Technology

A candy maker helped popularize canning by bottling everything from eels to eggs to peaches

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Napoleon wanted to conquer the world, but he lost thousands of soldiers to hunger, disease and hypothermia.Heritage images via Getty Images In the 19th century, growing empires and seafaring exploration required reliably preserved food. A candy maker received 12,000 francs for his method of heating and sealing food in glass jars. The bottles were heavy … Read more

Neanderthals and humans may be the same species, scientists say. It could rewrite the history of our evolution.

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An employee at the Natural History Museum in London looks at a model of a Neanderthal male.Will Oliver/PA Images/Getty Until recently, the consensus was that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were separate species. But most humans carry about 2% of Neanderthal DNA, challenging the view that we are different. Other studies suggest that Neanderthals are not … Read more

Animal resistance memes are everywhere – here’s why you shouldn’t be too quick to laugh at rebellious orcas and sea otters

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Memes transform her into a beret like that of the socialist revolutionary Ché Guevara. In one caption she proclaims, “Accept our existence or expect resistance… an otter world is possible.” My study focuses on the relationships between animals and humans, through the prism of social justice. As I see it, the public joy over destroyed … Read more

Your car follows you. Abusive partners can be too.

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Apps that track and control cars remotely are being weaponized by abusive partners. Automakers are slow to respond. (Jeff Östberg/The New York Times) After almost ten years of marriage, Christine Dowdall wanted out. Her husband was no longer the charming man she had fallen in love with. He had become narcissistic, abusive and unfaithful, she … Read more

Billionaire Peter Thiel is one of thousands who will be cryogenically frozen after death – in the industry that sells life after death

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Dr. Jerry Lemler, former president and CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, stands in the Patient Care Bay area where the heads and bodies of 49 individuals are kept in cold storage at the company’s headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 12, 2002.Jeff Topping/Reuters Cryonics companies cryogenically freeze people after death in the hope that … Read more

The daughter of multi-millionaire oil magnate Charles Koch believed she had to be liked in order to exist, until MDMA therapy

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Psychedelic clinical trials focus on a wide range of hallucinogenic drugs. Elizabeth Koch is an advocate of MDMA in therapy.Shayanne Gal/Insider Elizabeth Koch, daughter of right-wing oil magnate Charles Koch, struggled to find joy in her life. With the help of MDMA therapy, she broke through the feeling that she had to be perfect in … Read more

This year, hundreds of unknown species have been discovered worldwide

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Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s science newsletter Wonder Theory. To receive it in your inbox, Register for free here. The incredible discoveries and scientific achievements of 2023 prove how far curiosity and wonder can take humanity. Archaeological discoveries have allowed researchers to take intriguing steps into the past and reveal … Read more

What if farmers had to pay for water?

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Soren Bjorn, a senior executive at Driscoll’s, the berry giant, in a greenhouse in Watsonville, California on December 22, 2023. (Nathan Weyland/The New York Times) WATSONVILLE, Calif. – The strawberry, blackberry and raspberry fields of the Pajaro Valley stretch 10 miles along California’s Monterey Bay coast, surrounded by fruit from April to early December. The … Read more