Smart News

The mummified remains of James Murphy, known as Stoneman Willie, which lay in a funeral home in Reading, Pennsylvania, for 128 years before being buried last weekend.

Pennsylvania Mummy Gets a Proper Burial After 128 Years in a Funeral Home

Nicknamed "Stoneman Willie," the man visited the town of Reading for a convention of firefighters in 1895

Patients with the 1918 flu at a barracks hospital in Colorado.

The 1918 Flu Hit Frailer People the Hardest, Study Suggests

Skeletons of people who died before and during the 20th-century pandemic counter the narrative that young and healthy people were targeted by the disease

Another supposedly unlucky thing: black cats.

Why Are We So Scared of Friday the 13th?

From the Knights Templar to Norse mythology, here’s how fear of the spooky date crept into popular culture

The Field Museum collects bodies of birds that collide with windows. The birds are processed and cleaned by the museum’s flesh-eating beetle colony.

Almost 1,000 Birds Died in One Night From Striking a Chicago Building

Another 1,000 were killed in window collisions across the downtown area, amid calls for more bird-friendly architecture and reduced light pollution

Though beachgoers are not allowed to go swimming, they can lounge in beach chairs and sit under the shade of umbrellas. 

Manhattan's First Public Beach Opens Along the Hudson River

The new 5.5-acre recreation space includes a sandy shore, sports field, picnic area and boardwalk—but swimming isn't allowed

Researchers are still trying to confirm the cause of death, but they suspect the high water temperatures are to blame.

At Least 125 River Dolphins Have Died Amid Drought and Heat in Brazilian Amazon

Though the pink animals' cause of death is not confirmed, temperatures in the remote Lake Tefé reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit in late September

"The Master's Pupil" is a hand-painted video game that takes place inside Claude Monet's eyeball.

This New Hand-Painted Video Game Takes Place Inside Claude Monet's Eyeball

Australian designer and developer Pat Naoum spent seven years creating "The Master's Pupil"

Jackdaws are social birds that mate for life and breed in colonies.

These Birds Will Switch Companions to Earn Food but Stick With Family, Study Suggests

Jackdaws, cognitively complex relatives of crows, have intricate social dynamics and mate for life

Shakespeare may have performed on floorboards recently discovered at a theater in England in 1592 or 1593.

Cool Finds

Did Shakespeare Perform on These Newly Discovered Floorboards?

A historic theater in England claims to have found the Bard’s only surviving stage

Mammal taxidermy under ultraviolet light: (a) polar bear, (b) southern marsupial mole, (c) greater bilby, (d) mountain zebra, (e) bare-nosed wombat, (f) six-banded armadillo, (g) orange leaf-nosed bat, (h) quenda, (i) leopard, (j) Asian palm civet.

More Mammals Can Glow in the Dark Than Previously Thought

A new study found that 125 different mammal species are fluorescent under ultraviolet light, suggesting the property is widespread

Archaeologists identified the finds as Viking-era brooches. 

Cool Finds

Norwegian Family Unearths 1,200-Year-Old Viking Artifacts in Their Yard

They had been looking for a lost gold earring when they stumbled upon two bronze brooches

Researchers have only discovered a small fraction of the pre-Columbian earthworks in the Amazon rainforest, according to new research.

The Amazon May Be Hiding More Than 10,000 Pre-Columbian Structures

Based on a new aerial survey and modeling study, archaeologists suggest at least 90 percent of sites known as earthworks remain undetected

Narges Mohammadi, pictured here in April 2021, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for advocating for women's rights in Iran.

Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Iranian Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi

Mohammadi, who is currently in prison, is at the forefront of the fight against oppression in Iran

Shooting stars travel across the sky during the Draconid meteor shower.

How to Watch the Draconid Meteor Shower This Weekend

Though it’s usually a smaller display, the Draconids have historically produced breathtaking outbursts of shooting stars known as "meteor storms"

Pamela Singh's Chipko Tree Huggers of the Himalayas #4, 1994

Art Meets Science

London Exhibition Explores the Link Between Gender and Ecology

"Re/Sisters," now open at the Barbican Art Gallery, features the works of nearly 50 women and nonbinary artists

Chilobrachys natanicharum, the electric blue tarantula

See the New 'Enchanting' Electric Blue Tarantula Discovered in Thailand

Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature, but this arachnid achieves the bright hue through special structures in its hair

If you want to cut meat out of your diet but are having a hard time, a new study suggests your genetics may be responsible.

Maintaining a Vegetarian Diet Might Be in Your Genes

New research has identified three genes that are strongly linked to vegetarianism and 31 others that might also play a role in sticking to a meatless diet

Norwegian writer Jon Fosse is the recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Jon Fosse Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for Work Probing 'Human Anxiety and Ambivalence'

The dramatist and author is the first-ever laureate in the prize's history to write in Nynorsk, a written form of the Norwegian language

The Cheddar brooch measures 9 centimeters (roughly 4.5 inches) in diameter and dates to between 800 and 900 C.E.

Cool Finds

Rare 1,000-Year-Old Brooch Goes on Display in England

A metal detectorist unearthed the silver and copper artifact on a farm in Somerset in 2020

The now-extinct golden toad in a 1978 picture taken in Costa Rica.

Climate Change Is Pushing Many of the World's Amphibians Closer to Extinction

Just over 40 percent of amphibian species are at risk of going extinct, and humans' fossil fuel use is partly to blame, according to a new assessment

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