Smart News

Jasper Forest, a part of Petrified Forest National Park.

Another Weird Facet of America’s Strangest National Park: The Conscience Pile

People mail stolen rocks back to Petrified Forest National Park, but they can't be returned to their original sites

It isn't pretty, but it made history.

Cool Finds

Someone Paid $46,000 for a Bunch of Mold

Its discovery was an accident, but this scientific sample changed the course of medicine forever

A Standard Stations filling station in California, circa 1939.

Leaded Gas Was a Known Poison the Day It Was Invented

For most of the mid-twentieth century, lead gasoline was considered normal. But lead is a poison, and burning it has had dire consequences

Canada will have plenty of time to get used to Viola Desmond—she'll soon be on the country's $10 bills.

Canada

Canada Will Put Another Woman on Its Currency

An early civil rights heroine makes history (again)

This collage of images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn's northern hemisphere and rings as viewed with four different spectral filters. Each filter is sensitive to different wavelengths of light and reveals clouds and hazes at different altitudes.

New Research

Check Out New Pictures of Saturn From Cassini’s Latest Orbit

New images of the ringed planet herald the spacecraft’s demise

A flock of snow geese safely land on a lake at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.

Trending Today

Thousands of Snow Geese Die at Abandoned Pit Mine

Despite attempts to scare them away, thousands of geese landed on the acidic Berkeley Pit, which is full of toxic heavy metals

Underside of preserved tail section, displaying paler plumage, numerous decay products, and an associated ant.

New Research

This 99-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tail Trapped in Amber Hints at Feather Evolution

The rare specimen provides new insights into how feathers came to be

Jeanette Rankin, pictured here in 1917, was the first woman elected to Congress and the only person to cast a vote against entering World War II.

Only One Person Voted Against the United States Entering World War II

Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin's dedication to pacifism sprang from her personal brand of feminism

Wikipedia has a woman problem—that women themselves can tackle.

Trending Today

Help the BBC Close Wikipedia’s Gender Gap

The Beeb’s hosting an edit-a-thon to improve the online encylopedia’s coverage of women

Obi the parrotlet

New Research

How a Goggle-Wearing Parrot Could Help Future Robots Fly

By flying through a haze and lasers, Obi the parrotlet helped researchers figure out how much lift birds produce

Cool Finds

The Ancient Origins of Apple Cider

The classic fall drink has a boozy history going back thousands of years

Cosmic dust particle collected from an urban gutter

Cool Finds

Scientists Discover Cosmic Dust in the Grime of City Gutters

Usually only found in remote locations, a dedicated amateur scientist combed through pounds of urban debris to recover these space specks

Hair removal is personal—but it may be time to bring science to the party.

Bare Down There? New Study Suggests You’re More Susceptible to STIs

Your pubic preferences could be linked to your sexual health

As if you needed another reason to sleep in.

New Research

Sleep-Deprived Drivers Can Be as Dangerous as Drunk Ones

Getting by on even slightly less sleep could put you at risk

Lethal injection as a means to execute condemned prisoners was first used thirty-four years ago.

Thirty-four Years Ago, the First Person Died by Lethal Injection. It Was Controversial Then, Too

It was seen as more humane and relatively painless, but that's not certain

Protesting Ford’s Theatre Jim Crow admission policy, ca. 1951.

Trending Today

Historic Photos of Baltimore Show the Real-Life "Hairspray"

<i>Hairspray Live!</i> fans, learn the history behind the beloved story

The Beckery monastery as it would have looked in the fifith century

Cool Finds

Oldest Community of Monks in U.K. Discovered

The find was thanks to a community training dig

Don't look for official memorials to the dead dictator—there won't be any.

Trending Today

Why There Won’t Be Any Monuments to Fidel Castro in Cuba

El Comandante had one last dictate

An early cotton-candy machine.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

People at the 1904 World's Fair Paid Half the Price of Admission for a Box of Cotton Candy

Celebrating cotton candy's sugary, innovative goodness

Bathochordaeus charon

Cool Finds

Scientists Finally Spot Giant, Slimy Sea Blob First Found Over a Century Ago

Discovered in 1899, the creature recently popped up in Monterey Bay

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