Bibliolater 📚 📜 🖋 @bibliolater@qoto.org

**Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe**

"_Here, we argue that a post-volcanic climate downturn and trans-Mediterranean famine from 1345–1347 CE forced the Italian maritime republics of Venice, Genoa and Pisa to activate their well-established supply network and import grain from the Mongols of the Golden Horde around the Sea of Azov in 1347 CE. This climate-driven change in long-distance grain trade not only prevented large parts of Italy from starvation but also introduced the plague bacterium to Mediterranean harbours and fueled its rapid dispersal across much of Europe._"

Bauch, M., Büntgen, U. Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe. Commun Earth Environ 6, 986 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02964-0.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #History #Medieval #Europe #Climate #ClimateChange #Ecology #Academia

🧬 **Ancient DNA from Shimao city records kinship practices in Neolithic China**

"_These findings reveal a predominantly patrilineal descent structure across Shimao communities, and possibly sex-specific sacrificial rituals. We also characterize the population history, revealing that Shimao culture-related populations originated mostly from a Yangshao culture-related population present at least 1,000 years earlier, and the lasting inflow of Yumin-related populations from Inner Mongolia did not interrupt regional genetic continuity._"

Chen, Z., Gardner, J.D., Sun, Z. et al. Ancient DNA from Shimao city records kinship practices in Neolithic China. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09799-x.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #Archaeology #Science #Genetics #Ancient #DNA #Neolithic #China #Academia

🧬 **Inference of human pigmentation from ancient DNA by genotype likelihoods**

"_We showed that the Neolithic diffusion of early farmers introduced lighter phenotypes, but for millennia, pigmentation diversity remained extensive, so that many Europeans kept the dark skins of their African ancestors well within the Bronze and Iron ages_"

S. Perretti, P. Santos, M.T. Vizzari, E. Tassani, A. Benazzo, S. Ghirotto, & G. Barbujani, Inference of human pigmentation from ancient DNA by genotype likelihoods, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (29) e2502158122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2502158122 (2025).

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #Science #Ancient #DNA #Phenotype #Pigmentation #Europe

🖥️ 🇬🇧 **Algorithms at your service: Understanding how X’s systems of recommendation likely fuelled the far-right riots in the United Kingdom by amplifying visual representations of racist conspiracy theories**

"_In addition to showing how algorithms increased the visibility of posts featuring images (particularly those created with AI) and videos representing racist conspiracy theories, this article explores how these posts likely fuelled the riots by appealing to a crusading mentality that projected White/European men as morally entitled to defend Britain, animating racist fantasies deeply entrenched in the Western collective unconscious._"

Lopes Buarque, B., & Lewis, N. (2025). Algorithms at your service: Understanding how X’s systems of recommendation likely fuelled the far-right riots in the United Kingdom by amplifying visual representations of racist conspiracy theories. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481251391636.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #Politics #UKPol #Algorithms #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Tech #Racism #UK #UnitedKingdom #Academia

**Testing for racial bias using inconsistent perceptions of race**

"_We apply our method to test for bias in police traffic stops, finding that the same driver is likelier to be searched or arrested by police when they are perceived as Hispanic than when they are perceived as white._"

Nora Gera, Emma Pierson, Testing for racial bias using inconsistent perceptions of race. Sci. Adv. 11, eadx5829 (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx5829.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #ComputerScience #SocialScience #Race #Bias #Research #Academia

**"What if... Charlemagne's other sons had survived?" Charlemagne's sons and the problems of royal succession**

"_The article is concerned with the problem of Early and Medieval royal succession in different circumstances: the death of two of Charlemagne's designated heirs in 810 and 811, the succession of Louis the Pious in 814 and the conflicts between Louis and his sons resulting in Louis's deposition in 833 and the division of the Carolingian Empire._"

Ohnacker, E. (2009). "What if... Charlemagne's other sons had survived?" Charlemagne's sons and the problems of royal succession. Historical Social Research, 34(2), 184-202. https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.34.2009.2.184-202

#OpenAccess #OA #History #Histodons #Medieval #Europe #Analysis #Research #Academia

🇰🇿 **A major city of the Kazakh Steppe? Investigating Semiyarka’s Bronze Age legacy**

"_Occupied from around 1600 BC and linked to the Cherkaskul and Alekseevka-Sargary cultures, Semiyarka is a newly identified 140ha Late Bronze Age settlement in north-eastern Kazakhstan._"

Radivojević, M. et al. (2025) ‘A major city of the Kazakh Steppe? Investigating Semiyarka’s Bronze Age legacy’, Antiquity, pp. 1–9. doi: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10244.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Archaeology #Archaeodons #History #Asia #Kazakhstan #BronzeAge #Research #Academia

🌏 **Characterizing the American Upper Paleolithic**

"_We suggest a group with a similar lithic technology became isolated somewhere in the vicinity of the Paleo-Sakhalin-Hokkaido-Kuril region, developing genetically into ancestral American populations. Between ~22,000 and ~18,000 cal yr B.P., a subset of this population migrated along the southern Beringian and Northwest coasts into the Americas. By ~16,000 to ~15,000 cal yr B.P., they had become widely dispersed across North America._"

David B. Madsen et al., Characterizing the American Upper Paleolithic. Sci. Adv.11, eady9545 (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady9545.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Archaeology #Anthropology #Paleolithic #Americas #Asia #Research #Academia

📚 **History Day 2025 reading list**

"_To celebrate History Day 2025 at London’s Senate House this week, we’ve put together a reading list of essential open access books in history._"

🔗 https://uclpress.co.uk/history-day-2025-reading-list/.

#UCL #OpenAccess #OA #History #Histodons #ReadingList #Books #Bookstodon

🧬 **Unveiling the origins and genetic makeup of the “forgotten people”: A study of the Sarmatian-period population in the Carpathian Basin**

"_We have shown that the CB Sarmatians are descendants of the Sarmatians from the Ural and Kazakhstan regions, who migrated from the Carpathian foothills in present-day Romania. The descendants of the substantial CB Sarmatian population formed a significant portion of the population during the subsequent Hun era._"

Schütz, O. et al. (2025) 'Unveiling the origins and genetic makeup of the “forgotten people”: A study of the Sarmatian-period population in the Carpathian Basin,' Cell, 188(15), pp. 4074-4090.e11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.009.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Archaeogenetics #Science #Genetics #Migration #Academia

**Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning**

"_Results from seven online and laboratory experiments (n = 10,462) lend support for these predictions, and confirm, for example, that participants reported developing shallower knowledge from LLM summaries even when the results were augmented by real-time web links._"

Shiri Melumad, Jin Ho Yun, Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning, PNAS Nexus, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2025, pgaf316, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf316.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Tech #LLMS #Learning #Education #Psychology #Academics

**Possible Maps: Newfoundland, 1763–1829**

_This article uses four overlapping maps to tell four overlapping stories: James Cook’s circumnavigation of the island in 1763–8; Lt David Buchan’s trek into the interior to contact the Beothuk in 1811 and 1820; William Eppes Cormack and Joseph Sylvester’s trek across the island in 1822; and finally, a series of story-maps created by Shanawdithit, who is apocryphally known as ‘the last of the Beothuk’._

Laite, J. (2025) ‘Possible Maps: Newfoundland, 1763–1829’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, pp. 1–32. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0080440125100479.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #History #Histodons #Maps #Cartography #Academia

**Attachment Anxiety and Problematic Use of Conversational Artificial Intelligence: Mediation of Emotional Attachment and Moderation of Anthropomorphic Tendencies**

"_Individuals with high attachment anxiety urgently need relatively perfect partners to reduce negative emotions. While the emergence of conversational artificial intelligence meets their needs, there is a risk of excessive dependence._"

Heng S, Zhang Z. Attachment Anxiety and Problematic Use of Conversational Artificial Intelligence: Mediation of Emotional Attachment and Moderation of Anthropomorphic Tendencies. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2025;18:1775-1785 https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S531805.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Study #Psychology #Anxiety #Emotions #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Tech #Academia

📖 **Settler Colonialism as a Structure? Structural Logics, Long-Term Patterns, and Critical Reflections**

"_Drawing on diverse case studies – from ancient Mediterranean societies to contemporary visions of settling Mars – contributors critically examine key questions: What defines settler colonialism? How does access to land shape its dynamics? What socio-political and cultural forces underpin settler expansion?_"

Pelgrom, J. and Six, C. (2025) 'Settler Colonialism as a Structure? Structural Logics, Long-Term Patterns, and Critical Reflections,' books.ugp.rug.nl https://doi.org/10.21827/68db7d21df8a1.

#OpenAccess #OA #History #Histodons #Academia #Nonfiction #Books #Bookstodon

**Lost Data in Electron Microscopy**

"_Of the more than 150,000 electron microscopy images evaluated in this study, only approximately 3500 (just over 2%) were made available in publications. For the analyzed dataset, the amount of lost data in electron microscopy can be estimated as >90% (in terms of data being recorded but not being published in peer-reviewed literature)._"

Ivanova, Nina M., Alexey S. Kashin, and Valentine P. Ananikov. 2025. "Lost Data in Electron Microscopy" Chemistry 7, no. 5: 160. https://doi.org/10.3390/chemistry7050160.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Chemistry #Data #Images #Academia

📖 **Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ **

"_Writing in 93/4 ce, Josephus composed an account of Jesus known as the Testimonium Flavianum. Despite this being the oldest description of Jesus written by a non-Christian, scholars have long doubted its authenticity due to the alleged pro-Christian claims it contains. The present book, however, authenticates Josephus’ authorship and then reveals a startling discovery._"

Schmidt, T C, Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ (Oxford, 2025; online edn, Oxford Academic, 5 May 2025), https://doi.org/10.1093/9780191957697.001.0001, accessed 15 Oct. 2025.

#OpenAccess #OA #Theology #Religion #Academia

**When knowing more means doing less: Algorithmic knowledge and digital (dis)engagement among young adults**

"_A new survey of U.S. young adults finds that while higher algorithmic awareness and knowledge are linked to greater concerns about misinformation and filter bubbles, individuals with greater algorithmic awareness and knowledge are less likely to correct misinformation or engage with opposing viewpoints on social media—possibly reflecting limited algorithmic agency._"

Chung, M. (2025). When knowing more means doing less: Algorithmic knowledge and digital (dis)engagement among young adults. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-186

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Survey #SocialMedia #Technology #Tech #Algorithms #Misinformation #Academia

**Active night-time tweeting is associated with meaningfully lower mental wellbeing in a UK birth cohort study**

"_We found strong evidence the average hour participants posted Tweets was associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and mental wellbeing. Average hour explained almost 2% of the variation in mental wellbeing, comparable to reports of the impact of binge drinking and exercise._"

Joinson, D., Haworth, C.M.A., Simpson, E. et al. Active night-time tweeting is associated with meaningfully lower mental wellbeing in a UK birth cohort study. Sci Rep 15, 34301 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14745-y.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Anxiety #Depression #Epidemiology #Psychology #Statistics #Science #SocialMedia #Twitter #Technology #Academia

**Why did Endurance sink?**

"_Endurance was not designed for compressive conditions in the Antarctic pack ice, but for easier conditions at the ice edge in the Arctic. The weakest part of its hull was the engine room area, which was not only larger than in other early Antarctic ships but also lacked beams to give strength against compression by ice._"

Tuhkuri, J. (2025) ‘Why did endurance sink?’, Polar Record, 61, p. e23. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247425100090.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #History #Histodons #Endurance #Shackleton #Antarctic #Ships #Academia

**Life without sex: Large-scale study links sexlessness to physical, cognitive, and personality traits, socioecological factors, and DNA**

"_Lifelong sexless individuals are, on average, higher educated, use less substances, and feel lonelier and unhappier. Sexless men tend to live in regions with fewer women, and sexlessness was more prevalent in regions with higher income inequality._"

Abdellaoui, A. et al. (2025) 'Life without sex: Large-scale study links sexlessness to physical, cognitive, and personality traits, socioecological factors, and DNA,' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(38). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2418257122.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #Science #Genetics #Psychology #Academia #Academics