Technologies

Woolly mammoth extinction blamed on climate change, not human hunting

«This is a stark lesson from history and shows how unpredictable climate change is — once something is lost, there is no going back.»

About 4,000 years ago, the last majestic woolly mammoth roaming Earth vanished, and for decades, scientists believed the colossal ancestors of elephants went extinct because humans hunted them relentlessly. DNA analysis of the animals’ old stomping grounds, however, reveals a different story.

The likelier culprit, researchers now say, was rapid climate change that ultimately wiped out the creatures’ food supply. But besides solving the mystery of the disappearing mammoths, these findings may offer a glimpse into the fates of other species if our present climate crisis isn’t controlled.

«We have shown that climate change, specifically precipitation, directly drives the change in the vegetation — humans had no impact on [the mammoths] at all based on our models,» Yucheng Wang, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and first author of the paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, said in a statement.

Co-author Eske Willerslev, a fellow at the University of Cambridge and director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Copenhagen, added, «This is a stark lesson from history and shows how unpredictable climate change is — once something is lost, there is no going back.»

These gentle beings that dined on grass and flowers lived alongside Neanderthals. While many encounters might have been peaceful, the animals were a hot commodity when it came to making fur coats, musical and artistic instruments and hearty meals. That’s because of their thick, chocolate-colored fur, their sturdy, enormous tusks and their huge size.

They weighed approximately 6 tons and stood about 13 feet (4 meters) tall — as Wang puts it, woolly mammoths could «grow to the height of a double-decker bus.»

«Scientists have argued for 100 years about why mammoths went extinct,» Willerslev said. «Humans have been blamed because the animals had survived for millions of years without climate change killing them off before, but when they lived alongside humans they didn’t last long and we were accused of hunting them to death.»

It makes sense that prehistoric people were suspected to be behind woolly mammoths’ eventual demise instead of climate change. These animals somehow withstood the Ice Age about 12,000 years ago — the fanciful Disney movie Ice Age has some thoughts on that — but the new study’s researchers decided to dig a little deeper.

Over a period of 10 years, Willerslev led a team in dissecting DNA fragments collected from the Arctic soil where mammoths were known to graze. The samples were collected over 20 years and analyzed using a method called DNA shotgun sequencing.

DNA shotgun sequencing is an indirect way to create genetic profiles without requiring a person or animal to physically be there. Instead of collecting genetic information from bones or teeth, the method sequences DNA from traces of urine or discarded cells. Scientists have also used this tool to track the movement of COVID-19 by creating DNA profiles from sewage remnants.

The researchers looking into ancient mammoths discovered populations of the enormous animals — uncovered using the sequencing method — were depleted at a rate consistent with the quick speed of climate change at the time. Willerslev says it was because «as the climate warmed up, trees and wetland plants took over and replaced the mammoth’s grassland habitats.»

«When the climate got wetter and the ice began to melt, it led to the formation of lakes, rivers and marshes,» he said. «The ecosystem changed and the biomass of the vegetation reduced and would not have been able to sustain the herds of mammoths.»

Wang also notes that prehistoric humans would’ve probably spent most of their time hunting animals much smaller and easier to capture than enormous woolly mammoths, suggesting their impact on the animals’ extinction was arguably smaller than intuitively thought.

Another important aspect of the findings, Wang said, is «we have finally been able to prove that it was not just the climate changing that was the problem, but the speed of it that was the final nail in the coffin — they were not able to adapt quickly enough when the landscape dramatically transformed and their food became scarce.»

Such speed is why the researchers naturally drew parallels between what happened back then and what appears to be in store for us now. For instance, our global temperature is rising so quickly that many countries’ former goal of limiting the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) is now considered nearly impossible by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That’s unless immediate, drastic measures are taken, they say.

«It shows nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the impact of dramatic changes in the weather,» Willerslav said. «The early humans would have seen the world change beyond all recognition. That could easily happen again, and we cannot take for granted that we will even be around to witness it.»

«The only thing we can predict with any certainty is that the change will be massive.»

Technologies

Yes, You Can Still Get Games for Less Than $50. These Are the Best I’ve Played

Video game prices are going up, but these titles cost less without sacrificing quality.

It’s no secret that video games are likely going to cost more in 2026. It’s already been confirmed that some AAA games, like The Outer Worlds 2, will be priced at $80 when they come out. It’s ironic that a game that satirizes corporate greed should be the first official title with a higher price, but here we are.

However, another trend has quietly emerged over the past few months: Many great AA games are being released for $50 or less. A lot of these titles are currently on sale, too, so you can pick them up even cheaper right now.

As an avid gamer, I’ve found a lot more affordable titles that are well worth your consideration. One is even the top contender for Game of the Year. And who knows, maybe one of them will end up being your new favorite game.

The best games for $50 or less right now

Claire Obscur: Expedition 33
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
FBC Firebreak
Elden Ring Nightreign
Helldivers 2
Alan Wake II

The best games for $50 or less

Technologies

Google Teases Pixel 10 Ahead of August Reveal

The Pixel 10 looks identical to the Pixel 9, from what we can see so far.

Google has lifted the curtains on the Pixel 10, its flagship phone for 2025, via a short clip posted on the Google Store homepage on Monday. The Pixel 10 will likely be fully revealed at a Made by Google event in New York on Aug. 20.

The teaser video simply shows the back of the device with the Pixel’s prominent oval-shaped camera bar, along with a flash and sensor of some sort. It follows a similar design to past Pixels, but whereas the Pixels 6, 7 and 8 all had camera bars that ran edge-to-edge, the Pixel 9 and 10’s camera bar is an island. The more affordable Pixel 9A from earlier this year doesn’t sport any sort of camera bump, and instead sits flush with the device.

It comes after a series of leaks about the device have hit the internet over the last few months, including the phone being spotted during a commercial shoot on the streets of Vancouver back in May.

Current Pixel 10 rumors point to a very similar design to last year’s handset, with some strong internal upgrades. Notably, the Tensor 5 chip will be made by TSMC on a 3nm process, according to an Android Authority report from March. Previous Tensor chips were made by Samsung.

The screen on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold will see a boost from 2,700 nits to 3,000 nits, according to another Android Authority report. It’ll also get a battery bump to 5,015 mAh, a 7% increase from last year’s foldable.

As for cameras, the Pixel 10 will reportedly get the 50-megapixel Samsung GN8 wide-angle lens, an 11MP 3J1 telephoto lens (the 3J1 will also be used for the selfie camera) and Sony’s 13-megapixel IMX712 ultrawide lens. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold likely won’t have the same high-end camera array, as foldable phones have less room to work with.

The Pixel 10 will almost certainly be powered by Android 16 and will have a slew of AI features.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.

While Google’s hardware business is a small part of the company’s overall revenue, the Pixel line does serve an important role in signaling to other hardware partners where the company sees the future of its Android mobile operating system. Pixel phones, which seldom focus on raw power, deliver clean user interfaces with strong computational photography.

The well-reviewed Pixel portfolio does put Google in a somewhat awkward position with hardware partners that decided to make Android devices rather than go off and make their own operating systems. With Google’s own phones, the tech giant is directly competing with Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola and others.

While Samsung is the second largest handset maker worldwide (behind Apple), according to Statcounter, Google has been eating away at market share in certain markets. With the release of the Pixel 9 last year, Google made strong inroads in North American markets.

Technologies

Ted Lasso Kicks Off Filming for Season 4 in Kansas City. Here’s What We Know So Far

Jason Sudeikis and the AFC Richmond gang are back with a new pitch and new faces now that filming is underway in the US and London.

Cue the biscuits and believe signs: Ted Lasso is back on the pitch as Apple TV Plus confirmed Monday that production on the Emmy-winning comedy’s fourth season has begun. Filming has started in Kansas City, Missouri — Jason Sudeikis’s hometown — with additional scenes planned for London.

Season 4 of the streaming series will find Ted tackling an entirely new challenge as he takes on coaching a second division women’s football team. According to Apple’s logline, you can expect plenty of leaps of faith and signature pep talks as Ted and his players navigate unfamiliar turf.

Most of the beloved cast returns for the next chapter, including Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift. A handful of newcomers are joining the squad, too: Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely, who steps in as Ted’s son, Henry.

Read also: 16 Funniest Ted Lasso Quotes: Tea Is ‘Garbage Water,’ and God Hates Tie Scores

Behind the scenes, Ted Lasso brings on Emmy-winner Jack Burditt (Modern Family, 30 Rock) as executive producer under a new overall deal with Apple. Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence return as executive producers, alongside series vets Joe Kelly and Jane Becker.

The feel-good comedy has been a cultural juggernaut for Apple TV Plus since it premiered in 2020, racking up back-to-back Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys for its first two seasons and helping boost Apple’s original streaming slate alongside titles like CODA.

There is no release date set for Season 4 yet.