By Ellyn Lapointe Published May 31, 2025 | Comments (0) | Researchers recovered this face-shaped rock from the San Lázaro rock-shelter in central Spain in 2022 © Álvarez-Alonso et al While digging inside a cave in the Spanish city of Segovia, archaeologists uncovered an unusual rock. The hand-sized stone naturally resembled an elongated face, and featured a spot of red pigment made from ochre right on the tip of what may be considered its nose.  “We were all thinking the same thing and looking at each other because of its shape: we were all thinking, ‘This looks like a face,’” David Álvarez Alonso, an archaeologist at Complutense University in Madrid who was part of the dig, told The Guardian. Álvarez Alonso and his colleagues spent the next three years studying this bizarre rock. The researchers posit that 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal dipped their finger in ochre and pressed it onto the stone’s central ridge—leaving behind what is now considered to be the world’s oldest complete human fingerprint. It’s an intriguing finding that could have significant implications, but some experts would like to see more evidence to support this hypothesis.  The team published its findings in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences on Saturday, May 24. In the paper, the archaeologists state that the “strategic position” of the dot suggests it is evidence of Neanderthals’ “symbolic behavior.” In other words, it’s a piece of art that “could represent one of the earliest human face symbolizations in prehistory.” “The fact that the [rock] was selected because of its appearance and then marked with ochre shows that there was a human mind capable of symbolizing, imagining, idealizing and projecting his or her thoughts on an object,” the researchers write.  Whether Neanderthals were capable of making art is a subject of ongoing debate, co-author María de Andrés-Herrero, a professor of prehistory at Complutense University, told the BBC. But over the past decade, a growing body of evidence has led many experts to believe that artistic expression emerged earlier in human evolution than previously thought.  The authors of this new study think their stone adds to this evidence. To reach this conclusion, they first needed more data to support the idea that this ancient artist had actually experienced pareidolia: seeing a face in an inanimate object. To that end, they generated a 3D model of the stone’s surface and measured the distances between its features, finding that the red dot—or nose—was placed such that it accurately resembled an actual nose on a human face.  Then, the researchers enlisted the help of geologists to characterize the red dot, confirming that it was made with ochre. Forensic police experts then used multispectral analysis—a technique that can reveal details invisible to the naked eye—to confirm that the red dot had been applied with a fingertip. Their analysis uncovered a fingerprint that could have belonged to an adult male Neanderthal inside the dot.  “Once we had that and all the other pieces, context and information, we advanced the theory that this could be a pareidolia, which then led to a human intervention in the form of the red dot,” Álvarez Alonso told The Guardian. “Without that red dot, you can’t make any claims about the object.” But Gilliane Monnier, a professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota who studies Neanderthal behavior, is not totally convinced by the researchers’ findings. “The fact that there are these natural depressions—and that we can measure the distance between them and argue that it’s a face—that’s all well and good,” Monnier, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Gizmodo. “But that doesn’t give us any indication that the Neanderthals who [occupied this cave] saw a face in that [rock].”  What’s more, she is skeptical of the researchers’ claim that the red dot was actually made with a human fingertip. It’s possible, she said, that the coloring and fingerprint-like ridges formed naturally. “I would be interested in seeing an explanation by a geologist—someone trained in geology—saying the likelihood of this forming by natural, geological or geomicrobial processes is a very low likelihood,” Monnier said.  The researchers, too, acknowledge that “it is unlikely that all doubts surrounding this hypothesis can be fully dispelled,” and state that the pareidolia hypothesis should not be seen as a definitive claim, but rather a possible explanation for this object based on the evidence. So it’s hard to say whether this study clarifies or complicates our understanding of how the human mind evolved the ability to create art. The face-shaped rock is an intriguing piece of the puzzle, but more research is needed to figure out where it fits. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published May 28, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published May 27, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published May 25, 2025 By Natalia Mesa Published May 13, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published May 8, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published April 23, 2025

By Isaac Schultz Published May 23, 2025 | Comments (0) | A volcanic eruption. Photo: United States Geological Survey (M. Patrick) Earth’s core is apparently a bit leakier than scientists expected. In a new study published in Nature, researchers describe evidence that traces of precious metals from Earth’s metallic core, including ruthenium and gold, are seeping up into volcanic rocks on the surface. The University of Göttingen-led team examined lava from Hawaii’s volcanic islands and discovered an unusually high concentration of a rare isotope: ruthenium-100, an isotope that’s more common in Earth’s core than in the rocky mantle. The isotope’s presence suggested that the lava had somehow picked up material from the planet’s deepest layer—more than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) beneath your feet. “When the first results came in, we realized that we had literally struck gold,” said Nils Messling, a geochemist at the University of Göttingen, in a university release. “Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into the Earth’s mantle above.” Earth’s core formed over 4 billion years ago and contains more than 99.999% of the planet’s gold supply. But as Nature reported, previous studies indicated that some volcanic rocks consisted of material from Earth’s core, raising questions about how the heck that material got to the surface. Now, thanks to ultra-high precision isotopic analysis developed by the Göttingen team, researchers were able to resolve previously undetectable differences in ruthenium isotopes—an achievement that dialed the team into the relationship between Earth’s center and its most explosive sites on the surface. “Our findings not only show that the Earth’s core is not as isolated as previously assumed,” said Professor Matthias Willbold, also of the University of Göttingen, “We can now also prove that huge volumes of super-heated mantle material–several hundreds of quadrillion metric tonnes of rock–originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to the Earth’s surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii.” The team’s findings indicate that Earth’s supply of precious metals near the surface may owe some of its origins to this deep-seated reserve of molten rock. Studying other hotspots—think of Iceland, Japan, and other regions crammed with active volcanoes—could clarify how much of the material brought to the surface originates from the boundary between Earth’s core and its mantle. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published May 21, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published May 6, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published April 27, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published March 18, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published March 15, 2025 By Adam Kovac Published March 2, 2025

By Passant Rabie Published May 13, 2025 | Comments (1) | An illustration of a decaying neutron star. Daniëlle Futselaar/artsource.nl Around 13.8 billion years ago, a tiny but dense fireball gave birth to the vast cosmos that holds trillions of galaxies, including the Milky Way. But our universe is dying, and it’s happening at a much faster rate than scientists previously estimated, according to new research. The last stellar remnants of the universe will cease to exist in 10 to the power of 78 years (that’s a one with 78 zeros), according to a new estimate from a group of scientists at Radboud University in the Netherlands. That’s still a long way off from when the universe powers down for good—but it’s a far earlier fade-to-black moment than the previous 10 to the power of 1,100 years estimate. The new paper, published Monday in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, is a follow-up to a previous study by the same group of researchers. In their 2023 study, black hole expert Heino Falcke, quantum physicist Michael Wondrak, and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom suggested that other objects, like neutron stars, could evaporate in much the same way as black holes. The original theory, developed by Stephen Hawking in 1974, proposed that radiation escaping near a black hole’s event horizon would gradually erode its mass over time. The phenomenon, known as Hawking radiation, remains one of the most surprising ideas about black holes to this day. Building on the theory of Hawking radiation, the researchers behind the new paper suggest that the process of erosion depends on the density of the object. They found that neutron stars and stellar black holes take roughly the same amount of time to decay, an estimated 10 to the power of 67 years. Although black holes have a stronger gravitational field that should cause them to evaporate faster, they also have no surface so they end up reabsorbing some of their own radiation, “which inhibits the process,” Wondrak said in a statement. The researchers then calculated how long various celestial bodies would take to evaporate via Hawking-like radiation, leading them to the abbreviated cosmic expiration date. “So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time,” Falcke said. The study also estimates that it would take the Moon around 10 to the power of 90 years to evaporate based on Hawking radiation. “By asking these kinds of questions and looking at extreme cases, we want to better understand the theory, and perhaps one day, we unravel the mystery of Hawking radiation,” van Suijlekom said. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Isaac Schultz Published May 11, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published March 20, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published February 10, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published February 2, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published February 1, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 28, 2025