As prices soar, Japan returns to human waste fertilizer

It's cheap, recycled, and has centuries of tradition: "shimogoe" or "fertilizer from a person's bottom" is finding new favor in Japan as Ukraine's war hikes the price of chemical alternatives.

Chinese writing: From complexity to greater complexity

The world's major writing systems have tended to simplify over time, with a notable exception: New research shows that the Chinese writing system has become increasingly complex over the course of its 3000-year history.

Emoji reveal whiteness as driver of technology

Even though they may seem benign ways to communicate emotions in text conversations, emoji reveal technology is shaped by cultural ideologies about race, according to research from the University of Alabama.

Crowdsourcing plot lines to help the creative process

Creative authors could soon have a new option to help overcome writer's block, thanks to a system launched by researchers in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State.

Oldest axial fossils discovered for the genus Australopithecus

Scientists have published an article describing the oldest axial fossils yet discovered for the genus Australopithecus. Dated 4.2 million years ago, these and other fossils recovered from the Assa Issie site in the Middle ...

OCR4all: Modern tool for old texts

Historians and other humanities' scholars often have to deal with difficult research objects: centuries-old printed works that are difficult to decipher and often in an unsatisfactory state of conservation. Many of these ...

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