Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

Archaeology has long utilized advanced new technologies to help us recover our ancient history.

There is a certain poetry in using the tools of the future to uncover our past, much as we

use those experiences of the past to help us better navigate a safe path into the future.

Last fall I attended an event that was a mix of both a Technology and Futurism Conference

and a campy retreat, as it seemed like a

great pace to fish around for some episode topics, meet some fun thinkers, and take a brief

vacation.

My fellow YouTuber and longtime friend, Cody Don Reader from Cody's lab, was there too, and

on the last day of the event we decided to attend to talk by Professor Brent Sears on archaeology

and a technique he's

been developing for scanning old, damaged scrolls that we can't unwind anymore and which might

be scrunched up and soaked in sediment.

It was an inspiring talk.

Using modern scanning and AI, they can virtually unwind the scroll and read it.

It is a fascinating approach which

we'll be talking about at more length and a bit, but it made me want to see what other

advances were being made in archaeology. I was impressed to see how much technology

was being adapted to archaeology to help us explore and recover our shared past in

...