Discovering a symbol of Jewish faith within an excavation of Jerusalem typically wouldn't prompt much surprise, but archaeologists recently made an exceedingly rare find during an excavation of the Temple Mount in the form of a lead pendant decorated with a menorah. “Research has identified pendants of glass and other metals decorated with a menorah, but we know of only one other pendant in the world [now located in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore] bearing the symbol of the menorah made of lead.” The newly discovered pendant features a seven-branched menorah design identical on both sides. “One day while I was digging inside an ancient structure, I suddenly saw something different, gray, among the stones,” Ayayu Belete, a City of David worker, said in a statement. Analytical laboratory testing confirmed the pendent is 99 percent lead. “This is an unusual find,” said Yuval Baruch, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist. “This pendant, bearing the symbol of the menorah, is not just a material object, it is a personal seal, an emblem of memory and identity, which probably belonged to an anonymous Jew who chose to wear it around his or her neck.” The experts surmise the pendant could have come from a secret pilgrim entering the city under unofficial circumstances, or from a Jew visiting on an administrative mission or as a merchant. “Even during periods when Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem, the connection to this holy place did not cease,” Amichai Eliyahu, Israeli minister of heritage, said in a statement. Using lead, instead of other popular metals of the day, was common in amulet-making at the time, Baruch said, meaning the pendant had more meaning than as a decorative piece of jewelry. “In recent years there is increased archaeological evidence that shows that Jews, despite all the prohibitions and difficulties imposed on them, found ways to reach Jerusalem,” Baruch said, “and it is possible that there were even some who settled there.” Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. China's Regreening Has Messed Up Its Water Cycle A College Student Broke the Laws of Thermodynamics A Volcano May Have Started the Black Plague

You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. Throughout its five seasons, the Netflix show Stranger Things follows a ragtag group of teenagers and their parents as monsters from another universe — unleashed by the secret work of a government laboratory — wreak havoc on a quaint, fictional town in Indiana. Don't worry, Demogorgons, Shadow Monsters and psychokinetically gifted 12-year-olds are strictly fictional creations. And it's been hotly debated by physicists over the past 75 or so years. Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows In the 1950s, the US physicist Hugh Everett really did propose such an explanation for modern physics, and his theory has been collecting devotees ever since. Everett's work makes sense of a concept that has long baffled quantum physicists: the measurement problem. The question is how a quantum system can seem to be in two states at once — an electron that is simultaneously in two different locations, for example — until the moment the system is observed or measured, when all at once it's in only one of those states. Everett poses an almost fantastical alternative: the electron really exists in both states at once, and after the measurement, an observer sees only one state because the universe branches in two, with each outcome existing in a different world. For many physicists, this idea is a bit far-fetched, particularly because if these many worlds can't interact, then there's no way to prove or falsify the theory, says Jorge Pullin, a theoretical physicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. But for others — including Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who has worked as a science adviser for science-fiction films — the many-worlds interpretation is the most elegant explanation out there. Of the many explanations of quantum theory, many worlds is currently the third most popular among quantum physicists, a Nature survey found earlier this year. Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Scientists at the University of Amsterdam have developed a new way to use gravitational waves from black holes to uncover the presence of dark matter and learn more about its behavior. Their approach relies on a detailed theoretical model grounded in Einstein's theory of general relativity. This model carefully describes how a black hole interacts with material in its immediate environment, including dark matter that cannot be seen directly. Their findings were published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The study concentrates on a class of systems known as extreme mass-ratio inspirals, or EMRIs. Over time, the smaller object gradually spirals inward, emitting gravitational waves throughout this slow descent. When scientists can model these signals with high precision, the resulting data act like detailed "cosmic fingerprints" that reveal how matter is arranged near massive black holes. Before observatories like LISA begin collecting data, researchers must understand in advance what kinds of gravitational wave patterns they should expect and how to interpret them. Until now, many studies have used simplified models that only roughly describe how the surrounding environment influences EMRIs. According to the authors, these approximations leave out important physical effects. This means the calculations rely entirely on Einstein's theory of gravity rather than simplified Newtonian approximations. These concentrations are often referred to as "spikes" or "mounds." By incorporating their relativistic model into modern gravitational waveform calculations, the researchers demonstrate that such dark matter structures would leave distinct, measurable signatures in the signals detected by future observatories. The authors describe this research as an essential step toward a larger scientific goal. Over time, they hope gravitational waves can be used to chart how dark matter is distributed throughout the Universe and provide new insight into its fundamental nature. Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Search author on: PubMed Google Scholar After decades of meticulous research initiated by the Nobel-prizewinning discovery of G proteins1, you might think that scientists know all there is to know about this crucial family of signalling proteins. In a paper in Nature by Stahl et al.2, and in a companion paper in Nature Communications by Bohn and Stahl3, researchers describe a twist on G-protein signalling that might hold the key to the rational design of opioid drugs with better pain-relieving capabilities and fewer unwanted side effects than those that are currently available. Receive 51 print issues and online access Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout The author declares no competing interests. Read the paper: GTP release-selective agonists prolong opioid analgesic efficacy Designer cannabinoids could be the key to pain relief without adverse effects Molecular ‘glues' and ‘bumpers' on receptors can bias signalling inside the cell GTP release-selective agonists prolong opioid analgesic efficacy A breathalyser-style test for detecting pancreatic cancer Systematic maps reveal how human chromosomes are organized Transient hepatic reconstitution of trophic factors enhances aged immunity SOS: RNA-processing mechanism rescues genes from invasive DNA Systematic maps reveal how human chromosomes are organized Mutations in mitochondrial ferredoxin FDX2 suppress frataxin deficiency AITHYRA and CeMM of the Austrian Academy of Sciences open a new call for PhD Students. Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM), ÖAW The Dept of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Sweden, is looking for an associate professor in the field of neuroscience and developmental biology Job Title: Locum Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Energy Location: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Madrid - hybrid working model Closing date: Janua... Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Madrid - hybrid working model NIH NCI Center for Cancer Research (CCR) Read the paper: GTP release-selective agonists prolong opioid analgesic efficacy Designer cannabinoids could be the key to pain relief without adverse effects Molecular ‘glues' and ‘bumpers' on receptors can bias signalling inside the cell An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.