Museum of Science

The history of games is obscured by our inability to recognise indicators of play in the archaeological record. Lines incised on a piece of rounded limestone found at the Roman site of Coriovallum in Heerlen, The Netherlands, evoke a board game yet do not reflect the grid of any game known today. Here, the results of use-wear analysis are used to inform artificial intelligence-driven simulations based on permutations of rules from historic Northern European games. Disproportionate wear along specific lines favours the rules of blocking games, potentially extending the time depth and regional use of this game type.

Stone anthropomorphic figurines are a rare type of find in the Late Neolithic sites of the Vinča culture. One marble sample from the Late Neolithic settlement of Motel Slatina, in the Middle Morava Valley, has attracted our attention. It is similar to clay figurines, and we believe that this object reflected deep social meaning. To examine our point of view, we decided to assess the socio-economic background of the community of Motel Slatina. The research was conducted in two steps. The first step examined the character of the economy of Motel Slatina through socio-economic differences, based on a study of 601 macrolithic objects from settlements of Motel Slatina and Turska česma–Slatina, as they formed a particular economic region within the Late Neolithic Vinča culture. 1 The second step involved the research of the association between stone artefacts, organised production with nine above-ground structures, and their context. The study resulted in new data on the social structure, cycle of social reproduction, inequality, and social conflicts among inhabitants of Motel Slatina.

An extract from the spoken-word performance Tidalectic Encounters , this performance considers the parallels, contradictions and differences between the re-presentation of African diaspora male bodies in England and across the continents, from Jamaica to Johannesburg, Harlem to Hackney. The title of the performance references Kamau Brathwaite’s ‘tidalectics’ concept (1974), where the wave is used as a metaphor to describe the continual forward, back and forward again cyclical motion of people and their mutating creolized cultures. This extract presents Tex’s Story – a section of an oral history reflection. Tex and I first met at the Sharpe End community centre in Hackney, London, almost twenty years ago. It was an extremely blustery, January afternoon, according to my notes. He was not happy about being seen in his tracksuit; he had planned to go home and change before our appointment, but the wind and rain in London that day were such that this had not been possible. Tex came to England from the Caribbean in 1944 at the age of 15, without his mother’s knowledge, having ‘borrowed’ his father’s ‘name’ in order to travel alone, though underage.

Although angiosperms occurred earlier, their radiation did not occur until the Middle Cretaceous. Owing to a lack of knowledge of early angiosperms, this radiation used to be mistaken for the origin of angiosperms and became Darwin’s “abominable mystery”. Palaeobotanical progresses in recent decades have released more information on early angiosperms, especially their Middle Cretaceous radiation. The fossil angiosperms from Myanmar amber shed unique light on the evolution and diversity of angiosperms due to their exquisite preservation. To enhance our understanding of this fossil lägerstatte, here we report a new fossil angiosperm named Spinograna myanmarensis gen. et sp. nov. from Myanmar amber. The fossil is a fruit bearing spiny seeds. Its seeds are unique in morphology: they are discoid in form, with marginal furcated spines. This unique morphology represents an extremity in seeds: it is the spiniest seed in plant history, implying that they were dispersed by animals, a fact that remains unknown hitherto. The discovery of Spinograna indicates that the ecosystem in the Middle Cretaceous is much more complicated than previously thought, and some of the ecological ties between plants and animals that existed then have gone out forever.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-025-07654-9.

Abstract. This study examines the microbial and geochemical environment surrounding mirabilite (sodium sulfate decahydrate) deposits in Izvorul Tăușoarelor Cave, located in the Romanian Carpathians. Using a metabarcoding approach, we analysed mirabilite, sediments, dipluran insects, drip water, and moonmilk deposits to investigate the microbial communities and elemental profiles linked to mirabilite formation. Elemental analysis revealed a geochemical signature in mirabilite samples that was dominated by sodium, sulfur, and calcium. Microbial profiling revealed a unique pattern: sulfur-reducing bacteria, such as Desulfobacterota, were absent in mirabilite samples, whereas Pseudomonas dominated, suggesting an alternative sulfur cycling pathway that potentially involves sulfide biooxidation. The presence of ammonia-oxidising archaea (Ca. Nitrocosmicus) exclusively in the mirabilite area, and of bacteria (Nitrococcus), indicates a possible influence from a small bat colony, which contributes minimal ammonia that may support the microbial equilibrium required for mirabilite growth. Actinomycetota, abundant in mirabilite, may facilitate mineral crystallisation through mycelium-like structures. We propose the term “microbiocosm” to describe the interconnected network of biotic and abiotic elements surrounding the mirabilite environment, proposing a novel framework for investigating microbial contributions to this mineral formation.