From the Science & Space desk
Science & Space
The news, fully digested. Our published Science & Space stories, newest first.
INCAN TOMB SURVIVES 600 YEARS WITHOUT BEING LOOTED
Archaeologists at Chan Chan opened an elite Chimú burial platform that grave robbers missed for roughly six centuries, and it still had 38 people, gold, and a chest of textiles inside. One outside researcher is calling it the discovery of the decade. We have thoughts about the room that turned out to be nothing but wea
CLAUDE SNITCHED ON MULTIPLE STATE SCIENTISTS TRYING TO ADVANCE BIOWEAPONS
Anthropic published a threat report Thursday saying state-linked scientists used Claude for gain-of-function work on a mosquito virus and on bird flu. One of them asked the chatbot to help write the grant application. We walk through the five cases it blocked, plus the missile software and the Russian propaganda about
A ROCKET COMPANY THAT HASN'T SHOT ANY ROCKETS RAISES $1 BILLION
Stoke Space has now raised $2.3 billion total and has still never put a rocket in orbit. The new billion pays for the rocket that flies in 2027 and the bigger one that flies in 2029. Investors are buying two rockets, sight unseen.
DOCTORS WERE USING FOUR GENES FOR OCD AND TOURETTE'S RESEARCH, IT JUST FOUND 32 MORE.
Until this week, the confirmed gene list for OCD and chronic tic disorders was four genes long. A Rutgers-led team sequenced nearly 4,000 patients and came back with 36, most of them shared between both conditions. We get into why a 210-fold risk number is a big deal and why drugmakers suddenly have homework.
FIRST EVER EVIDENCE OF DARK MATTER POTENTIALLY FOUND IN.... SOUTH DAKOTA?
The world's most sensitive dark matter detector, buried in an old South Dakota gold mine, found one unexplained flash of light from 220 days of data. The team spent months trying to prove it was a fluke and could not. They are very clear they are not calling this a discovery, and we are very clear that one blip is a he