Archaeologists also located English Civil War cannonballs and a Tudor-era shoe near a Newcastle river. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire extended as far away as Britain . Based on a new trove of archaeological artifacts discovered in northeast England, Britain hosted critical sites that supplied the empire's vast military complex. Over six months in 2025, researchers from the United Kingdom's Durham University excavated the new evidence on the banks of the River Wear not far from Newcastle, England.

A group of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a tool that can cross-train standard convolutional neural networks (CNN) to a spiking neural model that can be used on neuromorphic processors. The researchers claim that the conversion will enable deep learning applications to take advantage of the much better energy efficiency of neuromorphic hardware, which are designed to mimic the way the biological neurons work. The tool, known as Whetstone, works by adjusting artificial neuron behavior during the training phase to only activate when it reaches an appropriate threshold. As a result, neuron activation become a binary choice – either it spikes or it doesn't. By doing so, Whetstone converts an artificial neural network into a spiking neural network.

Whetstone, a software tool that sharpens the output of artificial neurons, has enabled neural computer networks to process information up to a hundred times more efficiently than the current industry standard, say the Sandia National Laboratories researchers who developed it. The aptly named software, which greatly reduces the amount of circuitry needed to perform autonomous tasks, is expected to increase the penetration of artificial intelligence into markets for mobile phones, self-driving cars and automated interpretation of images. "Instead of sending out endless energy dribbles of information," Sandia neuroscientist Brad Aimone said, "artificial neurons trained by Whetstone release energy in spikes, much like human neurons do." The largest artificial intelligence companies have produced spiking tools for their own products, but none are as fast or efficient as Whetstone, says Sandia mathematician William Severa. "Large companies are aware of this process and have built similar systems, but often theirs work only for their own designs. Whetstone will work on many neural platforms."

The aptly named software, which greatly reduces the amount of circuitry needed to perform autonomous tasks, is expected to increase the penetration of artificial intelligence into markets for mobile phones, self-driving cars and automated interpretation of images. "Instead of sending out endless energy dribbles of information," Sandia neuroscientist Brad Aimone said, "artificial neurons trained by Whetstone release energy in spikes, much like human neurons do." The largest artificial intelligence companies have produced spiking tools for their own products, but none are as fast or efficient as Whetstone, says Sandia mathematician William Severa. "Large companies are aware of this process and have built similar systems, but often theirs work only for their own designs. Whetstone will work on many neural platforms."

Rachel Whetstone, the former top public relations executive at Uber, is joining Facebook as vice-president of communications for Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Whetstone, a British public relations guru who worked for some of the UK's most powerful Conservative politicians, stepped down as head of public policy and communications at Uber in April following a string of corporate scandals. Before Uber, Whetstone worked at Google as the head of communications and public policy. "It's a real privilege to be joining the Facebook family," Whetstone said in a statement. "Products like WhatsApp have become an important part of my life – making it so much easier to stay in touch with my own family and friends."

When Rachel Whetstone left Google two years ago to replace David Plouffe, a former Barack Obama official, as policy and communications vice-president at Uber, it seemed like a promising Silicon Valley role. The taxi-hailing app had a reputation for aggressive and even underhand tactics, and a CEO, in Travis Kalanick, with a reputation as a gaffe-prone "tech bro", but it was one of the fastest growing startups in the world, achieving a $50bn valuation (now almost $70bn) within just six years. However Whetstone departed the company this week amid a stunning array of scandals and controversies, including allegations of sexual harassment, a video of Kalanick berating an Uber driver, a legal battle with Google over the alleged theft of driverless car technology, the revelation that Uber used secret "Greyball" software to deceive city regulators, and allegations that the company had another program called "Hell" designed to spy on its arch-rival Lyft. For Whetstone it's been a hell of a ride. Public relations veteran Ed Zitron described Whetstone's job as the equivalent of having "two fists permanently punching you in the head".