Newswise Feature Channel: History

Cornell Professor Reconstructs Ancient Canoe Using Mathematics

Cornell College — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 20:50:57 EST

Cornell Associate Professor of Mathematics Fabian Candelaria used mathematics to study a fragment of a colonial canoe that floated ashore on the west coast of Puerto Rico after sitting underwater for hundreds of years.

Illinois Historian: Midwest Played a Crucial Role in Black Freedom Movements Worldwide

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 18:45:22 EST

University of Illinois professor of African American studies and history Erik S. McDuffie examines the influence of political activist Marcus Garvey and the importance of the Midwest in the growth of Black internationalism and radicalism in his new book, "The Second Battle for Africa: Garveyism, the U.S. Heartland and Global Black Freedom."

Uncovering the Pigments and Techniques Used to Paint the Berlin Wall

American Chemical Society (ACS) — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:00:00 EST

Street art takes many forms, and the vibrant murals on the Berlin Wall both before and after its fall are expressions of people's opinions. But there was often secrecy around the processes for creating the paintings, which makes them hard to preserve. Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society have uncovered information about this historic site from paint chips by combining a handheld detector and artificial intelligence (AI) data analysis.

Implementing Ancient Agricultural Practices to Confront Modern-Day Challenges of Water Scarcity and Food Insecurity

Bar-Ilan University — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 19:55:05 EST

A new study exploring traditional sunken groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems in coastal and inland sand (SGHAS) bodies of Israel, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Gaza, and the Atlantic coast of Iberia offers fresh perspectives on ancient agricultural techniques that could inform modern sustainability practices. The research, which combines geospatial analysis, archaeological findings, and historical documentation, sheds light on the innovative use of water-harvesting and soil-enrichment technologies developed in the early Islamic period and their continued relevance to contemporary agricultural challenges.

Notre Dame Cathedral to Reopen

University of Miami — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:30:36 EST

University of Miami professors discuss the history of the cathedral and the efforts to restore it following the 2019 fire.

Bar-Ilan University's Launches Free Online Course on Ancient Jerusalem

Bar-Ilan University — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 13:05:15 EST

Bar-Ilan University has just launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled Jerusalem: A Journey Through Time. This comprehensive, introductory course delves into the history and archaeology of one of the world's most fascinating cities, covering its evolution from its earliest foundations to the Muslim conquest.

Sharing is Caring: Central Europe's First Farmers Lived in Equality

University of Vienna — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:00:00 EST

An international team of researchers led by Pere Gelabert and Ron Pinhasi of the University of Vienna and David Reich of Harvard University has produced the most complete set of Early Neolithic genetic data from Central Europe to date. The results of this study, just published in Nature Human Behaviour, reveal that the culture responsible for the expansion of agriculture in Central Europe 8,000 years ago showed no signs of population stratification.

A Fossil First: Scientists Find 1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints of Two Different Species of Human Ancestors at Same Spot

Rutgers University-New Brunswick — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 14:00:00 EST

More than a million years ago, on a hot savannah teeming with wildlife near the shore of what would someday become Lake Turkana in Kenya, two completely different species of hominins may have passed each other as they scavenged for food. Scientists know this because they have examined 1.5-million-year-old fossils they unearthed and have concluded they represent the first example of two sets of hominin footprints made about the same time on an ancient lake shore. The discovery will provide more insight into human evolution and how species cooperated and competed with one another, the scientists said.

At the Roots of Business Ethics: A New Reading of the Merchant of Venice

Journal of Business Ethics — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:55:11 EST

The Parasaurolophus' Pipes: Modeling the Dinosaur's Crest To Study Its Sound #ASA187

Acoustical Society of America (ASA) — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:30:00 EST

Hongjun Lin from New York University will present results on the acoustic characteristics of a physical model of the Parasaurolophus' crest as part of the virtual 187th ASA Meeting. Lin created a physical setup made of tubes to represent a mathematical model that will allow researchers to discover what was happening acoustically inside the crest.

Terrorism and the UN: The History of an Indefinable Concept

Universite de Montreal — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 12:00:56 EST

Corentin Sire's doctoral research explores the socio-political concept of terrorism, its history and how it has changed over time within the United Nations.

Robinson Researches History of Gifted and Talented Leader in Native American Education

University of Arkansas at Little Rock — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:15:48 EST

Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education at UA Little Rock, is using her research skills to conduct a biographical study on Dr. Stuart Tonemah, a leader of gifted, creative, and talented education for Native Americans.

One Year After Landmark Report, Cedars-Sinai to Host The Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust

Cedars-Sinai — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:30:17 EST

Cedars-Sinai's Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in cooperation with the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, will host a free event, open to the public, focusing on how the history of medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust is influencing the practice, students and practitioners of today's health professions.

Restoring Mexico's Archaeological Heritage to Its Rightful Place

Universite de Montreal — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 12:00:34 EST

A Mexican delegation is coming to retrieve 84 Mesoamerican axes currently in transit at UdeM, underscoring the need to raise public awareness of the looting of archaeological artifacts.

Deep Ocean Clues to a Million-Year-Old Ice Age Puzzle Revealed in New Study

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 09:45:11 EST

Using climate records spanning the past 1.2 million years, the team reconstructed deep ocean properties that are crucial for understanding the ocean's flow and carbon sequestration capabilities.

Ancient DNA Challenges Stories Told About Pompeii Victims

Harvard Medical School — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 15:45:02 EST

An international team led by scientists at Harvard Medical School, the University of Florence, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology analyzed DNA from the remains of five people who died in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE and were cast in plaster nearly two millennia later. Researchers retrieved the DNA in conjunction with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii during restoration of 86 damaged casts in 2015.

Zimmerli Exhibit Showcases Rarely Seen Large-Scale Nonconformist Art

Rutgers University-New Brunswick — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:20:54 EST

"Painting to Scale," the latest exhibition at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, boasts rarely shown, large-scale artwork from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union. The exhibition runs from Wednesday, Nov. 13, through Oct. 5, 2025, in the lower Dodge wing at the Zimmerli, 71 Hamilton St.

Expert Available: What Does Political Rhetoric Owe Democracy?

George Washington University — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:00:06 EST

As one expert at the George Washington University reflects on the 2024 campaign season and the uncertainty that lays ahead, he explores the question: what does political rhetoric owe democracy? ...

American Physical Society Recognizes ORNL's Historic Graphite Reactor

Oak Ridge National Laboratory — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:40:20 EST

The American Physical Society has recognized the Graphite Reactor, located at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as an APS historic site. APS President Young-Kee Kim presented a plaque commemorating the recognition on Monday, Nov. 4, the 81st anniversary of the reactor's first achieving criticality in 1943.

Sofia imber: A Visionary Force

University of Miami — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 22:15:25 EST

A Venezuelan journalist and lover of the arts, Sofia imber will be honored at the Kislak Center at the University of Miami.