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Remarkable Discovery: Potential World’s Oldest Wooden Structure Unearthed In Africa

(CTN NEWS) – Archaeologists have discovered the oldest wooden structure ever found, dating back almost half a million years. This discovery suggests that our ancestors may have possessed greater advancements than previously believed.
The remarkably well-preserved wooden structure was excavated at Kalambo Falls, located in northern Zambia near the Tanzanian border.
The structure has been determined to be at least 476,000 years old, predating the existence of Homo sapiens. The wood displays clear cut-marks, indicating the use of stone tools to connect two large logs and construct the structure.
It is presumed to have served as a platform, walkway, or elevated dwelling, designed to keep our ancestors above water. This significant finding was documented in the journal Nature.
Ancient Wooden Tools: Insights into Early Human Wood Usage
At the site, a variety of wooden tools, such as a wedge and a digging stick, were discovered. During this time, the ancestors of humans were already utilizing wood, although its use was primarily limited to activities like fire-starting and hunting.
The Kalambo Falls, located in northern Zambia near the Tanzania border, revealed an exceptionally well-preserved wooden structure. According to a study published in the journal Nature, it dates back at least 476,000 years, predating the emergence of Homo sapiens.
The wood exhibits cut-marks, indicating the use of stone tools to join two large logs, creating a structure believed to have served as a platform, walkway, or raised dwelling to keep our ancestors above water.
Larry Barham, the lead author of the study and an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool in the UK, stated that, as far as he knows, the previous holder of the record for the oldest wooden structure dated back approximately 9,000 years.
Barham described the discovery of this structure as an unexpected find during excavation work in 2019 at a site situated on the banks of the Kalambo River, just above a 770-foot waterfall.
Unearthing ancient wood remains is uncommon due to its tendency to decay, leaving minimal evidence for historical documentation. Nonetheless, the structure at Kalambo Falls is believed to have been preserved over the centuries as a result of the high water level.
While previous excavations at the Kalambo site in the 1950s and 1960s uncovered some wood, it was not possible to accurately determine its age.
Revealing Ancient Ingenuity: A Remarkable Discovery through Luminescence Dating
In a groundbreaking archaeological find, researchers have employed an innovative dating technique known as luminescence dating to unveil the age of a remarkable wooden structure.
This revelation has reshaped our understanding of ancient human history, pushing back the timeline significantly.
A Surprising Antiquity: Dating the Structure to 476,000 Years Ago
Utilizing luminescence dating, the researchers have determined that the age of the discovered wooden structure dates back an astonishing 476,000 years. This discovery challenges previously held notions about the capabilities of ancient societies.
Tracing Ancestral Footprints: Homo Heidelbergensis and Homo Sapiens
While the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens places their existence around 300,000 years ago, fossils of their predecessors, Homo heidelbergensis, believed to have lived between 700,000 to 200,000 years ago, have been found in the same region.
Barham, one of the study’s researchers, highlights this crucial contextual information.
A Paradigm Shift: Rethinking Ancient Human Innovation
The unearthing of this wooden structure has fundamentally transformed our perception of these ancient people. Barham expressed his perspective, noting how it has altered his understanding.
These ancient individuals demonstrated a remarkable ability to manipulate their environment for improved daily life, as exemplified by the construction of a riverside platform for their daily tasks.
Harnessing Intelligence and Craftsmanship: Creating the Unprecedented
Barham further emphasized that these ancient people harnessed their intelligence, imagination, and craftsmanship to create something entirely new and previously unseen.
This discovery underscores the ingenuity and adaptability of early human societies, challenging conventional wisdom about their capabilities.
The application of luminescence dating in this study has not only provided a precise timeline for the wooden structure but has also opened new avenues for exploring the depths of our ancient past and the remarkable achievements of our ancestors.
Ancient Structure Challenge Nomadic Ancestry Theory
This implies a level of abstract thinking and, in all likelihood, the development of language,” he added.
Sophie Archambault de Beaune, an archaeologist at Lyon 3 University in France not connected to the study, noted that the structure “presumes cognitive abilities such as planning and the capacity to envision the finished product.”
She acknowledged that similar capabilities had been inferred from the study of cut stone tools.
Furthermore, the study’s authors suggest that this discovery challenges the notion that our early ancestors were nomadic, as the structure appears to be a permanent dwelling near the waterfalls, which offered a consistent source of water.
However, Archambault de Beaune cautioned that this hypothesis has yet to be definitively confirmed, as the structure could have been installed for a particular season rather than as a permanent settlement.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

Pixa Bay
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Washington — Trump Media, The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.
The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.
The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.
The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.
Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.
Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.
The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.
The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.
SOURCE | AP
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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