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Using DNA evidence, forensic scientists created a facial reconstruction of a “vampire” who lived during the 18th century.
In the late 18th century, a man was buried in Griswold, Connecticut, with his femur bones arranged in a criss-cross manner — a placement indicating that locals thought he was a vampire. However, little else was known about him. More than 200 years later, DNA evidence is revealing what he may have looked like. (And yes, he was genetically human.)
After performing DNA analyses, forensic scientists from a Virginia-based DNA technology company named Parabon NanoLabs, and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces Medical Examiner System based in Delaware, concluded that at the time of death, the deceased male (known as JB55) was about 55 years old and suffered from tuberculosis. Using 3D facial reconstruction software, a forensic artist determined that JB55 likely had fair skin, brown or hazel eyes, brown or black hair and some freckles, according to a statement. 
Based on the positioning of the legs and skull in the grave, researchers suspect that at some point the body was disinterred and reburied, a practice often associated with the belief that someone was a vampire. Historically, some people once thought that those who died of tuberculosis were actually vampires, according to the statement. 
“The remains were found with the femur bones removed and crossed over the chest,” Ellen Greytak, director of bioinformatics at Parabon NanoLabs and the technical lead for the organization’s Snapshot Advanced DNA Analysis division, told Live Science. “This way they wouldn’t be able to walk around and attack the living.”
Related: Mysterious ‘vampire-slayer kit’ sells at auction for $15,600
To perform the analyses, forensic scientists began by extracting DNA from the man’s skeletal remains. However, working with bones that were more than two centuries old proved challenging.
“The technology doesn’t work well with bones, especially if those bones are historical,” Greytak said. “When bones become old, they break down and fragment over time. Also, when remains have been sitting in the environment for hundreds of years, the DNA from the environment from things like bacteria and fungi also end up in the sample. We wanted to show that we could still extract DNA from difficult historical samples.”In traditional genome sequencing, researchers strive to sequence each piece of the human genome 30 times, which is known as “30X coverage.” In the case of the decomposed remains of JB55, the sequencing only yielded about 2.5X coverage.
To supplement this, researchers extracted DNA from an individual buried nearby who was believed to be a relative of JB55. Those samples yielded even poorer coverage: approximately 0.68X.
“We did determine that they were third-degree relatives, or first cousins,” Greytak said.
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Archaeologists originally unearthed the supposed vampire’s remains in 1990. In 2019, forensic scientists extracted his DNA and ran it through an online genealogical database, determining that JB55 was actually a man named John Barber, a poor farmer who likely died of tuberculosis. The nickname JB55 was based on the epitaph spelled out on his coffin in brass tacks, denoting his initials and age at death. 
This week, researchers will unveil their new findings, including the facial reconstruction, at the International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI) (opens in new tab) conference, held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 in Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Nalewicki is a Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics and more. She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture. Prior to freelancing, Jennifer was a reporter at Interior Design Magazine, and before that she held an Editor role at Time Inc. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.
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AnalysisRick Pidcock  |  November 16, 2022
The American Civil War was “a war with a musical soundtrack,” according to Christian McWhirter.
And that soundtrack continues to echo through the American church today, illustrating the different life experiences of Black and white Christians in particular, once again “marching as to war,” as one popular hymn declares.
During the 19th century, music was everywhere. And while most history of the Civil War focuses on the details surrounding the conflict between the North and the South, very few have considered the role music played.
“Songs influenced the thoughts and feelings of civilians, soldiers and slaves — shaping how they viewed the war.”
“Although it was certainly a prominent part of Northern and Southern culture before 1861, the war catapulted music to a new level of cultural significance,” McWhirter writes in Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War. “More than mere entertainment, it provided a valuable way for Americans to express their thoughts and feelings about the conflict. Conversely, songs influenced the thoughts and feelings of civilians, soldiers and slaves — shaping how they viewed the war.”
The primary role of music was “connecting disparate listeners and performers to the broader conflict,” according to McWhirter, a Lincoln historian. “Some pieces did this explicitly through lyrics directly referencing various aspects of the war, but others were more subtle. Patriotic songs taught Americans how to interpret the politics of the war, while sentimental ballads helped them cope with the spectrum of emotions a large and costly military struggle could introduce.
“Songs also allowed listeners and performers to understand their roles in a war-torn society. It was in the popular songs that Americans balanced their personal and civic responsibilities. Patriotic songs told them where their allegiances lay, but sentimental songs addressed how those allegiances could affect their personal lives.”
During the war, minstrels in blackface became popular in the North as a way of influencing how white people in the North perceived Black people in the South.
In the Music in Art journal, Melissa Zapata-Rodriguez says: “It was during the Civil War that minstrel iconography fueled even more the racial disparity that enabled white society in the North to fall into conflicting ideas about African Americans. Northern white society in the United States was comprised of abolitionists (radical and conservative), moderates and racists. These discerning views played an important part in music production during the Civil War, especially on the minstrel stage. Both racial animosity toward African Americans and abolitionists efforts in the North would mark the confusing, and somewhat contradictory sentiment that white Northerners would maintain during the American Civil War.”
In the South, Black people often were paraded around to sing and dance in order to “show how ‘happy they were,’” which McWhirter notes was “the favorite theme of Southerners.” Many of these events were benefit concerts that featured slave musicians in order to raise money for the war.
One month after the Civil War began, the United States War Department announced that each regiment would be allowed to have a 24-member brass band. Two months later, the Union army required every regiment to have two musicians.
“Music has done its share, and more than its share, in winning this war.”
In The Civil War 100, Michael Lanning says the North had 28,000 musicians who played in 618 bands, prompting Union general Philip Sheridan to say, “Music has done its share, and more than its share, in winning this war.” Robert E. Lee added, “I don’t think we could have an army without music.”
Even though music was key to everyone’s experience and processing of the Civil War, it evolved as the war developed. Songs toward the beginning of the war featured lyrics that emphasized recruiting soldiers to the cause. But as the armies filled their ranks, recruitment songs began to fade.
The most popular songs that emerged appealed to soldiers in battle. McWhirter says: “Pieces with melodies, lyrics and themes appealing to fighting men found the widest audiences. … In effect, soldiers became not only music’s most enthusiastic consumers but its most effective distributors.”
As the war came to a close, the bold singing of the Confederates began to waver.
McWhirter says: “At the end of the war, Confederates experienced a crisis of confidence in their music — finding that the sting of defeat transformed many of their favorite anthems from bold statements of purpose to dour reminders of a cause lost.”
But while soldiers on both sides of the war strode onto the battlefields with songs of purpose and triumph accompanied by professional musicians, the songs of the slaves were experienced in secret.
“It was not Sunday morning worship with their masters that nourished the spirit of the slaves, but their secret meeting.”
In her book In Their Own Words: Slave Life and the Power of the Spirituals, Eileen Guenther says: “By and large, it was not Sunday morning worship with their masters that nourished the spirit of the slaves, but their secret meetings. … The meetings, held in secret places out of earshot of the overseers and owners, were times of genuine faith and ‘real’ worship — places of respite, protest, self-expression, creativity and building community.”
She continues: “This was the milieu from which the Spirituals emerged. … Locations varied: in a distant cabin, under a clump of trees, or in a distant gully… . Slaves risked punishment if they were caught in such meetings. Children might be stationed in tree tops as lookouts to whistle a warning should an overseer come close to their meeting place. Participants also hung wet quilts on overturned iron pots in order to mute the sound of their praying and singing.”
McWhirter says slaves responded to bans on singing by, “going to their cabins and singing with wash bins over their heads so (their master) could not hear them.”
With the growing popularity of war songs, it is no surprise that hymns like “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” “Sound the Battle Cry,” “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” and “The Call to Arms is Sounding” resonated among white congregations during the second half of the 19th century.
White congregations sang such lyrics as:
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the cross.
Lift high his royal banner,
it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
his army shall he lead,
till every foe is vanquished,
and Christ is Lord indeed.” 
But gatherings of Black worshipers had to sing in code. Guenther details how slaves used songs such as “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” “Go Down, Moses,” “Gospel Train’s a Comin’” or “Wade in the Water” to signal to one another when rescue was coming.
“Code songs might seem harmless enough to owners or overseers but could convey to the slaves a hidden meaning, such as the time of a secret meeting, or the arrival of a guide to lead them to freedom,” she explains.
“Code songs might seem harmless enough to owners or overseers but could convey to the slaves a hidden meaning.”
The slaves also used a biblical code in their songs — with references to Egypt, Babylon or hell being metaphors for the South, references to Pharaoh or Satan being metaphors for their masters, references to Pharaoh’s army being metaphors for the patrollers, references to the Israelites as metaphors for themselves, references to Jesus as metaphors for those who would rescue them, references to the Jordan River as metaphors for their liberation, and references to the Promised Land as metaphors for the North, Canada or heaven.
And because white congregations mixed political war language with religious worship language, Black communities knew coded worship music would be allowed. McWhirter explains: “Blacks knew that plain talk about freedom and equality would surely meet with harsh disapproval or worse from white listeners, but song lyrics couched in religious imagery were acceptable and even endearing to whites.”
Like the children of Israel, African American worship was intrinsically connected to political liberation from empire. But for white Americans, worship was connected to conquest. And the war only exacerbated this.
“Religious music was long dominant before the Civil War and only became more so as the conflict progressed, especially in the armies,” McWhirter wrote.
One popular song among white people said:
Mighty Ruler, all commanding,
Reigning on thy heavenly throne,
Forth to earth thy spirit sending,
Winning conquests for thy Son,
Led our armies
till rebellion be cast down.
Even “The Star Spangled Banner” was sung in church services. McWhirter writes: “With ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ waving its way even into church services, some observers began to wonder if its lyrics adequately expressed the North’s wartime sentiments.”
Therefore, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote a new verse:
When our land is illumined with
Liberty’s smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow
At her glory,
Down, down with the traitor
Who dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page
Of her story!
Songs written by white people sent mixed messages while continuing to evolve. For example, “John Brown’s Body” was born out of camp meetings hosted by Christians, then became popular with Union soldiers as a memorial to an abolitionist who had died and also as a coarse joke about a soldier in one battalion who had the same name.
But then the song was given new lyrics and was changed to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But while it is a song that resonates with Christian nationalists in the South today, McWhirter points out that it was protested in the South because “it ‘teaches wrong history.’”
On the other hand, Black communities didn’t resonate with songs about commands, thrones, conquests and casting down rebellions. Instead, they resonated with songs about liberation.
In The Spirituals and the Blues, James Cone points out: “In the spirituals, Black slaves combined the memory of their fathers with the Christian gospel and created a style of existence that participated in their liberation from earthly bondage. … The divine liberation of the oppressed from slavery is the central theological concept in the Black spirituals. … The message of liberation in the spirituals is based on the biblical contention that God’s righteousness is revealed in deliverance of the oppressed from the shackles of human bondage.”
Because Black worshipers had to sing in code, many of their songs could have been taken as speaking more about the eternal freedom of heaven than about their earthly freedom. Cone says this was by design.
“White song collectors heard what the slave permitted them to hear.”
“Slaves lived in a society without any political, economic or personal security, and they had to camouflage their deepest feelings,” Cone explained. “White song collectors heard what the slave permitted them to hear. … The slave knew that a too-obvious reference of a condemnation of whites or a slight reference to political freedom in the presence of white people could mean his or her life.”
But as the possibility of liberation became more real, the political boldness of the lyrics became more clear.
“My contention that the pre-Civil War songs (although ambiguous) did in fact refer to earthly freedom is supported by the fact that Black people made unequivocal statements as soon as the need for equivocation was removed,” Cone wrote. “These are the songs that Blacks sang in response to the Civil War and emancipation.”
One common thought many white Christians have today is that song lyrics about defeating the enemies is referring to a “spiritual freedom” rather than to a political freedom. But from the perspectives of those who are oppressed by white Christians, Cone says, “This is not a ‘spiritual’ freedom; it is an eschatological freedom grounded in the events of the historical present … . Freedom, for Black slaves, was not a theological idea about being delivered from the oppression of sin. It was a historical reality that had transcendent implications.”
Black worshipers understood that spiritual expression came from what it meant to be human. So when their white overseers controlled their expression of spirituality, they were dehumanizing them.
Cone writes: “To be enslaved is to be declared nobody, and the form of existence contradicts God’s creation of people to be God’s children. Because Black people believed they were God’s children, they were affirmed in their somebodiness, refusing to reconcile their servitude with divine revelation. They rejected white distortions of the gospel, which emphasized the obedience of slaves to their masters. They contended that God willed their freedom and not their slavery.”
One subtle, coded way Black communities affirmed their humanity was through the simple pronoun “I.”
Eileen Guenther explains: “‘I’ appears frequently in the spirituals but does not solely refer to the singer. Rather, it declares that the slave is, in fact, a person in a society that denied that recognition, designating the slave as nothing more than property. The ‘I’ is a ‘communitarian word, the expression of collective consciousness.’”
But while histories of slavery rightly emphasize how white people dehumanized Black people, Cone reminds us that our history is even more about how Black people sang their way through white assault in order to be liberated through the affirmation of their humanity.
“Black history is also the record of Black people’s resistance, an account of their perceptions of their existence in an oppressive society.”
“If Black history were no more than the story of what whites did to Blacks, there would have been no spirituals,” he notes. “Black history is also the record of Black people’s resistance, an account of their perceptions of their existence in an oppressive society. What whites did to Blacks is secondary. The primary reality is what Blacks did to whites in order to delimit the white assault on their humanity.”
In the decades after the Civil War, as new forms of oppression began to form, the songs of power and liberation within white and Black communities began to fade.
“As veterans, civilians, immigrants and their children turned to other matters, few needed to be reminded of why they slaughtered each other in the 1860s,” McWhirter explains. “Thus, not only did slave spirituals decline after the war, so too did the political songs that had so dominated the war years. Even pieces that were still performed had been partially neutered.”
Yet with the rise of Christian nationalism and the rampant embrace of retributive justice in white evangelicalism today, political power songs are becoming popular once again in white communities. And with white worship leaders increasingly embracing white Christian nationalist politics, it’s important that we learn from the political worship songs of our past and be honest about how lyrics shape our posture toward ourselves and others.
Then as we look for new spaces to meet in a culture that is so racially and politically divided and as we write new songs to express our spirituality, perhaps we should begin by listening to the Black communities of songwriters who sang prostrate, under wash bins, and with clarity and code that emphasized liberation through freedom and an embrace of our whole common humanity.
Rick Pidcock
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He recently completed a Master of Arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.
 
Related article:
Is there a balm in singing the spirituals, and if so, who should sing them? | Analysis by Rick Pidcock
Baylor’s Black Gospel Archive and Listening Center now open to the public

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By Sentinel staff 
November 16, 2022
World-renowned showtunes and brightly colored costumes, cute children dancing and Austrians romancing — if these are a few of your favorite things, then the Nolan Center’s upcoming production of “The Sound of Music” might be the perfect way to spend your weekend.
Director Tom Jenkins praised the cast and crew for the “tremendous effort” they have put into the show over the past few months. The child actors, in particular, have impressed him with their “great memories” and their ability to nail complex singing and dancing numbers like “Do-Re-Mi.”
“I think we have a grea…

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After receiving a second chance in life, successful musician prefers to pay it forward
By Pacifique Mahirwe
Emile Morane, immaculately dressed, opens the gate to his home in a suburb of Kigali, Rwanda. Behind him are the distinct sounds of a band practicing. 
“Once you are inside here, there are no visitors, only family,” he says with a broad smile and ushers the visiting ForAfrika team into his home. In the living room, his 14-year-old son Toni is at a computer, mixing music. Other children gather around to hug us hello. They serve warm, roasted groundnuts, a delicious Rwandan snack, and cold drinks. 
Several guitars hang from the walls. A keyboard is within Toni’s reach and it is not long before he is playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise with aplomb.
Toni and his five siblings, who range in age from six to 18, are all able to play a musical instrument and the family, along with a number of other young people from the neighbourhood, form the Umuti Mu Nganzo cultural troupe. 
Umuti Mu Nganzo is a company that was established by Emile to develop musical talents in young people in order to give them the opportunity to earn an income from the arts. The business offers talent development, music production and live performances, while its sister non-profit organization, Fasha Humanity is dedicated to improving the lives of Rwandans.
“I know that what matters in life is not what you get, but what you give,” Emile says, speaking from experience. He and his brother grew up in a Red Cross orphanage and then moved to the Fred Nkunda Life Centre, which ForAfrika co-founded shortly after the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
It was in this safe haven where he was nurtured, given the chance to study and hone his own talents.
Although he could have chosen a glittering personal career, Emile chose to use his success to uplift those less fortunate, in the same way he was supported as a young boy.
He and his family have composed a song in For Africa’s honor and they take to the stage in the studio adjoining the home to perform it. Children seem to appear from all corners as they come forward with various dance routines or musical offerings.
Emile watches, pride brimming.
“Twenty-two years ago, a life was saved,” he said. “I was given life and now my wife, who was also an orphan, and I have given life to six more and I will continue to welcome others to join our family. I know what it is like to be without family, I know what it is like to have to build a life. I will give back so that others can do the same.”
His story is proof that changing one life has the power to change many more.
Pacifique Mahirwe is Projects Coordinator in Rwanda
Sourced from Rwanda: https://www.forafrika.org/stories/one-life-saved-leads-to-more-lives-given/
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November 15, 2022
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Actress and author, Viola Davis, can make history and achieve the coveted EGOT status after being nominated for a Grammy Award for her nomination in the “Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording” category for her memoir, Finding Me.
The How To Get Away With Murder alum has previously won an Emmy award for How to Get Away With Murder, an Oscar award for her role in the movie adaptation of the August Wilson-penned play Fences and two Tonys for Fences and King Hedley II.
This will make Davis the 18th EGOT winner if she can snag the victory on February 5th at the 65th Annual Grammy Award ceremony. She will join other EGOT winners in John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, and Whoopi Goldberg.
RELATED: 2023 Grammy Nominees: Lizzo, Doja Cat, Kendrick Lamar Receive Nominations
The Grammys gave a few nods to some of our other Black Hollywood, including Lizzo who scored big with being nominated for “Record of the Year” and “Album of the Year,” for Special and “About Damn Time”. Beyoncé made history this year as she became the most nominated artist in Grammy history, securing 10 nominations in several categories including: “Album of the Year,” “Record of the Year,” “Best Dance Recording”.
See who else was nominated for this year’s ceremony here and set your DVR’s to see who will walk away victorious on February 5th.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Robby Andrews, 53, said he’s using techniques that helped him on his long road to recovery from serious injuries to train clients at Burn Fitness on Central Ave.
“I was always trying to find my calling. I wanted to help other people, and I didn’t know what it was,” said Andrews. “My wife was like, ‘Well, you know, the task at hand is your task. What you’re doing now is the gift you can give to other people.’”
Andrews said he was injured in 2007 during an incident in Miami.
“I was, you know, living a life of opulence. I was just confused, and I ended up in a place where I shouldn’t have been, and I ended up going out a five story building. I don’t know how it happened to this day,” said Andrews.
Andrews’ injuries were extensive. He was in a coma for six months and underwent two amputations – first, to his left foot, then to that leg below the knee. 
“In my hospital bed, they put a trapeze, and when I started pulling on that, pulling on that, pulling on that, I was building my core strength. I couldn’t feel my lower extremities, so I just stretched all the time. I had a little shake in my leg, and I just kept shaking with it. After about a year, I got my leg all the way up, and then I started working on the other one,” Andrews said.
But the road to recovery wasn’t smooth.
“I was in my bed into a wheelchair for years because…I believed my diagnosis was my reality,” Andrews said.
Andrews said a doctor who cared for him in Miami was among those who inspired him to get out of that mindset and work at getting stronger.
“It was difficult, when you first start, to find a good doctor. I had one that just always was coming by. He was always like, ‘How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing?’ And something about that made me feel real good, because I needed someone that cared. That meant a lot to me,” Andrews said. 
Andrews said he eventually progressed from stretching his leg in bed to using a walker, then a cane. He would go for walks to deal with the pain, first from his couch to the mailbox, then around the block. He said it took about ten years to get to the level of physical fitness he’s at now. 
“I had many setbacks, but them setbacks. Now I look back, those were like milestones. Those were like, ‘Oh, I had a setback, but I got that far.’ I knew in my head I could get that far again,” Andrews said.
Earlier this year, Andrews began offering training sessions at Burn Fitness using his 40X Max Performance program, which is based on techniques he used during his recovery. 
“I’m big on the muscle-mind centric approach, because I believe that it builds up mental toughness, emotional resilience,” Andrews said.
“The biggest part of it is the energy that you’re bringing. He brings that to the studio, which is good. He’s always positive,” said Burn Fitness Co-Owner Jeff Ward.
Andrews said the most rewarding part is seeing clients overcome their own challenges to find success.
“I’m thankful for the accident I went through. It has made me the person I am today and made me a better person. So, I’m just grateful,” said Andrews. “The challenges in my life have a purpose. I find purpose and meaning in everything. Instead of looking at the negative, always focus on the positive and things become so much easier.”

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Tennis Announce Sixth Studio Album with New Track “One Night with the Valet”
Pollen is out February 10 via the duo’s own label Mutually Detrimental.
Words: Margaret Farrell
November 15, 2022
Photo by Michael Muller. Image design by Gene Bresler at Catch Light Digital. Cobver design by Jerome Curchod.
Phoebe Bridgers makeup: Jenna Nelson (using Smashbox Cosmetics)
Phoebe Bridgers hair: Lauren Palmer-Smith
MUNA hair/makeup: Caitlin Wronski 
With 232 pages and an expanded 12″ by 12″ format, our biggest print issue yet celebrates the people, places, music, and art of our hometown, including cover features on David Lynch, Nipsey Hussle, Syd, and Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, plus Brian Wilson, Cuco, Ty Segall, Lord Huron, Remi Wolf, The Doors, the art of RISK, Taz, Estevan Oriol, Kii Arens, and Edward Colver, and so much more. 
There’s certainly magic in some of the songs on Young’s 42nd album, but many of its moments are well-worn journeys through the past with a bit less punch and panache.
These 15 covers of R&B and soul classics are treated with both the reverence they deserve on their own terms, and with which Springsteen also clearly holds for them.
This 5-LP collection spanning 1981 to 1990 shows that the Sheffield group were way ahead of the curve when it came to the innovations made in the name of future-looking synth-pop.
Today, Tennis, the husband-and-wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, returned with new single “One Night with the Valet,” which announces their forthcoming album Pollen (not to be confused with the popular Spotify playlist of the same name). The album is inspired by “small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice,” Moore shared. The follow-up to 2020’s Swimmer is out February 10 via their own label Mutually Detrimental.
“We wanted to write a big album,” Moore continued. “Something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward.
“To keep ourselves from falling into old habits, we used instruments and gear that are new to us,” she added of the non-lyrical elements. “We work alone and Patrick engineers. The sounds he creates are as foundational as any part he writes. We resist the urge to over edit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums which have been more wall of sound, we make a point not to overpower my voice with a dense mix.”
Listen to “One Night with the Valet” below, and pre-order the album here.
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A hair sample from an ancient trophy head found buried in Peru reveals that the victim consumed a psychoactive plant prior to death.
Thousands of years ago, a child in Peru was sacrificed as part of an ancient ritual, their head severed at the neck and made into a type of trophy. A new analysis of a single hair plucked from the mummy’s skull reveals that the child consumed a psychoactive cactus prior to execution, as part of the ceremony.
The child’s preserved head was one of 22 human remains associated with the ancient Nazca society examined in a new study; all of these individuals lived during the pre-Hispanic era (3500 B.C. to A.D. 476) and were buried near the southern coast of Peru, where they were excavated during the Nazca Project, a long-running archaeological program that began in 1982. While scientists are uncertain of the child victim’s sex and age at death, they reported  that the child had ingested San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi), a prickly plant taken for its “strong hallucinogenic properties” and used by indigenous civilizations of the Americas in traditional medicines and during rituals.
“The trophy head is the first case of the consumption of San Pedro by an individual living on the southern Peruvian coast,” study lead author Dagmara Socha (opens in new tab), a doctoral candidate in the Center for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw in Poland, told Live Science. “It’s also the first evidence that some of the victims who were made into trophy heads were given stimulants before they died.”
For the study, Socha and her team collected samples of individual hairs from four trophy heads, three of which belonged to adults, and from 18 mummies of both adults and children. Toxicological examinations revealed that many of the deceased had consumed some type of psychoactive or stimulant plant prior to their deaths.
Those ingested items included coca leaves, known as a source of the psychoactive substance cocaine, as well as San Pedro cactus, which contains mescaline, a psychedelic drug. The researchers also detected traces of Banisteriopsis caapi, the main compound in ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic beverage that contains harmine and harmaline (two compounds used in modern antidepressants). 
Related: 76 child sacrifice victims with their hearts ripped out found in Peru excavation
“It was quite interesting to see how many people had access to [these plants],” Socha said. “We also wanted to discover the route of the trade of some of these ancient plants. For instance, the coca leaves were not cultivated on Peru’s southern coast, so they had to be brought there from either northern Peru or the Amazonian region.”
The drug use dated from 100 B.C. to A.D. 450, the researchers found. “We can see this transition of the plants was beginning early and we can actually trace the trade network,” Socha said. “Our research shows that these plants were extremely important to different cultures for medical or visionary effect. Especially since there’s no [written record] from this time period, so what we know about Nazca and other nearby cultures is from archaeological investigations.”Sixteen years prior to this study, Rainer Bussmann (opens in new tab), a professor in the Department of Ethnobiology at the Institute of Botany at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the head of botany at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart in Germany, published a study in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (opens in new tab) examining medicinal plant usage by indigenous communities in northern Peru. Like Socha, he examined trade routes of different cultivated plants in this part of the world.
“There was always a little trade going on in this region, with plants being traded from the Amazon up and down the [Peruvian] coast,” Bussmann, who was not involved in the new study, told Live Science. “These plants were traditionally used for ceremonial or medicinal purposes, and [were] sometimes combined. I’ve never seen any reports of recreational use. For these cultures, there was always a specific purpose.”
But while evidence suggests that these plants were consumed as medicines and for ceremonies, scientists still have questions about how widespread consumption was within the Nazca culture, Socha said.
—Secret ancient Andean passageways may have been used in rituals involving psychedelics
—Human spines on sticks found in 500-year-old graves in Peru
—Active ingredient in ayahuasca tea puts brain in a dream-like state
“We actually don’t know how often these [plants] were being used,” she said. “In the case of San Pedro, it’s not well preserved in an archaeological context, and in the case of the coca leaves and Banisteriopsis caapi, they were never found to be growing in this region during that time period.”
In addition to the human remains, Socha and her team also found a variety of grave goods at the burial sites, including textiles, ceramic pots, weaving tools and a chuspa — a type of bag used for carrying coca leaves.
The findings will be published in the December 2022 issue of the Journal of Archeological Science (opens in new tab).
Jennifer Nalewicki is a Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics and more. She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture. Prior to freelancing, Jennifer was a reporter at Interior Design Magazine, and before that she held an Editor role at Time Inc. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.
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Smokers who quit, particularly at young ages, show much lower mortality rates than those who continue smoking.
Cigarette smokers who quit before age 35 have similar death rates within a given time period to those who have never smoked at all, a large study suggests. 
Those who stopped smoking at later ages still saw substantial benefits, the research found, but their death rates exceeded those who quit before they reached 35 years old. For example, former smokers who quit between ages 35 and 44 showed a 21% higher rate of death from any cause, compared with “never smokers.” And those who quit between ages 45 and 54 showed a 47% higher all-cause mortality rate than never smokers. 
“Among men and women from diverse racial and ethnic groups, current smoking was associated with at least twice the all-cause mortality rate of never smoking,” the study authors wrote in a new report, published Monday (Oct. 24) in the journal JAMA Network Open (opens in new tab). “Quitting smoking, particularly at younger ages, was associated with substantial reductions in the relative excess mortality associated with continued smoking.”
This is the third large study to suggest that age 35 might be the optimal age to quit by, particularly for those who start smoking young, John P. Pierce (opens in new tab), a professor emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at University of California, San Diego, wrote in a commentary (opens in new tab) of the study.
“It has been known for a long time that the earlier a smoker quits, the better,” wrote Pierce, who was not involved in the new research. “However, it is now possible to be more specific with respect to the age that a smoker quits.” 
Related: How drug addiction hijacks the brain 
The new study used data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey, a questionnaire-based survey used to monitor the health of the U.S. population, and the National Death Index, a database of the nation’s death records. The analysis included survey data from more than 550,000 adults who completed questionnaires between January 1997 and December 2018 and were between 25 and 84 years old at the time of recruitment. These included current smokers, former smokers and so-called never smokers, meaning people who smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes. 
According to the National Death Index, nearly 75,000 of these study subjects had died by the end of 2019. Compared with never smokers, current smokers showed a significantly higher all-cause death rate, overall, as well as higher rates of death from cancer, heart disease and lung disease, specifically. 
Non-Hispanic white smokers showed the highest all-cause mortality rate, which was three times higher than that of never smokers. Non-white smokers, incliuding both Hispanic and non-Hispanic people, had slightly lower mortality rates, about twice that of never smokers. This may be related to the fact that these participants reported smoking fewer cigarettes per day, on average; starting to smoke at older ages; and being less likely to smoke daily, compared with white subjects.
—Why is tobacco so addictive?
—Are ‘heat-not-burn’ tobacco products safer than cigarettes?
—Why COVID-19 hits smokers harder
“These results remind us that reducing smoking intensity (cigarettes per day) should be one of the goals for tobacco control programs,” Price wrote in his commentary.
Crucially, while current smoking was linked to a higher risk of death across all racial and ethnic groups surveyed, “quitting smoking was associated with substantially reversed risks for all groups,” the study authors wrote. 
In particular, those who quit by age 45 cut their excess risk of death by up to 90%, and those who quit before age 35 showed death rates very close to those of never smokers. Similarly, the study also found that, the more time had passed since a person quit smoking, the closer their mortality rate was to that of a never smoker. 
Having an age 35 deadline could be potentially motivating for young smokers working toward quitting, Price wrote in his commentary. “Without a proximal goal, it is tempting for smokers to abandon a quit attempt with cognitions such as ‘I don’t really need to do it just now.’ The study … provides needed data to set a motivating proximate goal of quitting smoking before age 35 years,” he wrote. But of course, all is not lost after age 35 — as the study suggests, quitting at older ages still reduces one’s risk of death, just not as dramatically. 
The research does have some limitations. For instance, the information on subjects’ smoking habits was gathered at one point in time, so some subjects may have quit or started smoking after being surveyed. “Thus, both the true hazards of smoking and the true benefits of quitting may be underestimated in this study,” the authors cautioned. 
Nonetheless, the study still suggests that quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of early death — especially if you do it young.
Nicoletta Lanese is a staff writer for Live Science covering health and medicine, along with an assortment of biology, animal, environment and climate stories. She holds degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has appeared in The Scientist Magazine, Science News, The San Jose Mercury News and Mongabay, among other outlets.
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Sophos Home protects every Mac and PC in your home
He was sentenced under his real-life name of Ramon, but in back in his boastful days of pretending to be a seriously successful real estate agent based in Dubai, you may have seen and heard of him as Ray, or, to give him his full nickname, Ray Hushpuppi.
To be clear, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas wasn’t pretending to have lots of money, but he was pretending to have acquired his money by legitimate means.
His now-shuttered Instagram account was awash with show-off photos promenading the extent of his wealth, including fancy cars (see featured image at top of article), luxury travel by private jet, and high-ticket shopping trips:


Unfortunately for Abbas, who allegedly referred to himself on Snapchat as The Billionaire Gucci Master!!!, and fortunately for the numerous victims of his criminality, the photos above were featured in a US Department of Justice charge sheet signed in June 2020 by FBI Special Agent Andrew Innocenti and approved by US Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver:
Flashy Nigerian Instagram star extradited to US to face BEC charges

Abbas was charged with the crime of Conspiracy to Engage in Money Laundering, quickly arrested by the Dubai police, and extradited to the US where he has been behind bars ever since.
As we wrote back in 2020:
Maximum prison sentences are rarely handed out. But if Abbas gets convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and if he happens to be the unlucky exception to this general rule, he’ll be looking at a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Well, more than two years later, Hushpuppi has pleaded guilty to the charge and been sentenced, and although he didn’t get the maximum prison term, United States District Judge Otis Wright gave him 135 months, which is just over 11 years. (We assume this will include the time already that Puppi has already spent in custody.)
He’s also required to pay back more than $1.7m in restitution to two specific victims whom Abbas admitted to defrauding as part of his plea agreement: $922,857 to a law firm in New York, and $809,983 to a businessperson in Qatar.
The original charge sheet setting out that Abbas indeed had a case to answer, and should therefore be arrested and brought to the US, makes fascinating reading.
It includes extracts from Hushpuppi’s correspondence with various co-consipirators, including a money launderer from Canada called Ghaleb Alaumary, who was sentenced to 140 months (11 years 8 months) in a US prison last year, and ordered to repay a whopping $30m.
The conversations recorded by the investigating officer give an intriguing insight into how so-called Business Email Compromise (BEC) criminals try to sneak past the fraud prevention measures that the banks have put in place.
Here, you can see them talking to each other about transfer problems, and offering advice on those banks or countries that should be avoided because the transfers will trigger warnings:
An open ben, or “open beneficiary”, is explained by the investigator as “an account where a different business account name can be substituted to help in deceiving the victim into sending funds.”
A house in this context is BEC slang for “a bank account used to receive proceeds of a fraudulent scheme”, because it provides a temporary home for funds.
Presumably, the money launderer’s contacts – other cogs in the cybercrime gearbox who send out so-called money mules to open accounts that are later used for fraud – were pushing back against the “cost” of going through face-to-face KYC (know your customer) checks to open accounts that ended up getting linked to criminality right away.
Here, the money launderer is suggesting that fraudulent transfers kept inside the UK are likely to go through, whereas trying to get money out of the country is likely to provoke more detailed checks and trigger a block.
As you probably know, BEC is an umbrella term used to describe email-driven cybercrime where electronic messages (which often look perfectly genuine because they’re sent from a compromised account inside your own company) are used to persuade someone in the finance department to change the recipient’s account details just before a major payment is due.
BEC criminals can target the compromised company directly, by tricking someone in your own Accounts Payable department into thinking that a supplier just swapped banks and is requesting their forthcoming payments to be made to a new account.
Worse still, BEC crooks can target your customers, by tricking their Accounts Payable staff, under cover of fraudulent emails that really do originate from your company, that your company has switched banks and requires future debtor payments to go to a new account.
As you can imagine, customers defrauded in this way might not realise that their “successful” payments have been going astray (assuming that the transfers to the fraudulent “house” don’t get spotted by the bank)…
…until your own accounts department notices they’re apparently behind on payments and sets the debt collection team onto them.
That sort of confrontation is almost certain to lead to a doubly-angry customer, and the resulting data breach publicity really is something you could do without, alongside the likely need to make good your customer’s loss if the bank can’t claw back the funds.
We know that banks are able to head off significant amounts of BEC-style fraud, but that plenty of the stolen money nevertheless ends up in the hands of scammers, because the DOJ remarks that:
“By his own admission, during just an 18-month period defendant conspired to launder over $300 million,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “While much of this intended loss did not ultimately materialize, [Abbas’s] willingness and ability to participate in large-scale money laundering highlights the seriousness of his criminal conduct.”
Here are some tips you can follow to reduce the risk of getting scammed by the Hushpuppis of the world:
Would you fall for a BEC attack?

Follow @NakedSecurity on Twitter for the latest computer security news.
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He may have seen his downfall coming, you can’t be out here parading your lavish lifestyle and you have nothing to show that you have been working hard to get it. In as much as they say work hard in silence and let your success make noise for you, this case is different.
Saw this video about what happened in court and I think justice was rightfully served to all the people he scammed. I wonder what happens to the money that is to be returned to these people.
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Arooj Aftab, Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones are among the South Asian American artists nominated for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, according to the announcement made earlier today. Also nominated is the Berklee Indian Ensemble, which aims to provide “an open and inclusive creative space for musicians from all over the world to explore, study, interpret, and create music influenced by Indian music today.”
Beyoncé is the most nominated artist at the 2023 awards, with a total of 9 nominations. Harry Styles and Adele are tied for second place, earning seventh nominations each.
Congratulations 65th #GRAMMYs Best Global Music Performance nominees: @arooj_aftab & @shankaranoushka; @mattbworld & @eddykenzo; @burnaboy; @rockydawuni ft. @BLVKH3RO; and @wouterkellerman, @ZakesBantwiniSA & @Nomcebozikode: https://t.co/teqtZFcHL0 pic.twitter.com/ujHYmocETW
Arooj Aftab is nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category along with sitarist Anoushka Shankar for her song “Udhero Na” from a deluxe edition of her third album “Vulture Prince.” In a statement after releasing the song in March, and reported by Pitchfork, Aftab said “’Udhero Na’ has been one of my dearest songs, written in 2005 and never released, played live on and off over the years.” Noting that she’s “always held it close to my heart,” she said she’s “so happy to release it finally.” She said the song “describes a very unique and fleeting emotional moment, a super underrated feeling. When the thought of someone from a very old and ‘passed’ relationship just pops into your head as you go about your present day to day.”
Last year, Aftab won the coveted trophy in the Best Global Music Performance category for her song “Mohabbat.” The 36-year-old who became the first Pakistani woman to win a Grammy was also nominated in the Best New Artist category but lost to singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Rodrigo.
Born in Saudi Arabia, Aftab spent her teenage years in Lahore before relocating to Boston in 2005 to study music production and engineering at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. She prefers to sing in Urdu and blends minimalist jazz and neo-Sufi sounds. She is an “entirely self-taught female soloist and guitarist in a culture where opportunities for music study — especially for women — are severely limited,” according to her profile on the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied music production and engineering. 
Anoushka Shankar, the daughter of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar is also nominated in the Best Global Music Album category for “Between Us… (Live),” along with Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley, featuring Manu Delago. Her website describes her as the “singular, genre-defying figure within the classical, contemporary, and progressive world music scenes.”
OMG OMG OMG 2nd of TWO nominations tonight, making my 8th and 9th nominations total 🤯🤯🤯 I’m so thrilled to have my album nominated thank you @RecordingAcad !!! And the biggest thank you to my collaborators @MetropoleOrkest @julesbuckley @manudelagomusic @leiterverlag https://t.co/mp03UNsSe7
In “Between Us,” Shankar collaborates with her regular collaborator Hang (handpan) maestro Manu Delago alongside Holland’s Metropole Orkest directed by conductor and arranger Jules Buckley. “I really feed off working creatively with others,” Shankar told DJ magazine during the album’s release in July. “Something turns on in collaboration, in chemistry, in connection. It can feel like a dance, like we’re in something together.”
The album was recorded in 2018 during a stint of shows in the Netherlands and is her first live album since 2001’s ‘Live At Carnegie Hall.’ “It gleans material from four solo albums — ‘Rise’ (2005), ‘Traces of You’ (2013), ‘Traveller’ (2015), and ‘Land of Gold’ (2016) — as well as one previously unreleased track,” per DJ magazine. 
Also nominated in the category is the Berklee Indian Ensemble for their debut album “Shuruaat.” Released on July 15, it features 98 musicians from all over the world including Grammy-winning tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, renowned singers Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Prakash, and Shreya Ghoshal, among others, according to a Berklee press release. “The 10 tracks in the album include original student compositions influenced by everything from jazz and progressive rock to Sufi and Middle Eastern music,” the press release said. “It is fitting that ‘Shuruaat,’ which means ‘beginning’ in Hindi, displays our journey so far, and the one we’re about to begin,” the press release quoted founder Annette Philip as saying. 
Shankar’s half-sister Norah Jones has a nomination in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for her first full live album “Dream of Christmas (Extended).”Released in April this year, Jones’ “Til We Meet Again” includes globe-spanning performances from the U.S., France, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina that were recorded between 2017-2019. She will compete against Diana Ross (“Thank You”); Kelly Clarkson (“When Christmas Comes Around…”); Michael Bublé (Higher); and Pentatonix (“Evergreen”).
Congrats @NorahJones who received a GRAMMY nomination today for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for "I Dream Of Christmas"! A new Deluxe Edition of the album is out now: https://t.co/1Qb6udzZEO #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/Ws5Xtl1es3
Born Geetanjali Norah Shankar in Brooklyn, New York, Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of “Come Away With Me,” which won her five Grammys, including Best New Artist, Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums —“Feels Like Home” (2004), “Not Too Late” (2007), “The Fall” (2009), “Little Broken Hearts” (2012), and “Day Breaks” (2016). She has released albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper.
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Moog Brings the Moogerfoogers Back: All 7 Pedals Available as Audio Effects Plug-ins  Premier Guitar
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