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Researchers show a mouse an image of cat while recording neuron activity in its visual cortex

New Research

Mice Watching "Touch of Evil" Teach Scientists About the Mind's Eye

By tracking mice neurons, scientists hope to understand consciousness

Was this 1660 self-portrait painted with the help of high-tech optics?

New Research

Did Rembrandt Have Help With His Most Famous Paintings?

A new study suggests the old master also knew his optics

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

Trending Today

No, China's Tiangong-1 Will Not "Rain Molten Metal Down Onto Earth"

It's not spiraling out of control, and even if it was, it wouldn't enter the atmosphere until 2017

Carla Hayden will be the nation's first woman and first African-American to serve as Librarian of Congress.

Trending Today

Meet Your New Librarian of Congress

Carla Hayden will make history as the first African-American in the role—and the first woman

Researcher Ricardo Godoy conducts an experiment with a member of the Tsimane

New Research

Researchers Travel to the Amazon to Find Out if Musical Taste is Hardwired

Members of the Tsimane tribe showed no preference between consonant and dissonate tones, meaning Western music is probably not biologically based

The Young Orphan, c. 1884

Cool Finds

Meet William Merritt Chase, the American Master Coming Back into Fashion

At the turn of the century, Chase was one of the most well-known painters and teachers in the United States. A new exhibit revisits his revolutionary skill

The Girl Scouts' newest badges celebrate art in the outdoors.

Cool Finds

The Girl Scouts' Newest Badges Bring Art Outside

Scouts designed and voted on the new badges

Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Cool Finds

10 Downing Street’s “Chief Mouser” Is Keeping His Job Despite Brexit

Larry the Cat will outlast David Cameron at the Prime Minister’s residence

W.E.B. Du Bois at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Cool Finds

The Revolutionary Infographics of W.E.B. Du Bois And Booker T. Washington

Data visualizations shed light on the living conditions of black people decades after the end of slavery

Awaroa Beach

Cool Finds

New Zealanders Just Crowdfunded a New Addition to this National Park

Over 40,000 people donated to buy Awaroa Beach and gift the site to Abel Tasman National Park

This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

New Research

Breathtaking New Images Capture Failed Stars and Planet-Sized Objects Inside the Orion Nebula

It’s the deepest look into the nebula ever seen before

Artist sketches of D.B. Cooper, who vanished in 1971 with $200,000 in stolen cash.

Trending Today

After 45 Years, the FBI Has Officially Stopped Looking for D.B. Cooper

The mysterious skyjacker got away clean

Cultural treasure—or stolen goods?

Trending Today

Britain’s Most Famous Plundered Art Could Finally Go Home

There’s a new attempt to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece

Baa.

Cool Finds

Impatient Islanders Create Google "Sheep View"

Ewe won’t forget this unique look at the Faroe Islands

A courtyard in front of a mosque adjacent to the al-Qarawiyyin Library, pre-restoration.

Cool Finds

The World’s Oldest Working Library Will Soon Open Its Doors to the Public

After renovations wrap up in September, the library at Morocco’s al-Qarawiyyin University will debut an exhibition section for non-scholars

New Research

Did Ancient Pacific Islanders Use Obsidian to Make Their Tattoos?

A team of Australian researchers think they may have found tools used to ink the ancients

Amphora that were cargo of a ship that sank in the Greek archipelago of Fourni

Cool Finds

New Discoveries Double the Size of Ancient Greek Shipwreck Graveyard

Researcher in the Fourni archipelago found 23 ships dating between 525 B.C. and 1850

Cool Finds

Before Pokémon Go, These Scavenger Hunts Were All The Rage

"X" marks the spot

"Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear"
Vincent van Gogh
1889

Trending Today

Van Gogh Cut Off a Lot More Than His Earlobe

The self-inflicted wound was even worse than most thought

"These chimpanzees get more recognition, respect & freedom in American than our people do," wrote Malcolm X to a friend in 1964.

Cool Finds

Here's What Malcolm X Thought About Race in 1964

A revealing postcard to Redd Foxx is up for auction

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