Sophie Kleeman

Sophie is a staff writer at Mic covering the intersection of tech and culture. She's based in New York and can be reached at sophie@mic.com.
I Got My Genes Tested by 23andMe, and Here's What I Learned About My Future
By Sophie Kleeman
One day in late November, I stood in the bathroom of my workplace, continuously depositing my saliva into a slim, plastic tube while my boss cheered me on. No, I wasn't on set at some sort of weird snuff film: I was the resident guinea pig…
This Bird Lies and Cheats to Get Laid Just Like a Pick-Up Artist Garbage Monster
By Sophie Kleeman
You've heard of the fuccboi. Now, allow us to introduce you to the fuccbird. Matt Simon at Wired has a detailed writeup of the great bowerbird, an opportunistic, deceptive little creature that uses a mix of visual duplicity and straight up mind…
Scientists Have Successfully Preserved an Entire Rabbit Brain for the First Time Ever
By Sophie Kleeman
If Bugs Bunny were to ask his famous question, "What's up, Doc?" today, he might not like the answer. On Tuesday, the Brain Preservation Foundation announced the winner of its Small Mammal Prize, which challenged participants to preserve a small…
Researchers Just Looked Beyond the Milky Way and Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies
By Sophie Kleeman
Our beloved Milky Way is beautiful, but it's also a giant attention hog, obscuring a substantial part of the sky with its mass and dust. In a new paper published Tuesday, however, scientists revealed that they were able to see past the Milky Way for…
Planting Certain Trees Is Actually Kinda Bad for the Environment
By Sophie Kleeman
Plant a tree, save the Earth, or so the thinking goes. But what if it's not the right kind of tree?  The results could be undesirable — in fact, they might be the polar opposite of what's good for the environment, according to a new study published…
Twitter Just Announced a New Plan to Curb Harassment
By Sophie Kleeman
Amid corporate turmoil and an uncertain future, Twitter is taking another step to protect its users from harassment, the latest in its series of attempts to balance free speech and personal safety. On Tuesday the company announced in a blog post…
Despite Incredible Odds, a Meteorite May Have Actually Killed a Human
By Sophie Kleeman
The chances of dying at the stone cold hands of a meteorite are incredibly low — about 1 in 700,000 over the course of a person's lifetime, according to astronomer Alan Harris — but one man may now have the extremely morbid distinction of being the…
This Solar Farm in the Desert Will Soon Provide Power for More Than a Million People
By Sophie Kleeman
On Thursday, at the foot of the Sahara Desert, the future of solar energy made its grand debut. That afternoon, Morocco's King Mohammed VI fired up Noor 1, the first section of the country's massive, groundbreaking solar power plant. Expected to…
How to Play the Secret Chess Game in Facebook Messenger
By Sophie Kleeman
Attention, nerds and Bobby Fischer wannabes: Facebook wants to help you. Well, not really. But it does want you to play a somewhat clandestine game of chess with your friends in its chat messenger app. Simply choose a friend, type "@fbchess play"…
These Robot Chefs in China Can Make a Meal in Just 90 Seconds
By Sophie Kleeman
Soon enough, humans will be rendered obsolete when robots come for our jobs, families, partners and everything else that we hold dear. Until that moment inevitably comes, however, we can still enjoy their company, especially when they're cooking up…
Come Sail Away With NASA's Latest Satellites, Which Will Travel Through Space Without Fuel
By Sophie Kleeman
On Tuesday, NASA announced that 13 CubeSats — miniature satellites designed for scientific research — would tag along on its new rocket, the Space Launch System, when it ventures forth into the great unknown in 2018. Before you assume that the…
Pluto Is Full of Water Ice, Probably From the Tears It Cried When We Rejected It
By Sophie Kleeman
Pluto's heart of ice is even colder than we originally thought.  NASA recently revealed that the lonely planet, which we so cruelly voted out of our solar system in 2006, contains far more water ice than scientists initially suspected. "The new map…
20 Years After Failing With Virtual Reality, Nintendo Might Bring It Back
By Sophie Kleeman
Twenty years ago, Nintendo launched Virtual Boy, a bright-red video game console that was one of the first attempts at a commercial virtual reality platform. Though Nintendo was excited by the innovative move, consumers weren't: As Fast Company…
Your Phone Could Actually Make You Get Off Your Ass Once in a While
By Sophie Kleeman
Cellphones get a bad rap for encouraging screen addiction and couch potato behavior, but a new study suggests that your smartphone could, in fact, make you more active.  Researchers observed the sedentary behavior patterns of 215 people and compared…
Richard Dawkins Made a Huge Mistake While Railing Against "Social Justice"
By Sophie Kleeman
The world's most famous atheist found himself in hot water Monday after tweeting out a digitally altered image of his popular book The God Delusion. Instead of the actual cover, however, this version was titled The Social Justice Delusion, and it…
Here's an Inside Look at the Future of the Hyperloop
By Sophie Kleeman
When it comes to billionaire Elon Musk's lofty vision for the Hyperloop, a theoretical high speed transportation structure, there's one pod to rule them all. Last weekend, at the Hyperloop Pod design competition at Texas A&M University, 23 lucky…
France Is Using 600 Miles of Roads to Generate Renewable Energy
By Sophie Kleeman
Cue up the cheesy '90s pop song, because France just got a lot closer to walking on sunshine. According to Global Construction Review, France is planning to pave 621 miles of its roads with solar cells over the next five years. If the initiative is…
The #UnderboobChallenge Is the Latest Body-Shaming Trend on Social Media
By Sophie Kleeman
The underboob is on the rise. A new viral trend, the latest in a series of attention-grabbing, body-conscious stunts, has blossomed in the wilds of the internet. It involves a whole lot of underboob — the part of the anatomy made famous by Rihanna's…
These Kids 3-D Printed Their Own Prosthetics — And Turned Themselves Into Superheroes
By Sophie Kleeman
Kids grow up dreaming of becoming Superman, the Black Panther, Wonder Woman or the Green Lantern — mythical superheroes with outlandish outfits and out-of-this-world capabilities. For five days this January at San Francisco's Pier 9 workshop, six…
These Roads Produce Their Own Heat to Melt Ice and Save Lives
By Sophie Kleeman
Your treacherous days of slipping and sliding along snow-covered roads may be coming to an end. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a kind of concrete that conducts electricity, and now, if the Federal Aviation…