Understanding "Culture"

 

The world of the early Hebrew.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

A member has asked about the meaning of the term "culture", and she would like to know "what constitutes a culture?"

When we speak of a "culture" we must recognize that people adapt to the environment, which means that the culture will reflect its environment. Desert cultures around the world have much in common. River cultures around the world have much in common. Coastal populations share many common features. The same is true for the populations of the Artic. This is one of the more profound observations of Franz Boas, the American anthropologist, whose initial studies were done among the Eskimos.

Not surprisingly, the earliest human populations lived near major water sources such a rivers and lakes. Genesis describes Eden as a vast well-watered region extending from the Upper Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates. This is the region inhabited by the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC) who dispersed into the areas shown on this map. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship was at Nekhen on the Nile.

They traveled along the rivers that interconnected in Africa during the Africa Humid Period, also known as the African Aqualithic. The rock paintings that are found across what is today the Sahara reveal that the region was once green and watered. These images show people swimming and fishing.

Noah's homeland was in the region of Lake Chad about 6000 years ago. This is the only place on earth said to be Noah's homeland by the local populations. They call it Borno or Benue, both meaning "land of Noah". The local Kanari people call Lake Chad Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah". The now dry Sahara was much wetter then and the Chad Basin overflowed. Indeed, from Noah's perspective, all of his territory (eretz) would have appeared to be under water.

A distinctive trait of the Hebrew marriage and ascendancy pattern drove their dispersion. Hebrew sent-away sons were to move away from the Hebrew ruler's proper heir and establish territories of their own.

Noah was probably a sent-away son. His Hebrew ancestors likely lived in the Nile Valley. Some of those Hebrew ancestors may have been cave dwellers living along the Nile River.

His culture was that of the paleolakes of Africa. Archaeological research has identified various populations that lived at paleolakes near Noah's territory. See Paul Sereno's findings at Gobero. 

Paleolake populations were fishing and boating cultures. This Dufuna black mahogany boat was found in 1987 in Yobe State (Nigeria) buried 16 feet under clays and sands which alternating sequence showed evidence of deposition in standing and flowing water. The dugout is 8000 years old. By comparison, Egypt's oldest boat is 5000 years old.

The 8000-year Dufuna boat found near Noah's homeland.

Peter Breunig (University of Frankfurt) specializes in African archaeology. He has written this description of the Dufuna boat: “The bow and stern are both carefully worked to points, giving the boat a notably more elegant form”, compared to “the dugout made of conifer wood from Pesse in the Netherlands, whose blunt ends and thick sides seem crude”.

Breunig added, "Judging by stylistic sophistication, Breunig reasons that, “It is highly probable that the Dufuna boat does not represent the beginning of a tradition, but had already undergone a long development, and that the origins of water transport in Africa lie even further back in time.”

Related reading: Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; The Hebrew Were a Caste, Features of the Hebrew Social Structure; Some Hebrew Were Troglodytes; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Distinction between Race and Ethnicity

The Distinction between Race and Ethnicity

 

Humans come in as many skin shades as these soil colors.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

This week a friend asked about castes. He wanted to know if a caste ever becomes a race, though he recognizes that "race" is a modern construct and a false understanding of human diversity. That is why the term does not appear in the Bible. (See The Bible and the Question of Race.)

Molecular genetics has demonstrated the inadequacy of the concept of race. (See Race and genetics do not line up well, new study confirms | Live Science)

A caste may be regarded as an ethnic group because the members share a cultural heritage, language, religion, ancestry, and traditions. Ethnicity pertains to the cultural aspects that define a group's identity and distinguish it from others.

Most castes have a distinctive kinship pattern in which marriage partners are taken only from within the caste (caste endogamy). This is especially true of castes of high social rank, such as the early Hebrew ruler-priest caste and the Brahmins of India. Like the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC), the traditional roles of the Brahmins involved teaching, studying, preserving the sacred scriptures, performing religious rituals, and advising rulers.

The Jews are an example of an ethnic group. Their identity is found in a shared religious heritage and common practices such as the observance of Jewish holidays, circumcision, and dietary laws. However, the genetic makeup of Jews is not like that of a caste. Some are Jewish because they were born to Jewish mothers. Some are born to Gentile mothers and become Jewish by conversion under the direction of a rabbi. 

Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine, led one of the studies that compared the genetic makeup of Jewish populations from around the world with African populations. Ostrer found that modern Jewish populations have African ancestry. David Reich, associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues decided to explore further and found that modern Jews can attribute about 3 to 5 percent of their ancestry to sub-Saharan Africans. (See Sub-Saharan DNA of Modern Jews.)

Of course, all living humans have ancestry that can be traced back to our early ancestors who lived along the major water systems of Africa.

Related reading: Seligman's Legacy; DNA Confirms Mixed Ancestry of Jews; Many Groups of Archaic Humans; Race vs ethnicity: what is the difference between them? | Live Science

Spain's Energy Advances and Vulnerability

 

Toledo, Spain. On the right is the castle-fortress known as the Alcazar

Spain's dependence on renewable energy sources has been growing significantly, with over 50% of its electricity generated from renewable sources, including wind, solar, and hydropower. This increase has been accompanied by a reduction in fossil fuel use, making Spain a global leader in renewable energy deployment.

In 2024, Spain relied on fossil fuels for 23% of its electricity. Its emissions per capita were below the global average. Spain is the European country with the third highest renewable energy generation capacity and 11th lowest CO2 emissions per inhabitant.

Spain is fortunate to have a very sunny southern region with offshore generation sources, and a high windy Plateau (remember Quijote's windmills?)

The main source of energy in the homes is electricity, generated by wind, nuclear power and natural gas. However, as with most countries, the electric power grid in Spain is vulnerable. On April 28, 2025, there was a major power blackout through Spain. The outage affected airports, shops and offices across Spain, Portugal and parts of France. 

Many people had to be rescued from stalled elevators and the subway lines were not operating. There were long lines of people waiting to take busses. The outage cut phone service and shut down traffic lights and ATM machines.

Backup systems provided power to hospitals, prisons, airports and nuclear power plants.

As to the possible cause of the massive outage, an engineer explained, "One possible cause for a highly connected network is for one area to go down due to substation transformer failure or shorted/failure of a transmission line which can cause additional circuits to open, sort of a domino effect as the system tries to stabilize (and fails)! As the dominos continue to fall - the failure area gets larger and larger."

A power engineer from the U.K. explained, "The Iberian grid suffered a disturbance in the south-west at 12:33. In 3.5 seconds this worsened and the interconnection to France disconnected. All renewable generation then went off-line, followed by disconnection of all rotating generation plant. The Iberian blackout was complete within a few seconds."

Related reading: Spain - Energy; Massive power outages hit Spain, Portugal and France; I’m a power engineer. The Iberian grid collapse makes me very afraid for Britain

The Potential of Lab-Grown Teeth

 

Dr Angelova-Volponi and Mr Zhang at work creating tooth cells.

Scientists in the U.K. have made significant progress in growing human teeth in a lab, offering a potential alternative to traditional fillings and implants. The scientists have developed a new material that may allow them to grow teeth in the lab.

The material allows cells to communicate with one another as they would in the body, enabling them to develop into tooth cells. This was reported in the journal ACS Macro Letters. The material was made from hydrogel — a soft, gel-like material that can absorb large amounts of water — and emulates the environment around the cells in the body, known as the matrix.

Scientists at King's College London have been working on a process for growing teeth from stem cells which interact to signal molecules to trigger tooth formation. The stem cells differentiate into various forms of cells, which then secrete the materials that the tooth is eventually made from, such as enamel, dentin and cementum.

"As the field progresses, the integration of such innovative techniques holds the potential to revolutionise dental care, offering sustainable and effective solutions for tooth repair and regeneration," study co-author Ana Angelova Volponi, a researcher at King's College London, said in the statement.

Having created the environment to grow teeth, scientists now must work out how to get them from the lab to a patient's mouth.

Read more here: Lab-grown teeth could offer alternative to fillings and implants, scientists say | Live Science; King's College scientists' lab-grown teeth breakthrough

Resilient New Copper Alloy

A cross-section of the new copper alloy, with the orange dots representing copper atoms, the yellow tantalum atoms and the blue lithium atoms. (Image credit: Lehigh University)

An ultra-tough copper alloy that is stronger than steel and can be used to build better airplanes and spacecraft. It can withstand temperatures of 1500 F. This alloy is an excellent candidate to build parts for high-temperature aerospace applications. The researchers published their findings March 27 in the journal Science.

The new alloy, a mixture of copper, tantalum and lithium, was built on nanoscales to withstand extreme temperatures and strains, and will have significant applications for aerospace, defense and industry. 

"This is cutting-edge science, developing a new material that uniquely combines copper's excellent conductivity with strength and durability on the scale of nickel-based superalloys," reports study co-author Martin Harmer, a professor emeritus of engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Related reading: New material gives copper superalloy-like strength | EurekAlert!; Scientists create ultra-tough copper alloy that is stronger than steel and can withstand temperatures of 1500 F | Live Science

Blood Biopsies Coming to the Market

Simple blood tests may be the future of cancer diagnosis.

Around four years ago, now 77-year-old John Gormly went for what was supposed to be a routine blood test. But the results were life-changing.

The test suggested Gormly had colon cancer, which a colonoscopy later confirmed was Stage 2, meaning the cancer had spread through the wall of the colon but not to his lymph nodes.

"I thought [my doctor] was wrong," Gormly, CEO of a construction company near Newport Beach, California, told Live Science. "I go, 'Nah, I don't feel anything.' But there it was. It was real; the colonoscopy showed it."

Gormly was one of the first patients to take a newly approved test called Shield, which its makers say can detect colon cancer from a blood sample. After his diagnosis, Gormly had surgery to remove the tumor and was back at work within 10 days.

"Liquid biopsies" like the one that detected early cancer for Gormly are now coming to market. Could they lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment?
An early version of Guardant Health's Shield test has been commercially available since 2022, but it wasn't covered by insurance. However, after approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2024, a diagnostic version of Shield was launched commercially and is now covered by Medicare.

The "Shield" blood test, approved by the FDA, is a non-invasive screening method for colorectal cancer, detecting alterations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood of individuals aged 45 and older at average risk.

Shield is only one of a number of emerging "liquid biopsies."

Scientists have developed blood tests for several cancers, including those of the breast, pancreas and stomach. Some blood tests even detect multiple types of cancer. If these liquid biopsies can be rolled out widely, they could help detect cancer earlier, more easily, or with fewer invasive measures — which, in turn, could lead to earlier detection and fewer cancer deaths.

It is likely that blood-based cancer screening will become a normal part of our medical care — one that has the potential to improve cancer outcomes dramatically, experts say.

Read more here: Simple blood tests could be the future of cancer diagnosis | Live Science; Order Shield for your Medical Practice

Riken Plastics Surpass Conventional Plastics

 

Researchers at Japan's RIKEN Center have created a durable plastic which is fully recyclable, and it dissolves in sea water; presenting a revolutionary alternative to traditional plastics which are polluting oceans with harmful microplastics.

The new plastic from RIKEN and University of Tokyo dissolves in seawater in hours and breaks down in soil in 10 days, boosting soil health with nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. 

The RIKEN team was able to generate plastics with varying degrees of hardnesses and tensile strength, finding all were comparable or in some cases better than conventional plastics. This means that the new type of plastic can be customized to meet demand; hard scratch resistant plastics, rubber silicone-like plastics, strong weight-bearing plastics, or low tensile flexible plastics are all possible.

This plastic is as strong as conventional plastic but leaves no harmful microplastics. The product is a big step toward ending plastic pollution and supporting sustainable farming.

RIKEN is Japan's largest comprehensive research institution renowned for high-quality research in a diverse range of scientific disciplines. Founded in 1917, initially as a private research foundation, RIKEN has grown rapidly in size and scope, today encompassing a network of world-class research centers and institutes across Japan.

Read more here: Japanese researchers create ‘revolutionary’ plastic which dissolves in salt water