The GunaiKurnai, an Australian Aboriginal nation, are the acknowledged traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps. Within their territory are caves known from 19th-century ethnographic reports and oral traditions to have been settings for magic, healing and cursing rituals by powerful learned women and men called “mulla-mullung,” as well as by other spiritual practitioners. Archaeologists have shown that people have been visiting one of these caves, Cloggs Cave, for such activities over the past 25,000 years.
Australian cave discovery shows grass was burned for magic, cures and curses for 25,000 years
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Social networks, intended to bring people together, can actually increase polarization, new research finds, because while the links in the network may be plentiful, they’re probably weak. A research team including Cornell sociologist Michael Macy [...]
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Recent U.S. Supreme Court terms have seen justices openly accuse one another of rewriting statutes, ignoring precedent and substituting policy preferences for law. Whether in disputes over presidential immunity, administrative power, nationwide injunctions or transgender [...]
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As generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in translation, questions have been raised about whether it could eventually replace professional interpreters. A joint study led by Lingnan University found that while AI can improve [...]
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Increases to the standard federal tax deduction implemented in 2018 were made permanent a year ago, and researchers are beginning to understand the downstream effects on state and local governments. The increased deduction meant many [...]
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Flying abroad for a summer vacation is not as simple as it used to be. Geopolitical uncertainty has already disrupted flight schedules and fuel prices this year. For many, staying closer to home will seem [...]
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A new study by University of Delaware professor Jarett Haley and others explored how racially minoritized graduate students understood the impacts of proposed or enacted state anti–diversity, equity and inclusion (anti-DEI) laws on their experiences [...]
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“Guardrails” built by the EU to govern AI fall short in both ambition and execution and have become too heavy to absorb rapid changes in technology, a new study in Big Data & Society warns.This [...]
