Widespread

Skeleton at the site in Jubuicabeira II, Brazil. Credit: Dr. Jose Filippini Researchers at the Universities of Basel and Zurich have discovered the genetic material of the pathogen Treponema pallidum in the bones of people who died in Brazil 2,000 years ago. This is the oldest verified discovery of this pathogen thus far, and it proves that humans were suffering from diseases akin to syphilis—known as treponematoses—long before…

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, experienced brief but widespread issues Wednesday, with hyperlinks not opening properly. Users who clicked on links to news articles and other websites Wednesday afternoon were redirected to an error page saying, “This page is down.” Media such as photos and videos appeared to be functioning normally on the platform. Users quickly noticed, attaching screenshots of the error message to posts complaining about the apparent technical problems. The situation…

Pelvic bone of a Palaeoloxodon antiquus found in Gröbern. Credit: Lutz Kindler, LEIZA Hunting the now extinct straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) was widespread among Neanderthals, concludes a research team consisting of members of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA), also based in Mainz, and Leiden University in the Netherlands. The study has recently been…

Android users have recently reported encountering crashes when attempting to install the Assistant At a Glance widget. This problem seems to be affecting a broad spectrum of devices, including popular models like the Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 6, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S22, OnePlus 11, and more. Users experiencing the problem have gotten error messages suggesting that the widget failed to load. Redditor awfulWinner, using a Pixel 6, expressed (via Android Central), “Same here. First shown on my screen as a red bar saying a…

Nothing launched the Nothing Chats messaging platform last week to dismantle messaging barriers between Android and iOS devices in collaboration with Sunbird. The messaging app allows Nothing Phone 2 users to send and receive texts via iMessage enabling messages to appear as blue bubbles on iMessage. It also supports texting over the RCS protocol to other Android phones, along with SMS and MMS. However, since its announcement, a lot of users have voiced concerns over the security and privacy issues of the service. Now,…

Nothing has pulled the beta for its new messaging app, Nothing Chats, from the Play Store just a day after its release, and says it’s delaying the launch “until further notice.” The company touted the Sunbird-based Nothing Chats as the answer to the longstanding “Android versus Apple” texting woes, with support for both RCS and iMessage to bridge the gap. But since its announcement, a growing number of critics have voiced concerns over the risks that workarounds like this bring, arguing that Nothing Chats is an inherently…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Eliminating forced labor is a vital starting point for creating a just and sustainable food supply, but most of us don't know much about the labor conditions involved in producing our food. It's possible that the people who picked and processed some of the items on our dinner table worked in conditions that involved force, fraud, coercion, or debt bondage. …

Chicago rapper G Herbo has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and lying to federal agents after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2020. G Herbo, born Herbert Wright, was accused along with five associates — including promotor Antonio Strong — of using stolen identities to rack up to $1.5 million in fraudulent charges including private jet excursions, a trip to a villa in Jamaica, and “designer puppies,” according to the Chicago Tribune. The case was charged in Massachusetts…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain "Routine" infanticide of newborns by married parents in early modern Europe was a much more widespread practice than previously thought, a new book posits. This fresh insight sits at the heart of a new book, "Death Control in the West 1500–1800: Sex Ratios at Baptism in Italy, France and England,…

water covers residential property on Route 11 after heavy rain on July 10, 2023 in Londonderry, Vermont. Torrential rain and flooding has affected millions of people from Vermont south to North Carolina. Photo: Scott Eisen (Getty Images)Vermont woke up to widespread flooding, mudslides, and road closures after heavy rain engulfed the region this weekend and on Monday. Emergency responders have conducted more than 50 water rescues for residents trapped in their vehicles, or in their homes by the fast moving floodwaters,…