Researchers have identified what is now considered the world’s oldest known cave painting,challenging long-standing assumptions that symbolic art emerged first in Ice Age Europe around 40,000 years ago. Found inside Liang Metanduno cave on Muna Island in Indonesia, the artwork is a stenciled outline of a human hand. The cave also features other works, including a boat. The hand has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago by analyzing uranium isotopes in the surrounding limestone, making it significantly older than any known cave art discovered in Europe. The find, published this week in the journal Nature, supports the idea that Homo sapiens reached the Australia–New Guinea landmass roughly 15,000 years earlier than previously suggested by migration models.
Throughout history, spies have used sex, seduction, and emotional manipulation to reach targets that guns and gadgets never could. In the 1960s, that logic drove one of Mossad’s most audacious operations: an effort to steal a Soviet MiG-21 fighter jet from inside an enemy air force.
At the time, the MiG-21 outperformed Israel’s own aircraft. Understanding how it flew and where it failed could decide the outcome of future air battles. Mossad couldn’t steal one outright, so it targeted the pilots instead. Iraqi airmen training abroad were quietly approached, courted, and offered money, safety, and a new life in exchange for defecting with their aircraft.
Most refused. Some were killed soon after, eliminating the risk of exposure while narrowing Mossad’s options. The operation became a brutal process of elimination, stretching across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. One pilot, however, proved vulnerable. Munir Redfa, a Christian in Iraq’s air force, felt sidelined and blocked from advancement. Seduction opened the door, but resentment and ambition sealed the deal. When Redfa agreed to defect, the mission shifted from honeytrap to extraction, with consequences that reshaped the regional balance of air power.
Join espionage authors Michael Smith and Henry Schlesinger in this week’s podcast selection, 'Sexpionage: Operation Diamond', on a honeytrap operation to steal a next-generation fighter from inside enemy lines.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES!
Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Book your next team social.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Book your next team social.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Valentino Garavani, the Italian designer who built one of the most influential couture houses of the 20th century, passed away this week at the age of 93. Known simply as Valentino, he founded his label in Rome around 1960 and became synonymous with a refined vision of modern glamour that shaped red-carpet style for decades.
One of his most lasting signatures was “Valentino red,” a vivid shade inspired by a red velvet gown he saw at the opera as a teenager in Barcelona. The color became a calling card, recurring in collections. Across nearly five decades, Valentino dressed some of the most recognizable women in the world, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, and Julia Roberts. Behind the scenes, his longtime business partner Giancarlo Giammetti helped transform the couture house into a global luxury brand, balancing creative control with commercial expansion.
Valentino sold the company in 1998 but remained active in fashion until retiring in 2008. His final years in the industry were documented in the film Valentino: The Last Emperor.
Nature
Penguin Breeding Patterns
What happens when penguins start breeding weeks ahead of schedule?
Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own private space to celebrate.
Host your birthday at SPYSCAPE or SPYGAMES.
Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own private space to celebrate.
What does it take to send people back to the Moon?
NASA has moved its Space Launch System rocket to the launch pad, marking a major milestone ahead of the Artemis II mission. The rollout took place last weekend, and the fully assembled rocket and Orion capsule are ready for final testing before launch. Officials say the mission could lift off as early as February 6.
Artemis II will be the first crewed flight of NASA’s lunar program since 1972. Four astronauts will travel aboard Orion on a multi-day journey that loops around the Moon and returns to Earth, retracing the path flown by the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022. The flight is designed to validate life-support systems, navigation, and deep-space operations with humans onboard.
The Space Launch System stands as the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. It uses a combination of solid rocket boosters and a massive core stage to generate the thrust needed to escape Earth’s gravity. Once launched, Orion will separate and operate independently in deep space. Artemis II sets the stage for Artemis III, currently targeted for 2027, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time in more than five decades.
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