James Murdoch, who walked away from his familys media empire over editorial disagreements, is shelling out more than $300 million to acquire Vox Medias New York Magazine, its podcast division, and

Founder and CEO of Lupa Systems, James Murdoch attends Tribeca X - 2021 Tribeca Festival at Spring Studios in New York City on June 18, 2021. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Tribeca FestivalJames Murdoch,

Leadership changes continue at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with more high-level departures after FDA Commissioner Marty Makarys exit. The effect of these changes remains to be seen,

Trove of fossils discovered in Canada sheds light on "when life first became large, complex and unmistakenly animal."

Some animals can move efficiently beneath granular surfaces. These include the sandfish (Scincus scincus), a lizard native to the Sahara. It can burrow into the sand and then literally "swim" through the desert sand to hunt or escape predators. German researchers are working on a rover wheel design that mimics that swimming motion. In testing, the wheel system outperformed regular wheels.

A new study reevaluates the Kardashev Scale using a new framework that includes the Bitcoin network as a means of measuring the trajectory of human development.

Exoplanet hunters are keen to find the next extrasolar earthlike planet, one that may harbor life as we know it. But preliminary results from a new study indicate that our galaxy may be filled with a plethora of exo-Venuses. Yet as one exoplanetary researcher notes: the template for such exo-worlds --- our own Venus --- has been criminally underexplored.

During the Cold War, the CIA made serious efforts to hunt down prominent individuals deemed hostile to American interests. Men like Fidel Castro and Patrice Lumumba were targeted repeatedly by CIA assassination plots. This practice increased during the War on Terror, in which the CIA pursued a policy of systematically targeting and killing suspected terrorists around the world. This approach cast a long shadow over the CIA, although it has not conducted as many targeted killings as it once did.The CIA and Fidel CastroRobert Maheu, a CIA contact put in charge of the plan to kill Fidel Castro, 1961. Source: Review JournalIn 1959, the Cuban Revolution succeeded in toppling longtime dictator Fulgencio Batista and succeeded in replacing him with Fidel Castro. Initially, Castro sought to maintain amicable ties with the United States, but when that failed, he turned towards Communism. This turned him into one of Americas most persistent foes in the 20th century. It also meant that the Central Intelligence Agency intended to overthrow him and, if necessary, kill him.The CIAs leaders and rank-and-file had witnessed the effectiveness of targeted killings by the Allies in WWII. They also knew that the Soviets had conducted assassinations against its enemies. When the Agency began plotting to kill Castro, they came up with a multitude of ways to target him. In 1960, they got a lawyer based in Las Vegas named Robert Maheu to convince Italian Mafiosi in the US to try and kill him. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, CIA director Allen Dulles authorized Operation 40, which involved Cuban exiles killing Castro during the invasion.For the rest of the Cold War, the CIA made many attempts to kill Cubas caudillo. Some of these plots were absurd in their execution: at one point the CIA tried to send a poisoned wetsuit to Castro. Other plots included an infamous exploding cigar. However, Cubas Intelligence Directorate foiled every one of the CIAs attempts. The exact number of plots is not known but it possibly numbered in the dozens. The CIA abandoned their efforts to kill him in 1976 after President Gerald Ford signed an executive order to stop this practice.Patrice Lumumba and Rafael TrujilloCongolese leader Patrice Lumumba, who became a target for the CIA, 1961. Source: Tribune MagazineThe CIA may have struggled to kill Castro, but they had less difficulty dispatching other leaders. In 1961, the Agency successfully assassinated two prominent leaders in the so-called Third World: Patrice Lumumba of the Congo and Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. While CIA personnel did not directly pull the trigger, they did assist in the plotting and logistics of the plans to kill both leaders.Patrice Lumumba was the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was a prominent Pan-Africanist and opponent of colonialism. Because of his willingness to work with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, he attracted the hostility of the Americans and Belgians, even though he was not himself a communist. The Eisenhower administration authorized the CIA to kill Lumumba as part of an effort to control the DRCs politics. When separatists kidnapped and executed him in 1961, they were supported by CIA station chief John Stockwell.Later that year, Dominican caudillo Rafael Trujillo was assassinated by a cabal of army officers who were hostile to his rule. Despite his initial friendly relations with America, the White House supported his removal due to his reputation for cruelty and his policy of assassinating his political opponents across the continent. The CIA became involved in the plotting of his killing and provided weapons and money to the rebels. In May 1961, his motorcade was shot up and he was killed, leading to a period of unrest in the country. The CIA succeeded in the DRC and Dominican Republic where it failed in Cuba.Executive Order 11905President Ford in the Oval Office, 1974. Source: CNNIn 1975, the US Senate established the Church and Pike Committees to investigate abuses committed by the US intelligence community. Both committees uncovered serious breaches of conduct by US intelligence agencies that shocked the public. One of them was the Agencys involvement in targeted killings of leaders deemed unfavorable to American interests. The CIA tried to keep the public from knowing the full extent of its covert operations but Congress publicized enough information to convince the public that the CIA needed to be reigned in. Declassified documents also revealed how much the White House knew about the CIAs activities.President Ford feared that an intelligence agency acting rogue could cause a crisis of governance in the United States. He was also appalled that the Agency had targeted foreign leaders. As a result, he signed Executive Order 11905 on February 18th, 1976. The order explicitly prohibited American government officials from being involved in assassinations. It was designed to prohibit the CIA from carrying out targeted killings even if ordered to. While covert action was still legal and practiced, the Agency came under much more scrutiny for its conduct.For the rest of the Cold War, the CIA refrained from targeted killings even though it still conducted covert ops like Operation Cyclone. Two more executive orders reinforced EO 11905 during the Carter and Reagan administrations. The Agency focused mainly on intelligence gathering at the end of the Cold War and the 1990s. Only after September 11th, 2001, did the CIA return to its practices of targeted killings.The CIA and the War on TerrorCIA Director George Tenet gives a briefing to George W. Bush. Source: War on the RocksThe failure of the CIA to stop the plotters of the 9/11 attacks struck a nerve within the Agencys rank-and-file. Members of Alec Station, the unit responsible for tracking al-Qaeda, had planned to go after Osama bin Laden repeatedly but failed to stop him or his subordinates from carrying out their attacks. Members of the intelligence community were blamed for not taking Islamist terrorism seriously enough and not being willing to directly target the leadership of these organizations.After the 9/11 attacks, the Agency put itself on a war footing and vowed never to be surprised again. The Counterterrorism Center, formed in 1986, gained additional support and Cofer Black, its director, received permission to target the leadership of al-Qaeda and any groups affiliated with it. CIA director George Tenet sent teams on the ground in Afghanistan in advance of the American military deployment. These teams liaised with Afghan rebels fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Additionally, Predator UAVs started to be used over al-Qaeda encampments. A special operations team was added to CTC to increase its lethality in operations.To address the issue of intelligence sharing in counterterrorism, President George W. Bush authorized the creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. TTIC was subsequently folded into the National Counterterrorism Center in 2004. This allowed agencies to share information on potential targets, enabling either the CIA or Department of Defense to target them. For the rest of the War on Terror, the CIA vowed to eliminate anyone perceived to be a threat to the United States in a manner that exceeded anything done during the Cold War.CIA Assassinations in Afghanistan and PakistanPredator UAV like the ones used by the CIA in its targeted killing program. Source: Lt Col Leslie Pratt / U.S. Air Force via ReutersWhile the CIA targeted jihadists around the world, it mainly employed its resources in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. This area was a loosely governed region where elements of the Taliban who had fled over the border after 2001 intermingled with other jihadist networks like al-Qaeda and the Haqqani Network. Because of the heavy presence of jihadists, the CIA decided to carry out a long-term assassination program in the region using Predator UAVs. The CIAs Special Activities Division spearheaded this program in coordination with the DoD and other intelligence agencies.The CIA believed that a program of targeted killing would successfully degrade and defeat terror networks like al-Qaeda. This was modeled after Israels practice of targeted killings. From 2004 to 2018, the CIA launched hundreds of drone strikes on targets in western Pakistan. Even when the Pakistani government complained about Americas campaign, the strikes continued. President Barack Obama ramped up the program, believing it was better than placing American personnel at risk. The most significant strike in Pakistan was on the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Akhtar Mansour. The campaign ended under pressure from rights groups and the Pakistani government.In Afghanistan, the drone campaign took place alongside the ground campaign. Taliban leaders were hunted by UAV strikes in the Pashtun heartlands of eastern Afghanistan. This practice started during the Trump administration, which was hoping to ramp up the pressure against the Taliban. During the Biden Administration, the CIA carried out one of its most successful strikes when it killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022.CIA Targeting al-Qaeda and ISIS Leaders ElsewhereAftermath of a drone strike in Yemen, 2013. Source: New York TimesThe CIA also undertook an extensive campaign of killing terror suspects elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. In Yemen, the government faced a brutal campaign of terrorism from two groups, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. The CIA worked with the Department of Defense to target jihadist cells in Yemen. While the DoD took the lead on targeted killings through the drone program outside of Pakistan, the CIA still engaged in targeted killings if they could properly identify a target.The CIAs rate of strikes decreased after 2016 as to the Obama administrations concerns about civilian casualties. However, they continued to launch strikes against targets deemed a threat as long as their intelligence was reliable. In Somalia, the CIA assisted the US military in targeting leaders of al-Shabaab, a Jihadi organization aiming to create an Islamic caliphate in Somalia. CIA staff based in Djibouti vectored strikes onto al-Shabaab targets to keep the militants away from critical government targets.The CIAs program of targeted killings in the War on Terror did not target heads of state as it did in the Cold War. Rather, it targeted senior and mid-level members of violent extremist organizations. It played a major role in the hunting down of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. Although these attacks were supposed to be precision strikes aimed at eliminating individuals, the program led to hundreds of civilian deaths. In Pakistan, CIA drone strikes led to major protests from the public. While the Agency has scaled back on its program of targeted killings, it has not gone away completely and could be intensified in the future.

Amy WayThe bones of the dingo, which was buried here somewhere between 916 and 963 years ago.In 2000, the ancient burial of a dingo was discovered alongside a river in Australias Kinchega National Park. This wasnt all that unusual, as dingo remains have been found here before. But a closer look at this particular burial revealed that the animal had been cared for by local First Nations people both after it was injured and in the wake of its death.Whats more, the dingo was not forgotten for centuries afterward. Archaeologists found that First Nations people continued to ceremonially feed the dingo for years with regular offerings of mussel shells, underlining the importance of these creatures to the regions Indigenous communities.The Discovery Of The Ancient Dingo Grave In Australias Kinchega National ParkAccording to a study published in Australian Archaeology, the dingo grave was first documented in 2000, after roadwork cut into the edge of a burial heap in Australias Kinchega National Park. It was identified by an Indigenous man named Uncle Badger Bates, alongside park ranger Dan Witter. And though the dingos skull was lost after flooding in 2021, an excavation in 2023 set out to finally excavate its remains.Amy WayThe dingo burial was found in Australias Kinchega National Park in 2000, and excavated in 2023.The archaeologists found that this male dingo had been buried by the Barkindji people between 963 and 916 years ago. It was between the age of four and seven years old when it died an advanced age for a dingo and its heavily worn teeth suggested it had a long life and regular meals.Whats more, the dingos bones showed signs of healed traumatic injuries. The animal had suffered from broken ribs and a broken lower leg, likely caused by a kangaroo kick, yet had seemingly survived because of human intervention and care.A sketch of the dingo skeleton. Its ribs and legs had been broken, then healed, suggesting that local Indigenous people cared for it after it was injured.What stands out about Garli [the Barkindji word for dingo] is that he was old and well cared for, said lead study author Loukas Koungoulos of the University of Western Australia. The healed injuries, worn teeth and careful burial tell us this animal lived a long life alongside people, and that his death was marked intentionally and with respect.He added: Dingoes like this garli werent simply tolerated around camps. They were tamed, lived with people and were embedded in daily life.Indeed, the dingo had clearly been cared for in life. But the archaeologists also found that the Barkindji had continued to care for it after it died.How The Barkindji People Cared For The Dingos Remains After It DiedArchaeologists found that the dingo was interred in a purpose-built burial mound after it died and for the next 500 years, the animal was ceremonially fed. Subsequent generations left small offerings at the grave, in the form of river mussel shells, as a type of ritual feeding.According to Barkindji Elders, this ritual may have honored the dingo as an ancestor. And even 1,000 years later, the Barkindji remained involved in the documentation of the dingos grave, as archaeologists partnered with Dave Doyle, a Barkindji custodian, and Barb Quayle, a Barkindji Elder, who also helped excavate the animals remains.Amy WayBarkindji custodian David Doyle picks up the first bone from the dingo burial.While Barkindji people have always known about this cultural practice, this discovery is really powerful because it provides new details on the depth of that relationship between Barkindji people and dingoes, said project lead Amy Way, an archaeologist at the Australian Museum and a lecturer at the University of Sydney.She continued: If garli were buried with the same care and respect we see for human ancestors, including mothers and elders, it tells us these animals were profoundly valued and loved.After reading about the dingo that was lovingly buried by the Barkindji people in Australia almost 1,000 years ago then ritually fed for 500 years after its death discover the disturbing true story behind a dingo ate my baby, which became a comedic punchline in the 1990s. Then, go inside the tragic death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.The post Archaeologists In Australia Discover An Ancient Dingo That Had Been Ceremonially Buried And Tended To By Aboriginals For Centuries appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Raimond Spekking/Wikimedia CommonsThe Pyramids of Giza are said to align with the belt of the constellation Orion.Many ancient structures offer more questions than answers. While historians and archaeologists can glean a limited understanding of a building based on records and investigations of the surrounding areas, there is always a bit of mystery about a structures true purpose.Because of this, its not particularly surprising that ancient history generates a lot of theories some more conspiratorial than others. One of these theories has recently been garnering a considerable amount of attention online, and it relates to how seemingly disconnected civilizations appeared to be referencing the same cosmic phenomenon. But is it true?Were These Ancient Civilizations Mapping Out The Same Thing?A popular theory spreading across the internet has to do with three separate, ancient structures that are located thousands of miles apart: the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt, Teotihuacan in Mexico, and the Angkor temple complex in Cambodia.As explained in one viral TikTok from user @architecton_core with over 871,000 views, the curious thing about all of these structures is their layout.In 1983, engineer Robert Bauval noticed something, the TikToker says, referring to the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The three pyramids viewed from above match the exact proportions of the three stars in Orions belt. Not approximately, exactly.Pascal Debrunner/UnsplashA debated theory states that the Pyramids of Giza would have lined up with Orions belt in 10500 B.C.E.Not only that, but Bauval found that the Nile River itself mirrors the Milky Way.The way the galaxy curves in the night sky, the Nile curves the same way on Earth, the TikToker explains. The position of the pyramids relative to the Nile matches the position of Orion relative to the Milky Way.Assuming that the pyramids were built around 2500 B.C.E., this star position wouldnt make sense. For the pyramid complex to accurately reflect stellar locations, it would have to be based on the skies of 10500 B.C.E. 8,000 years before the pharaohs, the TikToker says.Similar shapes can be found in Mexico, specifically in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan.Three structures the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, and Temple of Quetzalcoatl were completed between 150 and 250 C.E., according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This civilization had no connection to Egypt. Despite this, their structures shared a similar shape, claims the TikToker.Gary Todd/Wikimedia CommonsThe ancient temples at Teotihuacan, which predates the Aztec Empire.Seen from above, the three pyramids form the same pattern as the three stars of Orions belt, the TikToker says. The proportions, the spacing, the offset angle: identical to the pyramids of Giza. The TikToker says this, too, relates to the year 10500 B.C.E., though he does not explain how.Finally, the TikToker alleges that the Angkor complex, built in 12th-century Cambodia, also displays this pattern. Every major temple in the Angkor complex faces east, except Angkor Wat. It faces west, the TikToker explains. For over a century, archaeologists called it an anomaly until someone looked at the stars.According to the TikToker, researchers in 1996 discovered that, if one looked at the complex from above, the temples matched the constellation Draco. And the star positions they match dont correspond to the 12th century, when Angkor Wat was built. They correspond to 10500 B.C.E., declares the TikToker.So, were all of these societies linked? And what happened in 10500 B.C.E.?A Deeper Look At The TheoryTheres no doubt that ancient civilizations oriented much of their lives around the stars. However, the claims made in videos like these stretch this idea to its extreme.To start, the claims about all of the structures lining up with the skies in 10500 B.C.E. can be dismissed outright. While this has been claimed by people like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, and Adrian Gilbert, theres just no compelling evidence that this is the case. In a 1999 study published in the journal Astronomy & Geophysics, one researcher tested this theory on the pyramids of Giza. He found that the position did not, in fact, line up with how the stars would have appeared in 10500 B.C.E. Theres also no evidence presented by the TikToker or any serious researchers connecting the structures of Teotihuacan to the year 10500 B.C.E., so this, too, can be dismissed.Jakub Haun/Wikimedia CommonsAngkor Wat was built around 1150 as a Hindu temple, though it later became a center of Buddhist worship.Finally, the claim that the temples at Angkor line up with Draco as it appeared in 10500 B.C.E. appears to come from a book by Graham Hancock. Critics have noted that, in order for this to be true, one must intentionally disregard many temples in the Angkor complex. To demonstrate how malleable this idea can be, blogger Jason Colavito showed how the temples of Angkor could be connected into the shape of the Batman symbol. Still, is it possible that these ancient structures were built with the sky and stars in mind?The Connection Between Ancient Temples And The StarsResearchers have speculated that many ancient structures have meaningful connections to the stars.For example, in a paper published in Nature in 2000, Egyptologist Kate Spence used trends in the orientation of Old Kingdom pyramids to demonstrate that the Egyptians aligned them to the north by using the simultaneous transit of two circumpolar stars.Similarly, archaeologist Ivan prajc found that Teotihuacan was likely designed with both astrological patterns and local calendars in mind. For example, the citys main grid is slightly slanted and does not run perfectly from north to south or east to west. prajc speculates that this tilt allowed ancient people to track certain sunrises or sunsets, which may have been important for farming or rituals. Finally, some researchers say that Angkor Wat was built so that the rising Sun aligned with its western entrance on equinox and solstice days.Ancient people had a strong connection to the sky, the stars, and the constellations within. That said, they likely werent building to reference some event in 10500 B.C.E.; instead, they had more local interests in mind. @architecton_core Three civilizations. Three continents. Never met. All built the same star map pointing to 10,500 BC. #orion #pyramid #angkorwat #teotihuacan #ancientmysteries #lostcivilization #history #mindblow #architecton original sound ARCHITECTON All Thats Interesting reached out to @architecton_core via TikTok direct message and comment.After reading about the theory that ancient structures aligned with the stars, discover the story behind the twists and turns of the Nazca Lines. Then, take a walk through nine of the worlds oldest structures.The post These Three Ancient Civilizations Across Three Continents Built Similar Monuments. Were They Mapping The Stars? appeared first on All That's Interesting.