Classic Maya burials are complex archaeological contexts, shaped by distinctive depositional and postdepositional activities. To address this complexity, mortuary archaeologists have increasingly adopted theoretical and methodological frameworks from archaeothanatology. This article applies an archaeothanatological approach to the analysis of 35 burials from Group IV, a nonroyal elite residential compound at the Classic Maya site of Palenque, Mexico. The study reveals a complex funerary sequence that includes predepositional body preparation, primary and secondary depositions, and postdepositional modifications, reflecting long-lasting relationships between the living and the dead. The results provide evidence for differential treatments. Protracted rituals were conducted around elaborate burials, although they rarely included secondary skeletal manipulation. Conversely, simpler stone graves underwent reopening and secondary manipulation, and a few individuals were buried directly into the soil. Despite their differences, these activities were materializations of beliefs, which underscored the centrality of ritual interaction with the dead in Classic Maya mortuary traditions. These patterns mirror broader ritual traditions at Palenque that involved the prolonged usage of ritual spaces and burials, as well as concerns about corpses’ decay.

Birds and bats are extremely adept flyers: whether in hunting prey, or evading predators, post-stall manoeuvrability is a characteristic of vital importance. Their performance, in this regard, greatly exceeds that of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) of similar scale. Attempts to attain post-stall manoeuvrability, or supermanoeuvrability, in UAVs have typically focused on thrust-vectoring technology. Here we show that biomimetic wing morphing offers an additional pathway to classical supermanoeuvrability, as well as novel forms of bioinspired post-stall manoeuvrability. Using a state-of-the-art flight simulator, equipped with a multibody model of lifting surface motion and a delay differential equation (Goman-Khrabrov) dynamic stall model for all lifting surfaces, we demonstrate the capability of a biomimetic morphing-wing UAV for two post-stall manoeuvres: a classical rapid nose-pointing-and-shooting (RaNPAS) manoeuvre; and a wall landing manoeuvre inspired by biological ballistic transitions. We show that parametric variation of nonlinear longitudinal stability profiles is an effective open-loop strategy to explore the space of post-stall manoeuvres in these types of UAVs; and it yields insight into effective morphing kinematics to enable these manoeuvres. Our results demonstrate the capability of morphing-based control of nonlinear longitudinal stability to enable complex forms of transient supermanoeuvrability in UAVs.

Peer review is part of the bedrock of science. In recent years the focus of peer review has shifted toward developmental reviewing, an approach intended to focus on the author’s growth and development. Yet, does the focus on developing the author have unintended consequences for the development of science? In this paper, we critique the developmental approach to peer review and contrast it with the constructive approach, which focuses on improvement of the research. We suggest the developmental approach, although with laudable aims, has also produced unintended consequences that negatively impact authors’ experiences as well as the quality and meaningfulness of the science published. We identify problems and discuss potential solutions that can strengthen peer review and contribute to science for a smarter workplace.

Individuals have long manipulated the dimensions of architecture, vessels, and monuments. Although scaled-up objects are often conspicuous parts of communities, this article instead considers scaled-down objects, specifically Postclassic Maya small, uncarved stelae. After presenting previously documented examples of these monuments from the Maya lowlands, the article introduces two recently recorded examples from Punta Laguna in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula: each is associated with the final deposition of hundreds of fragments of broken and unreconstructable anthropomorphic incense burners. Although the exact functions and meanings of these stelae remain elusive, understanding them as miniatures—as abstracted and compressed scaled-down versions of referents—aids in efforts to reenvision the Postclassic period and to uncouple notions of scale and complexity. More specifically, understanding small, uncarved Postclassic stelae as miniatures reframes their creation as a purposeful choice, rather than as an act of necessity; suggests they are a legitimate rather than anomalous type of monument; and encourages scholars to eschew conventional considerations of what these stelae lack—size, writing, and carved figural representations—and focus instead on what they retain: the medium of stone, their basic shape and upright nature, and their placement in nondomestic contexts and association with nondomestic artifacts.

Financialization of healthcare drains our current system of resources it needs to provide care. It occurs when money is siphoned off for private profit through mechanisms such as rent seeking, gamesmanship, and exploitative price setting. This is not an ethically neutral activity, and the people profiting in this way ought to justify why they are entitled to this money, given the foreseeable negative effects what they are doing has on people’s health. This important problem is masked by current accounting methods and healthcare billing methods, which need to be changed to allow for a more transparent assessment of what is really occurring.

This short article explores trans mothering as an embodied practice of popular sovereignty in the context of the Syrian state army. Moving beyond traditional state-centered and militarized masculinities that shape scholarly notions of sovereignty, I demonstrate how trans mothering—embodied through listening, care, and affirmation of fellow soldiers—became a mode of antiwar world-making amid Assad’s counterrevolutionary war. The article centers on the story of Duaa, a trans woman whose gender identity was denied by the Syrian state. Forcibly conscripted and sent to the frontlines in the Damascus suburbs, Duaa developed everyday practices of trans care and support toward fellow soldiers, reorienting military service around mutual support rather than state control. Building on ethnographic research and life history interviews in Lebanon, I engage with Syrian–Palestinian writer Naya Rajab’s approach to trans mothering and Amahl Bishara’s theorization of popular sovereignty as a disruptive force against authoritarian rule. Through this framework, the article illustrates how Duaa’s trans mothering temporarily shifts the army’s hierarchy into acts that nurture mutual care rather than sovereign obedience. Her trans care reimagines sovereignty not necessarily through resistance, but through the everyday reconstitution of state power on state military bases. Finally, the article argues for a reconsideration of popular sovereignty in post-Assad Syria, where massacres and displacement continue to serve as technologies of sovereign rule under Ahmad al-Sharaa.

This memoir of John Ellis Jones, best known for his contributions to the Classical archaeology of rural Attica, traces his early studies in North Wales, his first encounters with Greece in the early 1950s, his family life, and the teaching posts he held at the University of Leicester (1957–8) and at the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) – the latter for 37 years until his formal retirement in 1995, after which he continued to support Classics in North Wales for many more years. His important contributions to the archaeology of Classical Greece, especially rural Attica, are outlined, together with an example of the distinctive artwork with which he embellished his copious publications. Also highlighted are his many contributions to the archaeology and history of North Wales. The memoir is accompanied by a complete bibliography of his publications, many in Welsh.

Dan Friedman, a cofounder and artistic director emeritus of the Castillo Theatre in New York City, interviews Daniel Maposa, the founder and executive director of Savanna Trust, a politically engaged theatre based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Their conversation covers the history of political theatre in Zimbabwe from colonial times to the present.