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

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 9, #882

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 9, #882

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a goofy purple category once again. When I saw «Pufnstuf» in the puzzle, you bet my 1970s heart leapt, but sadly, there was no category of just Gen X kids’ show characters. Think on that one for the future, New York Times. Anyway, if you need help with today’s Connections, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

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The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Neat and clean.

Green group hint: Green Bay.

Blue group hint: Think on it.

Purple group hint: Tweet, chirp, caw.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Personal grooming items.

Green group: Packed.

Blue group: Ponder.

Purple group: Starting with bird homophones.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is personal grooming items. The four answers are brush, mirror, nail file and tweezers.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is packed. The four answers are compact, dense, thick and tight.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is ponder. The four answers are deliberate, muse, noodle and reflect.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with bird homophones. The four answers are cranium (crane), cronut (crow), lunar (loon) and Pufnstuf (puffin).

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 9 #616

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is fun one, although some of the answers are long and might be a bit tough to unscramble.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one. Some of the answers are long and might be a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: How enchanting!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Dazzling personality.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

TEEN, SURE, ENSURE, CRIT, PONE, PACE, PACES, TEAR, CHAT, CHAR, TRANCE, RAID

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

ENTRANCE, CAPTIVATE, HYPNOTIZE, SPELLBIND

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is CHARMEDIMSURE. To find it, look for the C that’s the last letter on the bottom row, and wind up and over.

Technologies

The Truth Behind Always Charging Your Phone and Battery Life Explained

Here’s the science behind your phone’s battery life. Apple, Google and Samsung weigh in on best practices.

In the not-so-distant past smartphone users were told not to leave their phones plugged in overnight or it could do serious damage to the battery. While current smartphone models now have protection from accidentally overcharging, plenty of folks still have questions about whether charging their devices for extended periods of time will damage the battery.

The short answer is no. Keeping your phone plugged in all the time won’t ruin your battery. Modern smartphones are built with smart charging systems that cut off or taper power once they’re full, preventing the kind of «overcharging damage» that was common in older devices. So if you’re leaving your iPhone or Android on the charger overnight, you can relax.

That said, «won’t ruin your battery» doesn’t mean it has no effect. Batteries naturally degrade with age and use, and how you charge plays a role in how fast that happens. Keeping a phone perpetually at 100% can add extra stress on the battery, especially when paired with heat, which is the real enemy of longevity.

Understanding when this matters (and when it doesn’t) can help you make small changes to extend your phone’s lifespan.

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The science behind battery wear

Battery health isn’t just about how many times you charge your phone. It’s about how it manages voltage, temperature and maintenance. Lithium-ion batteries age fastest when they’re exposed to extreme levels: 0% and 100%.

Keeping them near full charge for long stretches puts additional voltage stress on the cathode and electrolyte. That’s why many devices use «trickle charging» or temporarily pause at 100%, topping up only when needed.

Still, the biggest threat isn’t overcharging — it’s heat. When your phone is plugged in and running demanding apps, it produces heat that accelerates chemical wear inside the battery. If you’re gaming, streaming or charging on a hot day, that extra warmth does far more harm than leaving the cable plugged in overnight.

Apple’s take

Apple’s battery guide describes lithium-ion batteries as «consumable components» that naturally lose capacity over time. To slow that decline, iPhones use Optimized Battery Charging, which learns your daily routine and pauses charging at about 80% until just before you typically unplug, reducing time spent at high voltage.

Apple also advises keeping devices between 0 to 35 degrees Celsius (32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit) and removing certain cases while charging to improve heat dissipation. You can read more on Apple’s official battery support page.

What Samsung (and other Android makers) do

Samsung offers a similar feature called Battery Protect, found in One UI’s battery and device care settings. When enabled, it caps charging at 85%, which helps reduce stress during long charging sessions.

Other Android makers like Google, OnePlus and Xiaomi include comparable options — often called Adaptive Charging, Optimized Charging or Battery Care — that dynamically slow power delivery or limit charge based on your habits. These systems make it safe to leave your phone plugged in for extended periods without fear of overcharging.

When constant charging can hurt

Even with these safeguards, some conditions can accelerate battery wear. As mentioned before, the most common culprit is high temperature. Even for a short period of time, leaving your phone charging in direct sunlight, in a car or under a pillow can push temperatures into unsafe zones.

Heavy use while charging, like gaming or 4K video editing, can also cause temperature spikes that degrade the battery faster. And cheap, uncertified cables or adapters may deliver unstable current that stresses cells. If your battery is already several years old, it’s naturally more sensitive to this kind of strain.

How to charge smarter

You don’t need to overhaul your habits but a few tweaks can help your battery age gracefully.

Start by turning on your phone’s built-in optimization tools: Optimized Battery Charging on iPhones, Battery Protect on Samsung devices and Adaptive Charging on Google Pixels. These systems learn your routine and adjust charging speed so your phone isn’t sitting at 100% all night.

Keep your phone cool while charging. According to Apple, phone batteries perform best between 62 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit (16 to 22 degrees Celsius). If your phone feels hot, remove its case or move it to a better-ventilated or shaded spot. Avoid tossing it under a pillow or too close to other electronics, like your laptop, and skip wireless chargers that trap heat overnight.

Use quality chargers and cables from your phone’s manufacturer or trusted brands. Those cheap «fast-charge» kits you find online often deliver inconsistent current, which can cause long-term issues.

Finally, don’t obsess over topping off. It’s perfectly fine to plug in your phone during the day for short bursts. Lithium-ion batteries actually prefer frequent, shallow charges rather than deep, full cycles. You don’t need to keep it between 20% and 80% all the time, but just avoid extremes when possible.

The bottom line

Keeping your phone plugged in overnight or on your desk all day won’t destroy its battery. That’s a leftover myth from a different era of tech. Modern phones are smart enough to protect themselves, and features like Optimized Battery Charging or Battery Protect do most of the heavy lifting for you.

Still, no battery lasts forever. The best way to slow the inevitable is to manage heat, use quality chargers and let your phone’s software do its job. Think of it less as «babying» your battery and more as charging with intention. A few mindful habits today can keep your phone running strong for years.