The Origin of Poop: AI to Predict Source of Ancient Feces

Archaeologists have applied the principals of AI to distinguish between ancient human and dog poo, cleaning up a storm of scientific confusion over the matter. Looking deep into the future, in October 2019 Elon Musk posted a tweet using Starlink, a satellite constellation of thousands of orbiting mirrors constructed by his American company SpaceX, to provide satellite Internet access everywhere in the world. What's more, Amazon continue to apply advanced AI programs to predict what you and I might buy next; but looking backwards in time, archaeologists have now use artificial intelligence to distinguish whether a sample of ancient poo has human or canine origins. In a New Scientist article, Maxime Borry of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany discusses his new paper, which says ancient poo, or " coprolites", provides a valuable source of information about the identity, diet, and health of people who lived thousands of years ago. But the researcher explained that dogs lived alongside ancient hunters and canine feces are also commonly found at archaeological sites, "It is challenging to tell them apart," said Dr. Borry.