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Ancient Tombs Reveal 4,500-year-old Highway Network in North-west Arabia

A dense ‘funerary avenue’ flanked by Bronze Age tombs, leading out of al Wadi Oasis near Khaybar in north-west Saudi Arabia. Photo: RCU
A dense ‘funerary avenue’ flanked by Bronze Age tombs, leading out of al Wadi Oasis near Khaybar in north-west Saudi Arabia. Photo: RCU
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Ancient Tombs Reveal 4,500-year-old Highway Network in North-west Arabia

A dense ‘funerary avenue’ flanked by Bronze Age tombs, leading out of al Wadi Oasis near Khaybar in north-west Saudi Arabia. Photo: RCU
A dense ‘funerary avenue’ flanked by Bronze Age tombs, leading out of al Wadi Oasis near Khaybar in north-west Saudi Arabia. Photo: RCU

Archaeologists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have determined that the people who lived in ancient north-west Arabia built long-distance “funerary avenues,” major pathways flanked by thousands of burial monuments that linked oases and pastures, the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) said in a press release on Friday.

The finding suggests a high degree of social and economic connection between the region's populations in the 3rd millennium BCE.

Publication of the findings in the journal The Holocene caps a year of tremendous progress by the UWA team, working under the RCU, in shedding light on the lives of the ancient inhabitants of Arabia.

“The existence of the funerary avenues suggests that complex social horizons existed 4,500 years ago across a huge swathe of the Arabian Peninsula. The finding adds to the steady progress by archaeologists working under the auspices of RCU in understanding the hidden story of the ancient kingdoms and earlier societies of north Arabia,” said the press release.

The UWA team's work is part of a wider effort that includes 13 archaeological and conservation project teams from around the world collaborating with Saudi experts in AlUla and neighboring Khaybar counties in Saudi Arabia.

"The more we learn about the ancient inhabitants of north-west Arabia, the more we are inspired by the way our mission reflects their mindset: they lived in harmony with nature, honored their predecessors, and reached out to the wider world,” said CEO of RCU Amr AlMadani.

“The work done by our archaeological teams in 2021 demonstrates that Saudi Arabia is a home for top-flight science – and we look forward to hosting more research teams in 2022."

Director of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Research for RCU Dr. Rebecca Foote said: “It is terrific to see how analyses of the data are elucidating so many aspects of life from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in north-west Arabia.”

“These articles are just the beginning of the many publications that will advance our knowledge of prehistoric to modern times and have significant implications for the wider region,” she added.

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Heavy Snow in Poland Leaves Drivers Stranded in Tailbacks of up to 20 Km

Cars drive on a road during heavy snowfall in central Warsaw, Poland, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
Cars drive on a road during heavy snowfall in central Warsaw, Poland, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
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Heavy Snow in Poland Leaves Drivers Stranded in Tailbacks of up to 20 Km

Cars drive on a road during heavy snowfall in central Warsaw, Poland, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
Cars drive on a road during heavy snowfall in central Warsaw, Poland, 30 December 2025. (EPA)

Heavy snowfall in Poland caused tailbacks stretching as far as 20 km (12.43 miles) on a motorway between ​the capital Warsaw and the Baltic port city of Gdansk during the night, police said on Wednesday.

While the situation left hundreds of people trapped in their cars in freezing conditions, by the early hours of ‌Wednesday morning traffic ‌was moving again, ‌according ⁠to ​police.

"The ‌difficult situation began yesterday after 4 p.m., when the first trucks on the S7 route... began having trouble approaching the slopes," said Tomasz Markowski, a spokesperson for police in the northern city of ⁠Olsztyn.

"This led to a traffic jam stretching approximately ‌20 kilometers overnight." Deputy Infrastructure Minister ‍Stanislaw Bukowiec ‍told a press conference that nobody had ‍been hurt as a result of the difficult situation on the roads.

Anna Karczewska, a spokesperson for police in Ostroda, said officers had ​tried to help drivers who found themselves stuck. Ostroda lies on ⁠the highway about 40 km west of Olsztyn.

"We helped as much as we could, and we had coffee and hot tea for the drivers, which the Ostroda City Hall had prepared for us," she said.

State news agency PAP reported that there had also been some disruption to railways and airports, ‌but that services were returning to normal.

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Infant Screen Exposure Shapes Long-Term Brain Changes and Teen Anxiety, Study Finds  

The study concluded that children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two are exposed to endure adolescent mental health. (The University of Queensland)
The study concluded that children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two are exposed to endure adolescent mental health. (The University of Queensland)
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Infant Screen Exposure Shapes Long-Term Brain Changes and Teen Anxiety, Study Finds  

The study concluded that children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two are exposed to endure adolescent mental health. (The University of Queensland)
The study concluded that children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two are exposed to endure adolescent mental health. (The University of Queensland)

Children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two showed changes in brain development that were linked to slower decision-making and increased anxiety by their teenage years, according to new study released by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.

Prepared in collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, the study focuses on infancy, a period when brain development is most rapid and especially sensitive to environmental influences.

The amount and type of screen exposure in infancy are largely determined by parental and caregiver awareness and parenting practices, highlighting a critical window for early guidance and intervention, showed the study, published in eBioMedicine on Tuesday.

It said the researchers followed 168 children before age two and conducted brain scans at three time points (ages 4.5, 6, and 7.5), which allowed them to track how brain networks developed over time rather than relying on a single snapshot.

Children with higher infant screen time showed an accelerated maturation of brain networks responsible for visual processing and cognitive control.

The researchers suggest this may result from the intense sensory stimulation that screens provide. Notably, screen time measured at ages three and four did not show the same effects, underscoring why infancy is a particularly sensitive period.

The study showed that children with high screen exposure, the networks controlling vision and cognition specialized faster, before they had developed the efficient connections needed for complex thinking. This can limit flexibility and resilience, leaving the child less able to adapt later in life.

It said this premature specialization came at a cost: children with these altered brain networks took longer to make decisions during a cognitive task at age 8.5, suggesting reduced cognitive efficiency or flexibility.

Those with slower decision-making, in turn, reported higher anxiety symptoms at age 13. These findings suggest that screen exposure in infancy may have effects that extend well beyond early childhood, shaping brain development and behavior years later.

In a related study, the same team found that infant screen time is also associated with alterations in brain networks that govern emotional regulation — but that parent-child reading could counteract some of these brain changes.

Researchers found that their results give a biological explanation for why limiting screen time in the first two years is crucial.

“But it also highlights the importance of parental engagement, showing that parent-child activities, like reading together, can make a real difference,” said Asst Prof Tan Ai Peng, Clinician-Scientist at NUS, and the study's senior author.

The study concluded that children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two are exposed to endure adolescent mental health, particularly on cognitive performance and anxiety levels.

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Indonesia Raises Alert for Mount Bur Ni Telong Volcano after Spike of Activity

Explosive activity concentrates at the north-east crater of the Mount Etna, as an eruption started on Dec. 24 continues, in Sicily, Italy, Monday Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)
Explosive activity concentrates at the north-east crater of the Mount Etna, as an eruption started on Dec. 24 continues, in Sicily, Italy, Monday Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)
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Indonesia Raises Alert for Mount Bur Ni Telong Volcano after Spike of Activity

Explosive activity concentrates at the north-east crater of the Mount Etna, as an eruption started on Dec. 24 continues, in Sicily, Italy, Monday Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)
Explosive activity concentrates at the north-east crater of the Mount Etna, as an eruption started on Dec. 24 continues, in Sicily, Italy, Monday Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)

Indonesian authorities have raised the alert level for the Mount Bur Ni Telong volcano in the country’s westernmost province of Aceh to its second highest following a series of increased activity and volcanic earthquakes, official said Wednesday.

The 2,624-meter (8,600-foot) stratovolcano in Aceh's Bener Meriah regency recorded at least seven earthquakes on Tuesday evening that were felt about five kilometers (three miles) away, while seismographs also detected seven shallow volcanic earthquakes along with 14 deep quakes and two tectonic quakes, said Lana Saria, the acting head of the Geological Agency at Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

She said based on the results of visual and instrumental monitoring which show the occurrence of increased volcanic activity for Mount Bur Ni Telong, scientists raised the alert level from the third to the second highest level Tuesday evening.

“Aftershocks following local tectonic events indicate magma activity is easily triggered by tectonic disturbances,” Saria said, adding that the increase in seismic activity has been ongoing since July and became more intense and shallow in the past two months.

According to The Associated Press, the agency's visual monitoring showed the volcano clearly visible with no crater smoke. However, she warned of possible eruption, including phreatic blasts and hazardous volcanic gases near areas with fumaroles and solfataras, openings in the Earth’s crust that emit steam and gases.

Authorities urged residents and visitors to stay at least 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) from the crater and avoid fumarole and solfatara zones during cloudy or rainy weather because gas concentrations can be life-threatening.

The heightened alert came as the Bener Meriah area is still recovering from catastrophic floods and landslides earlier this month that struck 52 cities and regencies on Sumatra island, leaving 1,141 people dead with 163 residents still missing and more than 7,000 injured, the National Disaster Management Agency said. In Bener Meriah alone, 31 people died and 14 are still missing after the floods and landslides hit the regency, disrupting access to remote villages and displacing more than 2,100 residents.

Local media said people living in three villages within a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius from the crater are being evacuated as officials fear that heavy rains combined with volcanic activity could worsen conditions and complicate evacuation efforts.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 280 million people, has over 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.