Science
science · the day's top 10 · june 9th
storyflo · science
Jun 9, 2026 · 6 min listen
Listen · storyflo · science
science · the day's top 10 · june 9th
0:00-5:44
Live · Kokoro-82M
Our world consists of many coupled evolving systems, including systems of competing species, nations, political parties, firms, cultures, charities, and even academics. These systems vary in many ways, but a key difference is in their adaption power - how fast can each one search to find and adopt more adaptive alternatives. If the strength of influence between such systems were symmetric, then systems with stronger adaption power would tend to tame and drive the weaker ones.
The pyramids point at one star. Your Bible names it. Most Christians have never read the verse. Three pyramids sit on the Giza plain. Set in a line. The same line as the three stars in Orion’s belt. That is not the strange part. The strange part is the shafts. Narrow tunnels cut through millions of tons of stone. Aimed. At Orion. They were not chimneys. Nothing ever burned in there. They were not hallways. No man fits. They were sightlines to a star. You lay the dead king in the chamber. You line his body up with the tunnel.
This morning we looked at the star. Tonight look at the shape. Before a single tourist pointed a phone at the Great Pyramid, before the documentaries started whispering about ancient builders, before the professors taught you to smile politely at your Bible and trust the museum placard instead, Scripture had already said something stranger than any stone in Egypt. North is stretched out over nothing.
For most of human history, individuals did not carry the full burden of constructing a life on their own. Religion provided explanations. Communities provided belonging. Traditions supplied identity. Culture offered moral frameworks, social roles, rituals, and narratives that helped people orient themselves within existence. These structures were often imperfect and sometimes oppressive, yet they performed an important function.
For decades people believed it mattered whether a Democrat or Republican was elected to office. But given everything that has happened recently, people have started to question whether there is a difference. With immigration for example, Democrats talk about open borders and immigrant opportunity. Republicans advocate for closed borders. What Republicans don’t tell us (aloud) is they also advocate for lots of foreign work visas. So the outcome is… the same. There are lots of foreign nationals working in South Dakota.
A shot many adults are already offered keeps showing up as being tied to lower odds of dementia, in data that is unusually hard to wave away. Here, I summarize the quality of the evidence. Most of the time, when a headline declares that something prevents dementia, the right response is… a shrug. Many observational studies have the same hole in them: people who choose to get a vaccine, take a certain supplement, or eat a certain food, are likely to also do other pro-health things like exercise and go to the doctor. Such healthy habits are known to “cluster” together, and many of them help prot
In brief: While Gulf development continues to be unlikely, we will probably see unsettled, wet weather try to make another run at the Gulf Coast, Southeast, and Texas next week. The Pacific remains congested with a lot of lower-end activity, as El Niño continues ramping up. Plus, we address reader questions on recently announced ocean research cuts. The good news is that the odds of any Gulf development continue to remain pleasantly low over the next 7 to 10 days. A little bit of “noise” continues to show up in modeling by this coming weekend and early next week.
Dear friends, I have seen data like these before, so I should not be shocked. But every time I read of a new survey showing how restricted American children are I’m shocked again. The most recent such study I’ve come across is one by the Institute for Family Studies. The researchers surveyed almost 24,000 U.S. parents of over 40,0000 children whose ages ranged from less than 1 to 17. One question, pertaining to each child, had to do with parental permission for the child to go away from home without adult supervision.
The landmark lawsuit that put Merck’s Gardasil HPV vaccine on trial has ended in a confidential settlement. After years of litigation, extensive discovery, and weeks of courtroom testimony, attorneys for plaintiff Jennifer Robi confirmed that her claims against Merck have ended. Michael Baum, an attorney with Wisner Baum representing Robi, confirmed the settlement in a statement to MD Reports.
Consolidating and refining fossil fuels in the way we do ends up creating compounds and chemicals that don’t exist naturally, creating issues with both our own personal health, and that of the ecosystems we live amongst. When crude oil is extracted and consolidated, spills can occur, creating problems with not only its viscous physical properties, but also its biochemical.
Send this story to anyone — or drop the embed into a blog post, Substack, Notion page. Every play sends rev-share back to storyflo · science.
We’ve simplified responses to 👍 / 👎. Past comments are archived but no longer visible.