart of the plastic-and-silicon globe and it will map the unique furrows and ciliary zones of your iris. Seconds later, you’ll receive inviolable proof of your humanity: a 12,800-digit binary number, known as an iris code, sent to an app on your phone. At the same time, a packet of cryptocurrency called Worldcoin, worth approximately $42, will be transferred to your digital wallet—your reward for becoming a “verified human.” Altman co-founded Tools for Humanity in 2019 as part of a suite of companies he believed would reshape the world. Once the tech he was developing at OpenAI passed a certain level of intelligence, he reasoned, it would mark the end of one era on the Internet and the beginning of another, in which AI became so advanced, so human-like, that you would no longer be able to tell whether what you read, saw, or heard online came from a real person. When that happened, Altman imagined, we would need a new kind of online infrastructure: a human-verification layer for the Internet, to distinguish real people from the proliferating number of bots and AI “agents.”And so Tools for Humanity set out to build a global “proof-of-humanity” network. It aims to verify 50 million people by the end of 2025; ultimately its goal is to sign up every single human being on the planet. The free crypto serves as both an incentive for users to sign up, and also an entry point into what the company hopes will become the world’s largest financial network, through which it believes “double-digit percentages of the global economy” will eventually flow. Even for Altman, these missions are audacious. “If this really works, it’s like a fundamental piece of infrastructure for the world,” Altman tells TIME in a video interview from the passenger seat of a car a few days before his April 30 keynote address.Internal hardware of the Orb in mid-assembly in March. Davide Monteleone for TIMEThe project’s goal is to solve a problem partly of Altman’s own making. In the near future, he and other tech leaders say, advanced AIs will be imbued with agency: the ability to not just respond to human prompting, but to take actions independently in the world. This will enable the creation of AI coworkers that can drop into your company and begin solving problems; AI tutors that can adapt their teaching style to students’ preferences; even AI doctors that can diagnose routine cases and handle scheduling or logistics. The arrival of these virtual agents, their venture capitalist backers predict, will turbocharge our productivity and unleash an age of material abundance.But AI agents will also have cascading consequences for the human experience online. “As AI systems become harder to distinguish from people, websites may face difficult trade-offs,” says a recent paper by researchers from 25 different universities, nonprofits, and tech companies, including OpenAI. “There is a significant risk that digital institutions will be unprepared for a time when AI-powered agents, including those leveraged by malicious actors, overwhelm other activity online.” On social-media platforms like X and Facebook, bot-driven accounts are amassing billions of views on AI-generated content. In April, the foundation that runs Wikipedia disclosed that AI bots scraping their site were making the encyclopedia too costly to sustainably run. Later the same month, researchers from the University of Zurich found that AI-generated comments on the subreddit /r/ChangeMyView were up to six times more successful than human-written ones at persuading unknowing users to change their minds.  Photograph by Davide Monteleone for TIMEBuy a copy of the Orb issue hereThe arrival of agents won’t only threaten our ability to distinguish between authentic and AI content online. It will also challenge the Internet’s core business model, online advertising, which relies on the assumption that ads are being viewed by humans. “The Internet will change very drastically sometime in the next 12 to 24 months,” says Tools for Humanity CEO Alex Blania. “So we have to succeed, or I’m not sure what else would happen.”For four years, Blania’s team has been testing the Orb’s hardware abroad. Now the U.S. rollout has arrived. Over the next 12 months, 7,500 Orbs will be arriving in dozens of American cities, in locations like gas stations, bodegas, and flagship stores in Los Angeles, Austin, and Miami. The project’s founders and fans hope the Orb’s U.S. debut will kickstart a new phase of growth. The San Francisco keynote was titled: “At Last.” It’s not clear the public appetite matches the exultant branding. Tools for Humanity has “verified” just 12 million humans since mid 2023, a pace Blania concedes is well behind schedule. Few online platforms currently support the so-called “World ID” that the Orb bestows upon its visitors, leaving little to entice users to give up their biometrics beyond the lure of free crypto. Even Altman isn’t sure whether the whole thing can work. “I can see [how] this becomes a fairly mainstream thing in a few years,” he says. “Or I can see that it’s still only used by a small subset of people who think about the world in a certain way.” Blania (left) and Altman debut the Orb at World’s U.S. launch in San Francisco on April 30, 2025. Jason Henry—The New York Times/ReduxYet as the Internet becomes overrun with AI, the creators of this strange new piece of hardware are betting that everybody in the world will soon want—or need—to visit an Orb. The biometric code it creates, they predict, will become a new type of digital passport, without which you might be denied passage to the Internet of the future, from dating apps to government services. In a best-case scenario, World ID could be a privacy-preserving way to fortify the Internet against an AI-driven deluge of fake or deceptive content. It could also enable the distribution of universal basic income (UBI)—a policy that Altman has previously touted—as AI automation transforms the global economy. To examine what this new technology might mean, I reported from three continents, interviewed 10 Tools for Humanity executives and investors, reviewed hundreds of pages of company documents, and “verified” my own humanity. The Internet will inevitably need some kind of proof-of-humanity system in the near future, says Divya Siddarth, founder of the nonprofit Collective Intelligence Project. The real question, she argues, is whether such a system will be centralized—“a big security nightmare that enables a lot of surveillance”—or privacy-preserving, as the Orb claims to be. Questions remain about Tools for Humanity’s corporate structure, its yoking to an unstable cryptocurrency, and what power it would concentrate in the hands of its owners if successful. Yet it’s also one of the only attempts to solve what many see as an increasingly urgent problem. “There are some issues with it,” Siddarth says of World ID. “But you can’t preserve the Internet in amber. Something in this direction is necessary.”In March, I met Blania at Tools for Humanity’s San Francisco headquarters, where a large screen displays the number of weekly “Orb verifications” by country. A few days earlier, the CEO had attended a $1 million-per-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago with President Donald Trump, whom he credits with clearing the way for the company’s U.S. launch by relaxing crypto regulations. “Given Sam is a very high profile target,” Blania says, “we just decided that we would let other companies fight that fight, and enter the U.S. once the air is clear.” As a kid growing up in Germany, Blania was a little different than his peers. “Other kids were, like, drinking a lot, or doing a lot of parties, and I was just building a lot of things that could potentially blow up,” he recalls. At the California Institute of Technology, where he was pursuing research for a masters degree, he spent many evenings reading the blogs of startup gurus like Paul Graham and Altman. Then, in 2019, Blania received an email from Max Novendstern, an entrepreneur who had been kicking around a concept with Altman to build a global cryptocurrency network. They were looking for technical minds to help with the project. Over cappuccinos, Altman told Blania he was certain about three things. First, smarter-than-human AI was not only possible, but inevitable—and it would soon mean you could no longer assume that anything you read, saw, or heard on the Internet was human-created. Second, cryptocurrency and other decentralized technologies would be a massive force for change in the world. And third, scale was essential to any crypto network’s value. The Orb is tested on a calibration rig, surrounded by checkerboard targets to ensure precision in iris detection. Davide Monteleone for TIMEThe goal of Worldcoin, as the project was initially called, was to combine those three insights. Altman took a lesson from PayPal, the company co-founded by his mentor Peter Thiel. Of its initial funding, PayPal spent less than $10 million actually building its app—but pumped an additional $70 million or so into a referral program, whereby new users and the person who invited them would each receive $10 in credit. The referral program helped make PayPal a leading payment platform. Altman thought a version of that strategy would propel Worldcoin to similar heights. He wanted to create a new cryptocurrency and give it to users as a reward for signing up. The more people who joined the system, the higher the token’s value would theoretically rise. Since 2019, the project has raised $244 million from investors like Coinbase and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. That money paid for the $50 million cost of designing the Orb, plus maintaining the software it runs on. The total market value of all Worldcoins in existence, however, is far higher—around $12 billion. That number is a bit misleading: most of those coins are not in circulation and Worldcoin’s price has fluctuated wildly. Still, it allows the company to reward users for signing up at no cost to itself. The main lure for investors is the crypto upside. Some 75% of all Worldcoins are set aside for humans to claim when they sign up, or as referral bonuses. The remaining 25% are split between Tools for Humanity’s backers and staff, including Blania and Altman. “I’m really excited to make a lot of money,” ” Blania says.From the beginning, Altman was thinking about the consequences of the AI revolution he intended to unleash. (On May 21, he announced plans to team up with famed former Apple designer Jony Ive on a new AI personal device.) A future in which advanced AI could perform most tasks more effectively than humans would bring a wave of unemployment and economic dislocation, he reasoned. Some kind of wealth redistribution might be necessary. In 2016, he partially funded a study of basic income, which gave $1,000 per-month handouts to low-income individuals in Illinois and Texas. But there was no single financial system that would allow money to be sent to everybody in the world. Nor was there a way to stop an individual human from claiming their share twice—or to identify a sophisticated AI pretending to be human and pocketing some cash of its own. In 2023, Tools for Humanity raised the possibility of using the network to redistribute the profits of AI labs that were able to automate human labor. “As AI advances,” it said, “fairly distributing access and some of the created value through UBI will play an increasingly vital role in counteracting the concentration of economic power.”Blania was taken by the pitch, and agreed to join the project as a co-founder. “Most people told us we were very stupid or crazy or insane, including Silicon Valley investors,” Blania says. At least until ChatGPT came out in 2022, transforming OpenAI into one of the world’s most famous tech companies and kickstarting a market bull-run. “Things suddenly started to make more and more sense to the external world,” Blania says of the vision to develop a global “proof-of-humanity” network. “You have to imagine a world in which you will have very smart and competent systems somehow flying through the Internet with different goals and ideas of what they want to do, and us having no idea anymore what we’re dealing with.”After our interview, Blania’s head of communications ushers me over to a circular wooden structure where eight Orbs face one another. The scene feels like a cross between an Apple Store and a ceremonial altar. “Do you want to get verified?” she asks. Putting aside my reservations for the purposes of research, I download the World App and follow its prompts. I flash a QR code at the Orb, then gaze into it. A minute or so later, my phone buzzes with confirmation: I’ve been issued my own personal World ID and some Worldcoin.The first thing the Orb does is check if you’re human, using a neural network that takes input from various sensors, including an infrared camera and a thermometer. Davide Monteleone for TIMEWhile I stared into the Orb, several complex procedures had taken place at once. A neural network took inputs from multiple sensors—an infrared camera, a thermometer—to confirm I was a living human. Simultaneously, a telephoto lens zoomed in on my iris, capturing the physical traits within that distinguish me from every other human on Earth. It then converted that image into an iris code: a numerical abstraction of my unique biometric data. Then the Orb checked to see if my iris code matched any it had seen before, using a technique allowing encrypted data to be compared without revealing the underlying information. Before the Orb deleted my data, it turned my iris code into several derivative codes—none of which on its own can be linked back to the original—encrypted them, deleted the only copies of the decryption keys, and sent each one to a different secure server, so that future users’ iris codes can be checked for uniqueness against mine. If I were to use my World ID to access a website, that site would learn nothing about me except that I’m human. The Orb is open-source, so outside experts can examine its code and verify the company’s privacy claims. “I did a colonoscopy on this company and these technologies before I agreed to join,” says Trevor Traina, a Trump donor and former U.S. ambassador to Austria who now serves as Tools for Humanity’s chief business officer. “It is the most privacy-preserving technology on the planet.”Only weeks later, when researching what would happen if I wanted to delete my data, do I discover that Tools for Humanity’s privacy claims rest on what feels like a sleight of hand. The company argues that in modifying your iris code, it has “effectively anonymized” your biometric data. If you ask Tools for Humanity to delete your iris codes, they will delete the one stored on your phone, but not the derivatives. Those, they argue, are no longer your personal data at all. But if I were to return to an Orb after deleting my data, it would still recognize those codes as uniquely mine. Once you look into the Orb, a piece of your identity remains in the system forever. If users could truly delete that data, the premise of one ID per human would collapse, Tools for Humanity’s chief privacy officer Damien Kieran tells me when I call seeking an explanation. People could delete and sign up for new World IDs after being suspended from a platform. Or claim their Worldcoin tokens, sell them, delete their data, and cash in again. This argument fell flat with European Union regulators in Germany, who recently declared that the Orb posed “fundamental data protection issues” and ordered the company to allow European users to fully delete even their anonymized data. (Tools for Humanity has appealed; the regulator is now reassessing the decision.) “Just like any other technology service, users cannot delete data that is not personal data,” Kieran said in a statement. “If a person could delete anonymized data that can’t be linked to them by World or any third party, it would allow bad actors to circumvent the security and safety that World ID is working to bring to every human.”On a balmy afternoon this spring, I climb a flight of stairs up to a room above a restaurant in an outer suburb of Seoul. Five elderly South Koreans tap on their phones as they wait to be “verified” by the two Orbs in the center of the room. “We don’t really know how to distinguish between AI and humans anymore,” an attendant in a company t-shirt explains in Korean, gesturing toward the spheres. “We need a way to verify that we’re human and not AI. So how do we do that? Well, humans have irises, but AI doesn’t.”The attendant ushers an elderly woman over to an Orb. It bleeps. “Open your eyes,” a disembodied voice says in English. The woman stares into the camera. Seconds later, she checks her phone and sees that a packet of Worldcoin worth 75,000 Korean won (about $54) has landed in her digital wallet. Congratulations, the app tells her. You are now a verified human.A visitor views the Orbs in Seoul on April 14, 2025. Taemin Ha for TIMETools for Humanity aims to “verify” 1 million Koreans over the next year. Taemin Ha for TIMEA couple dozen Orbs have been available in South Korea since 2023, verifying roughly 55,000 people. Now Tools for Humanity is redoubling its efforts there. At an event in a traditional wooden hanok house in central Seoul, an executive announces that 250 Orbs will soon be dispersed around the country—with the aim of verifying 1 million Koreans in the next 12 months. South Korea has high levels of smartphone usage, crypto and AI adoption, and Internet access, while average wages are modest enough for the free Worldcoin on offer to still be an enticing draw—all of which makes it fertile testing ground for the company’s ambitious global expansion. Yet things seem off to a slow start. In a retail space I visited in central Seoul, Tools for Humanity had constructed a wooden structure with eight Orbs facing each other. Locals and tourists wander past looking bemused; few volunteer themselves up. Most who do tell me they are crypto enthusiasts who came intentionally, driven more by the spirit of early adoption than the free coins. The next day, I visit a coffee shop in central Seoul where a chrome Orb sits unassumingly in one corner. Wu Ruijun, a 20-year-old student from China, strikes up a conversation with the barista, who doubles as the Orb’s operator. Wu was invited here by a friend who said both could claim free cryptocurrency if he signed up. The barista speeds him through the process. Wu accepts the privacy disclosure without reading it, and widens his eyes for the Orb. Soon he’s verified. “I wasn’t told anything about the privacy policy,” he says on his way out. “I just came for the money.”As Altman’s car winds through San Francisco, I ask about the vision he laid out in 2019: that AI would make it harder for us to trust each other online. To my surprise, he rejects the framing. “I’m much more [about] like: what is the good we can create, rather than the bad we can stop?” he says. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to avoid the bot overrun’ or whatever. It’s just that we can do a lot of special things for humans.” It’s an answer that may reflect how his role has changed over the years. Altman is now the chief public cheerleader of a $300 billion company that’s touting the transformative utility of AI agents. The rise of agents, he and others say, will be a boon for our quality of life—like having an assistant on hand who can answer your most pressing questions, carry out mundane tasks, and help you develop new skills. It’s an optimistic vision that may well pan out. But it doesn’t quite fit with the prophecies of AI-enabled infopocalypse that Tools for Humanity was founded upon.Altman waves away a question about the influence he and other investors stand to gain if their vision is realized. Most holders, he assumes, will have already started selling their tokens—too early, he adds. “What I think would be bad is if an early crew had a lot of control over the protocol,” he says, “and that’s where I think the commitment to decentralization is so cool.” Altman is referring to the World Protocol, the underlying technology upon which the Orb, Worldcoin, and World ID all rely. Tools for Humanity is developing it, but has committed to giving control to its users over time—a process they say will prevent power from being concentrated in the hands of a few executives or investors. Tools for Humanity would remain a for-profit company, and could levy fees on platforms that use World ID, but other companies would be able to compete for customers by building alternative apps—or even alternative Orbs. The plan draws on ideas that animated the crypto ecosystem in the late 2010s and early 2020s, when evangelists for emerging blockchain technologies argued that the centralization of power—especially in large so-called “Web 2.0” tech companies—was responsible for many of the problems plaguing the modern Internet. Just as decentralized cryptocurrencies could reform a financial system controlled by economic elites, so too would it be possible to create decentralized organizations, run by their members instead of CEOs. How such a system might work in practice remains unclear. “Building a community-based governance system,” Tools for Humanity says in a 2023 white paper, “represents perhaps the most formidable challenge of the entire project.”Altman has a pattern of making idealistic promises that shift over time. He founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, with a mission to develop AGI safely and for the benefit of all humanity. To raise money, OpenAI restructured itself as a for-profit company in 2019, but with overall control still in the hands of its nonprofit board. Last year, Altman proposed yet another restructure—one which would dilute the board’s control and allow more profits to flow to shareholders. Why, I ask, should the public trust Tools for Humanity’s commitment to freely surrender influence and power? “I think you will just see the continued decentralization via the protocol,” he says. “The value here is going to live in the network, and the network will be owned and governed by a lot of people.” Altman talks less about universal basic income these days. He recently mused about an alternative, which he called “universal basic compute.” Instead of AI companies redistributing their profits, he seemed to suggest, they could instead give everyone in the world fair access to super-powerful AI. Blania tells me he recently “made the decision to stop talking” about UBI at Tools for Humanity. “UBI is one potential answer,” he says. “Just giving [people] access to the latest [AI] models and having them learn faster and better is another.” Says Altman: “I still don’t know what the right answer is. I believe we should do a better job of distribution of resources than we currently do.” When I probe the question of why people should trust him, Altman gets irritated. “I understand that you hate AI, and that’s fine,” he says. “If you want to frame it as the downside of AI is that there’s going to be a proliferation of very convincing AI systems that are pretending to be human, and we need ways to know what is really human-authorized versus not, then yeah, I think you can call that a downside of AI. It’s not how I would naturally frame it.” The phrase human-authorized hints at a tension between World ID and OpenAI’s plans for AI agents. An Internet where a World ID is required to access most services might impede the usefulness of the agents that OpenAI and others are developing. So Tools for Humanity is building a system that would allow users to delegate their World ID to an agent, allowing the bot to take actions online on their behalf, according to Tiago Sada, the company’s chief product officer. “We’ve built everything in a way that can be very easily delegatable to an agent,” Sada says. It’s a measure that would allow humans to be held accountable for the actions of their AIs. But it suggests that Tools for Humanity’s mission may be shifting beyond simply proving humanity, and toward becoming the infrastructure that enables AI agents to proliferate with human authorization. World ID doesn’t tell you whether a piece of content is AI-generated or human-generated; all it tells you is whether the account that posted it is a human or a bot. Even in a world where everybody had a World ID, our online spaces might still be filled with AI-generated text, images, and videos.As I say goodbye to Altman, I’m left feeling conflicted about his project. If the Internet is going to be transformed by AI agents, then some kind of proof-of-humanity system will almost certainly be necessary. Yet if the Orb becomes a piece of Internet infrastructure, it could give Altman—a beneficiary of the proliferation of AI content—significant influence over a leading defense mechanism against it. People might have no choice but to participate in the network in order to access social media or online services.I thought of an encounter I witnessed in Seoul. In the room above the restaurant, Cho Jeong-yeon, 75, watched her friend get verified by an Orb. Cho had been invited to do the same, but demurred. The reward wasn’t enough for her to surrender a part of her identity. “Your iris is uniquely yours, and we don’t really know how it might be used,” she says. “Seeing the machine made me think: are we becoming machines instead of humans now? Everything is changing, and we don’t know how it’ll all turn out.”—With reporting by Stephen Kim/Seoul. This story was supported by Tarbell Grants.Correction, May 30The original version of this story misstated the market capitalization of Worldcoin if all coins were in circulation. It is $12 billion, not $1.2 billion.

In the centre of the building, a ceremonial room is a calming space that invites community meetings and healing.   TEXT Elsa Lam PHOTOS doublespace photography Fifty years ago, four grandmothers founded the organization Anduhyaun—Ojibwe for “Our Home”—to respond to the needs of the city’s Indigenous women. The organization used a city-owned heritage house in the Annex to offer shelter to women and children suffering from the traumas of violence and homelessness. Last year, they moved to a building designed by LGA Architectural Partners.  The architects took the organization’s name to heart, aiming to provide not just basic shelter, but a place of nurture and grounding. The organization’s long-time executive director, Blanche Meawassige, told the designers that the building needed to feel like it was alive. “From Blanche, we understood that a shelter is a place where rehabilitation—growth and healing—begins,” says architect Brock James, partner at LGA. “Yes, it’s a roof over your head and safety, but it’s also where that spiritual part starts; it has to be about growth and life.” A curved ceiling-to-wall transition brings a unique quality to the bedrooms This thinking shows in the bedrooms, 16 of which are compact, single-occupancy rooms and two of which are designed for families with up to three kids. (Some rooms can also be interconnected, to accommodate larger families or to provide a physical link between friends.) Each room has its own bathroom, a wooden desk, adjustable lighting, and a curved ceiling-to-wall transition that reflects daylight through the space. The curve, says James, “makes the room very ‘here’. It’s only here. It’s not generic.” Curved, tiled walls define the circulation areas on the ground floor Curves recur on the main floor, where seafoam-coloured tiles sweep along flowing walls, adding to the building’s sense of aliveness and alluding to Indigenous teachings about water. The curves lead to a large communal kitchen and a central ceremonial space, currently known as Nookomis, or “grandmother.” The interior of Nookomis, the building’s main ceremonial space Many details illustrate LGA’s commitment to creating specialness with economical means. Nookomis, for instance, is clad with cedar shingles that came in pre-cut profiles. (“It’s just a matter of coming up with a pattern, which I did in my living room during the pandemic,” says James.) The burgundy walls of Nookomis’s interior are made, in part, with a simple foam in a custom colour. (“It’s a straightforward product that’s not good if you were touching it—but up high, controlling the sound, it works.”) A skylight caps the space, like a full moon casting a soft glow from above. Meawassige originally asked for the outside of the building to be anonymous, but later decided that the Indigeneity of the interior should be expressed outside, too. The architects created a design with a similarly elevated attention to detail. They achieved a high level of airtightness in the envelope, and composed a façade made out of standard Vicwest metal, applied in a pattern that ensures that the 300-mm width of the panels would stay intact, with no cuts.   “Good design, an elevated section, beautiful tiles: it’s things like that that makes it feel like somebody cares,” says James. “When I think about aesthetics, we can have lots of stories about them, but I know that it’s communicating that Anduhyaun cares. This is their building, and it’s emoting that they care.”  As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post Our Home, Toronto, Ontario appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Soulmask, a survival sandbox game developed by CampFire Studio and published by Qooland Games, has announced its first major cultural expansion, the free Golden Legend (Sanxingdui) DLC, coming on June 5. Inspired by ancient Sanxingdui Chinese civilization, the new DLC marks a turning point in Soulmask’s journey. What began in the primal chaos of rainforest survival pushes into uncharted territory, fusing ancient mythical symbolism with sandbox survival exploration systems. This DLC introduces new masks, exploration zones, and a collection of ornate bronze furnishings that allow players to shape their interpretations of a long-lost ritual civilization. The free Golden Legend DLC introduces The Golden Mask, an ornate ritual artifact adorned with copper eye protrusions and engraved Kui dragon patterns. Its powers include Divine Sight, where it detects threats and terrain changes from a distance; Heaven’s Watch, which can analyse enemy stats, specialities, and potential; Sunbird Blessing, which yields passive buffs that enhance movement and perception; and The Sunken Altar, where deep in the ocean lies you find a lost branch of Eastern civilization. It’s a new submerged zone that welcomes exploration, featuring shipwreck ruins, ritual relics, and ceremonial architecture wrapped in mythological symbolism. The DLC also features The Golden Legend Set, a new line of Bronze Age–themed furniture, mask displays, and ornamental props that let players transform their homesteads into stylized ancestral sanctuaries. Smarter survival through automation Soulmask players can explore The Golden Legend in free DLC. Coinciding with the DLC, Soulmask is rolling out core gameplay upgrades to the base game, focused on advancing automation in construction and logistics. This includes a building planning mode, where players can now record any custom-built structure plans. Tribesmen will automatically collect resources and rebuild them in other locations, dramatically improving the speed and efficiency of base expansion.It also has an automated logistics system where powered ziplines can be set up between homesteads and resource points, creating a flexible transport network for streamlined material delivery across the map. These features allow for faster, more organized tribe management and base development, especially for players aiming to build on a larger scale. Looking forward: 1.0, Egypt, and the future of civilization Soulmask’s update will offer a lot. The Golden Legend DLC arrives as a special gift to mark Soulmask’s first anniversary in Early Access – a thank-you to players who have shaped the world through feedback, exploration, and creativity. Soulmask will exit Early Access with its 1.0 release later this year, alongside a new Egypt-themed DLC. These milestones will continue to broaden the game’s cultural inspirations and deepen its automation systems, offering players new ways to build, govern, and survive across richly imagined ancient worlds. Producer Zima has described his long-term vision for Soulmask as “the intelligent multi-civilization survival sandbox,” where automation and cultural diversity form the foundation of a dynamic, player-driven experience. Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI. Read our Privacy Policy Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here. An error occured.

From the first moment you step into the brutal lands of Shu, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers makes one thing clear: survival isn’t gifted, it’s earned. Throughout your journey, you’ll need to master an arsenal of weapons, spells, and abilities to overcome the harrowing challenges of this Soulslike action-RPG set in the waning years of the Ming dynasty. With the July 24 launch fast approaching, we’re giving PlayStation players a closer look at some of the game’s most defining tools of survival, power, and identity. We’ll highlight just a few of the devastating weapons, arcane spells, and unique abilities you’ll wield as you carve your legacy through ruin and revelation. These tools don’t just shape your playstyle, they shape the legend of Wuchang herself. A diverse arsenal of blades and brutality Each weapon in Wuchang is tied to a piece of the game’s worldbuilding, from sacred relics to myth-imbued prototypes. Every blade tells a story, and every strike leaves a mark. The Dragoncoil Lance, a Deluxe Edition spear, is a striking silver-white weapon featuring a traditional design. A coiled dragon motif wraps around the junction of the shaft and spearhead, symbolizing the wielder’s courage and valor. Weapons in Wuchang each have their own unique skills, and with the Vortex Thrust skill for the Dragoncoil Lance, you can unleash shockwaves with devastating force, making it ideal for punishing multiple enemies at once. Abilities that shape the warrior Combat in Wuchang is fluid, fast, and fiercely deliberate, with a broad range of abilities that define how you approach each fight. One standout is Blade Dance, a whirling assault that slices through enemies while showcasing your mastery of dual blades. The Crescent Arc, a forward-lunging slash imbued with ethereal energy, closing distance and shifting momentum with measured precision. Prefer power over speed? Colossal Smash delivers a thunderous overhead strike that leaves a trail of destruction in its wake, ideal for breaking enemy posture or interrupting spellcasters mid-cast. Every ability in Wuchang evolves through skill trees and Red Mercury enhancements, adding layers of strategy beyond raw force. Spells drawn from myth and madness Wuchang’s spell system is one of the most visually striking elements of its design, drawing from Taoist ritual, ancient folklore, and operatic symbolism. These aren’t just tools of destruction. They’re storytelling vessels that bind your journey to the world’s unraveling lore. Infernal Flames casts a searing mask that torments enemies with divine rage, based on an ancient opera ritual meant to summon wrathful spirits. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Lotus Soulflame, a ritual spell used in spirit exorcisms that unleashes devastating elemental damage. Another standout is Echo of Liu Cheng’en, a chilling surge of ice named after a loyal Ming general. The spell can knock targets back with enough force to disrupt aggressive momentum and create space in critical encounters. Feathering, the price of power At the heart of Wuchang’s identity lies the Feathering system, a supernatural affliction that grants immense power at great personal cost. As Wuchang absorbs Red Mercury and defeats corrupted monstrosities, she unlocks devastating abilities and spells rooted in transformation. Feathering allows players to unleash deadly skills and spells mid-combat, turning the tide of battle in an instant. But each use chips away at stability, demanding tactical restraint. Do you risk transforming in the middle of a fight to deliver explosive damage, knowing it may leave you vulnerable? Or hold your strength in reserve until the moment you’re truly cornered? Pre-order bonuses and Deluxe Edition content Players who pre-order Wuchang: Fallen Feathers will receive two exclusive outfits, White Spectre and Night Spectre, offering ceremonial elegance steeped in decay. You’ll also unlock the Vermillion War Club, a brutal axe weapon with powerful combo potential, along with a Glistening Red Mercury Skill Upgrade to enhance your build from the very beginning. For those seeking even deeper customization, the Deluxe Edition adds four rare outfits: Soul Ritual Robe, Tiger of Fortune, Overlord’s Regalia, and Draconic Resurgence. It also includes powerful weapons such as the Moonlight Dragon, Watcher’s Gaze swords, Eternal Sovereignty, and Dragoncoil Lance. You’ll also receive the Blood of Changhong, a special Skill Upgrade Item designed to support diverse builds and encourage early experimentation. Prepare for launch Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is more than a battle for survival. It’s a meditation on power, sacrifice, and transformation. Every spell you cast, weapon you wield, and enemy you overcome deepens your understanding of Wuchang’s intricate lore. Mastery isn’t just rewarded, it’s essential to unlocking the truths buried in the land of Shu. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers launches July 24 on PlayStation 5. Pre-order now to unlock exclusive content and prepare for the journey that awaits.

By TREVOR HOGG Images courtesy of Netflix. Unlike North America where episodes tend to be no longer than an hour, it is not uncommon in Britain to have feature-length episodes, which explains why the seasons are shorter. Season 7 of Black Mirror has six episodes with the first sequel for the Netflix anthology series that explores the dark side of technology having a run time of 90 minutes. “USS Callister: Into Infinity” comes eight years after “USS Callister” went on to win four Emmys as part of Season 4 and expands the tale where illegally constructed digital clones from human DNA struggle to survive in a multiplayer online video game environment. Returning creative talent includes filmmaker Toby Hayness, writers Charlie Brooker and William Bridges, and cast members Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Osy Ikhile, Milanka Brooks, Paul Raymond and Jesse Plemons. Stepping into the Star Trek-meets-The Twilight Zone proceedings for the first time is VFX Supervisor James MacLachlan, who previously handled the digital augmentation for Ted Lasso. “[For the planet where the digital clone of James Walton is found]… We got on a train and went to the middle of Anglesey [island in Wales] to a copper mine. The copper mine was absolutely stunning. … You’re a good 50 meters down, and there were little tunnels and caves where over the years things have been mined and stopped. … It was shot there, and we augmented some of it to help sell the fact that it wasn’t Earth. We put in these big beautiful arches of rock, Saturn-like planets up in the sky, a couple of moons, and clean-up of giveaways.” —James MacLachlan, Visual Effects Supervisor Taking advantage of the reflective quality of the bridge set was the LED wall utilized for the main viewscreen. Dealing with a sequel to a critically-acclaimed episode was not a daunting task. “It’s almost like I have a cheat code for what we need to do, which I quite like because there’s a language from the previous show, so we have a certain number of outlines and guidelines,” MacLachlan states. “But because this was set beyond where the previous one was. it’s a different kind of aesthetic. I didn’t feel the pressure.” No assets were reused. “We were lucky that the company that previously did the USS Callister ship packaged it out neatly for us, and we were able to take that model; however, it doesn’t fit in pipelines anymore in the same way with the layering and materials. It was different visual effects vendors as well. Union VFX was smashing out all our new ships, planets and the Heart of Infinity. There was a significant number of resources put into new content.” Old props were helpful. “The Metallica ship that shows up in this episode is actually the Valdack ship turned backwards, upside down, re-textured and re-modeled off a prop I happened to wander past and saw in Charlie Brooker’s and Jessica Rhoades’ office.” MacLachlan notes. Greenscreens were placed outside of the set windows for the USS Callister. “USS Callister: Into Infinity” required 669 visual effects shots while the other five episodes totaled 912. “Josie Henwood, the Visual Effects Producer, sat down with a calculator and did an amazing job of making sure that the budget distribution was well-weighted for each of the scripts,’ MacLachlan remarks. “We shot this one third and posted it all the way to the end, so it overlapped a lot with some of the others. It was almost an advantage because we could work out where we were at with the major numbers and balance things out. It was a huge benefit that Toby had directed ‘USS Callister’. We had conversations about how we could approach the visual effects and make sure they sat within the budget and timeframe.” Working across the series were Crafty Apes, Jam VFX, Jellyfish Pictures, Magic Lab, One of Us, Stargate Studios, Terraform Studios, Union VFX, and Bigtooth Studios.  “We had a spectrum of vendors that were brilliant and weighted so Union VFX took the heavy load on ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity,’ One of Us on ‘Eulogy’ and Jam VFX on ‘Hotel Riverie’ while the other vendors were used for all the shows.” “[W]e had a matte painter at Territory Studio create some generic space looks like exteriors of planets in pre-production. We gave those to Union VFX who animated them so the stars gently drifted and the planets would slowly rotate. Everything in that set was chrome, so no matter where the camera was pointing, when we went to hyperspace, outside planets or in space, there were all of these beautiful reflections all over the surfaces of the USS Callister. What I did not anticipate is when the actors came onto the set not knowing it was going to be a LED wall. Their reaction was enough to say that we had made the right choice.” —James MacLachlan, Visual Effects Supervisor Miranda Jones looked after the production design and constructed a number of practical sets for the different sections of the USS Callister. A clever visual effect was deployed when a digital clone of Robert Daly (Jesse Plemmons) is in his garage crafting a new world for Infinity, which transforms from a horizontal landscape into a spherical planetary form. “A lot of it was based off current UI when you use your phone and scroll,” MacLachlan remarks. “It is weighted and slows down through an exponential curve, so we tried to do that with the rotational values. We also looked at people using HoloLenses and Minority Report with those gestural moments. It has a language that a number of people are comfortable with, and we have gotten there with AR.” Union VFX spent a lot of time working on the transition. “They had three levels of detail for each of the moments. We had the mountain range and talked about the Himalayas. Union VFX had these moments where they animated between the different sizes and scales of each of these models. The final one is a wrap and reveal to the sphere, so it’s like you’re scaling down and out of the moment, then it folds out from itself. It was really nice.” For safety reasons, weapons were digitally thrown. “We had a 3D prop printed for the shuriken and were able to get that out in front of the camera onstage,” MacLachlan explains. “Then we decided to have it stand out more, so as [the Infinity Player] throws it, it intentionally lights up. On set we couldn’t throw anything at Cristin, so some tracking markers were put on her top where it needed to land. Then we did that in CGI. When she is pulling it off her chest with her hand, the shuriken is all CGI. Because of the shape of the shuriken, we were able to have it poke through the fingers and was visible, so it worked well. Cristin did a convincing job of yanking the shuriken out. We added some blood and increased the size of the wound on her top, which we had to do for a couple of other scenes because blood goes dark when its dry, so it needed to be made redder.” Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) throws a ceremonial knife that hits Robert Daly directly in the head. “That was a crazy one. We had the full prop on the shelf in the beginning that she picks up and throws. The art department made a second one with a cutout section that was mounted to his head. Lucy Cain [Makeup & Hair Designer] and I constructed a cage of hair clips and wire to hold it onto his head. Beyond that, we put tracking markers on his forehead, and we were able to add all of the blood. What we didn’t want to do was have too much blood and then have to remove it later. The decision was made to do the blood in post because you don’t want to be redressing it if you’re doing two or three takes; that can take a lot of time out of production.” “USS Callister: Into Infinity” required 669 visual effects shots. A digital clone of Robert Daly placed inside the game engine is responsible for creating the vast worlds found inside of Infinity. “We had a 3D prop printed for the shuriken [hidden hand weapon]… Then we decided to have it stand out more, so as [the Infinity Player] throws it, it intentionally lights up. On set we couldn’t throw anything at Cristin, so some tracking markers were put on her top where it needed to land. Then we did that in CGI. When she is pulling it off her chest with her hand, the shuriken is all CGI. Because of the shape of the shuriken, we were able to have it poke through the fingers and was visible… Cristin did a convincing job of yanking the shuriken out.” —James MacLachlan, Visual Effects Supervisor A cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Cast Away is the otherworldly planet where the digital clone of James Walton (Jimmi Simpson) is found. “We got on a train and went to the middle of Anglesey [island in Wales] to a copper mine,” MacLachlan recounts. “The copper mine was absolutely stunning. It’s not as saturated. You’re a good 50 meters down, and there were little tunnels and caves where over the years things have been mined and stopped. We found moments that worked for the different areas. It was shot there, and we augmented some of it to help sell the fact that it wasn’t Earth. We put in these big beautiful arches of rock, Saturn-like planets up in the sky, a couple of moons, and clean-up of giveaways.” The blue teleportation ring was practically built and digitally enhanced. Set pieces were LiDAR scanned. “What was interesting about the ice planet [was that] the art department built these amazing structures in the foreground and beyond that we had white drapes the whole way around, which fell off into darkness beautifully and naturally because of where the light was pulled by Stephan Pehrsson [Cinematographer],” MacLachlan states. “On top of that, there was the special effects department, which was wafting in a lot of atmospherics. Some of the atmospherics were in-camera and others were augmented to even it out and boost it in places to help the situation. We did add foreground snow. There is a big crane shot in the beginning where Unreal Engine assisted in generating some material. Then we did matte painting and set extensions beyond that to create a larger scale and cool rock shapes that were on an angle.” The jungle setting was an actual location. “That’s Black Park [in England], and because of the time of year, there are a lot of protected plants. We had a couple of moments where we weren’t allowed to walk in certain places. There is one big stunt where Nanette steps on a mine, and it explodes her back against a tree. That was a protected tree, so the whole thing was wrapped in this giant stunt mat while the stunt woman got thrown across it. Areas would be filled in with dressed plants to help the foreground, but we got most of the background in-camera. There were bits of clean-up where we spotted crew or trucks.” Large-scale and distinct rock shapes were placed at an angle to give the ice planet more of an alien quality. An exterior space shot of the USS Callister that is entirely CG. Twin versions of Nanette Cole and James Walton appear within the same frame. “Literally, we used every trick in the book the whole way through. Stephan and I went to see a motion control company that had a motion control camera on a TechnoDolly. Stephan could put it on his shoulder and record a move on a 20-foot crane. Once Stephan had done that first take, he would step away, then the motion control guys would do the same move again. You get this handheld feel through motion control rather than plotting two points and having it mechanical. You get a wide of a scene of clone Nanette in a chair and real Nanette standing in white, and you’ll notice the two Waltons in the background interacting with one another. Those shots were done on this motion control rig. We had motion control where we could plot points to make it feel like a tracking dolly. Then we also had our cameraman doing handheld moves pushing in and repeating himself. We had a wonderful double for Cristin who was excellent at mirroring what she was achieving, and they would switch and swap. You would have a shoulder or hair in the foreground in front of you, but then we would also stitch plates together that were handheld.” The USS Callister approaches the game engine situated at the Heart of Infinity. A homage to the fighter cockpit shots featured in the Star Wars franchise. USS Callister flies into the game engine while pursued by other Infinity players. A major story point is that the game engine is made to look complex but is in fact a façade. A copper mine served as the location for the planet where the digital clone of James Walton (Jimmi Simpson) is found. Principal photography for the jungle planet took place at Black Park in England. The blue skin of Elena Tulaska (Milanka Brooks) was achieved with practical makeup. Assisting the lighting were some cool tools such as the teleportation ring. “We had this beautiful two-meter blue ring that we were able to put on the ground and light up as people step into it,” MacLachlan remarks. “You get these lovely reflections on their visors, helmets and kits. Then we augmented the blue ring in visual effects where it was replaced with more refined edging and lighting effects that stream up from it, which assisted with the integration with the teleportation effect because of their blue cyan tones.” Virtual production was utilized for the main viewscreen located on the bridge of the USS Callister. “In terms of reflections, the biggest boon for us in visual effects was the LED wall. The last time they did the big screen in the USS Callister was a greenscreen. We got a small version of a LED screen when the set was being built and did some tests. Then we had a matte painter at Territory Studio create some generic space looks like exteriors of planets in pre-production. We gave those to Union VFX who animated them so the stars gently drifted and the planets would slowly rotate. Everything in that set was chrome, so no matter where the camera was pointing, when we went to hyperspace or outside planets or in space, there were all of these beautiful reflections all over the surfaces of the USS Callister. What I did not anticipate is when the actors came onto the set not knowing it was going to be a LED wall. Their reaction was enough to say that we had made the right choice.”

The US is less than 250 years old, but some of its most important archaeological sites are older than the Viking seafarers, the Roman Empire, and the pyramids.Many help tell the story of how the first humans came to North America. It's still a mystery exactly how and when people arrived, though it's widely believed they crossed the Bering Strait at least 15,000 years ago."As we get further back in time, as we get populations that are smaller and smaller, finding these places and interpreting them becomes increasingly difficult," archaeologist Kenneth Feder told Business Insider. He's the author of "Ancient America: Fifty Archaeological Sites to See for Yourself."Some sites, like White Sands and Cooper's Ferry, have skeptics about the accuracy of their age. Still, they contribute to our understanding of some of the earliest Americans.Others are more recent and highlight the different cultures that were spreading around the country, with complex buildings and illuminating pictographs.Many of these places are open to the public, so you can see the US' ancient history for yourself. White Sands National Park, New Mexico Footprints at White Sands. National Park Service Prehistoric camels, mammoths, and giant sloths once roamed what's now New Mexico, when it was greener and damper.As the climate warmed around 11,000 years ago, the water of Lake Otero receded, revealing footprints of humans who lived among these extinct animals. Some even seemed to be following a sloth, offering a rare glimpse into ancient hunters' behavior.Recent research puts some of these fossilized footprints at between 21,000 and 23,000 years old. If the dates are accurate, the prints would predate other archaeological sites in the US, raising intriguing questions about who these people were and how they arrived in the Southwestern state."Where are they coming from?" Feder said. "They're not parachute dropping in New Mexico. They must have come from somewhere else, which means there are even older sites." Archaeologists simply haven't found them yet.While visitors can soak in the sight of the eponymous white sands, the footprints are currently off-limits. Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania The archeological dig at the Meadowcroft National Historic Site in 2013. AP Photo/Keith Srakocic In the 1970s, archaeologist James M. Adovasio sparked a controversy when he and his colleagues suggested stone tools and other artifacts found in southwestern Pennsylvania belonged to humans who had lived in the area 16,000 years ago.For decades, scientists had been finding evidence of human habitation that all seemed to be around 12,000 to 13,000 years old, belonging to the Clovis culture. They were long believed to have been the first to cross the Bering land bridge. Humans who arrived in North America before this group are often referred to as pre-Clovis.At the time, skeptics said that the radiocarbon dating evidence was flawed, AP News reported in 2016. In the years since, more sites that appear older than 13,000 years have been found across the US.Feder said Adovasio meticulously excavated the site, but there's still no clear consensus about the age of the oldest artifacts. Still, he said, "that site is absolutely a major, important, significant site." It helped archaeologists realize humans started arriving on the continent before the Clovis people.The dig itself is on display at the Heinz History Center, allowing visitors to see an excavation in person. Cooper's Ferry, Idaho Excavators at Cooper's Ferry in 2013. Loren Davis/Oregon State University One site that's added intriguing evidence to the pre-Clovis theory is located in western Idaho. Humans living there left stone tools and charred bones in a hearth between 14,000 and 16,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. Other researchers put the dates closer to 11,500 years ago.These stemmed tools are different from the Clovis fluted projectiles, researchers wrote in a 2019 Science Advances paper.Some scientists think humans may have been traveling along the West Coast at this time, when huge ice sheets covered Alaska and Canada. "People using boats, using canoes could hop along that coast and end up in North America long before those glacial ice bodies decoupled," Feder said.Cooper's Ferry is located on traditional Nez Perce land, which the Bureau of Land Management holds in public ownership. Page-Ladson, Florida Divers search in the sediment at the Page-Ladson site. Texas A&M University via Getty Images In the early 1980s, former Navy SEAL Buddy Page alerted paleontologists and archaeologists to a sinkhole nicknamed "Booger Hole" in the Aucilla River. There, the researchers found mammoth and mastodon bones and stone tools.They also discovered a mastodon tusk with what appeared to be cut marks believed to be made by a tool. Other scientists have returned to the site more recently, bringing up more bones and tools. They used radiocarbon dating, which established the site as pre-Clovis."The stone tools and faunal remains at the site show that at 14,550 years ago, people knew how to find game, fresh water and material for making tools," Michael Waters, one of the researchers, said in a statement in 2016. "These people were well-adapted to this environment."Since the site is both underwater and on private property, it's not open to visitors. Paisley Caves, Oregon One of the Paisley Caves near Paisley, Oregon. AP Photo/Jeff Barnard Scientists study coprolites, or fossilized poop, to learn about the diets of long-dead animals. Mineralized waste can also reveal much more. In 2020, archaeologist Dennis Jenkins published a paper on coprolites from an Oregon cave that were over 14,000 years old.Radiocarbon dating gave the trace fossils' age, and genetic tests suggested they belonged to humans. Further analysis of coprolites added additional evidence that a group had been on the West Coast 1,000 years before the Clovis people arrived.Located in southcentral Oregon, the caves appear to be a piece of the puzzle indicating how humans spread throughout the continent thousands of years ago.The federal Bureau of Land Management owns the land where the caves are found, and they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Swan Point, Alaska Excavators working at the Swan Point site in June 2016. Charles Holmes/University of Alaska, Fairbanks Whenever people arrived in the Americas, they crossed from Siberia into Beringia, an area of land and sea between Russia and Canada and Alaska. Now it's covered in water, but there was once a land bridge connecting them.The site in Alaska with the oldest evidence of human habitation is Swan Point, in the state's eastern-central region. In addition to tools and hearths dating back 14,000 years, mammoth bones have been found there.Researchers think this area was a kind of seasonal hunting camp. As mammoths returned during certain times of the years, humans would track them and kill them, providing plentiful food for the hunter-gatherers.While Alaska may have a wealth of archaeological evidence of early Americans, it's also a difficult place to excavate. "Your digging season is very narrow, and it's expensive," Feder said. Some require a helicopter to reach, for example. Blackwater Draw, New Mexico A palaeontologist excavating a mammoth in Portales, New Mexico, circa 1960. Dick Kent/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images In 1929, 19-year-old James Ridgley Whiteman found mammoth bones along with fluted projectile points near Clovis, New Mexico. The Clovis people who made these tools were named for this site.Researchers studying the site began to realize the artifacts found at the site belonged to different cultures. Clovis points are typically larger than Folsom flutes, which were first found at another archaeological site in New Mexico.For decades after Whiteman's discovery, experts thought the Clovis people were the first to cross the Bering land bridge from Asia around 13,000 years ago. Estimates for humans' arrival is now thought to be at least 15,000 years ago.Eastern New Mexico University's Blackwater Draw Museum grants access to the archaeological site between April and October. Upper Sun River, Alaska Excavations at the Upward Sun River, Alaska. Ben Potter/University of Alaska, Fairbanks One reason the dates of human occupation in North America is so contentious is that very few ancient remains have been found. Among the oldest is a child from Upward Sun River, or Xaasaa Na', in Central Alaska.Archaeologists found the bones of the child in 2013. Local indigenous groups refer to her as Xach'itee'aanenh t'eede gay, or Sunrise Girl-Child. Genetic testing revealed the 11,300-year-old infant belonged to a previously unknown Native American population, the Ancient Beringians.Based on the child's genetic information, researchers learned that she was related to modern Native Americans but not directly. Their common ancestors started becoming genetically isolated 25,000 years ago before dividing into two groups after a few thousand years: the Ancient Berignians and the ancestors of modern Native Americans.According to this research, it's possible humans reached Alaska roughly 20,000 years ago. Poverty Point National Monument, Louisiana Poverty Point in Louisiana. National Park Service Stretching over 80 feet long and 5 feet tall, the rows of curved mounds of Poverty Point are a marvel when viewed from above. Over 3,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers constructed them out of tons of soil. Scientists aren't sure exactly why people built them, whether they were ceremonial or a display of status.The artifacts various groups left behind indicate the site was used off and on for hundreds of years and was a meeting point for trading. People brought tools and rocks from as far as 800 miles away. Remains of deer, fish, frogs, alligators, nuts, grapes, and other food have given archaeologists insights into their diets and daily lives.You can see the World Heritage Site for yourself year-round. Horseshoe Canyon, Utah The Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon. Neal Herbert/National Park Service Though remote, the multicolored walls of Horseshoe Canyon have long attracted visitors. Some of its artifacts date back to between 9,000 and 7,000 BCE, but its pictographs are more recent. Some tests date certain sections to around 2,000 to 900 years ago.The four galleries contain life-sized images of anthropomorphic figures and animals in what's known as the Barrier Canyon style. Much of this art is found in Utah, produced by the Desert Archaic culture.The pictographs may have spiritual and practical significance but also help capture a time when groups were meeting and mixing, according to the Natural History Museum of Utah.It's a difficult trek to get to the pictographs (and the NPS warns it can be dangerously hot in summer) but are amazing to view in person, Feder said. "These are creative geniuses," he said of the artists. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona The Antelope House at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Michael Denson/National Park Service Situated in the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly has gorgeous desert views and thousands of years of human history. Centuries ago, Ancestral Pueblo and Hopi groups planted crops, created pictographs, and built cliff dwellings.Over 900 years ago, Puebloan people constructed the White House, named for the hue of its clay. Its upper floors sit on a sandstone cliff, with a sheer drop outside the windows.Navajo people, also known as Diné, still live in Canyon de Chelly. Diné journalist Alastair Lee Bitsóí recently wrote about visiting some of the sacred and taboo areas. They include Tsé Yaa Kin, where archaeologists found human remains.In the 1860s, the US government forced 8,000 Navajo to relocate to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. The deadly journey is known as the "Long Walk." Eventually, they were able to return, though their homes and crops were destroyed.A hike to the White House is the only one open to the public without a Navajo guide or NPS ranger. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Visitors line up at Mesa Verde National Park. Shutterstock/Don Mammoser In the early 1900s, two women formed the Colorado Cliff Dwelling Association, hoping to preserve the ruins in the state's southwestern region. A few years later, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill designating Mesa Verde as the first national park meant to "preserve the works of man."Mesa Verde National Park holds hundreds of dwellings, including the sprawling Cliff Palace. It has over 100 rooms and nearly two dozen kivas, or ceremonial spaces.Using dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, archaeologists learned when Ancestral Pueblo people built some of these structures and that they migrated out of the area by the 1300s.Feder said it's his favorite archaeological site he's visited. "You don't want to leave because you can't believe it's real," he said.Tourists can view many of these dwellings from the road, but some are also accessible after a bit of a hike. Some require extra tickets and can get crowded, Feder said. Cahokia, Illinois A mound at Cahokia in Illinois. Matt Gush/Shutterstock Cahokia has been called one of North America's first cities. Not far from present-day St. Louis, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people lived in dense settlements roughly 1,000 years ago. Important buildings sat atop large mounds, which the Mississippians built by hand, The Guardian reported.At the time, it was thriving with hunters, farmers, and artisans. "It's an agricultural civilization," Feder said. "It's a place where raw materials from a thousand miles away are coming in." Researchers have also found mass graves, potentially from human sacrifices.The inhabitants built circles of posts, which one archaeologist later referred to as "woodhenges," as a kind of calendar. At the solstices, the sun would rise or set aligned with different mounds.After a few hundred years, Cahokia's population declined and disappeared by 1350. Its largest mound remains, and some aspects have been reconstructed.While Cahokia is typically open to the public, parts are currently closed for renovations. Montezuma Castle, Arizona Montezuma Castle, a cliff dwelling, in Arizona. MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Perched on a limestone cliff in Camp Verde, Arizona, this site is an apartment, not a castle, and is unrelated to the Aztec ruler Montezuma.The Sinagua people engineered the five-story, 20-room building around 1100. It curves to follow the natural line of the cliff, which would have been more difficult than simply making a straight building, Feder said."These people were architects," he said. "They had a sense of beauty."The inhabitants were also practical, figuring out irrigation systems and construction techniques, like thick walls and shady spots, to help them survive the hot, dry climate.Feder said the dwelling is fairly accessible, with a short walk along a trail to view it, though visitors can't go inside the building itself.

Sephiroth ranks very high on the “cool” scale, and a huge reason for that is his ōdachi, the extra-long katana he wields, called the Masamune. He’s not the first Final Fantasy character to wield a sword that has this particular name, but he’s probably the most notable, not least because of a very infamous murder he commits with this sword at a key moment in the original FF7 (and also in FF7 Rebirth, although the scene plays out somewhat differently). I’ve been both fascinated and amused by the ostentatious appearance of Sephiroth’s sword ever since I first saw cosplayers brandishing their versions of it at conventions in my teen years, and I’ve always wanted to know what went into its supremely impractical design. So who better to ask than designer Tetsuya Nomura, the Square Enix visionary who first put this sword into Sephiroth’s hands? And so, in honor of Cool Sword Day, here’s Nomura explaining the sword’s backstory, its surprisingly variable length, and more. Polygon: What led to the decision to name Sephiroth’s sword after the medieval blacksmith Masamune? Tetsuya Nomura: The Masamune has appeared throughout the Final Fantasy series as the strongest sword. When thinking about equipping Sephiroth with a sword that is a worthy match for him, I figured there was no better option than Masamune. Whose idea was it to give Sephiroth this specific type of sword, rather than a buster sword for example? That would be mine. Each time Cloud went through a tweak in design, the accompanying buster sword seemed to grow larger. Reason being, I thought the juxtaposition between Cloud wielding a giant “sword” and Sephiroth, who is far more powerful, wielding a skinny “katana” would be quite interesting. Additionally, the contrast between a wide broadsword and a long Japanese katana is also inspired by the rivalry of two famous Japanese swordsmen, Musashi and Kojiro. Were there any other design ideas for his sword that were not chosen and that you would be willing to share with us? As mentioned earlier, I had a specific sword in mind for Sephiroth, so I didn’t have any other ideas. Did the length of Sephiroth’s sword make it difficult to design fight scenes, especially in FF7 Rebirth where you actually get to play as Sephiroth?  Sephiroth has appeared in many different titles before, and with each appearance, the length of his sword is adjusted based on the title’s specifications. In other words, we didn’t design the scene based on the length of the sword, but rather, designed the length of the sword based on the game design. I have a rough guideline that his sword should be around 10 feet long, but this has never been consistent across any of his appearances, including Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, or any merchandise, etc. Do you ever alter the length of the sword in certain scenes, such as lengthening it for visual effect or shortening it to accommodate certain moves?The Masamune’s blade has an organic quality to it, lengthening and shortening as needed. In the recently released second season of The First Soldier arc in Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, there actually is a scene in which the Masamune grows longer for the first time. I would love for you to check it out. Did someone in the universe of FF7 make this sword especially for Sephiroth? I mentioned The First Soldier arc in Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis a moment ago, but if you look at season one, when young Sephiroth first appeared, you will see that he is equipped with a Shinra military sword. That means it won’t come as a surprise if other people were also equipped with it. That said, I personally think that a military sword is more of an accessory for ceremonial purposes, and so Sephiroth would probably be the only person who would actually wield it after customizing it to be more suited for combat. Typically, a sword is heavily impacted by the skill of its wielder, and it is prone to become useless unless the wielder has the appropriate prowess; so, it is rare for someone to use a sword in combat. Also, in the aforementioned second season of The First Soldier arc of Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, you will experience the episode in which young Sephiroth obtains the Masamune, as well as meet the blacksmith who created the sword, so we’ll be diving deeper into the lore of the Masamune for the first time. The settings and background were brewing in my head, but in order to depict this in the game, I consulted Motomu Toriyama, the Co-Director of the Final Fantasy VII remake series and Director of Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, and we decided to ask Kazushige Nojima, Scenario Writer for the Final Fantasy 7 series to write this for us.