AI solves a two-century old mystery about Raphael’s Madonna della Rosa: The painting, depicting the Madonna (not the pop star), a baby Jesus, and infant John the Baptist with a near shadowy depiction of Joseph in the background, has been the subject of contestation from the 19th century, tells us The Guardian. Now, AI has stepped up to the task, using an algorithm made for the purpose, and uncovered that the face of Joseph was painted by another mysterious painter, but the lower section of the figure is ‘most likely’ Raphael.

The algorithm ‘studied’ 49 other Raphael paintings as practice. Developed by Hassan Ugail, professor of visual computing at the University of Bradford, he created the tech’s data set by making it study 49 undisputed Raphael paintings using a microscopic approach — looking at brushstrokes and several other minute nuances. He then tested its ability to recognise works of the master. The results? It was able to correctly identify Raphael paintings at a 98% rate of efficiency, as published in the Heritage Science Journal.

But the question still remains — who painted the face? And when? The article suggests that the painter may have emerged from the Renaissance master’s workshop. Maybe AI can come back to us in a few years and tell us who it was?

It’s winter solstice “week.” Here’s what that means. Since times immemorial, the start of winter, summer, spring and fall have been fundamental to all civilizations, marking harvests, celebrations, and piety in different cultures and traditions. Today, we measure the start and end of a season using temperature records, rather than rely on these solstices, considering the relative inaccuracy of solstices as markers of seasonable change, the National Geographic says. Tomorrow is the winter solstice, meaning it’s what is considered the first official day of winter.

Ancient Egypt was all about the solstices. Our Karnak temple was aligned with the winter solstice over 4k years ago. To us, this solstice marked the start of the germination season, when crops began to sprout and farmers resumed work in the fields after the flood season. The Egyptians also believed that Ra, the Sun God, fell ill each winter and would start to recover after the winter solstice. To celebrate Ra’s recovery, Egyptians would decorate their houses with green palm rushes.

In case you slept through geography classes: The earth’s 23.4 degree axial tilt is the reason why we get seasons, and solstices mark the two moments during the year when the planet’s “axis is tilted most closely toward the sun.” Other planets in our solar system don’t have the same features: Venus has a small axial tilt which means there's not much difference in seasonal changes whereas Mars has different variations in distance from the sun which can reflect in its intense seasonal temperatures.

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