Disney spent three years stuffing a humanoid robot into a Groot suit; An archaeological discovery rewrites 2,400 year-old military history; Two decades worth of forest regeneration covers an area of land larger than France; An interspecies challenge has been issued for a game of Mind Pong; and an argument that modern digital technology is not causing the harms that people fear

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How Disney Imagineering Crammed a Humanoid Robot Into a Groot Suit - Not much to say about this. Soon to be greeting visitors in Disney World, I suppose. In three years of work on Project Kiwi, the Disney roboticists built, "a dynamic untethered humanoid robot that’s an interactive character at the same time." The robot is about 0.75 meters (2 ¹/₂ feet) tall and its motion is supported by 50 degrees of freedom, which is required for lifelike motion. Project lead, Scott Christopher LaValley confirms that they intend to make it available for interaction with guests, but there are safety considerations that remain to be addressed.

Here is the video:

Teeth of fallen soldiers hold evidence that foreigners fought alongside ancient Greeks, challenging millennia of military history - A team of archaeologists recently examined the teeth from men who were buried in mass graves during the 5^th century BC. It is believed that these men may have fought in the Battles of Himera, which were a pair of battles, about 70 years apart, between the Himerans and the Carthaginians. The battles were written about by ancient Greek historians and studied by other historians for two millennia. The ancient writings tell stories of grand alliances, intrigue, and bravery by the Greek cavlalry soldiers. By studying these teeth, the researchers were able to tell that many of the people in the first battle, around 480 BC, were not local to the region. The proportion of Stronium in their teeth suggests that their origins were diverse, ranging throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond. This suggests that previously unknown mercenaries may have participated in the battle. In contrast, participants in the second battle of 409 BC appear to be mostly local Himerans. This is consistent with the historical belief that the Himerans were overpowered in the second battle because they received little aid from allies. The article concludes as follows:
Not only does the discovery of foreign mercenary forces change the history of the first battle of Himera, it also transforms our understanding who had power and privilege in Sicily during the Classical period.

Related: We recently watched the series Ancient Assassins on Discovery Plus. I highly recommend the series.

Forests the size of France regrown since 2000, study suggests - using satellite data, the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) determined that forest regeneration since the year 2000 accounts for an area of land that is larger than the country of France. One of the biggest areas of progress includes Brazil, where a forest the size of the Netherlands has regrown. Other areas of growth include Mongolia, central Africa, and Canada's Boreal forests. Despite these encouraging signs for the environment, the researchers also express their concern that deforestation in other locations may outpace the rate of regeneration. -h/t Daniel Lemire

A paralyzed man is challenging Neuralink’s monkey to a match of mind Pong - Nathan Copeland is a paralyzed man who received a chip implant six years ago that he regularly uses for video games. So, when Elon Musk's company, Neuralink showed off their monkey, Pager's ability to play Pong, Copeland immediately wondered if he could beat the simian. After issuing his challenge, Copeland began training with the Project:Pong application, playing his own first game of Mind Pong in the past week or two. Nothing is certain, but the game may eventually be viewable on Copeland's Twitch profile. Since Copeland's implant is a six year old technology, it is thought that the monkey may actually have the technological edge, so Copeland is uncertain whether he could win the match. On the other hand, it is believed that a human would have an advantage with understanding the geometry of the game. Here is a video of Pager playing Pong with his mind:

The digital world won’t harm you - Citing a new study in Clinical Psychological Science (CPS), science author and editor, Tom Chivers argues that the dangers of social media are overblown, just like a series of other technologies going back as far as silent movies and the early video games. Chivers makes the case that every time a technology turns out to be harmless, the same concerns are raised over and over again about newer technologies, and he summarizes the CPS paper as follows:
The CPS paper tried to look at that. It looked at three technologies: social media, “digital device use” (so video games or other non-work-related use of screens), and TV. Then it looked at the correlation between the use of those technologies and various mental-health outcomes in adolescents: depression, suicidality, and behavioural and emotional problems. And they looked at whether that correlation has changed over time: is an hour of playing video games in 2018 linked to worse conduct problems than an hour in 2010? Or an hour of TV in 2018 and in 1995?

Bluntly, the answer is no.
Chivers also quotes Oxford's Professor Andrew Przybylski, who raises concerns that regulators are currently in the process of restricting access to video games and other technologies, and this can be harmful if it's not based on the best available evidence. -h/t RealClear Science

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