Live Science Today: Monte Verde controversy and heatwave lashes the West
Today’s news
A key archaeological site in Chile may be thousands of years younger than previously thought, a controversial study suggests threatens to rewrite the oldest history of human settlement in South America.
Monte Verde, a Paleolithic archaeological site located in the mountains of southern Chile, is one of the oldest human settlements in the Americas and is believed to be 14,500 years old. Its discovery in 1976 fundamentally changed the way archaeologists think about the arrival of the first Americans on the continent, with the site being 1,500 years older than the arrival of the Clovis people across North America.
But a new study claims the site could be more than 10,000 years younger than initially thought, completely upending accepted understanding of the site and prehistoric migration patterns. But other experts called the new paper “an extremely poor geological work.”
The trend
A historic heat wave hitting the American West is on track to set monthly records this week in more than 140 cities from California to the Plains.
And it’s far from ordinary: The Arizona desert community of Martinez Lake reports a high temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), breaking the record for Highest March temperature ever recorded in the United States.
Some scientists say the planet’s increasingly far-fetched weather extremes are signs that human-caused climate change is accelerating. The debate is taking place at the same time as the war in Iran, which is already giving American consumers pause. reconsider their relationship with oil.
Three to read
- Scientists witness for the first time the birth of one of the most powerful magnets in the universe, thanks to a ‘magic trick’ of general relativity [Live Science]
- Carbon dioxide levels are higher than ever before. It could change our blood chemistry [CNN]
- Mathematician wins 2026 Abel Prize for solving 60-year-old mystery [New Scientist]
Video of the day
Chinese scientists have developed a system to teach the movements of humanoid robots, based on fragmentary human data. And they used it to training an android to play tennis.
Although the robot has yet to face professional players, it still posted a 96.5% return rate in its best performance, according to the study not yet peer-reviewed.
Say it, I said it
Word of the day
Metis — Greek for “wisdom“, and the name of Zeus’ first wife and advisor, who helped him escape from the womb of his father Cronus and whom he repaid by swallowing her after learning that she would give birth to a son more powerful than him.
Metis, already pregnant with Athena, the goddess of wisdom, helped her daughter escape from Zeus through the front. The birth of Athena is depicted in marble sculptures on the Acropolis, a fragment of which was found near the remains of a shipwreck at the bottom of the Aegean Sea.
Quote of the day
“Thermodynamics tells you what is possible and what is not possible if the laws of the universe are as we think they are. Until now, no one in four centuries of science has been able to demonstrate that the laws of thermodynamics [do not apply]”.
Fun and games
The archaeological community is once again engaged in a fierce debate over the chronology of the first colonization of the American continent. But what do you know about the first to reach it? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
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