Humans in Europe may have mastered fire long before we previously thought. According to a study published in Scientific Reports, humans made the discovery around 245,000 years ago, up to 50,000 years earlier than scientist thought previously. Researchers studied samples from the Valdocarros II, a huge archaeological site found east of Madrid, Spain. Using chemical analysis, they found certain compounds that show things were burnt by fire in "organised" social events, rather than through accidents or wildfires. "We have found definitive evidence of things being burnt and those remains are organised into a pattern, suggesting it's humans who are making and controlling the fire. Either they were using the fire to cook or to defend themselves. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The spatial patterning in the fire tells us that they were encircling something, like a home or sleeping area, a living room or kitchen, or an enclosure for animals," Dr. Clayton Magill, study author and Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, said in a statement. Dr Magill added that this new work helps to fill in the gaps in our understanding of human-controlled fire and human development. "This is important because our species is defined by our use of fire," Dr Magill explained. "Being able to cook food to feed our big brains is one of the things that made us so successful in an evolutionary sense. Fire also brings protection and fosters communication and family connection. And we now have definitive, incontrovertible evidence that humans were starting and stopping fires in Europe about 50,000 years earlier than we suspected." 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.

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Researchers in China have invented a device that can connect people’s brains to a computer via their inner ear. The SprialE brain-computer interface (BCI), developed by a team from Tsinghua University in Beijing, uses a flexible in-ear material to establish a digital connection to the brain. It follows recent advances into BCI technology, which has seen company’s like Elon Musk’s Neuralink test brain chips capable of reading the minds of pigs and monkeys. Ultimately, the technology could offer “full-bandwidth data streaming” to the brain. Unlike Neuralink’s device, the latest invention does not require surgery or other microneedle-based invasive methods to install, which the scientists claim make it suitable for daily use. Current methods of connecting BCIs via the ear involve support systems like earplugs or 3D printed attachments, however the spiral design means it can be slid in and out without blocking the wearer’s hearing. “The hollowness of SpiralE ensures that all subjects could hear audio stimuli in the outside world in real time,” the researchers noted, adding that its unique structure demonstrates that “natural and discreet wearable electronics can be integrated into real-life applications.” The research was detailed in a study, titled ‘Conformal in-ear bioelectronics for visual and auditory brain-computer interfaces’, was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The technology could allow applications like translating thoughts into text, control digital objects with thought alone, or even augmenting human memory. A 2019 report from the Royal Society said the technology had the potential to “transform medicine and fundamentally change how we interact with technology and each other”, however it warned that BCIs raise critical ethical concerns relating to privacy and human rights. “Neural and brain-computer interfaces may challenge the very essence of what it is to be human,” the report stated. “Working out how, and even if we want to use them requires an open and inclusive debate involving many voices and all sectors of society.” Read More What is superintelligence? How AI could wipe out humanity – and why the boss of ChatGPT is doomsday prepping A mysterious source has been sending radio signals to Earth from space for decades Beats launches updated version of Studio Pro over-ear headphones How Mark Zuckerberg’s new ChatGPT rival could lead to ‘obscene’ AI

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