Inverse - ☠️ Shrunken head mystery

Good morning

August 05 2022

Walk through the Met Museum in New York or the British Museum in London, and you will find yourself staring at an array of marvelous and fascinating artifacts from around the world. (For me, I was always the girl lost in the Ancient Egypt wing.) These artifacts tell the history of humanity to modern museum goers, but these narratives are nuanced and multi-layered.

Yes, these objects reveal information about the context in which they were created — but they also reveal how they came to be in the museum in the first place. That tale may not be so rosy — many artifacts on display in western museums are the result of colonial exploits, not pure discovery. In the case of tsantsas, shrunken heads that caught the attention of colonialists plundering the New World, their origin story has a fresh twist.

What's New

To the moon

Rockets

Artemis I's final countdown begins

Artemis I is set to launch on August 29, NASA confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday. The uncrewed lunar mission is a first test of the spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the Moon later this decade.

Artemis I still has some major milestones to clear before launch day. These include a final training simulation, rollout to the launch pad, and a battery of final tests and checklists — all of these stages could result in further delays to launch.

Here’s what to expect in the countdown to the countdown.

Artifacts

Mystery

The mystery shrouding shrunken heads’ origins

If you’ve ever felt like you’re being watched while strolling through a museum, these small, intricate artifacts may be the culprit: Just over 3 inches tall with leathery skin and long, often luscious hair, tsantsas (commonly referred to in English as shrunken heads) hang inside display cases at museums around the world, far away from their homes with the Shuar and Achuar peoples in Ecuador and Northern Peru.

Despite their widespread presence in Western museums, the true origin of many tsantsas is still murky. In a new study, researchers used micro-CT scans and conventional CT scans to take a closer look. Through this work, they made a surprising conclusion that may have redefined the criteria for an authentic tsantsa.

Learn more

Space

Science

A new exoplanet just dropped

Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet that is sometimes (possibly) habitable and sometimes hellish.

Ross 508 b is a rocky world about four times more massive than Earth, and it zips around the red dwarf star Ross 508 once every 11 days.

Thanks to its elliptical orbit, the planet dips in and out of its star’s habitable zone (the region around a star where temperatures are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface) every few days, otherwise swinging too close to its star for comfort.

Review:

Netflix

What to Watch

The Sandman is Netflix’s first great comic book adaptation

A dream come true in more ways than one.

The Sandman, starring Tom Sturridge as the titular pale-faced, brooding dream-maker, debuted 10 episodes today on Netflix, meticulously adapting the first two volumes of Gaiman’s treasured and critically acclaimed graphic novel from page-to-screen.

Fans of the comics will not be disappointed. Dare we say it? Their dreams may have finally come true.

Read our review

Please no

Streaming

Strange things are happening on HBO Max

In the aftermath of the Warner-Discovery merger, executives from Discovery have taken the reigns and seem to be stripping the popular streaming service for parts after trashing an almost-finished Batgirl movie, canceling various HBO Max shows, and removing original films from the platform for no clear reason.

It seems increasingly possible that HBO Max will no longer exist a few months from now — or even a few weeks. So with that in mind, here are 53 of the best science fiction, fantasy, and superhero shows, movies, and franchises worth watching (or re-watching) while you know where to find them.

Meanwhile...

This genetically modified rice could transform the global food supply

The brain’s memory hub may explain why some people get PTSD

Lady Gaga will co-star in the 'Joker' sequel, set to debut October 2024

'Andor' showrunner reveals when a beloved 'Rogue One' character will appear

Today in history: On August 5, 1926, in his last public stunt, American magician Harry Houdini stayed in an underwater airtight coffin for 90 minutes.

Song of the day: "The Final Countdown," Europe

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Inverse - ☠️ Shrunken head mystery

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