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A smooth, white stone dating from the Roman era and unearthed in the Netherlands has long baffled researchers. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, scientists believe they have cracked the mystery: the stone is an ancient board game and they have even guessed the rules.The circular piece of limestone has diagonal and straight lines cut into it.Using 3D imaging created by the restoration studio Restaura, scientists discovered some lines were deeper than others, suggesting pieces were moved along them, some more than others."We can see wear along the lines on the stone, exactly where you would slide a piece," said Walter Crist, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who specializes in ancient games, in a statement.  "The appearance of the stone combined with this ...

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. (Credit: CC photo via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mammoth_Hot_springs_04.jpg)On Earth, life thrives in some of the most seemingly inhospitable environments.Single-celled organisms like bacteria teem in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, where temperatures reach nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 degrees Celsius). Others dwell deep underground or several miles above Earth’s surface in the stratosphere.For years, scientists in a field called astrobiology have sought out these organisms. They want to know not just how life evolved on Earth, but how it might evolve on other worlds. They investigate moons in our solar system like Europa and Enceladus where vast and salty oceans lie beneath thick layers of...

Big news for “Diablo II” fans: the Blizzard Entertainment game is getting its first major update in 25 years. Titled “Reign of the Warlock,” the DLC will feature actor Rahul Kohli (“The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” “iZombie”) starring as the voice of the titular Warlock. Per Blizzard, “the Warlock is disciplined, ominous, and incredibly knowledgeable, lingering in the shadows for years and studying secrets mortals shouldn’t know.” In addition to debuting in the new update for “Diablo II: Resurrected” (which is the remastered version of the original “Diablo II”), the Warlock class will arrive in the upcoming “Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred” update in April and the mobile title “Diablo Immortal” this summer. These announcements were made by Blizzard Entertainm...

Associate professor of political science earns prestigious Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award | Clemson News Skip to main content Source link

At the end of the day, Sony is in the business of making money, and its efforts to get first-party titles on PC and this Helldivers 2 version for Xbox only strengthen its revenue streams. While hard numbers aren't attached, Helldivers 2 was one of the last year's best-selling Xbox games. The same is happening on PS5, with Forza Horizon 5 selling considerably well after it was ported to PlayStation. In Europe, it sold even better than Ghost of Yotei. It was even Sony's decision to put Helldivers 2 on Xbox, not Arrowhead's: "It was all PlayStation. Send them your thanks. We were all in support of course," said CEO Shams Jorjani. Are you happy to see Helldivers 2 find more success on Xbox? Let us know in the comments below. Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links...

by Lisa Stiffler on Feb 12, 2026 at 7:22 amFebruary 12, 2026 at 7:22 am Pacific Science Center, or PacSci, is selling less than 25% of its campus to Space Needle LLC. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Pacific Science Center, a educational nonprofit centered on innovation and discovery, confirmed it’s selling a wedge of its campus to help keep operations afloat and to start funding the development of a new star attraction. Almost a year ago, GeekWire first reported that the iconic institution faced an uncertain future and was considering a property sale. PacSci leaders said this week that Space Needle LLC will purchase the northeast corner of the site, which encompasses less than 25% of the facility and includes one...

ByABC7.com staff Thursday, February 12, 2026 6:52AMActor Bud Cort, best known for his role in the 1971 film "Harold and Maude," has died. He was 77.Dorian Hannaway, television producer and friend to Cort, confirmed to KABC's George Pennacchio that he died Wednesday in Connecticut after a long illness. Additional details about that illness were not available.Actor Bud Cort at The Paley Center for Media on January 8, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California.Photo by David Livingston/Getty ImagesCort's career surged in 1970 with a small "M*A*S*H" and the title role in "Brewster McCloud" -- before he landed his role in "Harold and Maude" opposite Ruth Gordon. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the film, which the American Film Institute named as one of the funniest films of all time...

By Milan Loiacono  An ecologist, a volcanologist, and a chemist walk into a forest… It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but this very real collaboration between scientists from NASA and the Universidad de Costa Rica (University of Costa Rica) continues decades of cross-disciplinary work that is currently providing insight into the future of the planet.   In summer 2025, a NASA-led team of scientists and engineers gathered in Rincón de la Vieja National Park in Costa Rica. We had a twofold purpose: to test the feasibility of using an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) to gather data about volcanic emissions, and to use those data to better understand how rising levels of carbon dioxide will impact vegetation across the world.  This project is called the Costa Rica Airborne resea...

Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel's cat breeding roguelike Mewgenics came out earlier this week to an overwhelmingly positive reception and plenty of early success. However, one aspect of the game has left folks on the fence - this list of pretty... complicated internet personalities who've voiced the copious amounts of meows emitted by in-game cats. So, to get a better picture of how those cameos came to be, I reached out to developer McMillen. (more…)

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a mad scientist creates a monstrous creature with severed body parts. In certain film adaptations, a dismembered head is tacked onto the malformed body. Then, with the help of a lightning storm, a new life is born.  From the first successful kidney transplant in 1954, modern organ transplantation has often been linked to the horrors of Frankenstein. While people have grown to accept kidney and liver transplants as life-saving surgeries, the notion of a head transplant still invokes Frankenstein-like revulsion in the medical community and beyond. In 2015, Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero came under fire for...