⚔️ Vikings were more genetically diverse than modern Scandinavians

Jan. 10, 2023

We live in a globalized society. And perhaps nowhere seems — to the outside observer, at least — more cosmopolitan and welcoming to others as Scandinavia. Yet being able to travel as a tourist to Norway or to go to Sweden to work for a while is not the same as laying down roots for future generations to call their own. In a study published last week, researchers found that modern Scandinavian populations are less genetically diverse than we might think — and particularly, less genetically diverse than the ancient Viking society that reigned over the region through the Middle Ages.

The results tell us a couple of things: First, that the Viking Age was a time of human migration, of mixing and mingling, trade and innovation, with a diverse society that drew people from all over the world, tempted by the Vikings' own global ambitions. Second, that modern Scandinavia has lost some of this diversity to the ages, sifted out of genomes over generations. That's today's top story, and keep reading for more curious, incisive, and surprising stories about our world from Inverse.

What’s New
RAID N TRADE
Viking DNA study finds they were more genetically diverse than modern Scandinavians

Modern humans would be forgiven for believing that with the ease of travel and the historical migration of peoples across the world, most populations have a more diverse genetic record than they did in their supposedly more isolated past. But a new study that traces Viking DNA through to modern Scandinavia suggests otherwise.

Some interactions between different groups of people leave a long-lasting mark on their descendants’ genes, like how people of European descent tend to carry tiny bits of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.

Other times, though, the genetic record of ancient interactions fades over time. That seems to be what happened in the wake of the Viking Age in Scandinavia, which today comprises Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, according to a recent study.

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Review
HBO’s 'The Last of Us' is even better than the video game

The Last of Us is the greatest TV show of 2023.

Granted, we’re not even two weeks into 2023, but from the first minute of the whopping 80-minute pilot, it’s hard to see anything else even reaching the same league.

A decade in the making, The Last of Us is a perfectly timed pandemic story, showing a true apocalypse scenario just as we’re getting used to the new normal of our pandemic. Most importantly, it’s a heartwarming (and very violent) story that’s not just a love letter to the original video game — it may just be an improvement upon it.

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Review
'Skinamarink' will keep you awake for the rest of your life

When we talk about the “scariest movie of all time,” we talk about a lot of different movies. The corner where variety and taste meet is the busiest intersection in all of arts discourse. Because not everyone is going to be scared by the same things, the horror genre has been allowed to flourish.

But from now on, when we talk about the “scariest movie of all time,” we’ll be talking about Skinamarink, a slow-burn lo-fi nightmare by independent filmmaker Kyle Edward Ball.

It is without question one of the best horror movies ever made, period.

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SpaceX
Elon Musk offers a new Starship launch window

SpaceX’s giant rocket to Mars and beyond could take its first orbital flight sometime within the next year.

CEO Elon Musk tweeted on January 7 that the Starship orbital test flight has “a real shot at late February. March launch attempt appears highly likely.”

The recent announcement adds to a long series of delays for the Starship’s orbital test, largely due to the slow-moving application process for a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

If everything works out, the fully-reusable ship could be the key to achieving Musk’s dream of a city on Mars.

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TOUGHEN UP
A 2,000-year-old Roman engineering secret could make today’s buildings last longer

If you had to guess which industries drive carbon emissions around the world, obvious culprits like transportation and industrial farming probably come to mind. But you may not know that another major source sits literally beneath our feet and contributes a whopping 8 percent of carbon emissions worldwide: cement.

Cement is a crucial component of concrete, a building block of modern civil engineering that’s often used to pave roads and construct buildings — but sustainable cement alternatives have proven difficult to find. So instead of forsaking concrete altogether, an ancient Roman trick could make modern concrete more sustainable, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances.

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