Jesus of Nazareth, the principal figure of Christianity, is both an incredibly influential figure and an obscure one. Although he probably existed (proof outside of biblical texts is limited to a few references), historians and theologians know very little about him, especially his early life.There are apocryphal accounts, such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, that discuss young Jesus’s miraculous childhood activities, but such tales are not accepted as canon. Now, however, a newly discovered fragment of papyrus offers an even older version of this text.Before discussing the new papyrus fragment, it is worth clearing up some details about the history of the Bible. Although this religious anthology is said to represent the canon of the Christian faith and is God’s indelible word, it has undergone significant changes over the centuries. The 66 books that make up the Bible were written by over 40 authors and across a wide period of time.In addition, there are many other accounts known as Apocrypha, which are stories that are not accepted as Scripture, even though some may have once been considered as such.One such piece of apocryphal literature has been sitting unnoticed for decades at the Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library, a fragment of papyrus inventoried as “P.Hamb.Graec. 1011”.According to papyrologists Dr Lajos Berkes from the Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and Prof Gabriel Nocchi Macedo from the University of Liège, Belgium, the fragment belongs to the earliest known example of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.Until now, the earliest known example of this text belonged to a codex from the 11th century CE, but this new piece was probably written sometime between the 4th and 5th century CE. This is obviously much closer to when the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was originally written – probably in the 2nd century CE.As such, the papyrus provides new insights into the apocryphal stories that tried to depict the early life of Jesus as a supposedly miraculous figure. It also helps us understand how these stories were then transmitted over the centuries.“The fragment is of extraordinary interest for research,” Dr Berkes said in a statement. “On the one hand, because we were able to date it to the 4th to 5th century, making it the earliest known copy. On the other hand, because we were able to gain new insights into the transmission of the text.”“Our findings on this late antique Greek copy of the work confirm the current assessment that the Infancy Gospel according to Thomas was originally written in Greek,” added Dr Nocchi Macedo.The fragment measures around 11 centimeters by 5 centimeters (4 inches by 2 inches) and contains 13 Greek lines, with about 10 letters per line.It lay unnoticed for so long because scholars did not think it was relevant.“It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,” Berkes explained.“We first noticed the word Jesus in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitised papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realised that it could not be an everyday document.”By analyzing and comparing the use of words like “crowing” and “branch”, which appear in the text, the researchers were able to match it to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.“From the comparison with already known manuscripts of this Gospel, we know that our text is the earliest. It follows the original text, which according to current state of research was written in the 2nd century AD.”Specifically, they connected it to a story known as the “vivification of the sparrows” and was probably created as a writing exercise in a monastery – which explains the poor handwriting.  The story itself explains the “second miracle” of Christ where the child Jesus was playing at a river fort where he made sparrows out of clay. When rebuked by his father, Joseph, for doing such a thing on the Sabbath, the child clapped his hands and brought the mud figures to life.The study is published in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.

Dog whisperers can now join the list of professionals whose jobs are at risk of being stolen by artificial intelligence (AI), as it may have just entered the world of animal communication. Using machine learning software, researchers were able to successfully decode the meaning of dogs’ vocalizations, paving the way for new technologies that may help us better understand our four-legged companions.The authors of the as yet un-peer reviewed study recorded the barks, growls, howls and whimpers of 74 pet dogs as they were exposed to a variety of scenarios designed to trigger certain responses. These included everything from playing with their favorite toys to witnessing the researchers pretending to attack the dogs’ owners.From these recordings, the study authors identified 14 different types of dog vocalization, such as “positive squeals” during gameplay, “sadness/anxiety barking” and “very aggressive barking at a stranger.” An AI model called Wav2Vec2 - which was originally designed for human speech recognition - was then trained on these hound sounds before being put through its paces with a number of challenges. The first of these involved picking out individual dogs based on their vocalizations. Funnily enough, when the AI was pre-trained on human speech before being introduced to pooch talk, it was able to successfully identify specific dogs in 50 percent of trials, while models trained only on canine sounds achieved a 24 percent success rate.This is pretty significant, as it suggests that familiarity with human speech can help an AI to get to grips with the complexities of non-human communication, which means we don’t have to start from scratch when it comes to building a model for talking to animals. "Our results show that the sounds and patterns derived from human speech can serve as a foundation for analyzing and understanding the acoustic patterns of other sounds, such as animal vocalizations," explained study author Rada Mihalcea in a statement.For its next trick, the model was able to distinguish between different dog breeds with varying levels of success. More than half of the dogs in the study were chihuahuas, and the software was able to correctly identify these lap dogs from their bark on around 75 percent of occasions.Finally, the model was challenged to interpret the meaning of the animals’ vocalizations by matching them to one of the 14 types of dog sound listed by the researchers. When pre-trained on human speech, the AI achieved a success rate of 62.2 percent, although certain categories of sound were more easy to decipher than others.For instance, the model was able to correctly identify 90.7 percent of negative grunts but only 45.26 percent of negative squeals. "There is so much we don't yet know about the animals that share this world with us. Advances in AI can be used to revolutionize our understanding of animal communication, and our findings suggest that we may not have to start from scratch," said Mihalcea."By using speech processing models initially trained on human speech, our research opens a new window into how we can leverage what we built so far in speech processing to start understanding the nuances of dog barks," she said.The study study is currently awaiting peer review and is available as a preprint on arXiv.

Given that they’re, y’know, dead, it’s hard to discern much about the life of extinct creatures like the little bush moa, a turkey-sized emu lookalike that strutted around New Zealand until the 13th century. But using the 21st century power to study ancient DNA, a new study has provided more clues about how the bush moa lived than we might get from fossils alone.“With extinct species, we have very little information except what their bones looked like and in some cases what they ate,” said Scott V. Edwards, senior study author and a professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, in a statement. “DNA provides a really exciting window into the natural history of extinct species like the little bush moa.”And so, Edwards and a team of fellow researchers set to producing a genome sequence – the entirety of an organism’s DNA – for the bush moa.They did this using a method similar to that used to produce genome sequences for other extinct animals, like the woolly mammoth. DNA was extracted from a single bush moa toe bone and sequenced in short snippets.The next step was to piece the snippets together into their correct positions. This was made slightly simpler by using the emu genome as a guide; not only is the emu related to the bush moa, but it also has a particularly well-characterized genome.It should be noted that the resulting genetic map is a draft, meaning that there may well be inaccuracies, or bits missing that the researchers don’t know about. Nonetheless, it’s pointed to some interesting features of what the bush moa’s sensory experience may have been like.Genetic evidence suggests that, like many birds, they had four types of cone photoreceptors – proteins in the retina that are light-sensitive and convert it into an electrical signal. The particular receptors present mean that, despite having fairly small eyes, they could see both color and ultraviolet.And if you’ve ever wondered whether extinct birds might enjoy kimchi, the answer could be yes; the genome sequence suggests that bush moa had the full set of taste receptors, meaning they’d be able to pick up on umami.It’s hoped that continuing to study the genome might also explain how flightless birds evolved; the bones found in birds with wings are completely absent in moa.Bush moa, alongside the other eight species of moa, are thought to have gone extinct around 800 years ago, following the arrival of Polynesian human settlers in New Zealand – though some people have claimed that the giant moa was still kicking about in the early 1990s.With a genome sequence in hand, could the bush moa be brought back from the grave? People are certainly trying with other extinct birds.   But that’s not the purpose of the current research, as Edwards explained. “To me, this work is all about fleshing out the natural history of this amazing species,” the researcher concluded.The study is published in Science Advances.

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CBS’s Stephen Colbert rolled out the welcome mat for New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker for a three segment interview on Monday’s installment of The Late Show. In segment one, the duo would portray former President Trump’s guilty verdict as beyond critics, while in segments two and three, they wildly speculated about the Supreme Court overturning Brown v. Board of Education and cast doubt on the Court’s legitimacy because the justices were confirmed by senators from Wyoming and the Dakotas. Regarding the Trump verdict, Colbert wondered, “What about the accusation that this is not actually -- so there's no crime here?”     Booker replied by arguing that because the jury voted to convict, that must mean there was nothing wrong with the case, “So, you have a jury that was selected by the prosecutors and the defense. They agreed on a jury of 12 people that ranged from Fox News watchers all the way to no news watchers. These folks considered the facts, the law, and the evidence. They deliberated after a six-week trial and came back unanimously with 34 counts.” The jury was not responsible for the instructions given to them by the judge or any of the other problems Trump may raise on appeal, but a sarcastic Colbert took Booker’s answer and ran with it, “Sounds like the fix was in from the beginning. If those guys didn’t have to debate that much and they came back with 34 convictions right away. Sounds like they already made up their minds before the trial started. You have to admit that that's what that sounds like.” Naturally, Booker did not. As for Colbert, he kicked off segment two by wondering, “One of the things that people are -- speculation is that something is foundational to the modern American view of equality: Brown v. Board of Education could fall under the Supreme Court. What do you make-- is that alarmist? Or would you not put this past them?”     Instead of simply saying “no, that’s ridiculous,” Booker went on a long, rambling response where he claimed, in part, “I was stunned when I saw a change, that justices, including some of the Supreme Court justices that he appointed came before us and when asked directly, was Brown v. Board of Education rightfully decided? They would not answer one way or the other.” Booker can think liberal hero Ruth Bader Ginsberg and a certain former senator named Joe Biden for setting the precedent of not answering hypothetical questions that may one day come before the Court, no matter how obvious the answer may appear. Later, in segment three, Colbert asked, “You’ve been in the Senate for over ten years and as a member of the Senate, how do you feel about my feeling about what's killing this country is the United States Senate specifically?” Elaborating, he added: Those people on the Supreme Court that were put there were voted in by Senators who represent 41 million fewer Americans than, at the time, the minority party, the Democrats. So, of course, the judge in Texas, those people in the Supreme Court, Aileen Cannon for Pete's sake, they are not representative of the will of the American people. How can the United States be a democratic representative country if the Senate continues its present structure because you continue to have the courts and the Senate move further away. Two senators from Wyoming have the same votes as two senators from California or in New York and represent a fraction of the number of people. One man, one vote goes to die in the Senate. Booker added to the delegitimization efforts because it was appointed by Constitutional methods, including “the majority of our Supreme Court right now was put in place by a president who didn't win the majority vote.” He urged viewers to support amending the Constitution to fix this “problem,” but that may be more difficult than he is willing to admit. Alternativly, Democrats could just try winning elections in states like North Dakota. Here is a transcript for the June 10 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 6/11/2024 12:05 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: What about the accusation that this is not actually -- so there's no crime here? CORY BOOKER: So, you have a jury that was selected by the prosecutors and the defense. They agreed on a jury of 12 people that ranged from Fox News watchers all the way to no news watchers. These folks considered the facts, the law, and the evidence. They deliberated after a six-week trial and came back unanimously with 34 counts.  COLBERT: So, that sounds to me and just for a second, sir, excuse me, if you’ll allow me— BOOKER: Yes, yes, go ahead, please proceed, proceed, proceed. COLBERT: Let me get a word and, if you're not going to filibuster me.  BOOKER: I am not going to filibuster you. COLBERT: Sounds like the fix was in from the beginning. If those guys didn’t have to debate that much and they came back with 34 convictions right away. Sounds like they already made up their minds before the trial started. You have to admit that that's what that sounds like. BOOKER: I actually don't think it sounds like that. I think it sounds like incredible citizens who stepped forward. They swore an oath to be impartial and they looked at the evidence and came to a conclusion, quick or not, that this was obviously come on its face, criminal activity and they convicted him for 34 counts.  … COLBERT: Let's talk about the Supreme Court for a second. BOOKER: Yeah. COLBERT: One of the things that people are -- speculation is that something is foundational to the modern American view of equality: Brown v. Board of Education could fall under the Supreme Court. What do you make-- is that alarmist? Or would you not put this past them? BOOKER: Take Donald Trump at his word and listen to people, what they say to you. I've been on the Judiciary Committee now for years and I was stunned when I saw a change, that justices, including some of the Supreme Court justices that he appointed came before us and when asked directly, was Brown v. Board of Education rightfully decided? They would not answer one way or the other. This idea that we are a nation of equality, the fundamental establishment in that case of this truth about America is that we should be a nation of equality and justice for all. Something as foundational is that now is being put into this sphere of being in question by jurists or refusing to affirm those ideals and so I have been shaken by seeing things happen in our federal judiciary that I never imagined possible.  Let me give you an example if I can. One of Donald Trump's extreme justices that he put on in the state of Texas decided that you know what, I, after almost 25 years of mifepristone, medical abortion being available to people in the United States, the number one means with which women often use that medication for abortions, something that's been used for more than 25 years, one judge with no medical training decided to append it and freeze its usage. It is an extreme nature of the people he's putting on the Court to take precedence, to take patterns, practices, and upturn them. And me and a lot of my colleagues now, realizing what's happening at some of the rhetoric coming out of the Supreme Court in concurring opinions and more have made us move to protect same-sex marriage. Have made us move to protect things like in vitro fertilization … COLBERT: You’ve been in the Senate for over ten years and as a member of the Senate, how do you feel about my feeling –  BOOKER: How do I feel about your feelings? COLBERT: -- about what's killing this country is the United States Senate specifically, because all those judges you're talking about were brought before the Senate and confirmed by the Senate, a Senate that is terribly anti-democratic. It's not representative of the majority of the American people. Those people on the Supreme Court that were put there were voted in by Senators who represent 41 million fewer Americans— BOOKER: Yes. COLBERT: -- than, at the time, the minority party, the Democrats. So, of course, the judge in Texas, those people in the Supreme Court, Aileen Cannon for Pete's sake, they are not representative of the will of the American people. How can the United States be a democratic representative country if the Senate continues its present structure because you continue to have the courts and the Senate move further away. Two senators from Wyoming have the same votes as two senators from California or in New York and represent a fraction of the number of people. One man, one vote goes to die in the Senate. BOOKER: So, let me drive home a bit more what you're saying. Look, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota have roughly less than a million people. California has 40 million people. COLBERT: And Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, wonderful states, wonderful people— BOOKER: People, yes. COLBERT: -- but that doesn't mean the Senate isn't broken. BOOKER: But let me go further than that, you said the majority of the Supreme Court being confirmed by a Senate of people who represent 40 million less votes. Don’t forget, the majority of our Supreme Court right now was put in place by a president who didn't win the majority vote because of the Electoral College. I'm not going to tell you that there are design issues within our Constitution that are problematic, but I’m also going to tell you that our Founders, these imperfect geniuses, put mechanisms within our Constitution to change it. 

Undaunted by weeks of duds, exponents of the public-private campaign to neutralize Justice Samuel Alito on the U.S. Supreme Court believe they've finally got their hands on a bombshell: an audio recording wherein Alito can be heard both expressing a hope for healing in the face of political polarization and acknowledging that in the culture war underway, one side might ultimately prevail. This time around, the sensational headlines were made not by Obama hagiographer Jodi Kantor at the New York Times but rather by leftist blogger Lauren Windsor, a self-described "advocacy journalist" on the team at Robert Creamer's Democrat-aligned Democracy Partners who helped the Lincoln Project stage a fake white supremacist rally in 2021 to smear then-candidate Glenn Youngkin ahead of the Virginia gubernatorial election. Pretending to be a religious conservative at the Supreme Court Historical Society's annual dinner on June 3, Windsor approached and surreptitiously recorded brief conversations with Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. As with the various flag stories pushed by the Times and other liberal publications, Windsor's apparent aim — and that of Rolling Stone, the libelous publication first provided the audio recordings, which are now on X — is to paint Alito as ideologically compromised and incapable of dealing with cases related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 protests as well as regarding the question of former President Donald Trump's immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump. The trouble for Windsor and other Democratic-aligned public-private campaigners is, once again, that notwithstanding their framing and manufactured hoopla, the recording is relatively benign. In fact, it undermines the public-private campaigner's previous narrative and reveals Justice Alito has no aspirations of weaponizing the high court, even against criminal leakers. Windsor, taping Alito without his consent — legal in D.C., which is a one-party consent state — suggested at the outset that her imaginary husband implored her to "tell Justice Alito that he is a fighter and we appreciate him and he has all the grit." After blowing more smoke, Windsor raised the matter of political polarization and how to repair it. "Considering everything that's been going on in the past year, you know, as a Catholic and as someone who, like, really cherishes my faith, I just don't know. I don't know that we can negotiate with the left in the way that needs to happen for the polarization to end," said Windsor. "I think that it's a matter of like, winning." Justice Alito said, "I think you're probably right. On one side or the other, one side or the other is going to win. I don't know." "I mean, there can be a way of working a way of living together peacefully," continued the justice. "But it's difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can't be compromised. They really can't be compromised. It's not like you're going to split the difference." In response to Justice's Alito's observation regarding the incommensurability between contemporary liberal and rightist worldviews, Windsor stated, "It's just, I think that the solution really is like winning the moral argument. Like, people in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that, to return our country to a place of godliness." Justice Alito responded, "I agree with you. I agree with you." 'It's easy to blame the media, but I do blame them because they do nothing but criticize us and so they have really eroded trust in the court.' Upon the justice's supposedly controversial affirmation that the country should aspire toward spiritual purity and virtue, the remainder of the first audio clip concluded with Windsor bloviating. In a second recording, apparently taken last year, Windsor again asked Justice Alito about how to remedy political polarization in America, to which he responded, "I wish I knew. I don't know. It's easy to blame the media, but I do blame them because they do nothing but criticize us and so they have really eroded trust in the court." "I don't know, I really don't know," continued Justice Alito. "American citizens in general need to work on this, to try to heal this polarization because it's very dangerous. I do believe it's very dangerous." When Windsor began to beat around the bush about possible judicial activism, Justice Alito said, "I don't think it's something we can do. ... We have a very defined role and we need to do what we're supposed to do. But this is a bigger problem. This is way above us." Later in the secretly recorded 2023 conversation, Windsor asked whether the radical who leaked a draft of the Dobbs decision would ever be "ferreted out." Justice Alito dispassionately reminded Windsor that such work is neither the business of the high court nor within its authority. "We're not a law enforcement agency, you know," said Justice Alito. "So, law enforcement agencies can issue subpoenas and get search warrants and all that sort of thing, but we can’t do that. So, you know, our [U.S.] marshall, she did as much as she could do. But it was limited." While in both secretly recorded conversations, Justice Alito said nothing compromising, Rolling Stone suggested, "Alito's comments add to the controversy surround the conservative justice." Liberal publications, likely cognizant they were serving up another nothing-burger, leaned on Windsor's surreptitious recording of a conversation with Martha-Ann Alito at the same June 3 event last week — even though they ultimately reveal Justice Alito works to maintain neutrality as well as the perception of neutrality while respecting his wife's autonomy. Windsor expressed sympathy for the ordeal the liberal media had put Mrs. Alito through, to which the justice's wife said, "It's okay! It's okay! ... It's okay because if they come back to me, I'll get them. I'm gonna be liberated, and I'm gonna get them." Mrs. Alito clarified that by this, she means that she may seek to hold the liberal media accountable for perceived defamation. Windsor asked about the manufactured scandal over the inverted flag at her house and Appeal to Heaven flag at her beach house. Mrs. Alito made clear that contrary to the presumption of "femi-Nazis," she is an agential woman whom Justice Alito "never controls," thereby bolstering Justice Alito's previous statements following the New York Times' false flag reports. Later in the conversation, Windsor noted, "They're persecuting you and you're like a convenient stand-in for anybody who's religious." "Look at me. Look at me. I'm German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I'm gonna give it back to you," said Mrs. Alito. "And there will be a way, it doesn't have to be now, but there will be a way, they will know. Don't worry about it. God — you read the Bible — Psalm 27 is my psalm. Mine. Psalm. 'The Lord is my God and my rock. Of whom shall I be afraid?' Nobody." When the question about polarization came up, Mrs. Alito allegedly said leftists "feel ... they don't think," then noted, "I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the pride flag for the next month. ... And [Justice Alito] is like, 'Oh, please don't put up a flag.' I said, 'I won't do it because I'm deferring to you. But when you are free of this nonsense, I'm putting it up and I'm gonna send them a message every day. Maybe every week, I'll be changing the flags." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

2023 was a busy year for games. We had Starfield, Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Diablo 4 - the list goes on. Likewise, you probably have a backlog of excellent FPS games you’ve been meaning to get to for years. Doom Eternal is well worth your time. Cyberpunk 2077 mixes classic shooter gameplay with a terrifically composed RPG story. And there are some people who still haven’t played Half-Life 2 or Titanfall. But there’s one shooter that deserves considerably more attention, and even if you don’t have time for it immediately, it’s worth bagging now. Continue reading The best FPS game you’ve never played is now cheaper than ever MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Robocop Rogue City review, Robocop Rogue City system requirements, Robocop Rogue City settings

Horror games are always set in abandoned old mansions, disused hospitals, or creepy forests. Arguably one of the most horrifying settings in the real world is a warzone, and Conscript puts us right into the quaking boots of a WWI soldier who just wants to get himself and his brother back to their mother. Taking clear inspirations from Resident Evil and Dark Souls, it reminds us that war is terrible, and not an action-packed romp around the world. Continue reading Terrifying WWI horror game finally has a launch date and new demo MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best indie games, Upcoming PC games, Best horror games

When is the Doom The Dark Ages release date? After its bombastic reveal during Summer Games Fest 2024, this prequel to the 2016 Doom reboot takes things to medieval times. Within seconds of seeing the Doom Slayer in action, we see him revving his new chainsaw shield to decapitate Hell's demonic forces. Doom The Dark Ages is just the latest in id Software's iconic FPS game series, featuring a whole arsenal of bizarre weapons to deal with hellish threats efficiently. The veteran devs know exactly what they need to do to keep things in action game from getting stale, which is why we're going to fight demons in a fresh location. Here's everything we currently know about this frantic shooter. Continue reading Doom The Dark Ages release date estimate, trailer, and gameplay