A 27,000-year-old pyramid? Controversy hits extraordinary archaeological claim

What matters in science | 

View this email in your browser Tuesday 28 November 2023

Hello Nature readers, Today, we examine a controversial claim that a mysterious structure in Indonesia is the world's oldest pyramid, meet anglerfish that spend their lives upside down and discover that babies start learning their mother's language before birth.

It's unclear whether the layers of rock beneath Gunung Padang's stepped stone terraces were built by humans or are the result of natural weathering over time. (Ali Trisno Pranoto/Getty)

Furore over 'oldest pyramid' claim A paper claiming that a structure in Indonesia is the oldest pyramid in the world has raised the eyebrows of archaeologists and prompted an investigation by publisher Wiley's ethics team. The study concludes that a structure lying beneath the prehistoric site of Gunung Padang in West Java might have been constructed as far back as 27,000 years ago — long before Egypt's great pyramids. However, critics say that the buried layers are more likely to have occurred naturally, and that there's no evidence people had the skills to build a pyramid at the time. The site has been linked to a fringe idea of an advanced global civilization that was wiped out 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. Nature | 5 min read Reference: Archaeological Prospection paper

Anglerfish lives life upside down Several species of whipnose anglerfish (Gigantactis spp.) have been spotted swimming belly-up, suggesting that this is normal behaviour for these deep-sea creatures. "Just when you think they couldn't get any weirder, anglerfish outdo themselves," says biologist Pamela Hart. Whipnose anglerfish live in the lightless depths of the ocean. Females use the bioluminescent tip of their long fishing-rod-like nose appendage to lure in prey — apparently while upside down. The researchers suggest that this position allows the fish to take down larger and faster animals without accidentally biting themselves. The New York Times | 4 min read Reference: Journal of Fish Biology paper

Babies start learning language before birth Babies seem to be primed to learn their native language by listening to their mother's voice while still in the womb. In a study of 33 newborns, the infants' brain activity showed more signs of learning after listening to recordings of their native language than of other, similar languages. This doesn't mean that babies are necessarily disadvantaged if they don't have prenatal exposure to speech or if they learn a different language after birth, however. "Newborns can learn languages to which they were not exposed prenatally in the usual, normal way," explains neuroscientist and study co-author Judit Gervain. El País | 6 min read Reference: Science Advances paper

Features & opinion

How to teach AI to find cells Scientists are using deep-learning methods to teach computers to perform a task that humans excel at: picking out specific elements, such as cell nuclei, from the dense, messy background of biological material. Attempts to teach the skill of 'segmentation' started with image-analysis tools trained and optimized for a particular experiment — for example, detecting mouse liver cells labelled with a specific fluorescent dye. Now scientists are working on easy-to-use, universal image-recognition algorithms to spot cellular features across a range of images — even 3D volumes. "Better data, better labels — that's the secret," says systems biologist David Van Valen, who led the development of a popular segmentation tool called DeepCell. Nature | 11 min read

ACCESS NATURE AND 54 OTHER NATURE JOURNALS Nature+ is our most affordable 30-day subscription, giving you online access to a wide range of specialist Nature Portfolio journals, including Nature. Nature+ is for personal use and is suitable for students. Learn more about Nature+ in the Americas, in the UK and internationally.

How climate protests can sway policy "Protesters cannot tell people what to think, but they might be able to influence what people are thinking about," write sociologist Dana Fisher, economist Oscar Berglund and psychologist Colin Davis. Highly visible confrontational tactics are often seen as a nuisance, but it's wrong to assume that this turns people away from the cause, argue the authors. At the same time, publicity does not necessarily translate into greater public concern. "There is reason to think that both large numbers and disruptive actions are necessary components for more direct outcomes from climate protest," the trio suggests. Nature | 11 min read

The complex mathematics of sand drawing Sand drawing, a tradition practised in Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, produces complex figures drawn with a single finger stroke across a grid. The drawings have strict rules that can be described by graph theory, writes ethnomathematician Alban Da Silva. Expert artists have a repertoire of up to 400 designs and breaks are usually taken after what mathematicians call a cycle, a sequence of edges that start and end at the same node. "These results raise questions about the universality of mathematics and the form that math takes in other cultures," says Da Silva. Scientific American | 12 min read (intermittent paywall)

Vanuatu sand drawings are more than art — they are used in rituals as well as in contemplative and communicative contexts. In 2008, UNESCO classified them as intangible cultural heritage of humanity. (Alban Da Silva)

Quote of the day "This material, no more than a teaspoon's worth, will keep us busy for years." Cosmic mineralogist Sara Russell is excited about receiving 100 milligrams of black dust brought back from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. (The Guardian | 3 min read)

Today, I'm bidding farewell to A23a, the truly gigantic iceberg that is on the move again after having been grounded for almost 40 years. A23a will almost certainly drift towards the South Atlantic and eventually melt. Your e-mails keep this newsletter moving forward — please send your feedback to briefing@nature.com. Thanks for reading, Katrina Krämer, associate editor, Nature Briefing With contributions by Flora Graham

Want more? Update your preferences to sign up to our other free Nature Briefing newsletters: Nature Briefing: Anthropocene — climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and geoengineering Nature Briefing: AI & Robotics — 100% written by humans, of course Nature Briefing: Cancer — a weekly newsletter written with cancer researchers in mind Nature Briefing: Translational Research covers biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma Please visit your preferences page to choose which Nature Briefing newsletters to receive (or to unsubscribe).

Join our community

You received this newsletter because you subscribed with the email address: manojdole1.Lens@blogger.com Please add briefing@nature.com to your address book. Enjoying this newsletter? You can use this form to recommend it to a friend or colleague — thank you! Had enough? To unsubscribe from this Briefing, but keep receiving your other Nature Briefing newsletters, please update your subscription preferences. To stop all Nature Briefing emails forever, click here to remove your personal data from our system. Fancy a bit of a read? View our privacy policy. Forwarded by a friend? Get the Briefing straight to your inbox: subscribe for free. Want to master time management, protect your mental health and brush up on your skills? Sign up for our free short e-mail series for working scientists, Back to the lab. Get more from Nature: Register for free on nature.com to sign up for other newsletters specific to your field and email alerts from Nature Research journals. Would you like to read the Briefing in other languages? Sign up for the weekly round-up e-mail in Arabic, curated and translated by the editors of Nature Arabic Edition. هل تود أن تقرأ هذا الموجز باللغة العربية؟ سَجِّل الآن لتصلك نشرة العلوم الموجزة أسبوعيًّا، التي يختار محتواها ويترجمه فريق محرري "نيتشر الطبعة العربية". Follow Nature Portfolio on WeChat for a weekly round-up post in Chinese, curated and translated by our team in China. 关注Nature Portfolio官方微信订阅号，每周二为您推送Nature Briefing精选中文内容——自然每周简报。 Nature | The Springer Nature Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom Nature Research, part of Springer Nature. © 2023 Springer Nature Limited. All rights reserved.