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Dogs and horses interred with Iron Age people hint at strong bonds between humans and animals. Plus: the existence of a new kind of magnetism has been confirmed.

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Laffranchi et al. (CC-BY 4.0)

Pampered pets?

Late Iron Age people in northern Italy were sometimes buried with their dogs or horses. At the 2200-year-old Seminario Vescovile burial ground near Verona in Italy, where the Cenomani people lived in metal-making communities before and during the Roman conquest, researchers have investigated 161 graves. Most contained just the remains of a person, but 16 also included animals, either whole or in parts. Of those, 12 were pork or beef products, possibly meant as food offerings to the deceased. Four people, however, were buried with dogs or horses or both of these animals, which weren’t used for food in that population. The findings hint that the people felt soconnected with their animals that their loved ones chose to bury them together. Read more.

Magnetic leap

A new kind of magnetism has been measured for the first time. Until the 20th century, there was thought to be only one kind of permanent magnet, a ferromagnet, the effects of which can be seen in objects with strong external magnetic fields like fridge magnets or compass needles. These fields are caused by the magnetic spins of the magnets’ electrons lining up in one direction. But, in the 1930s, French physicist Louis Néel discovered another kind of magnetism, called antiferromagnetism, where the electrons’ spins are alternately up and down. Now a team has confirmed the existence of a third type – an altermagnet – in the crystal magnesium telluride. Altermagnets could be used to make high capacity and fast memory devices or new kinds of magnetic computers. Read more.

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Transforming clinical trials

In this free New Scientist podcast, we meet the chair of the UK review into commercial clinical trials, James O'Shaughnessy, and ask how the independent review has influenced the reinvention of the clinical trials infrastructure for a new age of medicine.

Simon Pemberton

Cannibalism is a taboo subject in many societies. We see it as aberrant, and associate it with zombies, psychopaths and serial killers. Positive stories of cannibalism are few and far between. But perhaps it’s time for us to rethink these negative views. Emerging archaeological evidence shows that cannibalism was surprisingly common among prehistoric people, occurring in up to a quarter of all Stone Age societies. What’s more, close examination of the leftovers is starting to reveal why our ancestors ate each other. And it turns out that they had some good and positive reasons for doing so.  Read more.

Wednesday 21 February 2024 | 7pm EST

Learn all about the cosmic cocktail, including evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies. 

Johannes le Coutre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, talks about how scientists have grown cow muscle cells inside grains of rice to create a food product that could supply protein with a lower carbon footprint than beef.

Thanks for reading and have a great Thursday.

Chris Simms

Assistant news editor, New Scientist

Email me at newsletter@newscientist.com

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