🌐 How This 1000-Year-Old Astrolabe Captured a Moment of Cultural Exchange

Hey there! Welcome to your latest dose of the weird and the ancient, featuring my all-time favourite topics: old navigational tools and delicious snake steaks.

Cross-Cultural Clockwork

While browsing through museum photographs online, historian Federica Gigante of the University of Cambridge unexpectedly discovered an 11th-century astrolabe at the Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo in Verona. 

This ancient navigational tool measures celestial positions and is inscribed with Arabic, Hebrew, and Western numerals. Its markings reveal a history of scientific collaboration among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars in medieval Andalusia, suggesting it once circulated within a Sephardi Jewish community.

I asked Sergey Maslikov, an astronomer who studies astrolabes, to explain why this discovery is so exciting:

“The exterior design of this early astrolabe shows some features characteristic of Syrian astrolabes from the 9th and 10th centuries, currently preserved at the History of Science Museum. Each rete (spider) of these astrolabes contains 17 stars, and the star pointers are remarkably similar. They feature a pedestal with the star’s name inscribed and a pointed tip. While the star pointers of the older astrolabes are uniform, those of the 11th-century astrolabes are more elongated. 

Interestingly, the pointer for Vega, a bright star in the modern constellation Lyra, is crafted in the shape of a bird’s head. Researchers refer to such pointers as zoomorphic. This particular bird represents a “falling eagle” attacking a nearby swan, a recurring motif. A bird resembling a peace dove is meticulously depicted on a 13th-century astrolabe from Isfahan.”

The lesson here? You don’t have to be Indiana Jones to unearth ancient artefacts. Sometimes, all it takes is a careful look through online photos.

Robot-Induced Stress

From ancient astrolabes to modern AI, technology pushes forward, but it can also stir anxiety. A survey of over 6,000 people revealed that increased exposure to AI, surveillance devices, and robotics negatively impacts worker health and well-being, potentially due to heightened job insecurity, increased workload, routine tasks, and reduced autonomy. Conversely, established technologies like laptops, tablets, and instant messaging generally enhance well-being.

Hornet Watch

Speaking of AI, researchers from the University of Exeter have unveiled a system designed to combat invasive Asian hornets. Using advanced algorithms, VespAI swiftly distinguishes between Asian hornets and native European species from images captured at monitoring stations. When an Asian hornet is detected, an instant image alert is sent to users for confirmation. 

With Asian hornets wreaking havoc on honeybee populations and decimating hives by eating up to 50 bees daily, this technology could help save biodiversity and bee populations.

AI and Ale

Meanwhile, Belgian scientists have developed an AI that can predict and improve the taste of beer. By analysing the chemical properties of 250 beers, including factors like alcohol content and flavour compounds, the team built a model that links these properties to taste profiles from expert tasters and over 180,000 beer reviews. 

This AI even suggests adjustments to enhance flavour! The modified beers, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, scored well in blind tastings, making AI’s recommendations a promising tool for brewers to perfect their craft.

Sober Zoomers

Alright, folks, let’s take a moment to get personal. I quit drinking alcohol back in 2013, and honestly, it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made. Turns out I was a bit of a trendsetter, as many from the younger generation are now doing the same.

Recent research indicates a significant shift in attitudes toward alcohol among young people, contrasting with older demographics. For instance, while 90% of Australian teens reported alcohol consumption in 1996, by 2023, this figure had dropped to 64%. 

Despite this trend, movies and TV shows aimed at young audiences haven’t adjusted, continuing to frequently depict alcohol consumption in a neutral or even positive light, as found in a 2019 study. 

Time to pitch a series about a teetotaling group of friends living in an overly expansive flat in New York City!

Python Steakes, Anyone?

Are you feeling hungry? Here’s a tasty treat: large pythons convert food into protein more efficiently than many farmed animals. They can fast for months without significant weight loss, making them a viable option to enhance food security. Python farming, prevalent in Asia, offers versatile meat that could help address protein deficiencies in regions in need.

Climate Change Shifts Peak Blossom Earlier

This graph shows Kyoto’s cherry blossom peak dates since 812 AD, revealing a warming trend with earlier springs since the 1840s.

Scientific One-Liners

• Sixty-five per cent of organisations use AI in hiring, yet only one-third of candidates know this.

• At least 2,500 researchers have left Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

• Solar panels will generate over 5 per cent of electricity at King’s College in Cambridge.

• Researchers found that dogs comprehend specific words, as shown by monitoring their brain activity when exposed to objects like balls, slippers, and leashes.

• While poverty and other factors contributed, remote learning was a key driver of academic declines during the pandemic.

Clean Air in Short Supply

In 2023, only 10 out of 134 countries met the World Health Organization’s standards for particulate matter pollution. These clean-air enclaves, primarily islands along with Australia, Finland, and Estonia, stand out against most nations failing to meet the guidelines. The countries with the worst air quality were mainly in Asia and Africa.

What I’ve Been Reading

• The Renewable Revolution explained the rise of batteries in six charts.

• Jeremy Morris compiled a list of accessible anthropology and sociology books about Russia.

• Sam Matey explored the colourful world of urban parrots: “Brussels is estimated to be home to around 10,000 rose-ringed parakeets as of 2023, possibly the descendants of a few dozen released from a small zoo in the 1970s.”

• In Nature, Davide Castelvecchi covered scientist’s reaction to the death of Peter Higgs.

• In her book Watching the English, Kate Fox asserted that men spend much more time discussing themselves: “Of the total time devoted to conversation about social relationships, men spend two-thirds talking about their own relationships, while women talk about themselves just one-third of the time.”

Thanks for sticking with me till the end! If you enjoyed my newsletter, don’t forget to hit like and share it with some friends. See you next time!

Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present, and future of technology (@metkere).

Illustration: Elia Kabanov feat. MidJourney. Photo: Federica Gigante.