Menéndez, L.P., Veigl, S., It Takes Two to Tango: A Pluralist Account for Building Comprehensive Explanations in Human Evolution. American Anthropologist read more
By Sonja Windhager Our article, “Associations of Facial Shape With Physical Strength and 2D:4D in a Turkish Male and Female Sample,” published in the American Journal of Human Biology, was recognized by Wiley as one of the journal’s top 10% most-viewed papers published in 2024. The study examines links between facial shape, physical strength, and prenatal testosterone exposure (via 2D:4D). Using geometric morphometric morphs, we visualized facial shape changes associated with handgrip strength, 2D:4D, and sexual dimorphism, allowing these trait-related patterns to be compared directly and intuitively. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/associations-of-facial-shape-with-physical-strength-and-2d4d-in-a-turkish-male-and-female-sample/
Grunstra, N.D.S., Humans are not unique: difficult birth is common in placental mammals. Biological Reviews read more
By Nicole Grunstra Human childbirth is widely believed to be uniquely difficult and risky in the animal kingdom. The dominant evolutionary explanation attributes this to the combination two human-defining traits: bipedalism (small pelvis!) and large brains (big-headed babies!). But a new comparative analysis of birth complications and birth-related mortality among mammals challenges this assumption. Quantitative and qualitative data on actual births and their outcomes in domesticated, captive and wild mammals show considerable overlap with humans in terms of complication frequencies, types of complications, and female mortality. Obstructed labor due to a baby that is too large to fit through the birth canal is well known in humans, but also in domesticated cows and sheep, captive elephants and primates, and has also been observed in sea lions, deer and other ungulates in the wild. This demonstrates that humans do not have exceptionally difficult childbirth as long thought. It also shows that birth difficulties occur in a wide range of placental mammals irrespective of absolute and relative brain size, mode of locomotion, and indeed, the presence of a bony pelvis. Whales and dolphins lack a bony birth canal but still suffer from obstructed labor. Such a mismatch between fetus and maternal pelvis is more common in precocial species delivering relatively large and well-developed offspring than in altricial species, which have smaller and…
By Magdalena Blanz Ellen Green, osteoarchaeologist at the AOC Archaeology Group in Reading is giving a talk titled “Death is only the beginning: Romano-British ritual practices in Surrey, England” Tuesday, 9 June 2026, 18:30 at the ÖAI, Meeting Room on 3rd floor, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna. The lecture is organised by the Bioarchaeological Society (BAG) and will be held in English in hybrid format in collaboration with the ÖAI. https://bag.or.at/event/death-is-only-the-beginning/ Abstract: Shortly after the Roman conquest of Britain, a small roadside settlement in Ewell, Surrey developed into a ritual center. Large shafts were cut into the chalk and backfilled with a variety of artifacts and ecofacts. One shaft however stood out, with an assemblage c. 11, 000 bones from 300 humans and animals, all deposited within a 50 year span. The sheer scale of deposition in unique in Britain, and offers a detailed look into ritual practices in the period, including a case of possible human sacrifice. This paper will seek to cover not only why this impressive sequence of depositions may have been made, but also how. By using stratigraphic, taphonomic and osteological analysis, the ritual processes can be reconstructed, revealing a complex set of actions that highlight the fusion of Iron Age British and Roman practices in the immediate post conquest practice. Additionally by using the same recording…
Edeltin, L., Niespolo, E., Kracht, O.M., Alon, S., Amos, L., Friesem, D.E., Goder-Goldberger, M., Grono, E., Lavi, R., Porat, N., Schechter, H.C., Tejero, J.-M., Ujma, C., Wieler, N., Marder, O., 2026. Dawn of the Initial and Early Upper Paleolithic blade industries in the Levant: Mobility and interactions as reflected from Shualim Rockshelter, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 215-216, 103846. read more
Kirchengast, N.I., Kunst, G.K., 2026. Bones of contention: A reformative approach to deposits of cattle long bone splinters from Roman period sites. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 72, 105778. read more
By Thomas Beard What is the ESRF?: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is a circular particle accelerator that is capable of a varied range of radiation-based analyses, which in the ESRF’s own words makes it a “giant microscope”. A famous example of a synchrotron-like particle accelerator is that of the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. The ESRF works on the same principles as CERN but it is only speeding up the particles not trying to collide them. All synchrotrons use electromagnetic fields to propel ions to very high speeds with recent renovations at the ESRF giving it the brightest beam of any synchrotron facility in the world. Researchers based at a university in a country contributing to the ESRF project can use the facility for free, if their grant proposal is successful. If you are interested, I would suggest checking out the ESRF’s website, which has a lot of useful information and you can even see if your research would be possible at the facility. Who and Why?: One of the main aims of the MicroStratDNA group is to understand how ancient DNA (aDNA) preserves in archaeological cave sediments. Within current literature there are many theories about what the source of the aDNA could be including; bones, faecal matter or even DNA bound to minerals found…
By Dr Emese Végh As a postdoc at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, I usually spend my days in relatively quiet labs or in front of the computer trying to decipher questions in human evolution and archaeological science. But last Friday, I traded my lab coat for a microphone (or rather a voice recorder on my phone) and headed out into the vibrant chaos of the Lange Nacht der Forschung (Long Night of Research) in Vienna. There were many stations representing researchers and themes from HEAS, and I wanted to see what type of outreach and attention they get. From the modern halls of the University Biology Building (UBB), to the historic buildings of the Academy of Sciences and the University Main Building, I caught up with colleagues who were busy translating complex science into hands-on puzzles, and explanations for thousands of curious visitors. My first stop was visiting Dr Nicole Grunstra’s station at the UBB. Her research tackles a classic ‘human’ problem: why is birth so difficult for us? The traditional view is that humans are uniquely cursed with difficult births because of our big brains and narrow pelvises. But Nicole’s station, complete with 3D-printed pelvises and tiny animal skulls, tells a different story. Many precocial species (i.e., animals whose young stand up shortly after birth, like cows,…
The project LEGION – machine LEarninG-enabled Identification of archaeological Objects in the middle daNube river basin, led by HEAS member Dominik Hagmann as a researcher at the OeAI/OeAW in collaboration with colleagues from the TU Wien Computer Vision Lab, has been recently approved within the Heritage Science Austria 2.0 programme. The project integrates machine learning and archaeological expertise to establish a unified, AI-supported typochronology for Roman common ware from the ancient metropolis of Carnuntum (Austria). Based on a corpus of c. 70,000 digitized profile drawings, LEGION develops a scalable and reproducible framework for the classification, dating, and interpretation of archaeological mass finds, combining eXplainable AI (XAI) and human-in-the-loop (HITL) approaches. By linking morphological and contextual data, the project generates new insights into production, distribution, and settlement dynamics along the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Danube Limes,” while providing an open, FAIR- and CARE-compliant digital research infrastructure for future applications in Heritage Science. Funding ÖAW – Heritage Science Austria 2.0 (Heritage_2024-12_LEGION): https://www.oeaw.ac.at/foerderungen/foerderprogramme/heritage-science-austria Project webpage: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/research/historical-archaeology/archaeology-of-the-roman-provinces-in-the-latin-west/legion
Kirchengast, S., Bühler, B., Hagmann, D., 2026. Sexual Dimorphism in the Association Between Status Symbols and Body Height in the Early Medieval Avar Population from the Csokorgasse Burial Ground (Vienna, Austria). Nature & Anthropology2026, 4, 10004 read more
Menéndez, L.P., Luisi, P., López-Sosa, M.C., Da Silva, S.M., Buck, L.T., Kuzminsky, S.C., Sánchez, M.Q., Le Maître, A., Chappard, C., Rios, C., 2026. µCT scanning effects on aDNA and a multi-step workflow for archaeological petrous portions. PLoS One 21, e0334682. read more
Akbari, A., Perry, A., Barton, A.R., Kariminejad, M., Gazal, S., Li, Z., Zeng, Y., Mittnik, A., Patterson, N., Mah, M., Zhou, X., Price, A.L., Lander, E.S., Pinhasi, R., Rohland, N., Mallick, S., Reich, D., 2026. Ancient DNA reveals pervasive directional selection across West Eurasia. Nature. read more
HEAS Network Associate José-Miguel Tejero is the Principal Investigator of the Spanish Consolidator Research Grant PHUMA (First Human Population of the Peruvian Andean Plateau), developed under the scientific co-direction of Leslye Valenzuela (French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS, and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, PUCP). The project brings together several HEAS members, including Pere Gelabert, Olivia Cheronet, Tom Higham, Katerina Douka, and Mareike C. Stahlschmidt, alongside researchers from partner institutions: Xavier Mangado, Julien Le Guirriec, and Santiago Riera (University of Barcelona), Dagmara Socha (University of Warsaw), Ximena Suárez (University of São Paulo), Alessandra Caballero and Gerardo Vega Toscano (PUCP, Peru), Nick Taylor (Stony Brook University), and Lola Larssonneur (Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University). PHUMA is a pioneering project combining archaeological and biomolecular approaches, including ancient DNA (aDNA), sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), and paleoproteomics, to investigate the cultural and biological adaptations of the first human populations to settle permanently on the Peruvian Andean Plateau at altitudes exceeding 3,500 metres above sea level. The project addresses the formidable environmental pressures these populations faced, including hypoxia, extreme cold, intense solar radiation, and scarce food resources, during the transition between the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene. PHUMA will generate extensive genomic and archaeological datasets from some of the oldest known Pleistocene sites in the region, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding…
HEAS Team Leaders Pere Gelabert and Benjamin Vernot were recently interviewed for Nature Magazine for their work in sediment DNA. The two researchers are pushing the boundaries of what we can learn from ancient dirt. Benjamin Vernot built a 1.6‑million‑probe capture panel to enrich for nuclear DNA in sediments - targeting Neanderthals, Denisovans, early modern humans, and even unknown archaic lineages. Such sediments typically contain very small amounts of human DNA, and lots of DNA from other species, and so Vernot also devised new computational methods to handle these challenges. He has applied these methods to sediments at caves like Galería de las Estatuas, where Neandertals lived for nearly 50,000 years. In this work, Vernot identified two distinct Neanderthal populationsm, with one replacing the other about 100,000 years ago. On the other side, Pere Gelabert showed you can brute‑force nuclear DNA from cave dirt with shotgun sequencing, and analyzed human, bison and wolf DNA from a single 25,000 year old sediment sample from Satsurblia cave. As Gelabert puts it, without sediment DNA, many of these human‑history clues would be impossible to uncover. Read Full Article
Within the Initiative Future Archaeology, the Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI–OeAW) is pleased to announce the workshop "The Long History of Inequality: Resources, Control, and Social Power", to be held in Vienna on 7–8 May. The event brings together international scholars to explore how access to resources—its extraction, circulation, and control—has shaped social and economic inequalities from the Neolithic to the present. Organisers: Pamela Fragnoli, Michael Brandl, and Mario Gavranović. Invitation_WORKSHOP-The Long History of Inequality_Zukunftarchäologie_Fragnoli-Jung-Brandl-Gavranovic_7-8 May 2026 Program_WORKSHOP-The Long History of Inequality_Zukunftarchäologie_Fragnoli-Jung-Brandl-Gavranovic_7-8 May 2026
Blanz, M., Balasse, M., Mainland, I., 2026. Tracing Seaweed as Food and Fodder in Archaeology: A Review of Current Methods. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 1-29. read more
Congratulations to PhD Emily Pigott, who defended her doctoral thesis on Monday 30th March. Emily published two papers during her PhD research and has two more in review/submission. Her main paper was in PNAS and was about a small Neanderthal bone that she found using ZooMS from a site in the Crimea called Starosele. Her other paper was in the Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology. She worked incredibly hard to finish in just under 3 years. An hour after the defence she found that she had been successful in her application for a 2 year post doc position working in Tubingen, Germany on Palaeolithic sites in Armenia. Congrats Dr Emily Pigott from everyone in HEAS!
Miko, S., Doneus, N., Brunović, D., Hasan, O., Doneus, M., Kinnaird, T., Hus, P., Šegović, F., Ilijanić, N., Miko, M.Š., 2025. Dip Your Finger in the Sea... Geoarchaeological View on Coastal Setting and Maritime Accessibility of the Coastal Town of Osor, Northern Adriatic. Studia universitatis hereditati 13, 13-40. read more
We are delighted to announce the results of the HEAS Seed Grants February 2026 round. The following projects by HEAS members will be funded: Applicant Project Amount Granted Mario Gavranović, Olivia Cheronet, Gábor Sánta Ágnes Somogyvári Genetic and Isotope Tests of a Tumulus Culture Population in Southern Hungary: Newcomers or Locals? 4400 Doralice Klainscek, Pamela Fragnoli ,Johannes H. Sterba Looking at the Ground Raw Material Suitability in the Desert Landscape of NW Arabia 4920 Mareike Stahlschmidt, Laura van der Sluis, Peter Steier, Lyndelle Webster Radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal preserved in resin impregnated sediment blocks 5000 Carla Gómez-Montes and Timothy Canessa Clarifying the Nature of Human-Animal Occupations in Chufín Cave with Chronological and Paleoproteomic Data 5000 https://www.heas.at/research/seed-grants/
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Alejandra Sánchez-Polo has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA). Starting in early 2027, she will carry out her project under the joint supervision of two HEAS team leaders, Pamela Fragnoli (OEAI–OEAW) and Mareike Stahlschmidt (Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna). Her project, “Architectures of Earth during the Transition to the Iron Age in Iberia (2nd–1st Millennium BC): Technologies, Traditions and Knowledge Transmission” (IBEARTH), investigates how earthen architecture—particularly mudbrick construction—both shaped and reflected social transformations between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (c. 1200–400 BC) in inland Iberia. Adopting an integrated approach that combines petrographic, micromorphological, microbotanical, and biomolecular analyses with ethnographic perspectives, the project examines the transmission of construction knowledge, the organisation of labour, and the social meanings embedded in building practices. In doing so, it offers new insights into often-overlooked dimensions of past societies, including gender roles and the diversity of labour contributions.
The Early Upper Palaeolithic of Iberia remains an actively debated record of human occupation, yet quantitative approaches to lithic assemblage variability are still lacking, especially among large-scale datasets that span the entire period and region. In this study, we utilised a newly compiled dataset of Aurignacian assemblages to explore techno-typological variability and test its spatial and temporal dimensions. Our work has been able to show that variability has a spatial – rather than temporal – character to the effect that assemblage dissimilarities increase with spatial distance. Our findings thus challenge the application of the classic Aquitaine model of techno-typological change and suggest that temporal change in the Aurignacian may be more unstructured than otherwise deemed. This has wider implications for the detection and characterisation of the technocomplex at large, corroborating previous claims of mosaicism and an inconsistent representation of diagnostic traits. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/unpacking-lithic-assemblage-variability-in-the-early-upper-palaeolithic-a-multivariate-approach-to-the-structure-of-the-iberian-aurignacian/
Canessa, T., de la Peña, P., 2026. Unpacking lithic assemblage variability in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A multivariate approach to the structure of the Iberian Aurignacian. PLOS ONE 21, e0345202. read more
HEAS member Michaela Schauer has received FWF funding for the open-access publication Methodological Innovations in pXRF Studies. Supported through the FWF programme Buchpublikation with 14,000 euros, the volume grows out of the 2024 Vienna conference on portable X-ray fluorescence "Methodological Innovations in pXRF Studies" and brings together international research on methodological standards, data quality, and reproducibility in pXRF studies. The publication is the result of collaboration between the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, the CNRS International Research Network pXRF Ceramic Users Network, and additional partners including the Natural History Museum Vienna and the Institute for Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology at the University of Vienna. It will be published in the Études Alexandrines series by the Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) and is intended as a practical reference work for researchers, students, and professionals in archaeological and heritage science. Link to funding
Doneus, N., Fera, M., Doneus, M., Branković, D., Benvin, V., 2025. Up and down the hill: Hillforts and dry stone wall enclosures on the Kvarner Islands of Cres and Lošinj in remote sensing data. Studia universitatis hereditati. read more
Stahlschmidt, M.C., Power, R.C., Heinrich, S., Poggenpoel, C., Parkington, J., 2025. A microcontextual investigation of Later Stone Age ash deposits and associated interment of human remains at Faraoskop Rock Shelter, South Africa. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 17, 23. read more
Krenn-Leeb, A., Grömer, K., Schuh, U., 2025. 35 Jahre “Archäologie Österreichs”. Ein Rück-und Ausblick auf die Wissensvermittlung durch Printmedien der ÖGUF. Archaologie Osterreichs 36, 4-13. read more
We are proud to announce that our HEAS member Dr. Elmira Mohandesan and her postDoc (Siavash Salek Ardestani) have published a new open-access paper in BMC Genomics introducing GENOVIS, a user-friendly Python tool for population genomics visualization.GENOVIS integrates six key analysis modules into one flexible framework, available via both command-line and graphical interfaces.Developed at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the University of Vienna, it enables fast, reproducible, publication-ready figures for researchers worldwide. https://www.heas.at/research/publications/genovis-a-python-package-for-the-visualization-of-population-genetic-analyses/
Salek Ardestani, S., Mohandesan, E., 2026. GENOVIS: a Python package for the visualization of population genetic analyses. BMC Genomics 27, 190. read more
Higham, C., Higham, T., 2026. Dealing With Inbuilt Age: A Bayesian Approach to Radiocarbon Dating of Rice, Bamboo and Charcoal From Non Ban Jak, Thailand. Archaeometry. read more
Schmid, V.C., Sifogeorgaki, I., Abruzzese, T., Blik, S., Huang, L., Dusseldorp, G.L., 2026. Wind(ow) of change: The end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at Umhlatuzana rockshelter showcasing concurrent technological and techno-economic shifts. Quaternary Science Reviews 377, 109806. read more
On the 12th December 2025 the 2nd Annual HEAS Gräzlfest: The Annual Meeting took place at the HEAS Partner Institute the Natural History Museum, Vienna. The focus for this year was on the early career researchers within the network and on HEAS Seed Grant recipients. Overall we had ten tables showcasing some of the research being conducted within HEAS. Kayleigh Saunderson Archaeological textiles Manasij Pal Chowdhury and Emese Végh Paleoproteomics Analysis and FWF grant 'HUMEVCOL’ Ginevra Di Bernardo, Petra Šimková and Emily Rajchl Virtual Anthropology and Morphology Stefan Krojer and Immo Trinks High-resolution underwater archaeological photogrammetric 3D documentation of the entire UNESCO World Heritage site Station See, Lake Mondse Maximilian Piniel and Valentina Laaha From Pasturing to Dining - Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Alps Arne Bielke and Meriam Guellil Ancient Pathogen Genomics and Horses Laura van der Sluis and Maddalena Gianni radiocarbon group/lab Thomas Beard and Larissa Bartsch Microarchaeology station Susanna Sawyer and Olivia Cheronet Non-destructive aDNA methods Michaela Schauer and Tabea Truntschnig ESPRIT Project During the afternoon we also had a photo competition, a stamp card with science questions and refreshments. [gallery ids="5575,5574,5572,5570,5568,5579,5580,5581,5582"]
HEAS Member Michelle Hämmerle, a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, won the Annual HEAS Photo competition for her picture of louse nits from the species Pediculus humanus americanus on the head of a 500-year old Inca mummy. Michelle was presented with a €100 book voucher at the Gräzlfest, the HEAS Annual Meeting, by the Head of HEAS, Tom Higham. Other pictures from the competition can be seen in the gallery below. [gallery ids="5552,5553,5554,5555,5556,5557,5558,5559,5560,5561,5562,5563,5564"]
In November 2025, Pere Gelabert, Mareike Stahlschmidt, and Benjamin Vernot from the DEA, organized a symposium on integrating the new field of Paleoenvironmental DNA within Human Evolution studies, bringing together leading international researchers to exchange perspectives on current challenges and future directions in sedaDNA. [caption id="attachment_5544" align="alignnone" width="300"] Photo Credit Carla Gomez[/caption] You can see a talk from one of the speakers, Karina Sand, on the HEAS YouTube channel. [yotuwp type="videos" id="PX49CBUIQF4" ]
The book with contributions from many HEAS members examines questions about body adornments and its link to identity in archaeology, looking at theoretical and interpretive frameworks that are relevant to the study of different categories of personal ornaments. Identity is a crucial topic in archaeology where its concept is investigated through the study of many categories of material culture. As self-representation, identity constitutes a choice through which an individual or a group want to be seen by others. The volume covers a wide geographical and chronological frame from the Upper Paleolithic era to Medieval times, examining North, Central, and Southern Europe as well as regions in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Contributions by Marjolein Bosch, Karina Grömer, Birgit Bühler, Mathias Harzhauser, Philip Nigst, Kayleigh Saunderson
Furtwängler, A., Rebay-Salisbury, K., Neumann, G.U., Kanz, F., Ringbauer, H., Bianco, R.A., Schmidt, T., Semerau, L., Radzevičiūtė, R., Barquera, R., Rohland, N., Stewardson, K., Workman, J.N., Curtis, E., Zalzala, F., Callan, K., Iliev, L., Qiu, L., Cheronet, O., Wagner, A., Bravo Morante, G., Spannagel, M., Teschler-Nicola, M., Novotny, F., Verdianu, D., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D., Krause, J., Stockhammer, P.W., Mittnik, A., 2025. Tracing social mechanisms and interregional connections in Early Bronze Age Societies in Lower Austria. Nature Communications 17, 131. read more
Congratulations to VIAS-HEAS Member Mathias MEHOFER on being awarded a standalone project titled “Bronze metallurgy during the Babenberg period, A – Medieval bronze casting in a Natural Science Context”. Within this 3-year research project, an international, transdisciplinary team investigates the famous seven-branched medieval “Agnes” candelabrum from Klosterneuburg Abbey, donated around 1130 AD by Duke Leopold III of Babenberg and his wife Agnes. Standing 4.3 m high and composed of 57 decorated copper-alloy elements, the candelabrum is studied to reconstruct its object biography, including production techniques, material provenance, later modifications, and use within its ecclesiastical context. Combining humanities-based research with scientific methods such as pXRF, SEM-EDS, photogrammetry, X-ray tomography and isotope studies, the project examines alloy compositions, identifies modern restorations, and explores medieval exchange networks. Archival studies and comparative analyses with related objects further contextualize this exceptional work of medieval bronze art. Funding: The project is funded by the Province of Lower Austria (Land NÖ). Project Homepage: Medieval Bronzes Project - MMag. W. C. Huber, Custos, Klosterneuburg Abbey, Austria – M. Haltrich, Forschungsstelle, Klosterneuburg Abbey, Austria – Dipl.-Restaurator C. Tinzl, DI Dr. techn. R. Linke, Dept. of conservation and restoration, Federal Monuments Authority Austria – Prof. Dr. E. Pernicka, Curt Engelhorn Centre f. Archaeometry Mannheim – PD Dr. Andreas Zajic, IMAFO, Austrian Academy of…
Guellil, M., van Dorp, L., Saag, L., Beneker, O., Bonucci, B., Sasso, S., Saupe, T., Solnik, A., Kabral, H., Allmäe, R., Bates, J., Dittmar, J.M., Ge, X.J., Inskip, S., Jonuks, T., Karmanov, V.N., Khartanovich, V.I., Larmuseau, M.H.D., Aneli, S., Cessford, C., Kriiska, A., Mägi, M., Malve, M., De Winter, N., Metspalu, M., Pagani, L., Robb, J.E., Kivisild, T., Houldcroft, C.J., Scheib, C.L., Tambets, K., 2026. Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA. Science Advances 12, eadx5460. read more
Oertle, A., Peters, C., Summerhayes, G., O'Connor, S., Gillespie, R., Douka, K., 2025. New collagen peptide markers from New Guinea fauna: identifying archaeological bone in the tropics. Royal Society Open Science 12. read more
Interest in science is high, as evidenced by well-attended children's universities, dedicated citizen scientists, and science fiction bestsellers. But how is new knowledge created, what are researchers working on, and why are diverse perspectives on unresolved questions more important today than ever before? The new podcast "What We Know" from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) takes listeners into the world of science. It contextualizes new knowledge, previously overlooked connections, and background information. Each season focuses on a major scientific topic. The very first season of the FWF podcast, which premieres on November 12, tackles a truly significant subject. It's about nothing less than us: humanity. What do we know about being human? A good question – and not so easy to answer. Therefore, in six episodes, hosts Francesca Grandolfo and Thomas Zauner visit researchers at their workplaces and gather as much knowledge as possible. The episodes span from the origin of life four billion years ago, through the history of civilization and the development of language and cognition, to artificial intelligence and the impact of humans on the environment in the Anthropocene. Speaking of the Anthropocene – does it even exist? Making science tangible In laboratories, institutes, and in the field, journalists Francesca and Thomas speak with researchers throughout Austria about their current work, about basic research, curiosity, and…
