Smart News

“I am not setting out here to rehabilitate Nero as a blameless man,” curator Thorsten Opper says. “But I have come to the conclusion that almost every single thing we think we know about him is wrong.”

Was Emperor Nero Really as Monstrous as History Suggests?

A new exhibition at the British Museum introduces visitors to the man behind the mythical Roman ruler

Organizer Quintavious Rhodes addresses Black Lives Matter protesters during a march in Stone Mountain Park on June 16, 2020. Activists have long called for Stone Mountain's carved relief of Confederate generals to be taken down.

History of Now

Georgia Approves Changes to Stone Mountain Park, 'Shrine to White Supremacy'

The site's board authorized the creation of a truth-telling exhibit, a new logo and a relocated Confederate flag plaza

President Barack Obama fist bumps a robotic arm being controlled by electrodes implanted in Nathan Copeland's brain at the University of Pittsburgh on October 13, 2016.

New Research

Researchers Create Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm With Sense of Touch

Touch feedback allowed a man with electrodes implanted into his brain to command a robotic arm and complete tasks quickly

Controversial collector Stuart Pivar discovered the painting at an auction outside of Paris. The Van Gogh Museum reportedly plans to authenticate the work.

Is This Landscape a Long-Lost Vincent van Gogh Painting?

A controversial art collector claims that a depiction of wheat fields in Auvers is the work of the famed Impressionist

Rosary beads and Bible belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots, pictured at Arundel Castle in January 1968. Authorities recently announced the rosary's theft from the English stronghold.

Rosary Beads Owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, Stolen in Heist at English Castle

The Stuart monarch may have carried the golden beads—taken last Friday in a $1.4-million burglary—to her execution in 1587

The treasure trove discovery began when park ranger and naturalist Greg Francek from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) first stumbled upon a petrified forest while on patrol in the Mokelumne River Watershed, located in the Sierra Nevada.

Park Ranger Stumbles Upon Treasure Trove of Several-Million-Year-Old Fossils in Northern California

Paleontologists found hundreds of Miocene fossils, including an 8-million-year-old mastodon, at an undisclosed location in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Approximately 500 years ago, Spanish forces laid siege to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.

Mexico City Marks 500th Anniversary of the Fall of Tenochtitlán

The events highlight the complex legacy of 300 years of Spanish rule

Ravenmaster Chris Skaife holds Branwen, the newest bird to join the Tower of London's roost.

Tower of London Reveals Newest Raven's Mythical Name

The public voted to call the bird Branwen in honor of a Celtic goddess

A ghost forest on Capers Island, South Carolina.

New Research

'Tree Farts' Raise Ghost Forests' Carbon Emissions

As sea level rise poisons woodlands with saltwater, more work is needed to understand these ecosystems' contributions to climate change

Hurricane Laura as it approached the Gulf Coast on August 26, 2020

NOAA Predicts Another Above-Average Atlantic Hurricane Season

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and NOAA predicts it will see between 13 and 20 named storms

Researchers found that the bears could withstand an impact of up to 900 meters per second and shock pressures of up to 1.14 gigapascals (GPa). Any higher than those speeds, the seemingly invincible water bears turned to mush.

Water Bears Can Survive Impact Speeds of 1,845 Miles Per Hour

Tardigrades thrive in a variety of extreme conditions, so researchers wanted to know if they could withstand simulated space landing impacts

After Yolande of Anjou, wife of Francis I, duke of Brittany, died in 1440, her husband had her likeness painted over with a portrait of his second wife.

Cool Finds

Researchers Discover Hidden Portrait in 15th-Century Duchess' Prayer Book

The duke of Brittany had his second spouse's likeness painted over an image of his late first wife

This sample of red trinitite contained the quasicrystal described in a new study.

New Research

Study Plucks Rare Quasicrystal From Wreckage of First Atomic Bomb Test

Researchers found the strange material inside a piece of red trinitite, a glass-like amalgam formed by the blast's intense heat and pressure

Astronaut Sally Ride (left) and poet Maya Angelou (right) will be the first individuals honored through the American Women Quarters Program.

Women Who Shaped History

Maya Angelou, Sally Ride to Be Among First Women Featured on U.S. Quarters

Between 2022 and 2025, the U.S. Mint is set to highlight up to 20 trailblazing American women

Though the intaglio dates to the days of Roman Britain (43 to 410 A.D.), the silver seal that holds it was likely made in the 13th or 14th century.

Cool Finds

Silver Medieval Seal Featuring Engraved Roman Gem Unearthed in England

The rare artifact depicts war god Mars and Victoria, the mythological personification of victory

While erosion is a natural occurrence that happens over time, the Galàpagos Islands are more at risk to threats of erosion because of climate change.

Iconic Natural Rock Feature in the Galápagos Islands Crumbles Into the Ocean

The top of the Darwin’s Arch, a natural stone archway, fell as a result of natural erosion

One of the six recovered frescoes depicts a dancing cherub.

Six Stolen Frescoes Returned to Pompeii

Between the 1970s and 2012, looters stole elegant artworks from two villas neighboring the famed ancient settlement

When male cicadas are infected with Massospora, they exhibit both male and female mating behavior: singing to attract females and flicking their wings to attract males.

Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off

This 'zombie' fungus isn't going after the bugs' brains—it’s after their genitals

"You can never safely operate a flying bomb," says historian Dan Grossman.

Cool Finds

Watch Newly Resurfaced Footage of the Hindenburg Disaster

A PBS documentary investigates the cause of the infamous 1937 explosion that tanked the airship industry

Kate McCaffrey, a former steward at Anne's childhood home, used ultraviolet light and photo editing software to reveal hidden writing in the Tudor queen's Book of Hours.

Cool Finds

Hidden Inscriptions Discovered in Anne Boleyn's Execution Prayer Book

New research suggests a circle of Tudor women saved the "Book of Hours" for the queen's daughter, Elizabeth I

Page 239 of 982