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English Heritage has said there appears to be ‘no visible damage’ to the cultural site after Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed the site with orange powder paint on Wednesday.
However, Tim Daw, a farmer in Wiltshire and local expert on Stonehenge, has explained to Tech & Science Daily why there are concerns that there could be possible underlying problems following the incident.
More assessments need to be done to see how the lichen, a special plant-like organism that lives in the stone, has been affected. Archaeologists must also examine the impact on the historic indentations and markings on the surface of the rock.
Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at Which?, discusses their report showing that big tech brands are breaking new laws and short-changing customers when it comes to product safety.
They looked at more than 120 brands behind devices like smartphones, doorbells and clothes dryers, and found that despite having a year to prepare for the new laws, a quarter might fail to implement their product security update policies to publish in the public domain.
Many other brands offer very short support periods and while this is not against the law, it essentially means that consumers are being put at risk long before the end of the product’s natural lifespan – and increases the chance of items being unnecessarily environmental waste are added.
Which? is now calling on the regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, to investigate the issue and set out what it will do to enforce the legislation.
And the rest
Artificial intelligence allows students to “converse” with Holocaust survivors, astronauts stuck in space for at least another week while Boeing and NASA troubleshoot Starliner spacecraft, and archaeologists find an image of the “Simpsons” character on a 3000 year old Egyptian mummy coffin.
You can listen to the episode in the player above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Here is an automated transcript:
Hello, I’m Rochelle Travers, and this is The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast.
Coming soon: How AI will help share the stories of Holocaust survivors for decades to come.
Let’s get into it now.
The sound of Just Stop Oil protesters spraying orange powder paint on Stonehenge yesterday as members of the public tried to intervene.
English Heritage has said there appears to be no visible damage to the cultural site, but experts are concerned there may be underlying problems following the incident.
We are not entirely sure whether there will be permanent damage or not, but applying any kind of paint to old stones, especially if they are covered with lichen, these are very fragile plants, they need very specific conditions . criminal damage.
That’s Tim Daw, a Wiltshire farmer and local expert on Stonehenge.
Lichen is a unique organism. It is an algae and a fungus.
They live symbiotically on bare rocks where there is no food, or very small amounts of food.
So they will live for hundreds of years and grow very, very slowly, just getting that little bit of nutrition from the rocks and from the air.
So if you damage them, they will be dead for hundreds of years.
There are also concerns about whether the paint could damage indentations and markings on the stone, which have not yet been fully explored by archaeologists.
The surface of the Sarsen stone, Sarsen is a very, very hard stone, but it is a natural material.
It is full of small pores, which we fear the paint has gotten into and which are very difficult to remove.
But on the surface of the stone there are ancient engravings, engravings of axes from the Bronze Age, which have become very, very weak due to thousands of years of weathering.
And so any damage to the surface can remove very faint traces of ancient engravings that we have not yet examined.
Tim was on site this morning and said there is good news as most of the obvious damage appears to have been fixed.
Fortunately it didn’t rain last night.
And so they were able to suck the powder from the stones and blow it off.
And that seems to have been very successful and well done.
Most of the superficial orange powder appears to have been removed.
What we don’t know yet, and this will depend on careful research, is whether the small particles have ended up in the pores of the stones.
A report from Which says big tech brands are breaking new laws and short-changing customers when it comes to product safety.
New legislation has been introduced this year and what that legislation does is actually make manufacturers responsible for ensuring that smart products do not become stupid too quickly.
And that means those products must have security updates so they can’t be hacked and updates to ensure they remain useful for years to come.
That’s Lisa Webb, consumer law expert. Which? who conducted the research.
Now the legislation says that those brands must provide these policies and that policies must be published so that when consumers purchase a product they can see exactly how long their product will be supported.
And unfortunately through our research we found that it’s major brands that sell these devices and actually we can’t find any policies that tell us how long they will keep these devices up to date.
The group surveyed more than 120 brands behind devices such as smartphones, doorbells and clothes dryers and found that despite having a year to prepare for the new laws, a quarter might fail to implement their policies regarding product security updates in the public domain.
Many other brands offer very short support periods and while this is not against the law, it essentially means that consumers are being put at risk long before the end of the product’s natural lifespan and increases the chance of items being left unnecessarily environmental waste are added. Which? is now calling on the regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, to investigate the issue and set out what it will do to enforce the legislation.
New artificial intelligence allows students to talk to Holocaust survivors even if they are no longer alive.
An excerpt there of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s technology in action.
The speech-to-text recognition AI search technology, combined with a filming technique using a nine-camera setup, has created virtual 3D versions of Holocaust survivors, which can answer 1,000 student questions.
AI understands the question and then plays the survivor’s recorded response to give students the feeling of a natural conversation.
Using virtual reality headsets, students can also explore important sites related to the testimonies.
It is hoped that the technology will ensure that young people will have unforgettable experiences learning about the Holocaust for generations to come.
Let’s get to the ads.
Coming soon, the Simpsons character, found on a 3,000-year-old Egyptian coffin.
Welcome back.
Two astronauts will be stuck in space for at least another week as Boeing and NASA do their best to resolve spacecraft problems.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been on the International Space Station since June 6 after a successful Boeing Starliner launch.
They were expected to stay for a week, but it has been confirmed that the pair will not return to Earth before June 26.
The Boeing Starliner suffers from several mechanical problems.
While en route to the ISS, the crew reported problems with five thrusters and four helium leaks.
And since then, a fifth helium leak has surfaced.
And finally, forget Springfield!
A photo was shared on Reddit showing what appears to be a Simpsons character dating back to ancient Egypt.
Well, anyway.
In 2023, an image was found in the lid of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy sarcophagus, and was named Marge because of her yellow body, blue hair and green outfit.
The drawing shows her lying next to twelve high priestesses, which experts say represents twelve hours a day and shows her journeying to the afterlife.
Now the Simpsons are known for their creepy predictions of the future, but perhaps it was the ancient Egyptians who got there first.
You are informed.
Come back up at 4:00 PM
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Tech and Science Daily is here tomorrow at 1 p.m
See you then.