Artificial intelligence and advanced imaging now allow researchers to analyze collections in ways that would have been unimaginable when NAGPRA was passed.

Every technological advance creates new possibilities.

It also creates new ethical questions.

If a non-destructive scan can reveal information, does that change the case for study?

If a tiny sample can generate an entire genome, how should that data be governed?

If digital replicas can preserve morphology after repatriation, who owns the replica?

The Spirit Cave story teaches that technology does not answer questions of authority by itself.

New tools can help.

They cannot decide what is right.

That decision still requires law, consultation, history, and respect for living communities.