When archaeologists explored an underwater cavern in southern Mexico in 2014, they were shocked by what they found. The cavern is known as Sac Uayum, and is located in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. It is technically a cenote – a natural pit that comes about after limestone bedrock collapses, exposing groundwater beneath. Local villagers were said to be terrified of the spot, because pits like this were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings. Archaeologist Bradley Russell, from College of St Rose, and a group of divers scaled down roughly 20 metres into the unknown. Inside the pit were two chambers with human bones and skulls scattered across the floors of each. The skulls were elongated, as part of an ancient practice that is thought to have involved flattening people’s heads during infancy. Archaeologists still don’t know why the ancient culture did this – but it ain't pretty. The cenote sits just outside the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Mayapán, and the researchers think this shows that, like the modern day locals, the ancient Mayans kept their distance too. Local legend says that Sac Uayum is guarded by a feathered, horse-headed serpent. Older residents of the nearby village of Telchaquillo tell stories of people seeing the serpent perching in a tree, leaping up, spinning around three times, and diving into the water. Russell explained to National Geographic that the sinkhole is said to be “evil”. “To this day, people do not get drinking water from that cenote, it is generally considered taboo. “It’s off-limits, people do not let their children plan near there and there’s a lot of beliefs around this cenote having evil forces or malevolent forces associated with it. “Cenotes are important because the main access to the water that you get is through these sinkholes. “They are also believed to be access to the Mayan underworld and the homes of Gods. “Mayapan is a large city, it’s incredibly dense, there’s nothing like it in the classic period, it’s incredibly dense for Maya history, there’s nothing quite like it.” He added that the location of Sac Uayum – south of Mayapan – is a clue as to what was going on. In Maya beliefs, south is the direction associated with the underworld. Alternatively, Russell also suggested they could have been plague victims. "You wouldn't want them near the rest of the population. And you wouldn't want to drink the water either.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel 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.

Less than six years after launching in the US, TikTok is now facing a reckoning. After amassing more than 150 million users in the country, lawmakers are now making moves to roll out a complete ban. The biggest ever Chinese tech success in the US is accused of mishandling user data and holding too much influence over Americans, with Montana becoming the first state to sign a bill into law to make it illegal for TikTok to operate there from January 2024. Fears around national security have been countered with questions about censorship, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation describing the prospect of a ban as a “seed of genuine security concern wrapped in a thick layer of censorship”. The US digital liberties group has called on people to “resist a governmental power to ban a popular means of communication and expression”, while the FBI claims Chinese state ties to parent company ByteDance could allow the app to “manipulate content” in order to spread harmful propaganda. The US is not the first major market to consider a total ban of the social media platform, with India issuing a complete TikTok ban in 2020. Other countries and areas, including the EU, have put partial bans in place. Various federal and state TikTok bans are already in place in the US, banning government workers and military personnel from using the app on official devices. This has done little to stem its growth in the US, with TikTok proving to be the most popular app both in America and globally last year with 672 million total downloads. This has helped bring the total number of TikTok users around the world to above 1.5 billion, with only India’s ban nearly three years ago slightly slowing its growth – but only temporarily. Despite the warnings surrounding TikTok, the app is viewed positively by the majority of young users, which may cause the Biden administration to hesitate on ordering an outright ban given younger demographics typically skew towards voting Democrat. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew defended the app and its intentions when he appeared before Congress earlier this year. The former Facebook intern downplayed ties to the Chinese government while trying to convince members of Congress that the app is safe for US users and poses no threat to national security. After Montana signed a TikTok ban into law on 17 May, 2023, a TikTok spokesperson said that the company would “work to defend the rights of our users” in all regions. Read More TikTok gains 50 million users in US as ban looms Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat

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A photo of Elon Musk kissing a female humanoid robot has gone viral, but everything is not as it seems. Billionaire Musk is known for being at the forefront of modern technology, with his ventures including industries such as space travel and electric vehicles. Following new footage that reveals Tesla’s integrated robot Optimus can walk, navigate and pick things up, AI-generated images of Musk kissing female-looking humanoids have gone viral. They emerged alongside a tweet by Twitter user Daniel Marven, in which he claimed the Tesla and Twitter CEO is designing a robot “that has been manufactured specifically designed with artificial intelligence with the personality and the characteristics of the female that he dreams of”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Accompanying the tweet were four AI-generated images of Musk kissing three different “wife” robots and dancing with one other. Unlike the real Tesla robots, the AI-generated ones have distinctive human-like facial features. The images possess some of the current tell-tale signs that an image has been created by AI – for example, the hand on one of the robots possess too many fingers, while the hands on other robots in the images are distorted. Some of the viral images appear to have been created by the same user who was behind the viral image of Pope Francis wearing a puffer jacket, Pablo Xavier. On Instagram, one user joked: “Elon finally found his soulmate(s).” Someone on Twitter said: “iRobot is about to be reality.” While the images are fake, many are impressed with the advancements that Tesla has made with its real robot, Optimus. 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.

A group of Russian-speaking cyber criminals has claimed credit for a sweeping hack that has compromised employee data at the BBC and British Airways and left US and UK cybersecurity officials scrambling to respond.

Elon Musk’s Twitter is set to be evicted from their office in Colorado after the social media platform failed to pay its rent, according to reports. A judge signed an order on 31 May giving law enforcement 49 days to kick Twitter out of the office at 3401 Bluff Street in Boulder, Colorado, reported The Denver Post. The company once had 300 employees at the 65,000sq-ft office, but it is unknown if anyone even still works there after sweeping job cuts made by the billionaire after he bought the company last October. Last year, Twitter fired 87 employees at the Boulder, with another 38 voluntarily resigning, according to a November notice to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Twitter’s landlords filed a complaint for unpaid rent against the company on 12 May, with court papers stating that the platform leased four units in the building in February 2020. The landlord stated that a default notice to Twitter was ignored and they instead used a letter of credit deposited by Twitter as security for the offices to pay $968,000 in rent, the newspaper reported. The landlord then asked Twitter to replenish the security deposit but says that the company ignored the request. The platform was also sued last month by Boulder’s Avalanche Commercial Cleaning for around $93,500 for unpaid bills. A request for comment from The Independent received an auto-reply with a poop emoji from Twitter. Read More Elon Musk to launch biggest ever rocket after dramatic failure Elon Musk eyes ‘highly habitable’ planet that’s ‘practically next door’ Jack Dorsey says Indian government threatened to ‘shut Twitter down’ and raid staff homes Elon Musk is hilariously shut down by his ‘favourite’ podcast Elon Musk appears to side with Republican shamed for criticising Megan Fox’s parenting

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot, according to reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2023--