Study Shows Mercury Levels in Arctic Wildlife Could Rise for Centuries

Imagine being stuck in a sci-fi survival nightmare where your biggest enemy isn’t aliens or the apocalypse—it’s project management. That’s the twist in The Alters, a new game from 11 bit studios (the minds behind This War of Mine). You play as a team leader juggling base-building, survival mechanics, and branching storylines while trying to keep your crew from mutiny. It’s The Martian meets Office Space, blending existential dread with the mundane horrors of deadlines and morale charts.

Editor’s Note: Games are getting weird with workplace stress, and The Alters leans into that with a clever (if slightly masochistic) premise. It’s not just about surviving a hostile planet—it’s about surviving your own leadership decisions. For gamers tired of straightforward survival sims, this could be a refreshingly brutal twist. And let’s be honest: anyone who’s ever chaired a meeting will feel a chill of recognition.

Amanda Feilding, the eccentric British countess who famously drilled a hole in her own skull in the 1970s to explore consciousness (a practice called trepanation), has died at 82. While she was mocked for her extreme DIY experiment, her later work through the Beckley Foundation—championing research into psychedelics like LSD and cannabis for mental health—turned out to be surprisingly prescient. Today, many of her once-fringe ideas are being taken seriously by scientists.

Editor’s Note: Feilding’s story is a weird-but-true reminder that radical ideas often start on the fringes. Her early advocacy for psychedelic therapy—now a booming field in mental health—shows how dismissed "crackpot" theories can sometimes pave the way for real breakthroughs. Whether you think she was a visionary or just a noble eccentric, her legacy lives on in modern drug policy and neuroscience debates.

This week’s episode of This Week In Space features a fascinating chat with NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who’s also the first U.S. Space Force "Guardian" to fly to the International Space Station. Hosts Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik dive into Hague’s unique dual role and what it means for the future of military-civilian collaboration in space.

Editor’s Note: The growing overlap between NASA and the Space Force is a big deal—it signals how space is becoming a shared domain for science, commerce, and national security. Hearing from someone like Hague, who bridges both worlds, offers a rare glimpse into how these partnerships might shape missions beyond Earth. Plus, it’s just cool to hear an astronaut’s firsthand perspective.

Ever wondered how much gold we've dug up over the centuries—and how much might still be hiding underground? This piece breaks down the staggering numbers: humans have mined about 208,000 tons so far, enough to fill a cube the size of a tennis court. But here’s the kicker—experts think we’ve only tapped about 30% of Earth’s total gold reserves. The rest is still buried, waiting.

Editor’s Note: Gold isn’t just for jewelry or Fort Knox—it’s a cornerstone of economies and industries. Knowing how much is left (or isn’t) could shape everything from your investment portfolio to the future of mining. Plus, it’s a wild reminder that even after thousands of years, we’re still chasing shiny rocks.

Scientists are buzzing about a bizarre "teenage vampire" white dwarf star caught red-handed—sucking material from a neighboring star. This cosmic oddball is in a rare, transitional phase of stellar evolution, acting as a "missing link" that helps explain how certain dead stars grow and change. Think of it like catching a teenager mid-growth spurt—it’s a fleeting moment that reveals how these celestial objects transform over time.

Editor’s Note: Dead stars usually don’t make headlines unless they’re doing something dramatic, and this one’s a showstopper. By studying this vampiric phase, astronomers get a front-row seat to a critical but short-lived stage in stellar evolution. It’s like finding a puzzle piece we didn’t know was missing—helping us understand how stars like our Sun might end their lives. Plus, who doesn’t love a cosmic vampire story?