Exchange-traded fund issuers are once again venturing into crypto territory that regulators had recently steered them away from.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 27, 2023--

A pair of shoes thought to be the oldest ever found in Europe are now estimated to be even older than scientists had previously thought. About 20 pairs of sandals found in southern Spain are at least 6,200 years old, while other woven objects found in the cave date back 9,500 years, according to a new study. The scientists used carbon-dating on 76 objects found in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, Albuñol, near Granada, which were originally discovered by miners in the 19th century. The objects are particularly valuable to science because they represent the first direct evidence of certain hunter-gatherer skills, such as weaving, in southern Europe. They are made of wood, reed and esparto grass. The shoes measured about eight inches in length. The study was published in the journal Science Advances by a team from the Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Francisco Martínez Sevilla, a researcher at the Prehistory Department of UAH, said: “These are the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes. “The new dating of the esparto baskets from the Cueva de los Murciélagos of Albuñol opens a window of opportunity to understanding the last hunter-gatherer societies of the early Holocene. “The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in Southern Europe.” He said the project placed the cave as “a unique site in Europe to study the organic materials of prehistoric populations”. Cueva de los Murciélagos, or “Cave of the Bats,” is located on the coast of Granada, to the south of the Sierra Nevada. The finds are thought to have been so well-preserved because of low humidity levels in the area. Study co-author María Herrero Otal added: “The esparto grass objects from Cueva de los Murciélagos are the oldest and best-preserved set of plant fibre materials in Southern Europe so far known. “The technological diversity and the treatment of the raw material documented demonstrates the ability of prehistoric communities to master this type of craftsmanship, at least since 9,500 years ago, in the Mesolithic period. “Only one type of technique related to hunter-gatherers has been identified, while the typological, technological and treatment range of esparto grass was extended during the Neolithic from 7,200 to 6,200 years before the present.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to open an in-depth probe on Wednesday of Qualcomm’s purchase

Engineers have figured out how to repurpose disused wind turbine blades to serve as bridges capable of supporting up to 30 tonnes of weight. Turbine blades have a lifespan of around 20 to 25 years, meaning hundreds of wind farms set up at the start of the century are now being upgraded. Decommissioned blades are typically sent to landfill or incinerated, with the thousands of non-biodegradable units now posing a major environmental challenge. In an effort to address the issue, five universities and research institutes in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US set up the Re-Wind Network, which has come up with several ways the blades can be recycled. Potential solutions include bus shelters, street furniture and telecommunications towers, however bridges already offer a practical way to repurpose the blades, with two footbridges successfully built in Draperstown and Cork. “With so many of these blades due to reach the end of their lifespan, we need to find ways to transform them into something useful,” said Jennifer McKinley, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment. “I am delighted that by working together we’ve been able to find a way to repurpose wind turbine blades. This can only be a good thing, as without intervention they would end up in landfill or they would have to be incinerated.” A third bridge is set to be built in Atlanta, Georgia, before the research team turn their focus towards increasing the length and size of the bridges. The researchers estimate that there will be around 8.6 million tonnes of scrapped wind turbine blades within the next 20 years, though the glass fibre reinforced polymer material could prove useful for building a huge range of objects, like motorway noise barriers and playground equipment. Three of the engineers from the Re-Wind Network project have also formed a spin-out startup called BladeBridge that will look to commercialise the idea, while also looking for new ways to reuse old turbine blades. “We are partnering with well-known designers here in Ireland to create a portfolio of durable and sustainable products, such as greenway furniture and bridges,” said BladeBridge co-founder Dr Angie Nagle. Read More Fossil fuels ‘becoming obsolete’ as solar panel prices plummet Fossil fuels ‘becoming obsolete’ as solar panel prices plummet Solar panel breakthrough could supercharge ‘miracle material’ production Scientists invent solar panels that work in a snow blizzard

Arista Networks' third-quarter adjusted earnings easily topped estimates, Lattice Semiconductor issues a weak revenue forecast, and Pinterest posts a profit and revenue better than analysts' expectations.

Reddit has announced new exorbitant prices for access to its API, effective July 1, a

Elon Musk has questioned reality after speaking with a man with a voice that sounds “exactly like him”. The tech billionaire took part in a Spaces event on X, the company formerly known as Twitter than he purchased last year. Also taking part in the discussion was Adrian Dittmann, whose voice and laugh sounds remarkably similar to Mr Musk’s. “That was next-level,” Mr Musk posted on X following the encounter. During the eight minute interaction, the X owner frequently questioned whether Mr Dittmann was a real person or an artificial intelligence voice clone. “My mind is literally melting out from my ears right now,” Mr Dittmann said. “This is a fully recursive psy-op, that’s what this is. We are the simulation. I literally put out a tweet saying, ‘hey, we are the matrix, like we make our own things real... I don’t want to break the matrix, I want to reshape it such that it agrees with us’. That’s my mission, personally, I don’t want to break, I want to shape.” Mr Musk responded: “At some point there’s just going to be like 100 AI clones of me that sound exactly the same.” Mr Dittmann pushed back by saying he was not an AI, adding: “This is what I unironically sound like all the time. This is natural me.” Another member of the X Spaces, Borovik.eth, defended Mr Dittmann, posting: “Adrian isn’t really an impersonator. He’s just a guy who sounds exactly like him. I’ve been on a lot of spaces with him over the last few months.” In an effort to prove that he was human, Mr Dittmann made a chomping noise into his microphone. “You can hear my meat flaps,” he said, to which Mr Musk burst out laughing. “I’ve got Elon dying right now, that’s great,” Mr Dittmann said. Another member of the Spaces event said: “I can’t tell if the real one is talking or...” Mr Musk questioned Mr Dittmann about his background, though they did not share much in common. Mr Musk grew up in South Africa before moving to Canada and eventually settling in the United States, whereas his voice doppelganger claimed to have grown up in Gibraltar and Morocco before moving to somewhere in Oceania – he did not reveal where for privacy reasons. Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom Kanye West allowed back on Twitter following his ban over antisemitic conspiracies As Twitter becomes X - Seven disastrous rebrands from Royal Mail to New Coke

Google unveiled new privacy updates this week that lets US users have a wee bit more control over the search results that pop up about themselves online.

A planet with conditions on the surface resembling Earth has been discovered a relatively short distance from us. In fact, it’s just 31 light-years away, which is the space equivalent of 'down the road'. Scientists are always excited when it comes to the discovery of new exoplanets, and this is no different. The planet, named Wolf 1069 b, is the sixth closest exoplanet to Earth has been found and the findings were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It orbits the red dwarf - which is named Wolf 1069. As such, the planet has been given the name Wolf 1069 b. The planet was discovered during a study called CARMENES which is a long-term study based around finding exoplanets. Encouragingly, scientists believe that the planet sits in the habitable zone around its sun where water can exist in liquid form. The study was undertaken by a team led by astronomer Diana Kossakowski of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. Kossakowski said: "When we analyzed the data of the star Wolf 1069, we discovered a clear, low-amplitude signal of what appears to be a planet of roughly Earth mass. "It orbits the star within 15.6 days at a distance equivalent to one-fifteenth of the separation between the Earth and the sun." It comes after a new planet was discovered with a surprisingly fluffy composition - like candy floss. The exoplanet, WASP-193b, was discovered 1,232 light-years away and while it's nearly 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, it's light and fluffy making it as dense as the sweet treat. According to a team led by astronomer Khalid Barkaoui of the University of Liège in Belgium, the planet orbits a Sun-like star named WASP-193. This star is around 1.1 times the mass and 1.2 times the radius of the Sun and is very close to the Sun in temperature and age. The planet orbits the star around once every 6.25 days. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

LEHI, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2023--

By Soo-hyang Choi SEOUL South Korea's interior minister urged on Thursday organisers of a global scout jamboree to