Science

Scientists have uncovered a genetic variant, inherited from Neanderthals, that may limit athletic performance. The mutation is thought to affect roughly 8% of modern-day Europeans and influences the activity of a key enzyme in the production of energy in skeletal muscle. In a study published July 10 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers analyzed more than 2,700 individuals, which revealed …

Every year, all telescopes on Earth and in space combined discover around 20,000 new asteroids. In just its first ten hours of activity, a single new observatory discovered 2,104 asteroids, or in other words, it did 10% of the entire astronomical community’s annual job in less than half a day. Yeah, the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, funded by the …

Last month, the parachutes on Hélène Huby’s small spacecraft failed to deploy, and the vehicle and its cargo crashed into the ocean on Earth. It was both a success and a failure. The success was that after Huby founded The Exploration Company in Europe, she managed to move nimbly with the “Mission Possible” spacecraft such that it cost less than $25 …

Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains are not for the faint of heart. Scientists who have gone on expeditions here have been rewarded for their efforts with everything from leeches stuck to their eyes, to malaria, earthquakes, exhausting heat, and a few venomous animals to boot. Still, they did strike gold when they discovered a tree-dwelling shrimp. Yes, in 2023, an entirely new …

Key Takeaways Scientists have used laser-excited thorium-229 to probe for ultralight dark matter, even without a fully built nuclear clock. Thorium-229’s unique nuclear transition offers up to a billion times more sensitivity to fundamental forces than current methods. This new technique opens a fresh path for dark matter searches, potentially detecting effects 100 million times weaker than gravity. For nearly …

Gazelle prepared “a la Amud,” or “a la Kebara”? Neanderthals at Kebara had pretty broad tastes in meat. The butchered bones found in the cave were mostly an even mix of small ungulates (largely gazelle) and medium-sized ones (red deer, fallow deer, wild goats, and boar), with just a few larger game animals thrown in. And it looks like the …

The Chinese AI company DeepSeek released a chatbot earlier this year called R1, which drew a huge amount of attention. Most of it focused on the fact that a relatively small and unknown company said it had built a chatbot that rivaled the performance of those from the world’s most famous AI companies, but using a fraction of the computer …

Built by a socially prominent couple connected to Brower Park, the standalone boasts striking woodwork, parking, and air conditioning. Photo via Compass by Susan De Vries Driving up to this Queen Anne manse and pulling into the porte cochere would make one feel rather grand, and the Crown Heights rental has some impressive details surviving on the interior as well. …

Each week, Prudence asks readers for their thoughts on the letters she’s received. Her reply will be available every Friday only for Slate Plus members. Hey Prudence, Re That Was Weird: Maybe the letter writer’s friend had a lot of early miscarriages, and won’t believe the pregnancy is “real” until there’s a healthy baby in her arms that she gets to take home. …

ERROR: The request could not be satisfied The request could not be satisfied. Request blocked. We can’t connect to the server for this app or website at this time. There might be too much traffic or a configuration error. Try again later, or contact the app or website owner. If you provide content to customers through CloudFront, you can find …