Latest news with #Willman
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Utica's Willman named AHL Player of the Week
UTICA, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) — Another Utica Comet has been named the AHL Player of the Week, the second this season for the Comets. Comets forward Max Willman was named the American Hockey League Player of the Week on Monday, April 7. He joins fellow forward Mike Hardman as the two Utica players who have earned the honor this season. Willman scored eight points — four goals and four assists — in a three-game span over the last week. The Comets won all three games, extending their current win streak to five and keeping themselves in the hunt for the AHL playoffs. Willman began the week scoring one of the Comets' two goals in a 2-1 matinee victory over the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday, April 1. He followed that up with an empty-net goal and two assists in Utica's 5-2 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds During his game on Saturday, April 5 against the Providence Bruins, Willman was responsible for four of the Comets' six goals in their 6-4 victory. For that performance, he was named the league's's Third Star of the Night. Willman has scored 41 points — 22 goals, 29 assists — since joining the Comets from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the 2023-24 season. He has 29 points — 10 goals and a career-high 19 assists — in 64 games this season The Comets are back at the Adirondack Bank Center on Wednesday, April 9 for a crucial playoff matchup with the Syracuse Crunch. Puck drop is set for 7 pm. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Who was Vera Rubin? Dark matter astronomer's legacy continues through new observatory
CERRO PACHON, Chile - Driving up the mountain road to reach the U.S. National Science Foundation's newest observatory in Chile, which will begin observations later this year, astronomer Beth Willman was delighted to see a sign. "It says 'Vera C. Rubin Observatory this way,' and it was a simple but powerful moment for me to realize it was really there," Willman said. A quick internet search will reveal why having a woman's name on a $571 million science facility is a milestone. There are no others like it, and no one like Rubin. "In the back of my head, I had wanted the National Lab to be named after Vera Rubin because of her incredible leadership and legacy. And I was thrilled to hear that work was already ongoing to name what is now the Vera C. Rubin Observatory after her," Willman said. Willman was the deputy director of the Rubin construction project and now serves as the executive director of the LSST Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. The Observatory's LSST is the world's largest digital camera, and it will create the largest astronomical movie yet of the southern hemisphere sky over 10 years. In March, the LSST was installed at the mountaintop observatory in Chile, and the facility has entered the final stages of testing before operations begin in the coming months. The U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation-funded facility, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, is named after the astronomer credited with the first evidence of dark matter. Many in the scientific community still believe she was overlooked for the Nobel Prize. Rubin died in 2016 at 88 years old. "When I think of Vera Rubin, I think of breaking scientific barriers, I think of directly amplifying the future of scientists through training and mentoring future scientists, and I think of the fact that she had to break cultural barriers in order to break scientific barriers," Willman said. Rubin's work in the 1970s led to the first evidence that the universe has something we still don't know what it is, known as dark matter. Fifty years later, scientists know about 80% of the universe is made of dark matter. "She did that by pioneering studies of galaxies. In order to do her pioneer studies of galaxies she had to go to observatories where women hadn't been permitted to go before," Willman said. Rubin made these discoveries while raising four young children, something Willman relates to: balancing work in a male-dominated field and being a mother. Telescope Used To Study Mysteries Of The Universe Releases First Images In Stunning Detail In 2010, Willman brought her students from Haverford College to listen to Rubin speak at Bryn Mawr College, where she could ask her about this balancing act. "I took my whole lab of students over there to hear her speak as really a role model and a pioneering example of how somebody can be the leader of their field and change the way we understand the universe while also being a parent," Willman said. At the time, as a mom to an 18-month-old daughter, it was top of mind for Willman. "She said it was about her own support resources that she had in place that in order to accomplish, you look around your community, your family for the support that you need," Willman recalls. "I was so fascinated by that response. I don't know what I expected. I expected some, you know, superhero swashbuckling stories. She was just a humble and powerful and brilliant woman, very practical and down to Earth." All four of Rubin's children went on to be scientists, her son, Allan Rubin told the NSF. The world will soon hear Vera Rubin's name a lot more for a few reasons. Her face will be on a new quarter released this June, right around the time Rubin Observatory plans to release the first images. In the decades to come, budding scientists will credit discoveries and new findings to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, building on the work of a celebrated astronomer who sought to inspire others when women didn't have their own restrooms in some science article source: Who was Vera Rubin? Dark matter astronomer's legacy continues through new observatory
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
These Paleolithic Skulls Had Odd Tooth Damage. One Anthropologist Says It was Caused By Cheek Piercings.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Skulls from Paleolithic Europe's Pavlovian people have long been noted for their damaged teeth, with wear patterns evident along their outer surfaces. A new study posits a theory that this damage came not from eating or carrying an object in the mouth, but from cheek piercings The study posits that these piercings—which could have been placed as early as childhood—would have been undertaken as a means of showing membership to a particular group. When we think about the people of the Paleolithic age, many of us tend to picture a primitive fight for survival. Their lives are often depicted simply as a search for food and shelter, bereft of any sense of self or concept of the collective (outside of as a means of protection). But that narrow lens can prevent us not just from generally understanding humanity's ancestors better, but from being able to correctly interpret specific archaeological and anthropological findings. Now, a recent study—published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology and reported on by Live Science—serves as an example of why it's important to step out of those limiting preconceptions when considering the past. As Live Science notes, the presence of flat patches on the teeth of some Paleolithic Europeans belonging to a group known as the Pavlovians has 'puzzled archaeologists for centuries.' It was a mystery that similarly intrigued biological anthropologist John Willman of the University of Coimbra in Portugal. 'There was a long history of discussion of the strange wear on the canines and cheek teeth of these individuals,' Willman told Live Science, 'but no one really knew what caused the wear.' The wearing down of tooth enamel is a completely normal experience, and happens as a result of typical actions like chewing. However, the damage done to these ancient teeth was on the cheek side of the tooth—not the chewing surface. What could have caused such distinct damage? The theory Willman settled on looked outside of eating, and indeed, beyond the sphere of actions undertaken merely for survival. Instead, Willman's hypothesis hinges on an accoutrement that can be found everywhere from hunter-gatherer tribes to heavy metal concerts. In Willman's estimation, the dental damage was done by labrets—what we would now refer to as cheek piercings. Willman's study involved analyzing dozens of Pavlovian skulls. To date, no labrets—a term that originates from the Latin word for 'lip' and can apply to either cheek or lower lip piercings—have been found with any of the Pavlovian remains, though it's possible that's because they were made from an organic material like wood or leather that would have decomposed over time. As such, Willman's research had to rely on studying the manner in which the teeth had been distorted. 'Getting your first labret seemed to have occurred in childhood, since wear is documented in some baby teeth,' Willman said. Per Live Science, Willman found that adults appeared to have a 'higher degree of cheek-region enamel wear across more teeth than kids did,' which could suggest an increase in labret size over time. While considered safe, labrets can cause tooth and gum damage in instances where proper care isn't taken in placement or care. Willman saw evidence of this in some of the skulls he observed: 'Some individuals have dental crowding, which I interpreted as an effect of having labrets resting against the teeth for long periods of time.' But while these oral adornments didn't have any direct application to survival in the individual sense, to Willman, they appear to suggest a sense of community and perhaps even an act of self-expression. 'In the case of the Pavlovians, having labrets seems to be related to belonging to the group,' Willman noted. As for the manner in which the tooth damage appeared to vary between individuals, Willman suggests that 'may relate to individual choice, different life experiences that 'earn' labrets during life, like going through puberty or marriage.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ice Age hunter-gatherers may have had cheek piercings, even as children
A group of Ice Age hunter-gatherers living in central Europe may have adorned their faces with cheek piercings at as early as six-years-old. Although the author of a recent study published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archeology isn't the only researcher to suggest the theory, he may be the first to link it to a longtime mystery—the curious dental wear-and-tear found in nearly every dental set recovered from the 29,000-year-old community. Named after the Pavlov Hills region across northern Austria and southern Poland, the Pavlovians were an Upper Paleolithic culture known for their sophisticated stone age technology and tools. Archeologists have recovered numerous artifacts like spearheads, digging tools, and needles made from bone since the group's discovery in 1952. These also include skeletal remains such as well-preserved teeth, many of which display an inexplicable detail—most adolescents and nearly all adults show signs of abrasion on either one or both cheek sides. As Gizmodo explained on Tuesday, researchers have since offered multiple theories about the damage, including the use of pebbles to induce salivation and help with thirst. But according to John Willman, a biological anthropologist at the University of Coimbra's Laboratory of Prehistory (CIAS) in Portugal, the damage may have come from the aftereffects of a cultural rite of passage. 'While working on my Ph.D. thesis, I was fascinated by the strange wear on the surfaces of the canines and cheek teeth of individuals from Pavlovian sites. In addition to normal wear on the chewing surface of teeth, they have flat wear planes on their 'buccal' (cheek) surfaces,' Willman wrote in an accompanying post to his personal blog. Willman went on to explain that the enamel wear reminded him of similar results caused by some facial piercings, particularly labrets. He also noticed 'interesting evidence' pointing to teeth crowding and rotation that he believes may have been caused by pressure from the piercings. 'Basically the opposite of what happens if you wear braces or [a] retainer to straighten your own teeth,' he wrote. After analyzing dental records, Willman noted Palovians may have begun receiving labret piercings since they were between 6 and 10 years old, with additional piercings added as they got older as part of cultural rites of passage. But one major missing piece (or pieces) remains—the piercing jewelry itself. 'One of the most difficult parts of accepting the hypothesis I put forth for labret use is that we don't have any labrets in the burials!' he wrote on Monday. However, that is likely to be expected, given the time period. Willman theorizes the piercings may have used perishable materials like leather or wood, or that they were passed down among the community instead of buried with individuals. In the meantime, Willman shared his hopes that similar artifacts may be found in other cultures that support the hypothesis. 'Whatever the cause of the strange dental wear is, it is clear that Pavlovian people shared in a behavior that produced it, and this is pretty remarkable in [its] own right,' he said.
