*[Enwl-eng] Deciphering the Epic of Gilgamesh

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May 26, 2023, 1:10:24 PM5/26/23

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Reaching out to Babylonia

The Epic of Gilgamesh dates back to the 2100 BC and is known to have inspired world-renowned texts that came after it, including the Odyssey and the Old Testament.

However, it's less well read than many ancient works. One of the reasons is that retrieving the complete epic has been impossible. In Mesopotamia, it was recorded on tablet fragments. To try and piece together the whole epic we only have incomplete remains of those tablets and fragmented pages of copies that scribes made centuries later.

Until now. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, the Electronic Babylonian Library at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich reconstructs many examples of unknown Babylonian literature, including the whole story of Gilgamesh.

Analytical practitioners, those working in the shadows of law enforcement agencies, witness too many of the horrors human beings are capable of. Yet, their well-being and mental health are not always considered by policy makers. New research shows that we need to take care of people in such key roles.

Have you ever felt that an ache that you had been able to cope with during the day got worse after going to bed? You're not alone. It may, at least in part, come down to a gate in the spinal cord that manages the passage of painful stimuli to the brain.

We've previously talked about how activists are trying to change current urban planning and push for the creation of more child-friendly cities. But this is not a new concern. Decades ago, Amsterdam built 700 playgrounds for children. Today though, only about 17 of those playgrounds remain. Why?

And Wimbledon is welcoming Russian players again. This is good news for the UK tennis sports industry – the fines it had been facing after they were banned last year kept increasing – but also for all the players involved.

If you've been interrupted by the reception of this email while working, we're sorry. However, if you're reading us during a pause you've previously scheduled in the middle of your tasks, keep going. Not only not all interruptions are bad – there are some that are even beneficial to our creativity.

- Claudia Lorenzo, Culture Editor for The Conversation Spain

AI is helping us read ancient Mesopotamian literature

Generations of readers have experienced the frustration of reading fragments when trying to access classics of ancient Mesopotamian literature.

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Harrowing impact of traumatic material on crime investigators’ mental health revealed by our research

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