Month: November 2018

Enlarge / It probably belongs in a museum anyway, right? (credit: Paramount Pictures)

Today we’re presenting the second installment of my interview with Sarah Parcak, a prominent founding figure in the emerging field of astroarchaeology. Part one ran yesterday (and if you missed it, click right here). Otherwise, you can press play on the embedded audio player or pull up the transcript—both of which are below.

Today, we start off discussing a program Sarah hosted for the BBC. The network provided her with enough satellite imagery and other resources to enable the discovery of 3,100 potential new archaeological sites. This took her and a handful of students a bit over six months. Imagine if they had been using shovels and magnifying glasses instead of satellites!

Sarah’s team may just have pinpointed a long-lost (and eagerly sought) pharaonic capital. Satellite data helped them establish the Nile’s approximate course during the capital’s heyday—as well as the locations of settlement-friendly highlands. They then took a 10-centimeter-wide core sample in the most promising area. Four meters down, they found a dense layer of high-end pottery, as well as a semi-precious stone. So this quadrant of the vast and largely uninhabitable flood plain not only once hosted a settlement but one with a large elite population. Though not definitive proof, this is highly suggestive that an ancient capital indeed once stood there.

Enlarge / The enemy within: Smash Bros. Ultimate's single-player mode will force you to defeat an evil that has invaded all of your favorite series characters. (credit: Nintendo)

A 40-minute Nintendo Direct presentation has wrapped a bow on December's massive Switch game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, by revealing more characters, plans for DLC through 2020, and long-awaited details on the game's local and online modes.

We should get the bad news out of the way first—Nintendo only had two truly new characters to unveil on Thursday. Incineroar, from Pokemon's Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games, arrives as a melee-focused "luchador" type of fighter. His quick moves and heavy grapples look like an interesting alternative to the likes of classic melee character Captain Falcon.

This creature is joined by the Street Fighter series' Ken, who will appear as an "echo" combatant alongside Street Fighter's Ryu—meaning, they share nearly identical move sets but have slight differences in speed, power, and animations.

Enlarge / Elon Musk in Adelaide, Australia in 2017. (credit: Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Elon Musk took to Twitter late on Wednesday night to tout Tesla's forthcoming "advanced summon" feature, which he says is due out in about six weeks.

"Car will drive to your phone location & follow you like a pet if you hold down summon button on Tesla app," Musk tweeted.

In another tweet, Musk said that "you’ll be able to drive it from your phone remotely like a big RC car"—though only if the car is within the line of sight.