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(credit: University of Hawaii)

By the time European explorers reached the islands scattered across the vast distances of the Pacific Ocean, most of the voyaging done by the Polynesians was among local island groups. But the locals seemed to know of places well beyond their shores, which suggested their ancestors not only colonized far-flung islands, but returned to share knowledge of them. Eventually, it became clear that trade had distributed goods among Polynesian communities that later became isolated.

In recent years, modern techniques have revealed the staggering geographic extent of this trade, which included a visit to South America for some takeout sweet potatoes, which were later grown on islands throughout the Pacific. But the temporal extent of the trade remained the subject of debate, with some arguing for a brief burst off exchange, and others suggesting extended trade networks persisted for a while. Now, a paper published in PNAS uses another modern form of analysis argues for at least four centuries of trade.

The work relies on a site in the Cook Islands, which provided a rare archeological resource: an extended series of deposits that contained enough material that researchers could carbon date various layers. Also included were some traditional Polynesian stone adzes, tools made from a specific type of volcanic rock. The researchers behind the new paper obtained small samples from these tools, and used them in another type of modern analysis called mass spectroscopy.

(credit: Kim Dotcom)

Kim Dotcom, the flamboyant Web baron, is planning to relaunch his once popular Megaupload file-sharing website in 2017—five years to the day after the US government shut it down amid accusations of piracy.

In a series of tweets posted over the weekend, Dotcom hinted that the new Megaupload would involve Bitcoin, while he also promised "big announcements" would be coming regarding partners for the site. Previous users of the site will apparently have their accounts reinstated with premium privileges.

I can tell you that Megaupload and Bitcoin had sex. There is a pregnancy and I have a feeling that the baby will be such a joy.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 10, 2016

At its peak, the site had more than 150 million registered users, and more than 50 million daily visitors. However, the FBI shut down the Megaupload servers in 2012 working in concert with the New Zealand authorities, who raided Dotcom's Auckland mansion and seized his assets.

Morning! Playing #PokemonGO? Don't catch & drive! Wait, park & then #Pokemon Go. #GottaCatchEmAll but safely! #LESM pic.twitter.com/cVCBKf1zd9

— SarasotaPD (@sarasotapd) July 11, 2016

Law enforcement agencies around the globe are reminding citizens to obey trespassing laws and follow common sense when playing Pokémon Go.

The new crazy-popular mobile game has lead to some frightening results in recent days, such as the location of a dead body and robberies of players in Missouri.

On Monday, San Francisco Police Department Captain Raj Vaswani warned in one online posting for players to “obey traffic laws, please.”