Awe-inspiring science reporting, technology news, and DIY projects. Skunks to space robots, primates

[ad_1] The story of how modern humans came to be is still complicated and murky, but there’s one thing that’s become very clear over the last decade of research: humans loved to get down, even with other species—that’s why nearly everyone whose ancestors migrated out of Africa possesses at least some lingering bits of Neanderthal DNA. As it turns out, those experiences in interspecies mating were far from isolated one-night stands. According to a new analysis of gene ancestry data published Monday in Nature Ecology & Evolution , populations of humans and Neanderthals mated and procreated multiple times over during the 30,000 years when the two species overlapped. Our snippets of Neanderthal DNA are not the result of one-off hookups. “The history of human-Neanderthal interactions is complex,” says Joshua Schraiber, a genomics researcher at Temple University and a co-author of the new study. “It wasn’t just one time that humans and Neand...

[ad_1] Technology They're the Best of What's New. It’s an elegant way to avoid urban flooding: Lay down paving tiles that soak up rain and divert it from sewers to greenery. But that innovation, the Climate Tile, is… [ad_2] Written By PopSci Staff

[ad_1] Technology They're the Best of What's New. On our list of the top software innovations of 2018, there’s tech that’ll do fun things, like deliver a pizza to your spot in a public park, and programming that takes… [ad_2] Written By Ricki Rusting and Jesse Will

[ad_1] Science Full body, nearly real-time imaging is here. After years of development, a powerful and speedy full-body scanner is ready for action. [ad_2] Written By Charlie Wood

[ad_1] Health They're the Best of What's New. These 10 medical advances represent how science, technology, and creative thinking can help us live longer, better lives. [ad_2] Written By Alyssa Favreau and Claire Maldarelli

[ad_1] Technology They're the Best of What's New. This year’s best products in recreation—including a one-pound tent, a truly innovative sports bra, and a fire pit that keeps smoke out of your eyes—make our active lives… [ad_2] Written By Berne Broudy and Rob Verger

[ad_1] As our oceans warm, hurricane rainfall and intensity are going to rise. But more water and wind aren’t the reason that today’s storms destroy more communities in their wake—it's simply that there are more communities sitting in that path. From 1970 to 2016, the number of Americans living in states directly exposed to tropical cyclones grew by 60 million. Most of that growth was in coastal counties, though there are also many people living inland who can still see impacts from lingering storms. Along with the burgeoning coastal population has come an increase in the number of houses. The Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions, the two most prone to hurricanes, have 34 million more homes in the current decade than they did in 1940. This shift toward vulnerable regions, not an increase in storm severity, is what climate scientists think is causing the rapid increase in apparent destructiveness. A new analysis supporting that conclusion appeared in Nature Sustainability t...