This is a selection of news during the last days on phys.org that have caught my attention in the last days, for one reason or another.

Developments in Environmentally-Friendly Technology:

New screening system may point the way to clean, renewable hydrogen power

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-screening-renewable-hydrogen-power.html

Sewer treasure: Engineers reveal how to optimize processes for transforming wastewater sulfur to valuable materials

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-sewer-treasure-reveal-optimize-wastewater.html

Archaeology:

Origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf discovered

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-year-old-venus-willendorf.html

Cosmology:

Experiment on reservoir in India fails to find evidence of cosmic dawn

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-reservoir-india-evidence-cosmic-dawn.html

More information, as well as criticism, welcome.

Enjoy.

The technique used on the Venus intrigued me, as I was unfamiliar with it. Described as micro-computed tommography, it builds up a 3D image of the interior via X-ray examination. Such non-destructive techniques are surely transformational in several fields.

I see an analogy with seismic tomography, which has provided such deep (pun intended) insights into the Earth's interior through examination of earthquake data from multiple stations.

The central message of the paper appears to be that the analysis has been able to identify a source south of the Alps, while the Venus was made north of the Alps, indicating far ranging communication between Europeans 30 millenia ago. The researchers were able to determine that the oolite from which the Venus was carved was not of Miocene age (which could have been sourced neraby) by, but Jurassic. We have the same oolite in the UK, part of the Great Oolite Group. Wikipedia note "It is exposed at the surface as a variably thick belt extending roughly NE-SW from the coast of Dorset up to the Humber." Fellow Britons in these areas may be familiar with it.

Thank you for pointing us towards these interesting items.