Articles

Ten Years Ago, 50 Million People Lost Power

Ten years later people are remembering, energy companies are trying to get better, but the grid is the same

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The Civil War

Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and the War That Changed Poetry, Forever

The two titans of American poetry chronicled the death and destruction of the Civil War in their poems

An emergency call center

911 Won’t Always Know Your Location If You Call From a Cell Phone

Among the networks, AT&T and T-Mobile seem to be the biggest culprits at leaving out pertinent location information when customers make emergency calls

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These Scientists Just Spent Four Months Pretending They Were on Mars

And they ate a lot of Spam

New school lunch programs are one of the ways people are trying to fight childhood obesity.

Childhood Obesity in the United States Is Decreasing

For the first time in years, the proportion of children who could be classified as obese decreased

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Waters Around Antarctica May Preserve Wooden Shipwrecks for Centuries

Some capsized ships may linger on the ocean floor indefinitely

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Scientists Attempt to Replace Human Taste Testers With Test Tubes

If everybody tasted differently, can you actually objectively evaluate how food tastes?

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Why Are So Many Dolphins Washing Up Dead on the East Coast?

A Smithsonian marine biologist investigates the sudden die-off of bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic—and suspects that human activity may play a role

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One Physicist Thinks the Universe Is Not Expanding—And He Might Not Be Crazy

Christof Wetterich can also explain the “red shift" that supports the idea of the Big Bang

From “The Marlborough-Vanderbilt Wedding”

How American Rich Kids Bought Their Way Into the British Elite

The nouveau riche of the Gilded Age had buckets of money but little social standing—until they started marrying their daughters to British nobles

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Who Are the 2.8 Million Non-Hispanic Americans Who Speak Spanish at Home?

There are 37.6 million Americans who speak Spanish at home, but only 34.8 million self-identify as Hispanic

America Bet 500 Million Tiny Copper Space Wires Would Help Beat the Soviets

During the Cold War, filling space with tiny copper bits didn't seem like such a bad idea

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Cosmic Portraits Created From Hubble Space Telescope Images

Sergio Albiac generates images of people by collecting their head shots and replacing pixels with snippets from pictures of stars and galaxies

During World War II, when sugar was rationed to 8 ounces per adult per week, some vegetable alternatives were introduced. These girls don’t seem too happy about the “carrot-on-a-stick” option.

A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark

How a ruse to keep German pilots confused gave the Vitamin-A-rich vegetable too much credit

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Why the Next Silicon Valley Will Be in the Middle East

Venture capitalist Christopher Schroeder sees the Arab Spring giving rise to a new innovative center in Egypt and beyond

New research with rats indicates that mental activity can continue for 30 seconds after the heart stops beating—perhaps explaining out-of-body experiences.

A Last-Second Surge of Brain Activity Could Explain Near-Death Experiences

Near-death sightings of light at the end of a tunnel may be related to the 30 seconds of activity in rats' brains after their hearts stop

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People Feel Sorrier for Battered Puppies Than Adult Humans

Adult victims ranked last because they're seen as being "capable of protecting themselves while full grown dogs are just seen as larger puppies"

An ornamental copy of the Declaration of Independence

America’s Founders Were Scarily Young on July 4, 1776

How old were famous Revolutionary War figures on July 4, 1776?

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What Can Old Menus From Hawaii Tell Us About Changing Ocean Health?

A study of vintage menus reveals the drastic decline of the state's local fish populations between 1900 and 1950

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This Underwater Expedition Is the Only Live Stream You Need to Watch Today

Right now, the Okeanos Explorer has a rover in the water about 600 meters below the ocean. You can join it by watching this live stream

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