Elina Boeva My experience as a marketing and creative strategist Exploring the world of design is immensely linked to my work as I’m guided by curiosity and open-mindedness Shellf Life It takes courage and skill to be in tune with your inner world just as fervently as you are with the one around you one’s voice can cut through the noise and discover a heartbeat that’s worth exploring to the fullest upon fixating on the abundance of discarded shells–perfect calcium carbonate structures tossed after a single use–scattered across her kitchen table post dinner one night an inner desire to rediscover and realign with nature was slowly but surely taking hold.  Neuhof’s kitchen became her first lab: “What emerged isn’t just a material but a philosophy: our sustainable future lies in recognizing the overlooked potential in what already exists I see the foundation for our built environment,” Neuhof recounts by way of her design venture aptly christened Shellf Life the winner of the 2024 Terra Carta Design Lab award has grown through her relentless spirit the second edition of DesignWanted’s ENHANCE exhibition taking place during Milan Design Week 2025 will highlight the Buoy Stool Neuhof’s latest arresting design and perhaps her most intricate yet Shellf Life portrays how materials don’t end–they reach a point of transformation instead Neuhof reflects on how “There’s something profound about taking a material at its ‘end of life’ and revealing its next chapter Each shell carries history–the ocean it filtered the meal it provided.” Through her creations and by seeing opportunity where others see waste the American designer shapes compassionate tales rooted in rejuvenation Growing up on a 15-acre farm with her family in rural Woodstock the RISD graduate shares how “Nature wasn’t something separate from life; it was life itself What pushed me toward material exploration was witnessing the extremes—rural life where everything gets reused until it falls apart versus commercial design where perfection is expected but only needs to last hours.”  As complex and triggering as that juxtaposition may be when in pursuit of inspiration–and with her studio and manufacturing located at 50 Sims in the Ocean State–the designer chooses to closely inspect and metabolize coastal environments Her whole face lights up when she picturesquely alludes to the “gradient colorations in tidal zones the structural and geometrical brilliance of shells the transformations at the meeting point of elements.” Buoy was inspired by Rhode Island’s tidal landscapes–that transition from shore to sea Working in a place with such deep connections to seafood and maritime traditions Neuhof finds herself “constantly reminded that these colors tell stories about place There’s something honest about letting these local materials speak for themselves.” The Buoy Stool conveys how waste materials can outperform conventional alternatives in unexpected ways the designer found that “adjustments in temperature and processing created distinctive material properties that serve both functional and experiential purposes.” Made entirely of discarded shells the seat is defined by its dynamic presence and unique plethora of colors Neuhof doesn’t add any colorant and describes how “Everything you see comes from the shells themselves Different species create these distinct tones—oysters have this pearlescent quality The ocean already created this perfect palette.” What’s become central to the innovator’s approach is how she understands the process of experimentation in her own unique manner and how empathetic towards the materials she works with she inherently is–“Anything that didn’t work for one application could be reincorporated into the next batch only material waiting for its next iteration Embracing the intelligence already present in natural materials rather than forcing predetermined outcomes has become key.” Neuhof envisions building Shellf Life as an all-encompassing model rather than a studio constrained to a product portfolio It all stems from who she is as an artist and creator as well as her surroundings: “My architectural training helps me connect the dots between materials Rhode Island’s unique ecosystem–where seafood culture and design innovation intersect–offers the perfect foundation for this vision I’m establishing my studio and production facility here to create connections between restaurants and architects in systems that benefit everyone involved.” Fundamentally, what sets Neuhof apart is her mastery and belief in letting materials tell their intriguing stories she sees her role as “more about listening than imposing—understanding what properties and histories already exist then finding ways to highlight them rather than cover them up.” It makes all the more sense that Shellf Life originates from a moment of clarity at its rawest state The unmissable debut of Shellf Life’s Buoy will take place at DesignWanted’s upcoming ENHANCE exhibition during Milan Design Week 2025 at BasicVillage get to know the most interesting Design trends & innovations (Innovative StartUp) Registered office: Via Aurelio Saffi 29 20123 Milan (Italy)  |  VAT no.: 10565330965  |  ROC no.: 36152  |  REA no.: MI-2541466  |  Share capital: 12.540€ The transformed shellfish material can be used for tiles mussels and abalone might be a common sight at the end of a seafood dinner these leftovers are not necessarily destined for the trash can Shellf Life, a sustainability startup founded by RISD alum Felicia Neuhof transforms shellfish waste from local restaurants into regenerative building materials that can be used for tiles And this month, the startup announced plans to launch a new production facility at 50 Sims The building is an “affordable” workspace for “artists and makers, workforce development training and small businesses,” according to Liz Maillie, director of leasing and marketing for Scout the design practice behind the 50 Sims project Neuhof first contacted 50 Sims in December 2024 after winning the 2024 Terra Carta Design Lab award “The space is really incredible,” said Neuhof “The location and mixed-use space is lending itself well to this novel process that I’m putting together.” is also supported by a partnership between the City of Providence and the Providence Redevelopment Agency combined with its growing community of creative industries and maker spaces makes it an ideal location for businesses like Shellf Life to thrive,” wrote Michaela Antunes Neuhof hopes that expanding into 50 Sims will help her transition into manufacturing, especially as an “individual maker.” Shellf Life hopes to launch its first commercial line this year, according to the press release “Felicia’s just got this incredible vision that I think really speaks to all of us on the team,” Maillie said “She can really take advantage of the scale of the space and the existing infrastructure It’s a space that she can get dirty and make a mess in.” Neuhof recently graduated from RISD with a master’s degree in architecture Neuhof knew she wanted to incorporate sustainability into her work and soon realized “sustainability begins at the foundation of the materials,” she said Shellf Life started with an independent study course with RISD Assistant Professor Evan Farley Neuhof and her peer Julia Woznicki experimented with coffee grounds But these materials would easily get moldy or degrade quickly Neuhof “was absolutely enamored with it,” she said Neuhof moved the project to her home studio to continue experimenting with how shellfish waste could be used Some of these experiments involved “casting the material into molds and using it (for) tiles and bricks” as a substitute for concrete Another iteration turned the shells into a translucent leather-like material that could be used for lighting As the startup plans to expand into the market early next year Neuhof says that she hopes to adapt shell material for uses in home development interior tiles or cladding — the practice of applying protective exterior layers on homes to resist damages and weather Neuhof expressed excitement about Shellf Life’s future at 50 Sims explaining that the opportunity is “connecting dots that haven’t necessarily been connected before,” she said PROVIDENCE – Floating wetlands built on beds of living fungus Tiles and tableware made from the discarded shells of clams and oysters These ideas developed by recent graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design may sound far-fetched architects and scientists believe they could offer solutions to the environmental problems faced by the world The two projects are set to each receive £100,000 after they were chosen as RISD’s winners of the Terra Carta Design Lab a competition started three years ago by King Charles III The competition is part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative which is working to get the private sector to reduce emissions and waste and adopt practices that are more friendly to the environment RISD was one of four schools invited to take part in the contest that aimed to spur the development of new design ideas The others were the Royal College of Art in London the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation in the United Arab Emirates and the National Insitute of Design Ahmedabad in India The winners – two from each school – were announced on Monday will be used by the teams to try and scale up their projects from the classroom to the market Felicia Neuhof became an expert in the best ways to crush a clam shell I tried physically driving over them with a car,” she laughed as she recounted her travails who graduated this past spring with a master’s degree in architecture hit on a method of breaking them up with a mallet first and then running them through a coffee grinder – though she destroyed more than a dozen coffee grinders before perfecting the process she was able to grind the shells into pieces small enough that they could be mixed with gelatin and other common ingredients and formed into tiles even a lattice-structure chair and semi-transparent lightshades That proprietary recipe is the basis for Shellf Life a company Neuhof founded that she hopes to build using the prize money She wants to expand her source list for discarded shells scale up her equipment and move from her kitchen into a dedicated fabrication space The goal is to eventually start to replace concrete and other energy-intensive building materials with her shell-based mix that not only reduces waste that may otherwise be landfilled but also sequesters carbon and encourages the consumption of shellfish Neuhof and a research partner hit on an early form of the idea while they were at RISD They wanted to use some type of waste as the basis for a new material and did tests with everything from eggshells to coffee grounds to leaf litter “This was the last one we did at the end of the semester she’s collected quahog and mussel shells from Rhode Island beaches and visited local seafood proprietors to gather up their shell waste all to continue experimenting with various forms of her mix “A lot of restaurants have gotten used to me just showing up with a bucket,” Neuhof said the use of natural organisms to remove pollutants from the environment and they’re being tried out all around the world as a way of cleaning contaminated waters The structures work because the roots of marsh grasses and other wetlands plants are adept at absorbing toxins in the water as well as excess nutrients that can fuel harmful algae blooms What sets apart the design Avantika Velho and her partners came up with as part of their project known as BIOPOD is that almost the entire thing is alive – not just the plants growing on it Each pod is made up of the root-like filaments of fungi that are called mycelium The team grew the fungi from spores on a substrate of hemp chips using a mold to shape each one into a hexagon They fed the living organisms flour and water to fuel their growth and within two weeks had dense rigid structures that were buoyant and could be planted with grasses “All we had to do was tell it where to grow and how to grow,” said Velho “And then the mycelium just did its job.”  The fungi aren’t intended to function simply as a structural material They have the ability to break down petroleum-based contaminants and pesticides and absorb heavy metals So they actually complement the work the plants are doing and The BIOPOD team built seven pods and tested them out over a couple of months last year in the Providence River Velho wants the idea to be easily duplicated all around the world She hopes to use the prize money to create a nonprofit with outposts in places like her home country of India that would tailor the design using local plants “We want this to be a tool to teach people that wetlands aren’t just passive but that they’re active systems that are working to create value for all of us,” Velho said Press release from Major League Show Jumping  Irish Olympian Darragh Kenny rode to a hard-fought victory in the GNP Seguros 5* Grand Prix aboard VDL Cartello during Concurso de Salto La Silla to close out Major League Show Jumping’s (MLSJ) seventh leg at the storied Club Hípico La Silla in Monterrey Kenny guided the 17-year-old Holsteiner stallion (Cartani 4 x Lord) owned by Heathman Farm to a blistering time to beat of 36.27 seconds over an expansive jump-off course built by Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) The victory was a meaningful one for Kenny but also an emotional moment for VDL Cartello’s connections “He made so many of my dreams come true at high levels so to win a five-star grand prix on him towards the end of his career is very cool,” said the world no who plans to retire VDL Cartello in a few weeks at CHI Geneva While VDL Cartello’s list of accomplishments is lengthy a five-star grand prix win has eluded the stallion until now.  “Somehow we’ve always missed out on a five-star grand prix win so I thought I’d risk everything [today] to see what could happened and I honestly have never gone this fast with him,” said Kenny of the horse that carried him to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games so I could take a risk one to two doing the seven I went as fast as I could to the oxer and took another risk to the wall Emanuele Camilli (ITA) finished fractions off the pace in 36.27 seconds for the runner-up honor riding Odense Odeveld a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Diamant de Semilly x Querlybet Hero) owned together with Paul Schockemöhle and R&R Horses Third went to Sameh El Dahan (GBR) riding WKD Aimez Moi a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare sired by Je t’Aime Flamenco and owned together with Joanne Sloan-Allen Less than a second separated the top four with lead-off rider Christian Ahlmann (GER) finishing fourth on Dourkhan Hero Z in 36.89 seconds “I’ve always wanted to win this grand prix and to be able to do it with this horse in this moment is pretty special,” concluded Kenny Ireland’s Conor Swail produced consistent results again in Monterrey including a top five finish in the GNP Seguros Grand Prix riding My Lady Lavista The boost allowed him to take over the top spot on the individual MLSJ leaderboard with 63 points He currently leads Kent Farrington (USA) by only three points with Kenny jumping into the top five to take over third on 42 MLSJ action now heads to the season finals at Desert International Horse Park in La Quinta The back-to-back weeks feature the $1m 5* Coachella Cup and MLSJ Individual Final on December 7 before MLSJ crowns a new season champion in the Team Final on December 14.  © 2025 World of Showjumping - All rights reserved Powered by Artionet - Generated with IceCube2.Net The U11 Between The Lines team is one of The Lake Report’s featured Teams of the Week Shown with goaltender Eli Pfeffer in front are Zoey Achal Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Sign in Join now, it's FREE! Social media safety educator Paul Davis will be giving a free presentation to parents and guardians at Bethany Mennonite Church called Empowering Parents in the Digital Age grandparents and guardians need to hear about the potential harm that can come with internet usage and learn strategies to keep their kids safe,” says Pastor Herb Sawatzky Raising responsible kids with good manners and values used to be a parent’s major concern yet today’s parents have lots more to contend with and artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT “We feel that parents are overwhelmed and they’re deeply concerned for their kids,” he said She has a strong network of parents who share tips for monitoring their children’s use of social media but she hopes to get a preview of what to expect as her kids enter their pre-teens “When you get to that older age group I’d love to know more about security I’d love to have tools and a heads-up so I don’t get in a bad situation where I’ve said have a good understanding of what their children are doing online she admitted that “there’s probably so much that I don’t even know that I need to be aware of.” “We started social media during COVID to communicate when the kids wanted to chat,” said Epp Neuhof whose nine-year-old daughter Holly uses Facebook’s Messenger Kids “You can set certain boundaries within that app such as turn off notifications at a certain time.” And from her own device she monitors all the transactions happening between Holly and her friends Epp Neuhof noted that “the kids are actually pretty good on (the app) They’re just being silly and they’re just communicating.” She receives a weekly summary from Messenger Kids showing her the interactions that happened and “it’s literally just photobombs of each other and emojis.” “the younger generation definitely communicates differently and it’s just normal for them to be online,” she said noting that her children have never had a landline Epp Neuhof cited other examples of positive internet use such as Holly practising an instrument with a friend over FaceTime “There are a lot of people on there and that’s when you have to watch more.” She can disable the chat function on Roblox and Holly uses Messenger Kids so she can talk to her in-person friends as they play the game “You also want them to have those real relationships in person as well At this point they don’t have a problem with putting it down when I ask,” said Epp Neuhof “We definitely say no to a lot of things We stick with the kids’ YouTube where you can select different ages for content and you can block content as well.” 4 workshop will receive practical advice on how to guide children to keep them safe The presentation will cover a variety of social media issues including tips to reduce digital trails Parents of teens will go home with Davis’ ‘Social Media Contract for Teens.’ Davis has been educating parents on online and social media safety for 32 years He has presented to over 750,000 students and 90,000 parents and has appeared on numerous Canadian television programs spreading his social media safety messages Children ages 12 and under are invited to a separate workshop to learn age-appropriate social media safety tips from church personnel Young children can be signed up for child care To register for free child care or the children’s workshop call Bethany Mennonite Church at 905-736-2029 Note that Paul Davis provides a separate workshop for teenagers and that Empowering Parents in the Digital Age is intended for parents and guardians only Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item “It takes a village to raise a kid,” said Sawatzky “and we want to support that village and be a part of that village I want parents to feel like they have not only the responsibility but the capacity to be the parents that their kids intuitively want them to be.” 572 East/West Line in Niagara-on-the Lake-on the corner of Four Mile Creek Road Not only do they help you to travel a heck of a lot faster but they carry your stuff too - making a trusty steed your most valuable asset in 15th Century Bohemia While we’ll go over some ways to get yourself an equine chum for free, stronger and faster horses are available to buy around the kingdom. If you find yourself in need of a few more Groschen, check out our guide to making money in Kingdom Come Deliverance you have to leave Talmberg castle by any means you can One way to do this is by stealing a uniform from the watchtower on the castle’s battlements which means the guards won’t recognise Henry and let him out of the gates We have a full guide on how to get out of Talmberg and get the Talmberg armour if you’re stuck you can walk to the stable next to the main gate before you leave and mount a horse Then you can ride out of the gate and off to Skalitz with everyone none the wiser Look specifically for the horse that says "mount" rather than "mount and steal" As you follow the main story quest you’ll eventually come to Rattay where you’ll serve with the town guard and go hunting with nobleman Hans Capon The hunting quest is called “The Prey” your actions will be rewarded by Sir Hanush and Sir Radzig with horse of your own This way you’re acquiring the horse through legitimate means which works best if you’re trying to roleplay a noble character strongest and most enduring beasts of burden in all of Bohemia are available to buy from horse traders around Bohemia Some Tier 4 horses have special traits which are worth mentioning though Jenda is the most balanced horse in the game, boasting high stats across the board, but is also the most expensive. The name of the horse is a tribute to the Warhorse Studios dog the name Al-Buraq comes from a heavenly creature in traditional Islamic stories that carried prophets With the highest courage in Kingdom Come Deliverance Kanthaka is a great horse to ride into battle and was said to have been ridden by Buddha himself because its name comes from an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin in Norse mythology A massive stamina stat makes Chollima stand out from other horses and its name comes from a mythical winged horse depicted in Chinese and Korean classical stories since it has the high carry capacity in the game Its name comes from the horse ridden by King Alexander the Great A lot of people are familiar with the Greek mythological horse Pegasus Kingdom Come Deliverance isn’t a straightforward game by any means, and one of the trickiest mechanics is lockpicking. If you need help, take a look at our lockpicking tips No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission VG247 is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited and Ashley Neuhof (USA) have been nominated as the three finalists for the 2019 Silver Camera Award The Silver Camera Award annually honours the best equestrian sport photograph of the year In an era when countless photos are created per smartphone within the shortest space of time it is worthwhile taking an even closer look at really good photographs every year the ALRV also confers the “Silver Camera” for the best international equestrian sport photo of the year The composition of the jury also clearly underlines how international the prize is Eric Knoll (photographer and last year’s winner Andreas Müller (Managing Director of Medienhaus Aachen Germany) and the ALRV Chairman and CHIO Aachen Show Director Frank Kemperman (the Netherlands) have selected the winner and the runners-up “The decision process was very difficult for us The quality of the submitted entries is incredibly high,” stated Frank Kemperman regarding the 103 photographs submitted The following have been nominated for the “Silver Camera” (in alphabetical order): Christophe Bricot (France) Terri Miller (USA) Ashley Neuhof (USA) On Saturday evening 20 July 2019 the winner will be announced in the Main Stadium The winner receives prize-money to the value of 2,500 Euros second place is endowed with 1,000 Euros and third place wins 500 Euros Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) For Rent: Several Apartments and Stable Wing at High-End Equestrian Facility Stable Wing Available at Reiterhof Wensing on Dutch/German border Real Estate: Well-Appointed Country House with Extensive Equestrian Facility in the U.K. Rémi Blot Volume 15 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2021.668008 This article is part of the Research TopicASICs: Structure, Function, and Pharmacology, Volume IView all 11 articles A commentary has been posted on this article: Accompany Differentiation in Human Dopaminergic Neurons Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are proton-gated Na+ channels neuronal differentiation and neurodegeneration ASICs have been mainly characterized in neurons from mice or rats and our knowledge of their properties in human neurons is scarce we functionally characterized ASICs in differentiating LUHMES cells a human mesencephalic cell line with characteristics of dopaminergic neurons We find that LUHMES cells express functional ASICs Expression starts early during differentiation with a striking surge in current amplitude at days 4–6 of differentiation a time point where—based on published data—LUHMES cells start expressing synaptic markers Peak ASIC expression therefore coincides with a critical period of LUHMES cell differentiation It was associated with increased excitability but not paralleled by an increase in ASIC1 mRNA or protein In differentiating as well as in terminally differentiated LUHMES cells ASIC activation by slight acidification elicited large currents action potentials and a rise in cytosolic Ca2+ Applying the ASIC pore blocker diminazene during differentiation reduced the length of neurites consistent with the hypothesis that ASICs play a critical role in LUHMES cell differentiation our study establishes LUHMES cells as a valuable model to study the role of ASICs for neuronal differentiation and potentially also cell death in a human cell line Most of these findings were obtained in mice or rats, and our knowledge about ASICs in the human nervous system is much more limited. In human brain, the main ASIC transcript is ASIC1a (Hoagland et al., 2010; Delaunay et al., 2012) and ASICs in human cortical neurons are predominantly homomeric ASIC1a (Li et al., 2010a) A more detailed characterization of ASICs in human neurons is clearly necessary to better understand their role in synaptic transmission neuronal maturation and neurodegeneration in humans we functionally characterized ASICs during differentiation of LUHMES cells We found that homomeric ASIC1a is the main ASIC of LUHMES cells and found a striking transient increase of functional ASIC1a during the first week of differentiation Activation of ASICs induced action potentials and intracellular Ca2+ signals and blocking ASICs reduced the length of neurites Our study establishes LUHMES cells as a model to study ASICs in a human cell line and suggests that ASICs contribute to maturation of LUHMES cells LUHMES cells were grown at 37 oC in a humidified atmosphere with 5% of CO2. For proliferation, they were cultivated in Nunclon cell culture flasks (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) in Advanced DMEM/F12 medium supplemented with 2 mM L-Glu, 1× N2-supplement (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) and 40 μg/ml FGF, as previously described (Scholz et al., 2011) Cells were splitted 1:10 or 1:5 every 3–4 days To convert LUHMES cells into post-mitotic neurons, a 2-step differentiation protocol was used (Scholz et al., 2011) the medium was exchanged by the differentiation medium: advanced DMEM/F12 medium with 2 mM L-Glu 1 μg/ml tetracycline and 2 ng/ml GDNF Cells were either directly seeded in the desired density (d3 or earlier) or they were splitted on d3 and then seeded in the desired density cells were grown either on Nunclon cell culture dishes or on cover slips Flasks and dishes were coated with 50 μg/μl poly-L-ornithin and 1 μg/μl fibronectin; cover slips were coated with 10 μg/μl poly-L-ornithin and 10 μg/μl laminin Germany) was dissolved in DMSO and added in a final concentration of 10 μM to differentiation medium; differentiation medium containing DMSO without diminazene served as a control The same cultures from two independent differentiations were used to determine neurite outgrowth across days LUHMES cells were grown on cell culture dishes with differentiation medium or total RNA was isolated using RNeasy minikit (Qiagen Concentration and quality of the RNA was measured using a NanoDrop 2000c spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific RNAs with a 260 nm/280 nm ratio >2.00 and a 260 nm/230 nm ratio >1.80 were used for reverse transcription First-strand cDNA was synthesized from 1 μg total RNA using QuantiTect Reverse Transcription Kit (Qiagen) All kits were used according to manufacturer’s instructions Contamination with genomic DNA was controlled by RT-PCR using intron-spanning primers for the reference gene glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) hydrolysis probes (TaqMan probes) for GAPDH ASIC1a and ASIC2 were ordered from Applied Biosystems (the assay identification numbers are Hs02758991_g1 1 μl TaqMan Gene Expression Assay and 5 μl of two times Rotor-Gene Probe PCR Master Mix (Qiagen) was performed in triplicates; a sample without cDNA served as negative control qPCR was performed in a Rotor-Gene Q (Qiagen) starting with a long denaturation phase (10 min followed by 40 cycles with denaturation (15 s 95°C) and annealing/elongation (60 s Experiments were repeated with RNA from two independent cell batches and analyzed using the ΔCt method Efficiency of each probe was determined by a standard curve and was close to 100% Results are reported as relative levels of ASIC/GAPDH mRNA LUHMES cells were lysed with RIPA buffer (25 mM Tris-Cl pH 7.6 and 1% proteinase inhibitor cocktail; Roche) Proteins were quantified using a kit (Micro BCA; Thermo Fisher Scientific USA) and the same amount of protein was separated by SDS-PAGE (10%) Proteins were transferred to PVDF membranes (Roche and probed overnight at 4°C with the following primary antibodies: mouse monoclonal anti-ASIC1 (1:1,000 dilution NeuroMab #75-277) and mouse monoclonal anti-acetylated tubulin (1:5,000 dilution The anti-ASIC1 antibody was derived against a fusion protein from the cytoplasmic C-terminus of mouse ASIC1; 65 of the 67 amino acids of this fusion protein are identical in human ASIC1 It was validated by NeuroMab in immunoblots from ASIC1 knock-out tissue Blots were visualized using secondary HRP-conjugated anti-rabbit (Invitrogen #UB280570) or anti-mouse antibodies (1:10,000 dilution Invitrogen #2122350) and Super Signal West Pico Chemiluminescent Substrate (Thermo Fisher Scientific Bands of the expected size were quantified using ImageJ and density for ASIC1a was normalized to tubulin Electrodes with a resistance of 5–10 MΩ were pulled from borosilicate glass with a DMZ-Universal Puller (Zeitz Instruments GmbH Electrodes were filled with an intracellular solution containing 10 mM NaCl 10 mM EGTA and 1 mM MgCl2; pH was adjusted to 7.25 with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) solution The extracellular solution in the bath chamber contained 100 mM NaCl 2 mM CaCl2 and 1 mM MgCl2; pH was adjusted with TMAOH Whole cell currents were recorded using a patch-clamp amplifier (Axopatch 200B) the Axon-CNS (Digidata 1440A) and Clampex software (Molecular Devices) Data were filtered at 1 kHz with low-pass filter and stored continuously on a computer hard disc and analyzed using pCLAMP software the membrane voltage was clamped to −70 mV PcTx1 was purchased from Smartox biotechnology the membrane current was clamped to 0 pA for the gap free protocol ten long (1 s) depolarizing current pulses (increments of 1 or 10 pA) were delivered; data was sampled at a rate of 20 kHz LUHMES cells grown on glass coverslips were mounted in a cell chamber and perfused with bath solution at room temperature Fluorescence was measured continuously on an inverted microscope (IX71 Chromaphor) using a Fluar 20×/0.75 objective (Olympus) and Till Vision real-time imaging software (Till Photonics) Cells were loaded for 15 min at 37°C with 2 μM Fura-2-AM (Molecular Probes) in bath solution and the emission was recorded between 470 and 550 nm using a sensicam CCD camera (PCO imaging) Acquisition and data analysis were done using Till Vision software Amiloride and nimodipine were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich To analyze the expression of functional ASICs, the peak current elicited by pH 6.0 was divided by the electrical capacity to obtain the current density. The time constant τdes was determined by fitting a single exponential function to the current decay using the software Igor Pro (WaveMetrics, Tigard, OR, USA). The concentration-response curve in Figure 3 was obtained by a fit to a Hill function: Expression of ASIC1a and ASIC2 mRNAs and ASIC1a protein during differentiation of LUHMES cells into post-mitotic neurons (A) Expression of ASIC mRNA was quantified using quantitative real time PCR and was normalized to the housekeeping gene glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) Note that errors bars have different length above and below of the data points because of the logarithmic scale of the y axis representative Western blot showing expression of ASIC1 protein in LUHMES cells; tubulin was used as control summary of three Western blots; expression was normalized to tubulin and to d0 Density of ASIC peak currents during differentiation of LUHMES cells into post-mitotic neurons ASIC currents were elicited by a drop in pH from 7.4 to 6.0 and cells analyzed by whole cell patch-clamp (B) Summary of current density and cell capacitance for different days of differentiation as indicated (mean ± SD; n = 4–12 from two independent experiments) Note that the current density on d4 was highly variable and not normally distributed with some cells having a small density like on d3 and others a large density like on d5 Current amplitude ranged from 36 to 3,603 pA for individual cells on different days of differentiation Concentration-response curve and PcTx1 sensitivity of ASICs in post-mitotic LUHMES cells (A) Cells were cultivated in differentiation medium for 6 days and were then analyzed by whole cell patch-clamp in voltage clamp mode representative ASIC currents elicited by transient pH changes from pH 7.4 to values between 6.8 and 5.0 for 10 s cells were washed with a solution of pH 7.4 for 30 s Currents were normalized to the current at pH 5.0 Line represents a fit to the Hill function n = 11 cells from two independent experiments (B) PcTx1 sensitivity of ASICs on d4–d8 each elicited by a 10 s-pulse of pH 6 from conditioning pH 7.3 during and after application of 30 nM PcTx1 for 2 min EC50 is the concentration at which 50% of the maximal current is obtained and H is the Hill coefficient (GraphPad Prism) Ca2+ signals elicited by acidic pH were quantified by subtracting the baseline values at 340/380 nm before application of acidic pH from the peak values during application of acidic pH For application of inhibitors (nimodipine or amiloride Ca2+ signals during application of the inhibitor were normalized to the Ca2+ signals before application of the inhibitor (3rd/2nd peak) Data are reported as mean ± SD, except for the data in Figure 3A to indicate the precision of the data points used to draw the graph Statistical analyses were conducted with Prism 7.0 (GraphPad Software Normal distribution of each dataset was tested using the D’Agostino–Pearson omnibus K2 test which was normally distributed according to the omnibus K2 test we used two-tailed paired or unpaired Student’s t-test when comparing two groups and a one-way or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test which was not normally distributed according to the omnibus K2 test we either used a Mann–Whitney test (two groups) or a Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test (more than two groups) which were categorized in two classes (AP vs was analyzed using Fisher’s exact text p ≤ 0.05 was considered as significant The total length of neurites of single cells was determined on d1–d5 using the plugin IC Neuron of the application IC Capture (The Imaging Source ASIC1a abundance was about 2-fold higher after 3 days of differentiation (d3) compared with undifferentiated LUHMES cells (d0) but there was no further increase with longer time in differentiation medium and the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.09 with a mean amplitude of 1,084 ± 479 pA (mean ± SD) on d5 Functional characteristics of ASIC currents between d1 and d16 (A) Bars represent the peak amplitude elicited by pH 5.0 divided by the peak amplitude elicited by pH 6.0 Currents were elicited by a pH drop from 7.4 to 6.0 or 5.0 The ratio at d10 was significantly different from d1 (p < 0.0001) Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s test) (B) Bars represent τdes of ASIC currents at different days of differentiation; p > 0.05 on all days (Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s test) n = 5–12 from two independent experiments although on d10 the ratio of IpH5.0/IpH6.0 was 1.5 the presence of a heteromeric ASIC1a/2a on d10 was not confirmed by the analysis of τdes suggest that ASIC currents were carried mainly by homomeric ASIC1a and perhaps ASIC1a/2b during the entire period of differentiation Excitability of LUHMES cells during differentiation (A) Representative current clamp recordings from LUHMES cells on d0 Depolarizing step current pulses elicited APs only in differentiated LUHMES cells (B) Summary of the rheobase and the resting membrane potential (RMP) at different times of differentiation (n = 5–8); *p < 0.05 (C) Pie chart illustrating the proportion of cells which responded with APs after pulse stimulation at d5–d7 (8 out of 22 cells) and at d10 (six out of nine cells) (D) Example of spontaneous APs from LUHMES cells at d10 The trace is representative for four out of nine cells (E) Pie chart illustrating the proportion of cells which had spontaneous APs at d5–d7 and at d10 significantly more cells had spontaneous APs (p = 0.004 (F) Examples of APs elicited by steps to pH 6.8 (n = 2 for each day) After examining general excitability, we next tested whether activation of ASICs was sufficient to reach threshold and elicit APs. Modest acidification to pH 6.8 indeed depolarized the membrane potential and elicited APs at both d6 and d10 (Figure 5F). The larger rheobase on d6 (Figure 5B) may be compensated for by the larger ASIC current density at this stage (Figure 2) arguing that diminazene will also inhibit human ASICs Although we cannot exclude that diminazene might also have other targets this result supports the hypothesis that ASICs play an important role in neuronal development Neurite length during differentiation of proliferating LUHMES cells into post-mitotic neurons (A) Representative images of LUHMES cells at d1–d5 with and without incubation in diminazene (10 μM) (B) Quantification of the total length of neurites of single cells at d1–d5 n = 26–60 neurites from 12–24 different cells Excluding them would reveal significantly reduced Ca2+ influx by nimodipine also at d5 (p = 0.014) nimodipine reduced Ca2+signals less strongly than amiloride (p = 0.002 at d5 p = 0.0002 when the outliers were removed; p = 0.006 at d9; p-values for the interaction between amiloride and nimodipine) although acidic pH-induced Ca2+ signals were at least on d9 partly through indirect activation of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels the remaining Ca2+might have entered the cell directly via ASIC1a Ca2+ responses of LUHMES cells after acidic stimulation representative recordings of intracellular Ca2+ by Fura-2 in LUHMES cells at d5 Cells were repeatedly stimulated with pH 6 (black bars) 100 μM amiloride was pre- and co-applied during the third stimulation (red bar) The gray trace represents the mean response of >10 control cells from one coverslip and the red trace of >10 cells from another coverslip exposed to amiloride as for the top panel but with 10 μM nimodipine instead of amiloride The blue trace is from cells exposed to nimodipine LUHMES cells are the culture model that best model the population of dopaminergic SNc neurons that degenerate in PD Our conclusion that human midbrain dopaminergic neurons express functional ASICs therefore needs to be confirmed by PCR and immunoblots from human mesencephalon These findings therefore suggest that ASIC1a may modulate excitability Ca2+ homeostasis and dopamine secretion in human dopaminergic neurons The contribution of ASIC1a could be studied in LUHMES cells and reveal new insights into movement control by midbrain dopaminergic neurons and potentially offer new treatment strategies for PD expression of ASIC1a in the SNc suggests that it might contribute to reward-based learning also via modulation of dopamine-release This possibility warrants further investigation Although the mechanism for the strong surge in ASIC current density during the first week of differentiation remains unknown a more efficient forward trafficking is an attractive hypothesis one specific role for ASIC1a during neuronal maturation might be the Ca2+-dependent maturation of neurites and dendrites our study establishes dopaminergic LUHMES cells as a valuable model to study the role of ASICs during neuronal development in a human cell line The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s most voltage clamp experiments and determined neurite lengths current clamp experiments and Ca2+ imaging AR performed voltage clamp experiments with PcTx1 AN and YT analyzed the data and participated in the design of the study All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version This work was supported by a grant from the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research within the Faculty of Medicine at RWTH Aachen University to BF and SG The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; mRNA quantitative polymerase chain reaction; PcTx1 Amiloride is neuroprotective in an MPTP model of Parkinson’s disease Acid-sensing ion channel 2 (ASIC2) modulates ASIC1 H+-activated currents in hippocampal neurons Alternative splicing and interaction with di- and polyvalent cations control the dynamic range of acid-sensing ion channel 1 (ASIC1) Acid sensing ion channels in dorsal spinal cord neurons proton-activated currents in rat hippocampal neurons Acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) 1a/2a heteromers have a flexible 2:1/1:2 stoichiometry The acid-sensitive ionic channel subunit ASIC and the mammalian degenerin MDEG form a heteromultimeric H+-gated Na+ channel with novel properties Heteromultimers of DEG/ENaC subunits form H+-gated channels in mouse sensory neurons Activation of acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) by surface trafficking Potent neuroprotection after stroke afforded by a double-knot spider-venom peptide that inhibits acid-sensing ion channel 1a Permeating protons contribute to tachyphylaxis of the acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) 1a Subunit-dependent high-affinity zinc inhibition of acid-sensing ion channels Parkinson’s disease: mechanisms and models PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Human ASIC3 channel dynamically adapts its activity to sense the extracellular pH in both acidic and alkaline directions Isolation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic progenitors by cell sorting for successful transplantation Protons are a neurotransmitter that regulates synaptic plasticity in the lateral amygdala metabolic stress and activity pattern of Substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons in health and Parkinson’s disease Isolation of a tarantula toxin specific for a class of proton-gated Na+ channels Acid-sensing ion channel-1 contributes to axonal degeneration in autoimmune inflammation of the central nervous system García-Añoveros BNaC1 and BNaC2 constitute a new family of human neuronal sodium channels related to degenerins and epithelial sodium channels ventral and dorsal subpopulations of the substantia-nigra and differential cell-death in Parkinsons-disease Gonzalez-Inchauspe Acid-sensing ion channels activated by evoked released protons modulate synaptic transmission at the mouse calyx of held synapse Expression of depolarizing voltage- and transmitter-activated currents in neuronal precursor cells from the rat brain is preceded by a proton-activated sodium current Gründer “Acid-sensing ion channels,” in The Oxford Handbook of Neuronal Ion Channels doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190669164.013.12 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The neurobiological basis of cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease ASIC2a and ASIC3 heteromultimerize to form pH-sensitive channels in mouse cardiac dorsal root ganglia neurons Identification of a calcium permeable human acid-sensing ion channel 1 transcript variant Functional and pharmacological characterization of two different ASIC1a/2a heteromers reveals their sensitivity to the spider toxin PcTx1 Acid-sensing ion channels contribute to synaptic transmission and inhibit cocaine-evoked plasticity Disease modification in Parkinson’s disease: current approaches Acid-sensing ion channels in acidosis-induced injury of human brain neurons Developmental change in the electrophysiological and pharmacological properties of acid-sensing ion channels in CNS neurons A modulatory subunit of acid sensing ion channels in brain and dorsal root ganglion cells Effect of mutant alpha-synuclein on dopamine homeostasis in a new human mesencephalic cell line Progressive degeneration of human mesencephalic neuron-derived cells triggered by dopamine-dependent oxidative stress is dependent on the mixed-lineage kinase pathway O’Bryant Acid Sensing Ion Channels (ASICs) in NS20Y cells - potential role in neuronal differentiation Acid-sensitive ionic channels in midbrain dopamine neurons are sensitive to ammonium which may contribute to hyperammonemia damage Cloning and expression of a novel human brain Na+ channel Diminazene is a slow pore blocker of acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) Google Scholar complete and large-scale generation of post-mitotic neurons from the human LUHMES cell line Heteromeric acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) composed of ASIC2b and ASIC1a display novel channel properties and contribute to acidosis-induced neuronal death Alterations in subcellular expression of acid-sensing ion channels in the rat forebrain following chronic amphetamine administration Glioblastoma cancer stem cell lines express functional acid sensing ion channels ASIC1a and ASIC3 Accelerated current decay kinetics of a rare human acid-sensing ion channel 1a variant that is used in many studies as wild type A proton-gated cation channel involved in acid-sensing Tissue acidosis induces neuronal necroptosis via ASIC1a channel independent of its ionic conduction Acid-sensing ion channel 1 is localized in brain regions with high synaptic density and contributes to fear conditioning Characterization of acid-sensing ion channels in dorsal horn neurons of rat spinal cord Specification of midbrain dopamine neurons from primate pluripotent stem cells Acid-sensing ion channels contribute to the increase in vesicular release from SH-SY5Y cells stimulated by extracellular protons Human ASIC1a mediates stronger acid-induced responses as compared with mouse ASIC1a Characterizing human stem cell-derived sensory neurons at the single-cell level reveals their ion channel expression and utility in pain research Acid-sensing ion channel 1a is a postsynaptic proton receptor that affects the density of dendritic spines Dopaminergic modulation of striatal function and Parkinson’s disease Upregulation of acid-sensing ion channel 1 protein expression by chronic administration of cocaine in the mouse striatum in vivo Falkenburger BH and Gründer S (2021) Large Acid-Evoked Currents Received: 15 February 2021; Accepted: 06 April 2021; Published: 27 April 2021 Copyright © 2021 Neuhof, Tian, Reska, Falkenburger and Gründer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Björn H. Falkenburger, YmpvZXJuLmZhbGtlbmJ1cmdlckBkem5lLmRl; Stefan Gründer, c2dydWVuZGVyQHVrYWFjaGVuLmRl † These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship ‡ These authors have contributed equally to this work and share senior authorship Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish A Marcum accountant who testified as an expert witness in divorce cases is undone by a lie on his resume An inquiry about one little vowel undid Eric D Neuhof’s career as a forensic accountant and expert witness in South Florida divorce cases Neuhof had reached the promised land for accountants His expertise as a partner at the accounting firm Marcum in Miami was relied on by divorce attorneys in establishing hidden income for the spouse on the other side of the aisle the opposing counsel for a husband who Neuhof said was hiding income noticed something unusual on the accountant’s resume a master’s of arts degree in accounting from Brooklyn College in New York Trouble is Brooklyn College offers an M.S. Research revealed no record of Neuhof completing that degree He has been fired from all the cases he handled for divorce lawyer Mitchell K a partner at Shendell Pollock who at one time represented Neuhof did not return calls for comment by deadline Baldwin made the discovery in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court divorce case of Taylor S Neuhof initially attributed the error to Marcum’s marketing department deposition in a Collier County divorce case where Neuhof was hired as an expert and where he said under oath twice that he held a master’s degree in accounting He said he went to night school while working as an account manager at the Dean Witter brokerage during the day in 1992 and 1993 “It was more stable,” Neuhof said when asked why he changed careers where the brokerage was—they were firing people left and right.” Baldwin said clients who used Neuhof have a right to know about the false resume “I think there are a lot of people who have been damaged by his lack of ethics in accounting and they should know even after the fact about his lack of ethics,” Baldwin said Karpf notified Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Barbara Areces that the Third District Court of Appeal in October criticized Baldwin for bringing a frivolous appeal in another case Neuhof carved himself out as an expert at determining the income of self-employed spouses Karpf and Neuhof teamed up to do a webinar on the subject for continuing legal education credit claimed he was hiding income and should be held in contempt of court who testified withholding taxes on the husband’s affidavit actually had not been paid Treese in contempt and ordered him to pay $42,700 to his ex-wife and start paying $11,900 monthly Baldwin said the ruling was based on Neuhof’s testimony before it was revealed he lied about his master’s degree Karpf said Areces’ ruling was founded on the latest contradictory financial affidavit filed by the husband Karpf said despite the revelation about Neuhof’s education the accountant’s testimony was accurate and didn’t affect the case “His testimony to the best of our knowledge was truthful based upon the information that he had,” Karpf said “There was absolutely no testimony regarding that resume or Neuhof’s education background in the case.” When the focus of the case became more about Neuhof than the husband’s income “It in no way altered our case or the court’s opinion that was rendered,” he said Baldwin said an expert lying about credentials goes to the heart of a witness’ credibility and expert witnesses must be truthful,” Baldwin said Marcum spokeswoman Julie Gelfand said the firm doesn’t comment on personnel matters I don’t know why Baldwin is on a mission to crucify this poor guy.” Read More The premier educational and networking event for employee benefits brokers and agents These awards celebrate the trailblazers transforming the legal industry through technology and innovation The Legal Intelligencer honors lawyers leaving a mark on the legal community in Pennsylvania and Delaware Don't miss the crucial news and insights you need to make informed legal decisions Already have an account? Sign In The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker A man has been arrested after opening fire on random passers-by in a southern German town Public prosecutor Gerhard Neuhof said the 47-year old suspect is currently under arrest on suspicion of killing an 82-year-old woman and a 72-year-old cyclist plus shooting at another person who survived without severe injury The shootings took place in Ansbach on Friday “The suspect has shown signs of psychological abnormalities He is currently under medical examination,” Neuhof said at a press conference in the town the suspect did not have any relation to the victims nor spoke to them before opening fire from his car was arrested by police hours after the killing spree at a gas station in the town of Bad Windsheim about 30 kilometers [18 miles] from the crime scene Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect was overpowered by mechanics at the gas station before police arrived at the scene Investigators said the suspect legally owned a pistol and a handgun but did not have a license to carry firearms in public Press release from Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping The CSIO Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ Tournament – the third Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping Major of the calendar year – once again played host to one of the toughest competitions in the sport the world’s most elite horse-and-rider combinations were all hoping to etch their names into the history books as they pursued one of the most coveted titles in the sport The field included the current Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping live contender as well as the winners from the last three editions of the class: Martin Fuchs (2023) We are here at the CSIO Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ Tournament Please could you describe how special it is to be here?  Whenever you get to jump in any of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping Majors it is incredible feeling they are really the epitome of show jumping Spruce Meadows is a prestigious and historic venue – the best in the world have competed here and fought for that that title and so just to be part of it is in an honour.  It is not the first time I have jumped at the ‘Masters’ but it is the first time I have competed in the CPKC ‘International’ Grand Prix I have jumped in a few of the other Rolex Grands Prix that are part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping Just to be here is incredible – you feel like you are in a videogame and tell us your role and what this entails… I started working for her eight months ago My job is to take care of her horses and travel with her to all of the shows – I try to do my best in every part of my job!  What inspired you to become a groom in the equestrian world My grandfather used to take care of horses and we have always had horses back in Spain I began riding myself but I had a bad accident and I was in the hospital for a long time I decided to quit riding and start grooming as I could no longer ride Grooming was therefore a natural next step for me.. The Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping is considered by the sport to be the ultimate equestrian challenge primarily due to the sporting prowess required to achieve this feat It is a quest taken on by the world’s top riders vying to secure the legendary status associated with winning the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping The format of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping is simple: anyone who wins three Majors in a row receives the Rolex Grand Slam trophy and a €1 million bonus on top of the class’s prize-money If that same rider then continues their success by winning a fourth Major in succession they will be rewarded with an additional €1 million bonus After you’ve learnt the basics in the early game, Kingdom Come Deliverance starts to really get going when you’re introduced to the game’s first big mystery Henry’s tracked the Neuhof farm bandits to Uzhitz and it’s here that the story takes an interesting turn Here’s our guide to the Mysterious Ways quest in Kingdom Come Deliverance This quest involves persuasion and a lot of drinking, so you might want to train your drinking skill with a few rounds of beer and wine in the preceding days beforehand. If that sounds a bit expensive, take a look at our tips for making money in Kingdom Come Deliverance Note: This path nets you the “Sinner” bronze trophy but leads to Henry having sex with a barmaid so you’ll lose out on the “Virgin” bronze trophy for staying celibate through the whole game Now that you’ve found Ginger and reported your progress to Captain Bernard and Sir Radzig in the Ginger in a Pickle quest they’ll send you to chase down your leads in Uzhitz - a small town northeast of Talmberg it doesn’t take too long from Neuhof asking you to find anyone who knows anything about a man with a limp in Uzhitz you can either go and ask the barmaid at the tavern in the centre of town or go straight to the house at the southern end of with people crowded around it you will have passed it on your way into Uzhitz He’ll clue you into what’s happened Try to convince Godwin to tell you what Lubosh said to him in confession and he’ll refuse and he’ll say he needs to think of a solution and to meet him in the tavern later he’ll talk to you about Czech theologian Jan Hus Pay attention to the tone of what he says here because it’ll be important later He’ll then ask you if you’re staying for a few drinks and you’ll proceed to get royally wasted Just follow the action and fight off the guards when you have to Henry will wake up with a massive hangover - and a lot more experience in drinking Father Godwin will ask you to stand in and conduct mass To succeed you have to copy what the Father said to you in the tavern the night before Father Godwin thanks you and points you in the direct of Reeky in Ledetchko you choose another cult documentary—Starz’s Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult HBO's Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults or Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple—examining the lives of those caught in a perplexing web of religion and lifestyle Some people play soothing sounds or calming music to help them reach dreamland Watching the fanatical fringe is like slowing down on the highway to view a nasty car wreck—so bad that you can’t look away blissfully behind the wheel gaining ground on the road ahead While Wordslut examined gendered verbiage and its influence in shaping a sexist world Cultish explores how power abusers and those seeking a following invoke language to lure potential acolytes in and away from the abominable sinful or otherwise poisoned world they know—the same one you see Related: These Are the 15 Most Compelling Cult Documentaries and Docuseries Available to Stream Now "We take language for granted because it's invisible and we grow up speaking it naturally and organically," Montell says "We don't stop to realize that the words we speak everything from the broadest categories of conversation to the most microscopic unit of sound influences how we perceive the world." But that’s not all Cultish analyzes Montell also points an inspector’s flashlight on the language used by modern exercise collectives chanting group mantras multi-level marketers recruiting suburbanites For more on how language informs our own communities—and the ones we love on TV—we asked the linguist about her keen eye for “cultish” practices what sparked her interest in the invisible power of language and how even you she shares what you can do to avoid becoming a victim whether that’s in your day-to-day activities on your phone or as a plot point from the next cult doc in your queue Related: Heat Up Your Bookshelves! 26 New Beach Reads We Can't-Wait to Take on Vacation There's this linguistic theory called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which says that while language does not determine thoughts So if you join a group that comes up with this robust lexicon of terms mantras and slogans to define the ideology and the systems of “truth” that are important to that group your whole worldview is going to be reframed that will only be the case if you are amenable to those ideas If you don't want to believe something no one can use language to “brainwash” you But with just a little glimmer of willingness language can do so much to shape your worldview to create an us-them dichotomy—all the things that a cultish group really needs in order to gain and maintain power We view bigger groups like Heaven's Gate and Jonestown as something so outside of ourselves It's easy for us to castigate the people who were in them Is that an unfair assessment?When we watch those documentaries Am I at risk of getting involved?” And you desperately want the answer to be no wind up in a group like the People's Temple or NXIVM or Scientology do what cults do and divide and create this rift between you—a normal intelligent person—and those brainwashed It's nothing but a metaphor and a pseudo-scientific concept What's really going on are these methods of conversion and conditioning and manipulation that all of us are susceptible to it's not to say that just anyone could wind up in a group like Scientology but none of us are too smart to completely avoid cultish influence I talk about how that shows up in language and what we need to be aware of so we can avoid someone with ill intentions [from] manipulating us Related: Summer Beach Reads I want to implicate us all and show us that nobody is immune to cultish influence Prevailing wisdom will tell us that cult followers are desperate or disturbed or naive What I and many other scholars have found is that the people most likely to join cults or wind up in destructive groups are really intelligent They're idealistic in a way that can sometimes not be positive Regardless of whether we find ourselves in an MLM or a group like NXIVM, or are just a general Instagram user following an influencer or happen to work at a startup [with a cultish] company culture—whatever it is, this stuff is everywhere. And I'm hoping that by reading this book folks [will] sharpen their critical thinking skills and feel empowered to think a little bit more independently but also feel more compassionate toward those who do wind up in dangerously cultish groups I just hope people will rethink that definition of the word “cult” and see themselves in it You also talk about more commonplace institutions like popular multi-level marketing companies as being cultish How do you make that distinction?These are ideologically bound groups that are missionary in character They're promising these larger-than-life benefits that will come from your involvement with the company They're not just promising that you're going to make a million dollars a year—they're promising that—but they're also promising that you are going to be a better mother by getting involved with the company A lot of them are even Christian-affiliated; Mary Kay is a Christian MLM I think of a scam as something that's going to screw with your finances but this is something that's going to screw with your whole entire life and your perception of yourself and that's what makes it especially culty studies gendered language and how it's used against women and marginalized genders Do you see any similarities to the power-abusive language that you write about in Cultish?I'm really interested in the relationship between language and power My first book talked about that in the context of gender and this book talks about it in the context of cults I talk about how language in our culture is so often used in a way that invisibly reinforces sexist and misogynist power structures I talk about how pernicious leaders use language in order to mass-manipulate people's beliefs The common through-line is language is incredibly powerful My books shine a light on that darkness so that we can make better-informed decisions moving forward about what we want to believe and how we want to talk Heaven's Gate and Scientology abused their religious power you'll typically find a leader or a group in power at the top who promise that they have access to transcendent wisdom—the secret of life and afterlife essentially—and that you have the power to access this information if you join [them] and they'll use all of these strategies of conditioning and conversion and coercion you should sign up and we'll all kill ourselves [and] wreak havoc on each other.” The pitch at the beginning is “We have the solutions to the world's most urgent problems,” whether it's poverty or racism or COVID-19 “and everything else you've been told is untrue and hasn't worked so far they're promising the answers to life itself That's why these groups can be really dangerous especially a group like Scientology or the People's Temple probably have a lot to gain from this group Maybe they're lacking community or support or they've lost trust in institutions that should have been there for them and they optimistically join up with this person who's promising a better way When you combine a vulnerable population with a really power-hungry leader or group of people How did your childhood inform your interest in cults My parents are research scientists and did their research for 25 years at the Johns Hopkins Medical School It was a pretty typical suburban East Coast upbringing; I was very creative I cherished the times when my whole family would be together and I would beg my dad to tell me stories from his childhood because his childhood was just totally batshit: He spent his teenage years in this notorious cult called Synanon and that's actually the least traumatic part of his childhood raising himself with a very mentally ill single mother in Spanish Harlem But I think the seed of my love of nonfiction was planted growing up on these stories that my dad would tell of his childhood and I took a particular fascination with the cult stuff She's going to be moderating one of my events along my Cultish virtual book tour so we're reading each other's books right now Next up, the ultimate summer reading list: 25 books you'll want to read this sizzling season. Being organized was key to finding this year’s Golden Egg who are $500 richer thanks to the generosity of real estate agent Stefan Regier and his business partner “It's something that our whole family definitely gets vested in and they're pretty dedicated,” said mom Audrey Epp Neuhof referring to her and Marty’s two children “We really wanted to win the golden egg,” affirmed Kenny Regier started laying a golden egg in a park during Easter weekend about nine years ago During his time as a volunteer firefighter at the King Street station he noticed that not as many locals were using the parks compared to when he was a child His plan was to try to get families into the parks to appreciate them it's to encourage the development of a healthy community,” he said Regier also organizes an annual summer family movie night in a park for the same reason “It's more than just people being aware of what they have,” he said “It’s being aware of what they have and then protecting what they have.” Families with young children have won nearly every year said Regier who has “never had it where some individual just treats it like a lottery ticket It has been an adventure every year.” Holly and her family prepared well in advance of the day “When Holly saw the post that said (the egg hunt) starts at sunrise she asked Google  what time the sun will rise on Saturday then we planned the whole day,” said Audrey While The Local won’t divulge all of the Neuhof strategies it’s safe to say that they keep track of all the parks in Niagara-on-the-Lake and have a system to note where each egg is found each year They use a clipboard to keep their information mobile “I thought it was going to be at Rye Street because it hasn't been there before.” The family all “had an input of what parks we went first but we tried to have a consensus and we were out there before 8 a.m.,” said Audrey Holly explained that they use sticks to move leaves around but not much more is needed in the way of tools Holly noticed that some people were using walkie talkies and thought “they're all set they’re going to get the golden egg.”  It made her a little anxious But the Neuhofs found the golden egg at 11:45 a.m and the golden egg was sitting there,” said Kenny who noted that the paper inside said ‘congratulations’ and included instructions to call a phone number to receive the $500 prize “I was really surprised,” said Holly ‘is this actually the golden egg?’ I thought it was a joke because I thought it would be somewhere way more hidden.” who have divided the money among themselves have a family trip planned to Universal Studios next year “I'm going to save up the money for there and buy all the kinds of wands from Harry Potter,” said Holly Kenny is also going to  “use one of my one hundreds for Universal Studios.” who said he has “more fun at it than the people looking for the egg,” noted that this is only the second year the egg was found before noon His children help plant the egg between two and five a.m because people have been waiting and watching a group of nine and 10-year-olds followed him as he was on a walk with his family after Easter dinner “we went back home and then I pretended to run and hide like in a devious manner with a trench coat and my arm under my side.” hopes the families remember this when they're 40 and 50 “They're going to remember what they did in Niagara-on-the-Lake and hopefully pass that on to the next generation Speaking on a phone from his party's headquarters in the Iraqi town of Koya the veteran guerilla commander quietly recounts yet another deadly encounter with Iran's armed forces Pakdaman was leading a group of Kurdish fighters into the town of Sardasht in western Iran when gunfire erupted and his unit was pinned down by a hail of bullets "The Iranian regime ambushed us when we were in the town to meet our people We managed to get out of the ambush after heavy fighting," he tells Middle East Eye members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran had to leave behind the bodies of two dead comrades and dragged four wounded fighters to safety in their desperate withdrawal back to Iraq Pakdaman says that six Iranian soldiers died in the clash Such lethal skirmishes have become routine for the commander one of the leading military figures in the KDPI since the party began sending groups of their fighters into Iran in 2015 they have repeatedly clashed with Iran's army and elite Revolutionary Guard units The KDPI has been in exile in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq since it was driven across the border in the 1980s and had been largely inactive until recently "We are engaged in armed conflict with the Iranian regime because we don't have any other option," Pakdaman says "We are willing to put an end to the conflict through dialogue and peaceful means but the Iranian regime does not respond to peaceful initiatives and insists on depriving the Kurds of their rights." Pro-Kurdish activists say the government in Tehran is systematically discriminating against Kurds and other minorities Iran's Kurds are deprived of fair representation in politics and suffer from economic neglect and attempts to stand up for minority rights are met with brutal suppression The failure of the reformist government under President Hassan Rouhani to live up to early pledges to improve the situation of the Kurds has stoked discontent president of the Geneva-based Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran "The inaction of the reformist and moderate administration of the Islamic Republic as well as the increased repression against Kurdish people have pushed Iranian Kurds to rethink their resistance strategy," he says Another factor stirring unrest in Rojhelat are the changing fortunes of the Kurds in other countries the Kurdish Regional Government has already gained a large measure of autonomy the Kurds have carved out a region in the country's north which they intend to keep under their control at all cost the renewed outbreak of hostilities between the PKK and the government serves as an inspiration for those seeking a military solution to the Kurdish plight in Iran The KDPI has come to believe that the time is right for an aggressive push for Kurdish rights For a second year running the party sent its troops across the vast mountain ranges that separate Iran and Iraq as soon as the snow-melt in the spring made possible the arduous journey they share the trek with smugglers bringing contraband such as alcohol into the Islamic Republic Faced with Iran's formidable armed forces and security apparatus the KDPI is facing an uphill struggle in its attempt to expand its presence in Iran.  a quick stab in the Iranian side by a Kurdish group that has been dormant for almost 25 years and has been resuscitated I doubt it has sustained fighting power," says Joost Hiltermann the MENA programme director at the International Crisis Group The party is also in a precarious position as it relies on the KRG as a base from which to stage its incursions into Iran Iraq's Kurds are in no mood to anger their powerful neighbour while fighting the Islamic State and seeking independence from Baghdad the political party that holds sway in the eastern part of the KRG that borders Iran traditionally has close ties to Tehran.  The KRG has already voiced its disquiet at the KDPI's newfound aggression "We do not want KRG territories to be used by any group to threaten the security of our neighbouring countries This is a very clear stance of KRG and all are informed of this," says Jhilwan Qazzaz The KDPI is not the only Kurdish opposition movement pushing for change in Iran Among the most bellicose is the Kurdistan Freedom Party which commands the loyalty of hundreds of Peshmerga rallied to the Kurdish cause when the Islamic State group attacked KRG territory in 2014 Its fighters are deployed at the front at Kirkuk and near Mosul where they have held IS at bay for two years Overlooking the IS-held town of Bashiqa from his heavily fortified position on a ridge above the 28-year-old PAK commander Hajir spells out the future for his party we will go back to Iran because we want to finish the fight," he says behind a wall of sandbags while his fellow fighters peer through binoculars at an enemy dug in barely 700 metres down the slope.  Hajir's men have repelled 25 IS attacks during their time on the ridge They have killed IS militants in tense night combat blown up suicide bombers with rocket-propelled grenades exchanged sniper fire and ducked from incoming mortar fire The prospect of facing off with Iran's military does not bother them which strives for autonomy for the Kurdish region akin to the KRG in Iraq like not being allowed to read or write in Kurdish that's what we are fighting for," says Hajir Even though the bulk of PAK fighters are tied down in Iraq the group has so far launched six attacks against security forces in Iran a commander told the AP news agency this month The PJAK have desisted from its guerilla campaign in Rojhelat in recent years as Iran is propping up the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad which in turn has a de-facto neutrality pact with the PKK-affiliated movement in Syria The PJAK has channeled its fighters into Rojava as the Kurdish enclave in Syria is known where they are gaining valuable combat experience fighting IS the PJAK will likely focus its attention back on Iran adding another battle-hardened group to the insurgency "PJAK has been in a virtual truce with Iran since 2012 as a result of a deal between Iran and the PKK in response to the Syria crisis PJAK would be a far more potent force than the KDPI," says Hiltermann A key military ally in Baghdad's fight against IS and Assad's battle for survival Iran has managed to keep conflict at its doorstep But the repercussions of regional conflict on its unresolved Kurdish question may cause the bloodshed to increasingly spill over into the Islamic Republic This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition. Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters Middle East Eye          ISSN 2634-2456                      Twenty five combinations contested Saturday’s 1m50 Suncor Winning Round in a wet International Ring following overnight and early morning rain spectators’ spirits were not in the slightest bit dampened as they were treated to some world-class performances from not only Canada’s finest equestrian athletes but also a number of leading riders from eight other nations who descended on Calgary for the 2021 edition of the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ Round 1’s proceedings were dominated by the home nation with four Canadian riders amongst the 10 who eventually progressed to Round 2 including Tiffany Foster and her 15-year-old gelding and the experienced duo of Eric Lamaze and Jim Ifko Kino and the 12-year-old La Silla-bred mare The Irish trio of Jordan Coyle (Centriko Volo) Daniel Coyle (Ivory TCS) and Conor Swail also made the top-10 cut and were joined in the Winning Round by the talented 23-year-old Belgian it was Tiffany Foster’s day to shine in front of an enthralled crowd after she and the brilliant Brighton did enough to see off a late challenge from Irishman beating him to top spot by three tenths of a second with the current world number 59-ranked rider Egyptian Nayel Nassar slotting into third place commented: “The Suncor Winning Round here at Spruce Meadows is a kind of unique event which means you’ve got to get into that top 10 so it’s always better to carry a little bit of rhythm The good thing about him is he’s super-fast so even if I happen to have one down I’m usually in with a shout Which horses are you competing with this week And can you tell us a bit about their characters?  It’s like horseracing: I always pick the favourite What makes Spruce Meadows different from other international shows?  They’ve all spent an incredible amount of time to put the ‘Masters’ Tournament on The team has been working tirelessly to ensure that my visa was granted to allow me to travel to Canada from Venezuela People have to understand how international this show is the huge amount of people come from so many different overseas countries To find show jumping crew was a huge challenge for the organising committee which requires a lot of people to make it happen NINEVEH PROVINCE, Iraq—Night has fallen as Haitham Alwan enters his cousin’s house in a quiet suburb of Mosul. It will be his home for a few days, then he will move on. Perhaps to his godparents', who have already taken in his two children. The 44-year-old former soldier is cloaked in a worn-out winter coat which he wears over a filthy thobe. A man on the run, he has neither time nor money to improve his appearance. “I never stay in one place for very long. I’m scared that ISIS will find me,” he says. When talking, Haitham’s left eye scans the room nervously. The right eye stares ahead rigidly, its pupil blotted white. It is a memento of his time fighting the so-called Islamic State in Mosul, where he spearheaded attacks in an armored bulldozer to clear barricades and mines in the claustrophobic battle for the city. Heavily wounded by an RPG that hit his vehicle and penetrated the driver’s cabin, he left the army before the battle was out. Haitham was back in his native village near Mosul when then-Prime Minister Haider Abadi declared the war against ISIS won. But in the remote, barren countryside of northern Iraq, the war was never really won. Soon, marauding bands of surviving ISIS fighters began setting ambushes, planting mines and attacking soldiers and civilians. Dozens of checkpoints and army bases dot the area around Mosul. Many are guarding the main highway connecting the city to Baghdad. Less strategic stretches of land are not protected. The soldiers in the bases—a few houses or containers surrounded by earthen berms—point to the horizon and shrug their shoulders. We have no bases over there, that’s bandit country, they say. After the attack, Haitham fled his village. Too many of its inhabitants still sympathize with the terror group, he says. “Because of the support from the locals, ISIS is roaming the area unhindered. There are not enough soldiers around to prevent attacks on villages,” says Haitham. The terror group’s survival is nourished by the glaring poverty of rural Iraq. ISIS benefits from the frustration at the government, which has made no effort to divert any of Iraq’s plentiful oil receipts to villages like Bijwaniya. The cluster of mud huts is not connected to the power grid or a water supply; there are no paved roads. Most of its residents are unemployed. The situation is not much different in nearby Mosul. In the metropolis on the Tigris, poverty abounds. Swathes of the city have been devastated by the war, but reconstruction efforts by the government are paltry. The historic old town on the banks of the Tigris lies in ruins, and bodies are still recovered from the rubble. Most of the reconstruction is funded privately, with families spending their money to rebuild their homes or businesses. Barely any of the city’s infrastructure has been repaired. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, almost $900 million is needed to restore basic services. The government has committed only a fraction of that, much of which has been eaten up by corruption. But we are only making very slow progress on this important step,” says Major General Najim al-Jubouri Jubouri has set up his headquarters in a sprawling palace complex built by Saddam Hussein and the major general has his offices in a spacious side building instead The vast palace complex is a reminder that Iraq’s oil wealth tends to benefit the country’s rulers A drive from the palace in the city center to Mosul’s periphery confirms that impression “The only time we see politicians here is during the elections They come and tell us that everything will get better if we vote for them,” says Fathi Khedir a taxi driver living in the suburb of Tanak where the city peters out into the muddy expanses of the Nineveh plains and electricity is mainly generated by noisy truck engines that belch exhaust fumes into the neighborhood Areas like Tanak proved a fertile recruitment ground for ISIS Discrimination against Mosul’s Sunni population by the Shia-dominated government added to the resentment and throughout the city a dense network of terror cells wrested control from security forces even before ISIS stormed it in 2014 “Mosul was lost before ISIS took the city,” says Lieutenant Colonel Muhsin Mtewti The officer commands a police station in the 17 Tamuz neighborhood that lies adjacent to Tanak in West Mosul Because the station building was destroyed in the war Mtweti has commandeered the house of an ISIS family that has been expelled from the city it is a base from which heavily armed police officers start their patrols in huge American pick-up trucks their relationship with the population has improved I always tell my men to behave well towards the population,” says the officer After having lived through three years of tyrannical ISIS rule “We have all suffered a great deal,” he says But it would not be Iraq if the government was not doing its best to squander its hard won moral victory a solidary house stands out from the devastated old city It belongs to the family of Rajab Younis Rajab The family used money from an aid organisation to repair the house after the war and painted it pink in defiance of the bleak destruction surrounding it Rajab is troubled by what he sees outside his house but the gangs of young boys scavenging bombed-out houses for electrical wiring and other metals that can be sold for scrap Having lost their homes and often their fathers these boys are the breadwinners of their families which have been left to fend for themselves will make them susceptible to the next wave of extremists challenging the government “Some people don’t even have enough to eat They would kill for a bit of money,” he says with a resigned sigh “People will radicalize under these conditions.” Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Florian Neuhof is a journalist covering the war in Iraq and Syria from Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan Christopher Dickey, a veteran foreign correspondent, was The Daily Beast’s World News Editor, and the author of seven books, including Securing the City and, most recently, Our Man in Charleston: Britain’s Secret Agent in the Civil War South After chasing the Neuhof bandits halfway around Kingdom Come Deliverance’s main provinvce Henry is finally drawing closer to meeting his adversary Here’s our guide to completing the My Friend Timmy quest with instructions on where to find and help Timmy much easier to complete if you have a reasonably high speech skill Depending on your approach to Kingdom Come Deliverance make sure you have good combat gear or a bard potion to boost your speech stat You can buy bard potions from the Apothecary in Rattay for about 50 Groschen brew them yourself or find them in chests and graves If that’s too expensive for you, take a look at our tips for making money in Kingdom Come Deliverance After you’ve found Reeky as part of the On the Scent quest, you’ll set out to find the last of the bandit deserters, Timmy. Reeky pointed you in the direction of the windmill south of Merhojed, so ride your trusty horse over to the marker on your map. When you’re there, speak to any of the mill workers or villagers there and ask after Timmy. They’ll tell you to talk to his sister, Mirka. Mirka can be found around the windmill during the day, or in the main farm lodgings in the northeast corner of the stead, opposite the windmill, in the nighttime. Speak to Mirka and ask about Timmy. She’ll pretend not to know anything to start with, but use your speech, charisma or strength skills to persuade her into helping you out. She’ll ask you to meet her behind the windmill. Depending on how you want the next exchange to go, now’s the time to drink a bard potion if you have less than 9 speech, or don your best combat gear - things are about to get messy. Once again, you can get a bard potion that raises your speech skill by five from the Apothecary in Rattay for just over 50 Groschen. When you’re ready, meet Mirka behind the windmill. She’ll tell you to find Timmy at Kolben’s farm to the northwest, near Merhojed, just as some unsavoury characters appear out of the blue. Turns out they’re looking for Timmy too, and ask in no uncertain terms for you to tell them where he is. Play dumb to begin with, but they’ll soon figure you out. You can now either flat out refuse to tell them anything and prepare for a fight, or try to convince them that Timmy’s fled to Rattay. If your speech skill is 9 or above, with or without a bard potion, you should be able to send them off in the wrong direction. If you do manage to send the main party off, they’ll leave one thug behind to keep watch on Henry. Once the others are out of sight either kill, knock out or simply run away from the bandit and head to Timmy’s hiding place. When you reach the farm marked on your map, Timmy will probably be loafing around out in the open and not difficult to find. Speak to him and ask him where the bandit camp is. It shouldn’t be hard to persuade him with speech or charisma to talk - especially if your bard potion is still active. He’ll recite the way to the main bandit camp to you. Now that you know the way, you’ll get a new objective: report your progress back to Sir Radzig. He’s just a short ride north of the mill in Merhojed. Follow the map marker to his location. © 2025 VG247 a brand of IGN Entertainment, Inc. 18 Mansell Street Level 3, London, E1 8AA, United Kingdom.All rights reserved. No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission. VG247 is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited, an affiliate of IGN Entertainment, Inc. Tulul al-Ghusayn, a 6,000-year-old hilltop site with stone fortresses in the Jordanian desert. (Supplied: Bernd Muller-Neuhof) Link copiedShareShare articleArchaeologists have uncovered three ancient, fortified settlements and what may be the earliest evidence of artificial irrigation systems while excavating in the basalt desert of Jordan. The sites, which date back approximately 6,000 years to the late fifth and fourth millennia BCE, were located atop volcanic hills at the edge of north-eastern Jordan during surveys between 2010 and 2015. The archaeologist heading the study for the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute said the permanent settlements were a surprising find, and conflicted with earlier hypotheses that pastoralists had only visited the area for specific times of the year — usually during the wet season. A section of an ancient, double-face fortification wall discovered in Jawa, a separate fortified site excavated in the 1970s. "The interesting thing is that this remote region comes suddenly into our focus as an area where, at a very early stage, high technology either developed or appeared," Bernd Muller-Neuhof told the ABC. The findings have also raised a number of questions for the survey, including what kind of climate these residents faced in the fourth millennium BCE and why people chose to settle there, according to Dr Muller-Neuhof. "If we assume current climate conditions [were in place back then], just as a hypothesis, then the opportunities would have been better than nowadays," he says, adding that climate change and overgrazing have led to degradation of the region. The fortified sites also hosted a sophisticated system of diverting rainfall into terraced gardens, where they flooded sediments for agricultural purposes. Farming terraces located near fortified structures in Jordan. (Supplied: APAAME/Robert Howard Bewley) "There is some evidence — which is not clear yet — that they had also built wells in [wadi beds] and used lava tubes [natural conduits formed by flowing lava], which fill up in the rain season, to hold water," he said. This system of canals and dams predates Mesopotamian irrigation and could be the earliest example of irrigation farming using rainwater in the Middle East. A dam located in Jawa, which was already known to archaeologists and excavated in the 1970s. (Supplied: Bernd Müller-Neuhof) But Dr Muller-Neuhof was quick to point out that much of the research is not really clear yet, suggesting the next step of the project was to actually solve the problem of water. An aerial view of one of the three hilltop settlements with fortification walls and stone houses in Khirbet Abu al-Husayn, Jordan. (Supplied: APAAME/Matthew Neale Dalton) The fortified sites also revealed extensive socioeconomic activity in the area, including evidence of flint mining in a nearby region and advanced agricultural techniques. "The major economic activities were most probably husbandry of sheep and goats, pastoralism — not only for serving their own needs but also exports to other settlements," Dr Muller-Neuhof said. "We know from the mid fourth millennium in the region of southern Iraq that the Uruk culture there … started to develop a textile industry. "It is the first place we can trace mass production in textiles, leather and agriculture in the Mesopotamia era. "For these desert areas, sitting on the fringes of these fertile alluvial lowlands, they were involved in the production of animal products — which means wool, leather, meat, cheese or something like that. "That was probably the major things they did." A view of the garden terraces in one of the settlements, Khirbet al-Jabariya. (Supplied: Bernd Müller-Neuhof) But while the inhabitants were able to engineer a sustainable life for themselves, the question remains as to why they decided to settle in the arid region in the first place. Dr Muller-Neuhof said the answer remains a "mystery". "We don't know it yet … We have no idea yet why these people went there and why they built these huge fortifications, huge villages because this region was, to us, always a quite remote region." Discoveries from inside the dwellings — such as small fireplaces, charcoal and some flint tools — also reveal very little about the specific culture of the inhabitants, since neighbouring communities used similar items during that time. The question remains as to why inhabitants decided to settle in the arid region in the first place. (Supplied: Bernd Müller-Neuhof) Ambiguity also surrounds the use of the fortified structures, with researches failing to find any evidence of warfare in the area. "When they left the village it was very controlled, there is no evidence yet of warfare although we have these huge fortifications," he said. But despite the mystery surrounding the settlements, the findings have brought the region sharply into archaeological focus as an area of advanced early technological achievement. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) Kingdom Come: Deliverance is proof that you don't need fantasy and dragons to deliver a very good RPG for the first Mafia or the UFO series) focused on realism so there are no supernatural or fantastic elements the Warhorse's game doesn't differ from most representatives of the genre but it quickly turns out to be much more extensive and complicated it has a much higher entry threshold and can be discouraging The action of this game takes place in 15th-century Central Europe shortly before the outbreak of the Hussite wars that took place in the Kingdom of Bohemia We play the role of a blacksmith's son – he decides to take revenge on those who razed and ransacked his family village A place that is very memorable is Rattay on Sasau It's one of the initial locations where we can complete the first side quests rip demons in Middle Ages and dodge in co-op The best inZOI mods to refresh your experience with The Sims rival Copyright © 2000 - 2025 Webedia Polska SA The world of medieval Bohemia is rather vast, and finding little unusual objects is not an easy task. However, players have already managed to locate some really exciting easter eggs in Kingdom Come: Deliverance There are a few nods to other popular RPG franchises which is a natural choice for a game such as KC:D But there are also other strange and interesting oddities here and there -- so be prepared for a few surprises.  This guide will take on a journey to fing the best Easter eggs in Kingdom Come: Deliverance Horses are a part of everyday life in Kingdom Come: Deliverance (and considering the game's focus on authenticity, that's no surprise). However, some horses aren't as they first appear. Instead, one is the exact same horse from The Witcher 3 -- the Roach You can find this little bugger at the horse stable in Merhojed (see the map below for exact location) It's a town located to the southwest of Talmberg between Rovna and Samopesh It's interesting to note that the KC:D version of Roach isn't very fast but if you need a lot of capacity and stamina There is really no reason for this Easter egg to be where it is in the game it's most likely one of the developer's love letter to Wolverine The adamantium hand is hidden between some stones in the forest to the north of Neuhof (see the map below for exact location) you can't use Wolverine's hand in the game; you can't even pick it up But that would probably ruin the realistic approach of Kingdom Come: Deliverance seeing a character run around with claws instead of fingers would be pretty hilarious to say the least Roach isn't the only famous horse to be found in Kingdom Come: Deliverance If you travel to the horse stable in Neuhof you will find Epona -- Link's horse from The Legend of Zelda series The last time you saw her was in the Breath of the Wild Epona can be called by playing Epona's Song on the flute and they even included a little test during the conversation with the horse seller her master will ask you if you can play the flute There are lots of strange things in the forests of Kingdom Come If you travel to the forest east of Rattay you will stumble upon a hut with a skeleton on the backyard The funny thing is that near the skeleton you will see a pair of giant shoes hanging off of the piece of wood The question is: Who could wear such big shoes This Easter egg definitely provokes lots of questions -- and makes us wonder if there's a beanstalk hidden nearby.  This is not the first time players could spot a random traffic cone in the forests of Bohemia players stumbled upon them in the most unusual places There was even a theory that the presence of the cones indicated that everything that takes place in KC:D is a movie set and that's why you could find these random modern objects here and there Now you can find one in the watchtower in a forest to the southeast of Vranik Just follow the map above and you will see it for yourselves Let us know in the comments section below if you managed to get all five of these Easter eggs. 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