A
team of scientists used topographical information and climate models of
the ancient supercontinent of Sahul to design electronically what they
describe as a "virtual continent."
Like other strategic survival and expansion-themed computer games, the
scientists programmed population communities to maneuver through the
ancient continent, which included Australia, New Guinea, and the area
between the two that is now covered in water.
- The artificial intelligence communities had to conquer daily hurdles like crossing rivers and finding water.
- The electronic groups were programmed to explore and expand across Sahul while the research team tracked their 75,000-year-old digital footsteps.
- The
new study accounts for "the topographical constraints of Sahul," and it
is a more "realistic estimation" of Sahul's "peopling," as the research
was built on multiple variables.
- According to a study,
about 3,000 “intrepid explorers” from Southeast Asia became the first
to reach the continent between 50,000 and 75,000 years ago and so became
the ancestors of Australia's aboriginal people.
