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The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Mystery over 2,000-year-old shipwreck with ‘world's oldest computer' that inspired Indiana Jones as boat finally raised
THE mystery deepens around the famous shipwreck that held the 2,000-year-old relic dubbed the "world's first computer". The Antikythera wreck sank in the first century BC off the Greek island that gave it its name, carrying a trove of treasure. 7 A diver explores the second wreck site just off the Greek island of Antikythera for the first time in 2,000 years Credit: Credit: ESAG/UNIGE via Pen News 7 A drawing of an ancient ship with a skiff in tow from the House of the Ship Europa in Pompeii Credit: Credit: Pen News 7 The Antikythera Mechanism is believed to date back to around 80 BC in Ancient Greece Credit: Credit: Logg Tandy via Pen News 7 Among the precious artefacts was the Antikythera Mechanism - an unusual device whose purpose long been debated and which even inspired "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ". But researchers studying the shipwreck are now facing a new mystery after part of the wreck was recovered for the first time since 1976. The newly recovered timbers do not match those found in the 1970s - they differ in both size and construction. This has led scientists to consider the possibility that the Antikythera site may actually contain the remains of two separate shipwrecks - not just one. Read more world news Lorenz Baumer of the University of Geneva in Switzerland, who directed this year's expedition, said: 'The measures are different. 'The thickness of the planks found by Cousteau is around 10 centimetres, the ones we have measure around five - that's quite a difference. 'Now we have to find an explanation – is it another part of the ship? It's possible that they've been using thinner planks in upper parts, but that's pure speculation for now. 'Or is it – and for me this could be a possibility – a skiff. Most read in The US Sun 'You see many of those merchant ships had smaller boats with them.' The Antikythera wreck was discovered in 1900 by Captain Dimitrios Kondos and his crew of sponge divers from the island of Symi. 7 The newly recovered timbers do not match those found in the 1970s, prompting scientists to question if there were two shipwrecks Credit: Credit: ESAG/UNIGE via Pen News Greek island offers to pay thousands to move there & you'll even get land Shortly after, over 300 other artefacts, including the Antikythera Mechanism, statues, coins and pieces of jewellery, were retrieved. For over a century, the mysterious device has left scientists scratching their heads. The conventional theory is that it was an ancient analogue device used to track the cycles of the Moon, Sun and planets and predict solar and lunar eclipses. Author Jo Marchant, who has written a book about the device, said it was 'probably the most exciting artefact that we have from the ancient world'. 7 A poster for 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' (2023), starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones Credit: ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. 7 A reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism on display at the exhibition of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens shows how sophisticated the device was Credit: AFP A fictional version of the device, renamed the Archimedes Dial, drives the plot in Harrison Ford's hit film, where Indiana Jones is shown diving at the Antikythera wreck. Dr Baumer said: 'It's total nonsense, but I was very well entertained I have to say.' But the theory that the ship carrying the mechanism was accompanied by a second ship has historical precedent. A technical drawing of two vessels - one towing the other - was found in Pompeii, inside the House of the Ship Europa, Dr Baumer said. He said: 'It's very detailed and very precise, so this drawing has been done by somebody who knows ships and also the technical parts. 'You see on the back of the Europa is hanging a smaller second ship.' He also mentioned the Biblical tale - when Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked off Malta, a lifeboat was launched from the main vessel. 'We have two wreck sites,' he said. 'Close to 200 meters southwards there is a huge field – it is all covered with amphorae. 'Chronologically the two sites go together so maybe these ships have been sailing together.' He added: 'We cannot tell if they sank one after the other, or if there was a couple of years, weeks, or days between them. 'But we see we are in about the same period.' The newly-recovered timbers have also revealed that the Antikythera wreck was already old when it sank. Analysis of the wood, which is elm and oak, dates it back to around 235 BC, whereas the ship didn't sink until around 80 BC. This year's expedition also uncovered a fragment of a sculpture depicting a nude male. Some believe the ship was doomed by the weight of the sculptures it carried. Dr Baumer said: 'It sunk very, very quickly because it was, in my opinion , totally overloaded. 'Whenever there's a storm in Antikythera, you're happy that you're not on board a ship, even a modern one. 'It is a very rocky coast, it's impossible to land, and you simply get broken up. There's no chance. 'Even now when the waves are too heavy, the ferry boats do not land on Antikythera – it's too dangerous.' What is the Antikythera Mechanism? The Antikythera Mechanism is a 2,000-year-old Greek device, often called the world's first analogue computer. Discovered in a shipwreck in 1901, the object is thought to have been used to predict astronomical events, like eclipses, moon phases and possibly the movements of planets. It consists of at least 29 gears of various sizes that were made to move simultaneously via a handle. Key parts: Front dial: shows the Sun and Moon moving through the zodiac and tracks dates using a 365-day calendar Back upper dial: tracks the 19-year Metonic cycle to sync solar and lunar calendars Back lower dial: predicts eclipses using the 223-month Saros cycle Lunar mechanism: models the Moon's phases and orbit Gears: the interlocking, bronze gears power everything
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Mystery over 2,000-year-old shipwreck with ‘world's oldest computer' that inspired Indiana Jones as boat finally raised
The Antikythera wreck was first discovered in 1900 WRECK RIDDLE Mystery over 2,000-year-old shipwreck with 'world's oldest computer' that inspired Indiana Jones as boat finally raised Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE mystery deepens around the famous shipwreck that held the 2,000-year-old relic dubbed the "world's first computer". The Antikythera wreck sank in the first century BC off the Greek island that gave it its name, carrying a trove of treasure. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 A diver explores the second wreck site just off the Greek island of Antikythera for the first time in 2,000 years Credit: Credit: ESAG/UNIGE via Pen News 7 A drawing of an ancient ship with a skiff in tow from the House of the Ship Europa in Pompeii Credit: Credit: Pen News 7 The Antikythera Mechanism is believed to date back to around 80 BC in Ancient Greece Credit: Credit: Logg Tandy via Pen News 7 Among the precious artefacts was the Antikythera Mechanism - an unusual device whose purpose long been debated and which even inspired "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny". But researchers studying the shipwreck are now facing a new mystery after part of the wreck was recovered for the first time since 1976. The newly recovered timbers do not match those found in the 1970s - they differ in both size and construction. This has led scientists to consider the possibility that the Antikythera site may actually contain the remains of two separate shipwrecks - not just one. Read more world news ON THE BOTTOM Lost 300-yr-old ship with £101M worth of treasure FOUND off Madagascar coast Lorenz Baumer of the University of Geneva in Switzerland, who directed this year's expedition, said: 'The measures are different. 'The thickness of the planks found by Cousteau is around 10 centimetres, the ones we have measure around five - that's quite a difference. 'Now we have to find an explanation – is it another part of the ship? It's possible that they've been using thinner planks in upper parts, but that's pure speculation for now. 'Or is it – and for me this could be a possibility – a skiff. 'You see many of those merchant ships had smaller boats with them.' The Antikythera wreck was discovered in 1900 by Captain Dimitrios Kondos and his crew of sponge divers from the island of Symi. 7 The newly recovered timbers do not match those found in the 1970s, prompting scientists to question if there were two shipwrecks Credit: Credit: ESAG/UNIGE via Pen News Greek island offers to pay thousands to move there & you'll even get land Shortly after, over 300 other artefacts, including the Antikythera Mechanism, statues, coins and pieces of jewellery, were retrieved. For over a century, the mysterious device has left scientists scratching their heads. The conventional theory is that it was an ancient analogue device used to track the cycles of the Moon, Sun and planets and predict solar and lunar eclipses. Author Jo Marchant, who has written a book about the device, said it was 'probably the most exciting artefact that we have from the ancient world'. 7 A poster for 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' (2023), starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones Credit: ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. 7 A reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism on display at the exhibition of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens shows how sophisticated the device was Credit: AFP A fictional version of the device, renamed the Archimedes Dial, drives the plot in Harrison Ford's hit film, where Indiana Jones is shown diving at the Antikythera wreck. Dr Baumer said: 'It's total nonsense, but I was very well entertained I have to say.' But the theory that the ship carrying the mechanism was accompanied by a second ship has historical precedent. A technical drawing of two vessels - one towing the other - was found in Pompeii, inside the House of the Ship Europa, Dr Baumer said. He said: 'It's very detailed and very precise, so this drawing has been done by somebody who knows ships and also the technical parts. 'You see on the back of the Europa is hanging a smaller second ship.' He also mentioned the Biblical tale - when Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked off Malta, a lifeboat was launched from the main vessel. 'We have two wreck sites,' he said. 'Close to 200 meters southwards there is a huge field – it is all covered with amphorae. 'Chronologically the two sites go together so maybe these ships have been sailing together.' He added: 'We cannot tell if they sank one after the other, or if there was a couple of years, weeks, or days between them. 'But we see we are in about the same period.' The newly-recovered timbers have also revealed that the Antikythera wreck was already old when it sank. Analysis of the wood, which is elm and oak, dates it back to around 235 BC, whereas the ship didn't sink until around 80 BC. This year's expedition also uncovered a fragment of a sculpture depicting a nude male. Some believe the ship was doomed by the weight of the sculptures it carried. Dr Baumer said: 'It sunk very, very quickly because it was, in my opinion, totally overloaded. 'Whenever there's a storm in Antikythera, you're happy that you're not on board a ship, even a modern one. 'It is a very rocky coast, it's impossible to land, and you simply get broken up. There's no chance. 'Even now when the waves are too heavy, the ferry boats do not land on Antikythera – it's too dangerous.'
The Star
28-06-2025
- Science
- The Star
Opinion: Are you more emotionally intelligent than an AI chatbot?
As artificial intelligence takes over the world, I've tried to reassure myself: AI can't ever be as authentically human and emotionally intelligent as real people are. Right? But what if that's wrong? A cognitive scientist who specialises in emotional intelligence shared with me in an interview that he and some colleagues did an experiment that throws some cold water on that theory. 'What do you do?' Writing in the journal Communications Psychology , Marcello Mortillaro, senior scientist at the UNIGE's Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (CISA), said he and colleagues ran commonly used tests of emotional intelligence on six Large Language Models including generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT. The are the same kinds of tests that are commonly used in corporate and research settings: scenarios involving complicated social situations, and questions asking which of five reactions might be best. One example included in the journal article goes like this: 'Your colleague with whom you get along very well tells you that he is getting dismissed and that you will be taking over his projects. While he is telling you the news he starts crying. He is very sad and desperate. You have a meeting coming up in 10 min. What do you do?' Gosh, that's a tough one. The person – or AI chatbot – would then be presented with five options, ranging from things like: – 'You take some time to listen to him until you get the impression he calmed down a bit, at risk of being late for your meeting,' to – 'You suggest that he joins you for your meeting with your supervisor so that you can plan the transfer period together.' Emotional intelligence experts generally agree that there are 'right' or 'best' answers to these scenarios, based on conflict management theory – and it turns out that the LLMs and AI chatbots chose the best answers more often than humans did. As Mortillaro told me: 'When we run these tests with people, the average correct response rate … is between 15% and 60% correct. The LLMs on average, were about 80%. So, they answered better than the average human participant.' Maybe you're sceptical Even having heard that, I was sceptical. For one thing, I had assumed while reading the original article that Mortillaro and his colleagues had informed the LLMs what they were doing – namely, that they were looking for the most emotionally intelligent answers. Thus, the AI would have had a signal to tailor the answers, knowing how they'd be judged. Heck, it would probably be easier for a lot of us mere humans to improve our emotional intelligence if we had the benefit of a constant reminder in life: 'Remember, we want to be as emotionally intelligent as possible!' But, it turns out that assumption on my part was flat-out wrong – which frankly makes the whole thing a bit more remarkable. 'Nothing!' Mortillaro told me when I asked how much he'd told the LLMs about the idea of emotional intelligence to begin with. 'We didn't even say this is part of a test. We just gave the … situation and said these are five possible answers. What's the best answer? … And it picked the right option 82% (ck) of the time, which is way higher – significantly higher – than the average human.' Good news, right? Interestingly, from Mortillaro's perspective, this is actually some pretty good news – not because it suggests another realm in which artificial intelligence might replace human effort, but because it could make his discipline easier. In short, scientists might theorise from studies like this that they can use AI to create the first drafts of additional emotional intelligence tests, and thus scale their work with humans even more. I mean: 80% accuracy isn't 100%, but it's potentially a good head start. Mortillaro also brainstormed with me for some other use cases that might be more interesting to business leaders and entrepreneurs. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about these yet. But examples might include: – Offering customer scenarios, getting solutions from LLMs, and incorporating them into sales or customer service scripts. – Running the text and calls to action on your website or social media ads through LLMs to see if there are suggestions hiding in plain sight. – And of course, as I think a lot of people already do, sharing presentations or speeches for suggestions on how to streamline them. Personally, I find I reject many more of the suggestions that I get from LLMs like ChatGPT. I also don't use it for articles like this one, of course. Still, even if you're not convinced, I suspect some of your competitors are. And they might be improving their emotional intelligence as a result without even realising it. As a result, at least being aware of the potential of AI to upend your industry seems like a smart move. 'Especially for small business owners who do not have the staff or the money to implement large-scale projects,' Mortillaro suggested, 'these kind of tools become incredibly powerful.' – Inc./Tribune News Service
Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
What is a dead galaxy? Astronomers spot one that stopped forming stars 700M years after Big Bang
More than 13 billion years after the Big Bang, astronomers have found the most distant galaxy ever seen using the James Webb Space Telescope (JSWT), except that this one has already stopped forming stars. The JWST spotted light from this newly discovered 'dead galaxy' called RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7,(the Red Unknowns: Bright Infrared Extragalactic Survey). It is said to be the most distant and massive 'dead galaxy' to have been found till date. The discovery was made by an international team, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in Geneva, Switzerland. 'For a long time, scientists thought that only actively star-forming galaxies should be observed in the very early Universe. The James Webb space telescope now reveals that galaxies stopped forming stars earlier than expected,' according to a press release issued by the University on April 2, 2025. So, what is a dead galaxy? What leads to their formation? What is galaxy quenching? Why does the recent discovery matter? What is a dead galaxy? A galaxy that has stopped creating new stars is referred to as a 'dead galaxy'. This happens when a galaxy uses up its supply of gas, mainly hydrogen, which is essential for the birth of new stars. Without enough cold and dense gas, star formation becomes stagnant. Processes like stellar winds, supernovae, or black hole activity can also expel this gas. As a result, the galaxy slowly fades, filled with aging stars and no new ones to replace them. The oldest known 'dead' galaxy, JADES-GS-z7-01-QU, was spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in March last year. It stopped producing stars when the universe was just 700 million years old. How do galaxies grow and die? Galaxies grow by absorbing gas and converting it into new stars. A galaxy may be able to draw gas more effectively as its mass grows, which speeds up the formation of new stars as this growth is forever. Galaxies eventually go through a process known as 'quenching,' in which they stop forming stars and, in effect, stop growing. What is quenching? The biggest galaxies, which frequently have an elliptical shape, are particularly prone to quenching. Before star formation stops, these galaxies typically take a long period to form by building up large stellar populations. One of the most significant unsolved problems in astrophysics is what exactly causes galaxies to quench. 'Finding the first massive galaxies that stopped making stars in the early universe is important because it helps us learn how they were formed.' according to a research paper published by University of Geneva. 'Scientists found one such galaxy that made stars equal to 15 billion times the mass of the Sun, but stopped creating new stars,' it added. What next? At a distance of about 650 light-years, RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7's small physical size indicates a high stellar mass density that is equivalent to the maximum central densities found in quiescent galaxies at slightly lower redshifts (z ~2–5). It is possible that these galaxies will grow into the cores of the local universe's oldest and most massive elliptical galaxies. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Earth's largest radio telescope project, which has 66 antennas situated in the Atacama Desert region of Northern Chile, may be able to assist the JWST in its research of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7. 'The discovery of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 provides the first strong evidence that the centres of some nearby massive ellipticals may have already been in place since the first few hundred million years of the Universe,' the research paper read.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Record-breaking 'dead' galaxy discovered by JWST lived fast and died young in the early universe
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have found the most distant (and thus the earliest) massive "dead" galaxy to date. The discovery suggests that galaxies were "dying" much earlier in the universe than previously believed. "Death" for a galaxy refers to the slowing down, or even halting, of intense star formation, which stops a galaxy from growing. Such dead galaxies are more formally referred to as being "quiescent," or "quenched." Early dead galaxies seen by the JWST have been referred to as "red and dead" galaxies due to their lack of massive hot young blue stars and their abundance of old small red stars. They have also been dubbed "Little Red Dots" due to their appearance in JWST images. Light from this new record-breaking galaxy, designated RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7, has been traveling to us for 13 billion years, meaning the JWST saw it as it was just 700 million years after the Big Bang. That makes it the first so-called massive quiescent galaxy (MQG) seen in the infancy of the 13.8 billion-year-old universe. "We discovered a galaxy which formed 15 billion times the mass of the sun in stars and then stopped forming stars before the universe was only 700 million years old," team member Andrea Weibel of the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Department of Astronomy told "This makes RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 the most distant massive quiescent galaxy known to date." The discovery may challenge our models of how galaxies evolve — and eventually stop growing — due to the cessation of star birth. "The observation implies that some galaxies have stopped forming stars when the universe was only 700 million years old," Weibel said. "So far, models and simulations contain very few such objects, more than 100 times fewer than the existence of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 suggests. This means that the physical processes and mechanisms that regulate star formation and its termination in galaxies in the early universe may have to be revisited." Quiescent galaxies are common immediately around the Milky Way. That's expected because the further away we look, the further back in time we are traveling. Thus, local massive galaxies have had a lot of time to start forming stars, grow to tremendous masses, and then exhaust the gas and dust needed for stellar construction, thus becoming quenched. We should expect more distant galaxies to still be enjoying their star-birthing youth. As the JWST has probed further and further back in time, however, it has discovered earlier and earlier MQGs. Several of these red and dead galaxies were found as early as 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Discovered as part of the "Red Unknowns: Bright Infrared Extragalactic Survey," or RUBIES, program, RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 pushes the detection of MQGs back by another 500 million years. "Massive galaxies observed early in the universe only had a very limited amount of time to form their stars. This means they must have formed rapidly and efficiently, which helps us to constrain and, in some cases, even challenge theories and models of galaxy formation and growth," Weibel said. "RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7, however, is not only massive but has already stopped forming stars 50 to 100 million years before we observe it, while normal galaxies at these epochs are still building up their stellar mass through star formation." Weibel explained that the mass of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 and its reconstructed formation history suggest relatively efficient star formation for the galaxy. That does not directly challenge existing models of star formation. "The galaxy is very compact and may be an example of an object where a lot of gas and dust — the fuel of star formation — collapses and assembles into a small volume, where stars can form rapidly and efficiently for an extended period of time, or in multiple bursts," Weibel said. "What makes RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 stand out is that it stopped forming stars so early on." This MQG may stand out from Little Red Dots seen by the JWST in ways other than its rapid death. "In the JWST images, RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 resembled objects named Little Red Dots, which have been discovered with the JWST," Weibel said. "Many of these objects turned out to have strong emission lines and/or showed signs of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Thus, at least a good fraction of the light we observe from Little Red Dots may actually originate from accreting supermassive black holes, rather than stars."However, Weibel added that RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 shows no signs of an AGN, meaning its light comes entirely from stars, not from the violent conditions around a feeding black hole. "This then implies its rather high mass and its quiescence, which both came as a big surprise," Weibel continued. "So far, we have only found one such object in all the JWST data that we investigated." From this, the team calculated that galaxies like RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 should account for around one in 1 million galaxies. "This is, however, quite uncertain, because we don't know how lucky we got to find one in the small patch of the sky that we have scanned so far," Weibel said. "With hopefully many more years of JWST taking data, we will be able to search larger areas of the sky and get a better idea of how common galaxies like RUBIES-UGD-QG-z7 actually are." Related Stories: — Is our universe trapped inside a black hole? This James Webb Space Telescope discovery might blow your mind —James Webb Space Telescope finds our Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole blowing bubbles (image, video) — James Webb Space Telescope sees early galaxies defying 'cosmic rulebook' of star formation Performing higher resolution and deeper spectroscopy imaging of this galaxy could reveal the abundances of various elements, which would help better constrain the formation history of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7. "We will get more data on this galaxy in the upcoming Cycle 4 of JWST observations. Specifically, higher resolution spectroscopy," Weibel JWST may need a helping hand to study RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 from Earth's largest radio telescope project, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which consists of 66 antennas located in the Atacama Desert region of Northern Chile."Data from the ALMA telescope at longer wavelengths of light can give us direct insight into the gas and dust content of the galaxy, which is closely related to its past and future star formation history," Weibel said. The team's research was published on April 1 in The Astrophysical Journal.
