This premium vape cart comes at a premium price, so it’s not a free walk through the woods. But it’s worth it if you want the royal treatment. 

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King Louis XIII THCa Vape Cart (opens in a new window)

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Lift Level: How Strong Is This?

This THCa vape contains 475mg THCa, which converts into Delta-9 THC once it’s heated. It loses some weight after the conversion, so the final potency is about 418mg Delta-9 THC, or 41.8%. This is a potent product, so I don’t recommend it for newbies. 

However, Tribe Tokes uses genuine hemp extracts, so you get the full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes and all that jazz. The vape resin contains small amounts of CBD, CBV, CBG, CBN, and CBT. The doses are small, but still help create a more upbeat and well-rounded high (more on that later, friends). 

While the potency might be 41.8%, the high will be stronger. The cannabinoids prop each other up — it’s called the entourage effect — so they work together to empower one another, like badass women. Don’t worry, though; just because the high might be stronger, it doesn’t mean it’ll be overwhelming or uncomfortable. The other cannabinoids can combat paranoia and make for a more enjoyable high. But, as always, it depends on your tolerance and body chemistry.

Overall, this cart is for people who know what they’re doing and want a solid high. It’s not easy to microdose with a vape, but newbies could also try a lil’ puff at a time and see how they feel. The best thing about inhalants is they hit within seconds, so you don’t have to play the waiting game. 

High Times: How Will it Make You Feel?

Alrighty, so what’s the vibe here? The King Louis strain is usually an indica, but can also be an indica-leaning hybrid. This concentrate feels like the latter to me — not too sleepy or yawny, but still wonderfully soothing. It’s a comforting experience, with an uplifting and euphoric feeling. 

The cart does deliver some light body sensations, helping release muscle tension, but it was mostly a head high for me. The worries slide away, and you can really lock in on that new season of “American Dad.” It’s one of my favorite strains for dealing with work stress (yeah, cannabis writers have work stress too!), so I highly recommend having it ready to go at the end of your weekday. 

I know it’s an indica, but I also find the euphoria pleasant for morning tokes. It’s not necessarily energizing, but it doesn’t turn you into a slug, so you can be out and about while riding this royal wave. Remember, it’s a full spectrum cart with a dose of CBG, which is supposedly an energizing cannabinoid. So I wouldn’t label this strain as a “downer.”

The King also conjured a few feasts, hitting the munchies button in my brain and forcing me to dive into some holiday Hershey’s Kisses. The little hot cocoa ones! This vape doesn’t produce ridiculously strong munchies, so those of you with willpower can resist.

Munch Factor: How Does it Taste?

This one’s for my woodsmen and woodswomen (and woodsenbys)! The profile is distinctly pine-y, woody, and earthy. It’s like inhaling a fresh Christmas tree, with that invigorating and sharp taste that wakes you up a bit. That’s one reason I don’t find this to be a sleepy indica. The sweet, woody pine taste gives you a little shiver that keeps you uplifted. 

It’s crisp but earthy at the same time, pairing richness with lightness for a beautifully balanced flavor. I’ve found King Louis to be a bit spicy and punchy in the past, but this particular concentrate was much fresher. No hints or sourness or chemically flavors. So if you hate a diesel-y, you should be okay with this cart. 

Like with the other Tribe Tokes vape carts I’ve tried, these deliver a smooth and consistent pull. The pine-flavored concentrate can have a crispness or sharpness on your tongue, but it’s not harsh. It’s kind of like a really strong mint. 

What’s super important to me is that these vapes never get clogged. Not once have I had to stick a toothpick into a Tribe Tokes cart, nor have I sucked in a blob of resin. I hate both those things. Even when I use a subpar vape battery with the carts, they still perform beautifully.

Also shoutout to this stylish and simple Edie Parker Flower Vape Battery!

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Mini Battery Wand (opens in a new window)

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Shelf Appeal: What’s the Vibe?

The Tribe Tokes carts look as clean as they hit, with a gold and white aesthetic that feels luxe but understated. A tiny detail that I appreciate is that each cart has the strain (or an abbreviation of it) on the mouthpiece. No more finding loose carts in my nightstand and having to guess what they are!

The brand brings an elegance to its cannabis products without taking itself too seriously. They honor the chill, fun energy stoners are all about, while also elevating this genre so it’s not all Cheech and Chong, groovy, hippie-dippie vibes either. (No hate to Cheech and Chong, it’s just not the ‘70s anymore). 

Bud for Your Buck: What’s the Price?

Here’s where some of you might check out, and that’s okay. A 1g vape cart is $60, which isn’t exactly a steal. The average price for a 1g live resin cart is usually between $30 and $40. But in that price range, you could get a crappy concentrate or a great one. With Tribe Tokes, you know you’re getting a premium product. From the cart design to the concentrate itself, it’s all top-quality, and it’s worth $60 if you have the money to burn vape. 

BUT, you can bring the price per 1g cart down. They have a subscribe and save option, which gets you 10% off, as well as savings if you buy more than one cart at a time. The cost can come down to $45 per cart with all the discounts. 

Canna-Conclusion

King Louis XIII is for the tree-huggers. This pine-coded, earthy, crisp flavor profile is like a breezy walk through the forest, and the high matches that dreamy, serene vibe as well. Bring it on a hike; take it to bed; hit it before dinner. This King is here to serve you.

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King Louis XIII THCa Vape Cart (opens in a new window)

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Bonus Buds

If you want more Tribe Tokes goodies, I can’t recommend the Ice Cream Cake THCa Vape Cart enough. It’s just as smooth, but with a creamy, sweet taste that never disappoints. 

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For those of you who love the tree taste, try the Cheech + Chong RS11 + Northern Lights Prerolls, which have a similarly woody profile and calming indica high.

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Skip the vape and get the fresh stuff! The Tribe Tokes Jealousy THCa Flower, which also has an invigorating, minty flavor profile and soft high.

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The post A Royal THCa Vape Cart Fresher Than Pine-Sol appeared first on VICE.

I tested a wide range of vapes to find the most delectable options, from classic THCa vapes to funky HHC vapes and beyond. These are the ones that made the top of my list based on the formula, high, flavor, and design (because we love a discreet vape). Whatever flavor, strain, or vape type you like, you’ll find a stellar option on this list. 

Overview my favorite THC Vapes

• Best THCa Vape: Mood Sour Diesel THCa Vape
• Best THCa Diamonds Vape: Koi Baja Blast THCa Diamonds Vape
• Best Delta-8 Vape: Mood Delta-8 THC Runtz Vape
• Best THCP Vape: Diet Smoke Blue Dream THCP Vape Cartridge
• Biggest Vape: Koi Slurricane THC Vape
• Best Tasting Vape: Tre House Texas Peach Cobbler THCa Vape

Best THCa Vape: Mood Sour Diesel THCa Vape

Sour Diesel is an iconic strain, and with the Mood Sour Diesel THCa Vape, you can take it with you wherever you go. 

Mood’s tiny vape packs a punch, with 50% THCa that creates an invigorating feel that is definitely sativa. It’s an energizing sensation that helps you come out of your shell. If you’re being dragged to a trivia night or football game where you’re afraid of being awkward, take this with you. The high helps you be social and comfortable, so you can be an extrovert for a little while. 

The flavor stays true to the Sour Diesel flower, with a gassy and punchy taste. You get a skunky and chemical-like taste, which at face value sounds awful, but if you know Sour Diesel, you know it’s good. It has a robustness that’s enticing. In this vape, the intensity of the flavors is dialed down, so it might be more palatable for people who find Sour Diesel flower to be too much.

Mood makes its disposable vapes slim and sleek, so you can hide them just about anywhere — bag, bra, pocket, etc. — so you can get high wherever you go. The simple design, with a small LED screen, makes it wonderfully discreet, so you won’t out yourself as a stoner when you need a puff in the middle of the day. 

Read my full review here: The THCa Vape That Takes You From Hermit to Happy Human

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Sour Diesel THCa Vape (opens in a new window)

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Best THCa Diamonds Vape: Koi Baja Blast THCa Diamonds Vape

The Koi Baja Blast THCa Diamonds Vape is a powerful vape that delivers the refreshing flavor of your favorite Taco Bell drink. 

Made with THCa diamonds, the high from this disposable vape is no joke. It features a combination of liquid THCa diamonds, Delta-8 THC, and THCP, creating a fast-hitting and insane high that’s nothing but wonderful. Be ready for the giggles and a talkative mood. I don’t recommend it if you have anything important to do. But if you’re trying to have a blast doing nothing with your best friend, you can laugh your ass off at anything with this. 

Baja Blast flower isn’t super mainstream, but this vape proves that it’s a must-try strain. It’s like a tropical breeze and an icy cold drink, but it’s a vape. Hints of marshmallow and sugar make it a sweet treat that slides down your throat like ice cream. The natural terpenes introduced into the concentrate mimic the drink (and strain) perfectly. A few hits of this might be a better pairing for a Crunch Wrap Supreme than the actual Baja Blast.

The vape has a chunkier design than the skinny pens you see. With a bright turquoise mouthpiece and handy LED screen, the disposable vape is cheerful and easy to use. It’s not the most discreet in your pocket, but it can still be hidden. 

Read my full review here: Get Baja Blasted With This THCa Diamonds Vape

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THCA Liquid Diamond Vapes (opens in a new window)

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Best Delta-8 Vape: Mood Delta-8 THC Runtz Vape

If you love D8, the Mood Delta-8 THC Runtz Vape is waiting for you, with a candy taste and a clear high.

Formulated with HHC, THCP, and Delta-8 THC, it creates a grounded high that still allows you to function without forgetting your name. A lot of products will leave you hazy and slow, but this one lets you keep up with the day while feeling goooood. It’s not for napping. Instead, the uplifting high is ideal for socializing and being active. Go on a run; go to a party; go get shit done. This high makes you want to focus on something; otherwise, you might get antsy. 

The appropriately named strain tastes just like the Runtz candy, so it’s sugary and fruity and bright. It’ll probably make you crave candy. You get hints of apricots, berries, mangos, oranges, and plums, so there’s a little bit of everything in there. While it tastes like processed candy, the vape only contains natural terpenes — none of the synthetic stuff. 

And Mood ensures its vapes are sneaky enough to take anywhere, with a lowkey design that’s comfortable to use and small enough to hide. You have to hold down on the one button to take a hit, which helps maintain battery life. The juice lasts forever, so the odds are having to recharge are low. And despite the small design, the vape is durable. I even ran one through the washer and dryer, and it came out working just fine. 

Read my full review here: A Vape That Makes You the Life of the Party

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Hero Dose Delta-8 THC Runtz Disposable Vape (opens in a new window)

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Best THCP Vape: Diet Smoke Blue Dream THCP Vape Cartridge

I generally prefer cartridges over disposables, so I’m delighted to recommend the Diet Smoke Blue Dream THCP Vape Cartridge. 

It contains the perfect amount of THCP to create a strong but comfortable high. Actually, it has a more complex blend of compounds, with 700mg HHC, 100mg CBG, 50mg THCP, and 50mg HHCO. But it’s one of the highest concentrations of THCP in a cart, which heavily influences the high. You get to feel relaxed but still energized, comfortable but buzzy, awake but laidback. It’s truly a dream, and offers a versatile sensation that works for all hours and all occasions. You can stay clear-headed while floating on a blue cloud of peacefulness.

While some vapes can be super fruity or punchy, the Blue Dream strain delivers a softer profile. It tastes like sweet blueberries without being too bold. Anyone who loves a lighter flavor will appreciate the airy quality of the taste, which matches the soft smoke that comes from this cart. It’s like a blue mist that swirls into your lungs, making it one of the easiest vapes to enjoy.

Unlike disposable vapes, carts don’t have a ton of room for unique design. But Diet Smoke still created something that stands out, with a clear mouthpiece that looks and feels modern. Instead of a skinny tip, the mouthpiece is the same shape as the rest of the cart and most batteries, with a funnel shape inside to channel the smoke. It’s comfortable to use and feels unique. 

Read my full review here: It’s All Blue Skies With This THC Vape

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Diet Smoke

Blue Dream THCP Vape Cartridge (opens in a new window)

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Biggest Vape: Koi Slurricane THC Vape

For people who rip through vape after vape, buying new ones can be a chore — and expensive. The massive 5g Koi Slurricane THC Vape is big enough to keep you satisfied for quite a while.

Everyone smokes at a different pace, but even the heaviest users will get plenty of time out of this 5-gram THC vape. And it’s definitely not a weak 5g. It’s a live resin vape with THCa, THCP, Delta-8 THC, and Delta-9 THC, packing a full punch of cannabinoids. The high is delightful, making any activity relaxing and effortless. I don’t recommend this vape if you need brain power to get things done. But repetitive and somewhat mindless tasks, like folding laundry or walking the dog, become breezy and chill. The indica Slurricane concentration puts your mind and body at ease, so you can just vibe. 

It’s all grape here. The vape stays true to the Slurricane flavor profile, which is berry-forward and heavy, heavy, heavy on the grape taste. If you’re not into grape, this isn’t for you. But for the grape jam and jelly lovers, this is irresistible. I’m not normally a grape girl, but it’s hard not to crave the fresh but decadent fruit flavor here. 

Despite being a fat 5g vape, it’s still tiny and easy to hold in your palm. The LED screen on the side shows you the heat level (there are three options) and battery percentage. My favorite part is the soft silicone texture that feels supple on your fingertips. It makes the vape hard to put down, but with 5g of concentrate, you won’t need to put it down. 

Read my full review here: A THC Vape That Makes You the Calm in the Storm

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Slurricane THC Vape (opens in a new window)

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Best Tasting Vape: Tre House Texas Peach Cobbler THCa Vape

Who doesn’t love a warm peach cobbler? The Tre House Texas Peach Cobbler THCa Vape is a supremely tasty THCa vape that will make you lick your lips. 

Like all things in Texas, this is a big vape. It contains 3.5g of Peach Cobbler THCa concentrate. Many vapes contain an amalgamation of THC variants and cannabinoids, but this one is straight THCa, which means you’re only getting Delta-9 THC in every hit.

This is ideal for people who don’t want to mess around with the synthetic or more modern cannabinoids, like THCP or Delta-8 THC. It’s just the good ‘ole THC we all know. It delivers that classic high, full of euphoria and calmness. Enjoy the upbeat but clear high that comes with this vape. 

The high is fabulous, but the flavor is unparalleled. It has the juicy, fruity taste of peaches and other stone fruits, like apricots and nectarines, along with the warm and spicy flavors of cobbler. There are hints of cinnamon and vanilla that give it that cozy depth that reminds you have peach cobbler fresh from the oven. The smoke is also light, with an airy texture that tickles your throat, but doesn’t make you hack up a lung. 

The vape has Texas-sized flavor and a Texas-sized dose of live rosin, but still comes in a small package. Its design is like a mini Geek Bar, so it’s rectangular, but has a much smaller profile. You can fit it in your pocket or your palm, keeping the juicy high on the down-low. 

Read my full review here: A Peachy Keen THCa Vape for Sweet Highs

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The post The Very Best THC Vapes: From Sweet to Sneaky and Everything Between appeared first on VICE.

The work comes from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and is detailed in a recent paper in ACM Transactions on Graphics. The project took inspiration from kirigami. Where origami is the Japanese art of folding paper, kirigami is the Japanese art of cutting paper to create complex shapes.

You know when you fold a paper a bunch, make a bunch of cuts, and then unfold it to create a snowflake shape? That’s kirigami.

This Pull-String Material Transforms Flat Sheets Into Structures on Demand

The team developed a computational method that lets users design three-dimensional objects that can be fabricated as flat grids and then deployed almost instantly with a single tug. Pretty neat, right?

You would never guess that the material does something that remarkable at first glance. It isn’t exciting to look at. It’s a tiled pattern of quadrilateral shapes arranged in a grid, flattened into a single sheet of tiles.

Embedded in that grid is an auxetic mechanism, meaning the structure behaves in counterintuitive ways. It gets thicker when stretched and thinner when compressed. This property allows the flat sheet to expand and lock into shape under tension.

The real innovation here is the algorithm behind it all. Users input a desired 3D shape, and the system translates it into a flat pattern to determine where cuts should go and how the tiles should be connected to achieve that shape.

Then it calculates an “optimal string path” that threads a single piece of string through the structure in exactly the way needed to create the intended shape when tugged. That string minimizes friction and evenly distributes force, so when you pull the string once, all tension is correctly applied to the areas the algorithm deemed necessary to create the shape you wanted.

There are no motors, hinges, or complex assembly instructions necessary here. This is simplicity at its finest. The entire system relies on a single smooth motion, a single tug of a string. That simplicity opens the door to practical uses where speed, portability, and ease of deployment matter most.

The team built real-world objects, including medical devices such as splints and posture supports, as well as dome-like shelters. Maybe the most remarkable thing they made was a human-sized chair using laser-cut plywood boxes.

When stretched out into a flat sheet, it may look like just a bunch of square logs standing side by side. When the string running throughout it was tugged, it deployed a chair that could support a person’s weight.

Scalability is an issue, though if that ever gets worked out, the long-term vision is to use this technology to create deployable medical tools, maybe even foldable robots or, if we’re really getting lofty here, modular habitats for space exploration that could be deployed at the pull of a cord.  

The post Scientists Made a Pull-String Material That Turns Flat Sheets Into Shapes appeared first on VICE.

A new genetic analysis of seven Balanophora species, published in New Phytologist, reveals that these plants have eliminated almost all the cellular processes normally used for photosynthesis.

Plastid genomes are the DNA inside plant cells that handles the light-to-energy conversion that we call photosynthesis. The ones in Balanophora have been shrunk by a factor of 10.

This Parasitic Plant Has Figured Out How to Live Without Photosynthesis

Plastome plants carry the complete DNA content of a plastid, the organelle in plants that is essential for photosynthesis. Plants usually have between 120,000 and 170,000 base pairs in their plastomes.

Balanophora has only 14,000 to 16,000, and those can’t photosynthesize at all. It’s like a plant version of an appendix: utterly useless, a remnant of a time when it actually needed it, now just hanging around because it doesn’t know what else to do with it.  

So, instead of making its own food, Balanophora lives like a botanical parasite. It attaches itself to tree roots and siphons off nutrients, offering nothing in return. It is a parasite in the most accurate definition of the word. Funny, considering it looks like a mushroom, which famously provides a mutually beneficial relationship to whatever it’s attached to.

Balanophora still flowers and produces seeds, a pair of traditionally plantlike things for a very unplant-like plant. Researchers found that its remaining plastid genes are metabolically active, just not for photosynthesis.

This probably means the plant has stripped its genome down to the bare minimum needed to survive as a parasite, leaving it with no redundancies, just barely enough stuff to function. It even pared down sexuality, according to the researchers.

As the plants spread to islands in Taiwan and Japan, some evolved the ability to reproduce exclusively asexually, which is necessary to survive in inhospitable environments where others like them were scarce.

That all makes a lot of sense when you consider the plant that, at some point, considered photosynthesis entirely optional.

The post Scientists Found a Plant That Gave Up on Photosynthesis Entirely appeared first on VICE.

Under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1930 will officially enter the public domain, meaning anyone can copy, remix, adapt, preserve, and generally do whatever they want with them: no permission and no multi-million-dollar teams of lawyers required.

NPR reports that this year’s list is a greatest hits of early 20th-century pop culture. Betty Boop shows up in her original, weirder form, back when her hoop earrings were literal dog ears. Disney’s Pluto appears, too, but before he was Pluto, back when he was called Rover. Two titans of early American animation will now belong to us all.

All the Stuff Entering the Public Domain in 2026

As for books, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, the full version of The Maltese Falcon, The Little Engine That Could, the first four Nancy Drew novels, and Agatha Christie’s debut Miss Marple mystery all become free for the taking.

Cinephiles get pre–Hays Code Hollywood classics like All Quiet on the Western Front, Cimarron, and the Marx Bros comedy classic Animal Crackers. The film collection also includes early performances by John Wayne, Greta Garbo, and Bing Crosby—all in films that are perhaps less iconic than the actors would later become.

There’s also a substantial amount of music and works of art in the batch. American standards such as “Georgia On My Mind” and “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” will be freely accessible to everyone. Multiple songs by legendary composer George Gershwin will be, too.

One of the most influential abstract paintings ever, Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, will be released from the vault for everyone to do whatever they want with. And, funnily enough, the original design for the FIFA World Cup trophy will enter the commons. Good luck figuring out what to do with that.

We recently witnessed a barrage of Steamboat Willie short films and video games after the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on January 1, 2024, ending its 95 year copyright exclusion. There’s no telling exactly what people are going to do with the likes of Betty Boop and Pluto, but if the recent past is any indication, expect a lot of freaky stuff that’s probably been in the works for months if not years.

The post Here’s Everything Hitting the Public Domain in 2026 appeared first on VICE.

As if spiders couldn’t get any creepier.

Observed in the Amazon rainforest of Peru and on Mount Kanlaon in the Philippines, these web-mounted “doppelgängers” appear to be a deliberate survival strategy. That means it’s not just an accident or humans finding patterns in nature that aren’t really there.

Researchers watched Cyclosa spiders assemble replicas using silk and a mix of leaf fragments, insect remains, old prey, and soil. The finished decoys are often situated at the center of the web and are noticeably larger than the spiders themselves.

Meanwhile, the real spider positions its body nearby, standing in the shadows, while predators focus on the wrong target. Clever girl.

Spiders Are Building Decoys of Themselves, Which Feels Like Cheating

If you see them up close, thanks to photos supplied by the Australian National University, you’ll notice that the replicas are surprisingly accurate. Each includes a central body mass and leg-like limbs, mirroring the spider’s proportions closely enough to pass at a glance.

The spiders don’t abandon the structures once built. They maintain and adjust them over time, suggesting the decoys are an active part of the web. If you’re wondering what they could be creating the things to protect themselves from, one such spider villain comes in the form of helicopter damselflies.

They hover in front of webs and prey on small spiders. Birds and lizards are also a common thread, which can sometimes be fooled or discouraged by the giant spider dummy, which may pose too significant a threat of retaliation and/or seem like too much of a hassle to deal with.

Similar decoys were found in multiple Cyclosa species across distant regions, suggesting that this is a more widespread evolutionary development and may not be limited to a single species in a particular pocket of the world.

Cyclosa spiders don’t build these to survive. Incredibly, these spiders know what they look like and can replicate it with webs and various bits of odds and ends. Survival has turned them into artists who can, in a weird way, self-reflect.

The post Some Spiders Build Fake Versions of Themselves to Trick Predators appeared first on VICE.

According to a new study published in Ecosphere, detailed in Scientific American, researchers in Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest found moths exhibiting signs of lachryphagy. That’s the freaky behavior known as tear-feeding.

Lachryphagy isn’t exactly rare, but it is unusual. Butterflies and moths have been observed sipping eye secretions from turtles, crocodiles, and other large animals before. This is presumably to supplement their diet, which is heavy in nectar, so that they can get their sodium and minerals.

You won’t find that behavior much outside of tropical zones. Before this, the only documented example outside of the tropics was between a moth and a horse. Now we can add a bull moose to the list.

Yes, Moths in Vermont Are Drinking Moose Tears on Camera

A trail camera captured 80 images of moths clustered around the face of a male moose between 1:44 and 1:48 a.m. on June 19, 2024. They were the only images showing lachryphagy among more than 247,000 moose photos collected across nearly 500 sites across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Neither moose nor moth in cold-weather areas had ever been previously recorded engaging in tear drinking. As far as anyone knows, the moose is a new host for this behavior altogether. The moths couldn’t be definitively identified, but the researchers think they likely belong to the Geometridae family, based on their size and shape.

It’s a strange behavior, but one that carries some dangers. The researchers note that tick feeding insects could, in theory at least, spread diseases like keratoconjunctivitis, which could seriously affect moose’s health.

Luckily, moths haven’t been documented to transmit diseases through tear-feeding to other animals, hence “theoretical.”

The post Vermont Moths Were Caught on Camera Drinking Moose Tears appeared first on VICE.

As such, she was called the “first Black Briton.” Later, she was repositioned as a migrant from the eastern Mediterranean. Fast forward to today, and we’ve developed better science since her discovery and have found that the Beachy-Headed Woman isn’t who we thought she was.

As CNN reports, the researchers behind a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science used high-quality DNA sequencing to show that the Beachy Head Woman was local to southern England.

DNA Finally Solved the Mystery of the ‘Beachy Head Woman’

According to the researchers at London’s Natural History Museum, her genetic profile closely matches that of other people living in rural Roman-era Britain and even modern Britons. There’s no evidence of recent African ancestry.

Based on her DNA, she likely had light hair, blue eyes, and a skin tone somewhere between pale and dark, which, to me, seems like such a broad range as to be entirely imprecise.  

The finding goes to show how scientific theories based on prior knowledge—educated guesses, basically—can supplant fact, if for no other reason than that there just weren’t the tools around at the time to make a definitive case.

Earlier conclusions that relied on craniometric analysis, which is a pseudoscience that tries to infer ancestry from skull shape, are deeply, deeply rooted in racism and general medical and scientific quackery.

As such, and as this case shows, it’s also not at all accurate, which is not an uncommon thing to discover when you dissect the supposedly analytical tools used in the propping up of racial hierarchies.

The woman herself lived sometime between 129 and 311 CE. She was probably between 18 and 25, and stood just under five feet tall. She ate a seafood-heavy diet and survived at least one serious leg injury.

She is living, or rather, once-living proof that it’s easy to misread the past, especially when we project our modern ideas and biases onto something ancient.

The post The Decade-Long Mystery of the ‘Beachy Head Woman’ Has Been Solved by DNA appeared first on VICE.

A New York House Went Full ‘Christmas Vacation’ With Its Light Display

Per NBC 4 New York, there are more than 20 mannequins dressed up as characters reenacting famous scenes from the movie. That includes Cousin Eddie standing in the street, robed and beer in hand, to Clark Griswold dangling from the gutters after slipping off the roof.

It took Orsini about two months to put it all together. That’s vastly longer than Clark Griswold, who seemed to throw it together in just a few days in the movie. But Orsini is a real person who lives in reality, so it’s impressive that anybody could be so thorough as to string up 25,000 white lights across the house, the figure given by Clark Griswold in the movie and replicated there.

There are even the Griswold vehicles, including their wood-paneled family station wagon with a giant tree on the roof and Cousin Eddie’s beat-up RV.

“Orsini’s love for the movie began in the early 1990s after he was punished by his father,” reported Mike Gavin for NBC 4 New York. “Confined to his bedroom with a television and VCR but no cable, he began watching a VHS tape of “Christmas Vacation.”

“‘I kept watching the movie over and over again on repeat,’ Orsini said. ‘I loved it so much that I always wanted that family atmosphere for Christmas every year, and I always vowed that I would have it when I got older. And now, I’m doing it.'”

As a fellow diehard superfan of the movie—I watch it religiously every year, one of the three requirements of Christmas for me—I’d say he nailed it. For more photographs and lore about Orsini’s home, head over to Gavin’s story on NBC 4 New York.

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In a new experiment conducted by Cornell University, researchers took lab mice raised in tightly controlled indoor environments and released them into a large outdoor enclosure. The animals could dig, climb, burrow, and run around on real dirt while dealing with real weather and unfamiliar smells. The findings, published in Current Biology, found that after just one week outdoors, the mice showed a reversal of anxiety behaviors that researchers usually treat as persistent.

“We put them in the field for a week, and they returned to their original levels of anxiety behavior,” biologist Matthew Zipple said in an interview with Cornell News. No medication. No prolonged intervention. Just exposure to a broader world.

Scientists Released Lab Mice Into the Wild. Here’s What Happened.

To understand why this caught scientists’ attention, it helps to look at how anxiety gets measured in lab mice. Researchers use something called the elevated plus maze. It’s a raised platform shaped like a plus sign, with two enclosed arms and two exposed ones. Mice usually check out the open arms, then head back to the enclosed ones. Researchers read that retreat as anxiety, and once it shows up, it’s known for being stubborn, even when anti-anxiety drugs are in the mix.

The outdoor mice behaved differently. Their fear responses softened after time spent navigating varied terrain and sensory input. Zipple explained that living in a naturalistic environment “both blocks the formation of the initial fear response, and it can reset a fear response that’s already been developed.”

Neurobiologist Michael Sheehan framed the idea in a way that feels uncomfortably relatable. “If you experience lots of different things that happen to you every day, you have a better way to calibrate whether or not something is scary or threatening,” he said. “But if you’ve only had five experiences, you come across your sixth experience, and it’s quite different from everything you’ve done before, that’s going to invoke anxiety.”

It raises an uneasy possibility. Some fear responses may have more to do with limited experience than with something inherently wrong.

The researchers are careful not to overextend the comparison to humans. Anxiety has many causes. Trauma. Chemistry. Context. Still, the study raises questions about how lab settings influence behavior and how easily situational responses get labeled as permanent traits.

For these mice, relief came from expansion, not intervention. A bigger world gave their nervous systems more information to work with. 

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