Technologies

This 9,000-year-old beer would disappoint fans of modern IPAs

A find from a Neolithic Chinese burial site shows evidence of some of the earliest craft brewing known.

We now know humans have been honoring the dead for at least 9,000 years by throwing back a brew or two at a funeral.

Researchers analyzed ancient pots uncovered at a burial site in southern China and found what seems to be the residue of some very, very old beer.

«This ancient beer though would not have been like the IPA that we havetoday,» Dartmouth anthropology professor Jiajing Wang said in a statement. «Instead, it was likely a slightly fermented and sweet beverage,which was probably cloudy in color.»

Wang is co-author of a paper published last month in the journal Plos One that outlines the discovery.

For home brew fanatics who might want to try and re-create some Neolithic malt, this particular beverage looks to have been made of fermented rice, «a grain called Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and unidentified tubers,» Wang says.

«If people had some leftover rice and the grains became moldy, they may have noticed that the grains became sweeter and alcoholic with age. While people may not have known the biochemistry associated with grains that became moldy, they probably observed the fermentation process and leveraged it through trial and error.»

The researchers write that rice would have been in its early stages of domestication 9,000 years ago and communities were probably still subsisting largely from hunting and foraging. They conclude that because rice harvesting and processing would have been a labor-intensive process at the time, the beer probably played a ritually significant role in occasions like funerals.

They go on to speculate that a history of ritualized drinking may have helped forge the social bonds that would eventually become the foundation of the complex rice farming societies that came about 4,000 years later.

So it turns out you can trace the start of just about anything — from relationships and startups to entire societies — to sharing a brew.

Technologies

Best Pixel 9 Deals: Top Places to Score Big Savings on the New Pixel 9A and Other Models

Technologies

EV Sales Are Up More Than 10% in the US Despite Tesla Sales Dropping

GM saw the biggest surge in EV shipments, while Tesla dropped by 9% compared to last year.

Technologies

Rideable Horse Robot Viral Video: The Real Story Behind It

Kawasaki’s Corleo robot horse is just a concept right now, but a thrilling hype video makes it look like a blast to ride.

If you’ve ever watched a video featuring a Boston Dynamics Spot robot dog and wanted to saddle it up and ride it, then Kawasaki has a concept robot that’ll make your heart flutter — and it’s part horse, part leopard, part robot and all wild. Too bad you can’t actually buy one.

The Kawasaki Corleo is a four-legged rideable robot, the answer to the question: «What if we put legs on an all-terrain vehicle instead of wheels?» Kawasaki released a video showing what the concept would look like if it were fully realized.

The trippy video features the Corleo and riders galloping through a forest, running across a field, leaping over rocky terrain and trotting across a snowy landscape. The video appears to be primarily computer generated with Lord of the Rings-worthy scenery.

Kawasaki is known for its motorcycles and ATVs, but the international company has its hands in everything from railcars to industrial equipment and robotics.

Kawasaki unveiled the forward-thinking Corleo for the Osaka Expo 2025 in Japan. It’s a 2050 concept model for a future mode of transportation. The expo’s theme is «designing future society for our lives.» The event officially opens on April 13.

Corleo incorporates some nifty design ideas, including independent legs, a hydrogen engine and steering through weight shifting.

«While preserving the joy of riding, the vehicle continually monitors the rider’s movements to achieve a reassuring sense of unity between human and machine,» Kawasaki said.

Kawasaki didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans for Corleo.

For now, Corleo is just a model capable of limited movement, so your sci-fi dreams of riding across rugged mountains on a kick-butt robo-steed will have to be put on hold. Perhaps 2050 will bring us a world full of leggy, rideable robots. Somehow, that feels more achievable than a bunch of flying cars.