51吃瓜

We know [the Denisovans] were a distinct ancestral species;鈥�They participated in one (or many) of the waves of migration out-of-Africa鈥�when Neanderthals began their migration, and 60,000 years ago when modern humans followed. And we know these groups did not keep to themselves: Denisovan DNA can be found in living humans from Asia (less than 1%) and Melanesia (up to 6%) 鈥�. How these different groups of hominids interacted remains something that is less understood.

One and a half billion years ago, the planet鈥檚 only life-forms were single-celled. Fermentation ruled the earth. Then an anaerobic bacterium engulfed an aerobic bacterium …. This accidental collaboration made possible the proliferation of multicellular life-forms and, eventually, tool-wielding hominids who would come to complain that they feel tired all the time.

In a sky so full of stars it鈥檚 often difficult to figure out where constellations are, one dark spot stands out: The Coalsack Nebula. Parked near one of the five brightest stars comprising the Southern Cross鈥攑erhaps the most easily spotted asterism in the southern sky鈥攖he nebula looks like an inky black thumbprint. Where it hangs, the stars struggle to shine. It鈥檚 as if someone outlined a portion of the sky and dimmed the lights.

Examples of confusing and misleading scientific terms abound. When astronomers say 鈥渕etals,鈥� they mean any element heavier than helium, which includes oxygen and nitrogen, a usage that is massively confusing not just to laypeople but also to chemists. The Big Dipper isn’t a constellation to them; it is an 鈥�asterism.鈥�

Many of the women (and a few men) were tourist attractions in their own right, with visitors flocking to the hotel as much to glimpse a quirky widow as to see the Pulitzer Fountain or to have a drink in the Oak Room. The Plaza staff grew accustomed to the widows鈥� peculiarities. One hotel manager began walking outside to get from one end of the building to the other, to avoid passing through the lobby, where persnickety widows would invariably be positioned on the divans, ready to greet him with a barrage of complaints.

[Prince] kept his cache of unreleased music locked in a vault beneath his Paisley Park complex in a suburb of Minneapolis. (The vault was a legend for years, until its existence was confirmed after Prince鈥檚 death.) In one story, the saxophonist Eric Leeds revealed that he had sequenced an entire album for Prince that was 鈥渢he greatest thing in the world in Prince鈥檚 mind鈥� for about three days. Then Prince got bored and shelved it. The vault is what remains of those myriad terminated sessions鈥攔emnants of the productive and exacting habits of a persnickety genius.