Smart News

This one-inch-tall gold Bionicle mask was found in a bag of jewelry at a Pennsylvania Goodwill.

Goodwill Listed This Rare Gold Lego Piece for $14.95. It Sold for $18,101

Lego created just 30 of the 14-karat gold Kanohi Hau masks for a giveaway in 2001

Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC series "Pride and Prejudice"

Mr. Darcy's Famous Wet Shirt Sells for $25,000

Actor Colin Firth’s costume from the BBC's “Pride in Prejudice” doubled auction house estimates

A view of the Korolevo archaeological site. Researchers used the decay of isotopes in rocks dug up from the site to determine the age of the stone tools.

Stone Tools Found in Ukraine May Be the Oldest Evidence of Early Humans in Europe

The 1.4-million-year-old rocks may have belonged to Homo erectus, and they shed light on migrations of human ancestors, a new study suggests

Mining foreman R. Thornburg shows a small cage with a canary used for testing carbon monoxide gas in 1928.

What Happened to the Canary in the Coal Mine? The Story of How the Real-Life Animal Helper Became Just a Metaphor

The humble bird, which was employed until 1986, represents an important part of mining history

The gray whale was spotted during an aerial survey on March 1, about 30 miles off the coast of Nantucket.

A Rare Gray Whale, Believed Extinct in the Atlantic for 200 Years, Has Been Spotted off New England

Scientists say a lack of Arctic sea ice due to climate change could have created a passageway for the mammal to travel from the Pacific Ocean

Camembert and other French cheeses may eventually disappear.

These French Cheeses Are at Risk of Extinction

A lack of microbial diversity could eventually spell the end of cheeses like Camembert

The Bréal Cup, designed by French scholar Michel Bréal, was awarded to the winner of the first Olympic marathon.

The Paris Olympics

Paris Is Preparing for the Summer Olympics With a New Exhibition at the Louvre

"Olympism" explores the history of the ancient Olympics and France’s influence on the modern games

Scientists conduct sampling at Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, in April 2023. Last summer, a working group chose the lake as a representative location for the influence of human activity on the planet due to the history recorded in its sediment.

Scientists Reject Proposal to Define the Anthropocene, a Geological Age Marked by Human Activity

Experts had suggested a new epoch started in the mid-20th century, but the recent vote demonstrates how tough it is to pinpoint when humans' impact on the planet began

A yellow-billed loon was spotted hanging out on the Las Vegas Strip this week, far from its usual habitat in Alaska and the high Arctic.

Very Rare Yellow-Billed Loon Visits the Las Vegas Strip, Hangs Out in the Bellagio Fountains

The out-of-place bird prompted the hotel to put its famed fountain show on hold before biologists captured and moved the bird—one of the country's ten rarest—to better habitat

Banksy's Happy Choppers appeared on the side of an office building in east London in 2006.

Cool Finds

This Banksy Mural Was Salvaged From the Wall of a London Office Building

Conservators have been working for a year to restore "Happy Choppers," which is going to auction on March 20

Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands contains radioactive waste from U.S. activity during the Cold War. A new report says climate change may cause its contaminants to enter the environment.

Climate Change May Unearth Cold War-Era Nuclear Waste Stored by the U.S. in Other Countries

A new report finds that melting ice and rising sea levels could disturb radioactive contamination left over from American nuclear tests after World War II

The shield has been withdrawn from an auction at Anderson & Garland, where it was expected to fetch between £800 and £1,200 (roughly $1,000 to $1,500). 

Auction House Cancels Sale of Looted Ethiopian Shield

Heritage officials have called for the return of the artifact, which British forces seized in 1868

A mutation in a gene called TBXT may be behind the loss of great apes' tails, according to a new study.

Why Don’t Humans Have Tails? An Old Genetic Mutation Could Explain Why Monkeys, but Not Apes, Have the Extra Appendage

Scientists have pinpointed a genetic change that might have led the ancestors of humans to lose their tails

The Return of the Buffalo Herd, painted by Edward and Charles Detmold, hangs at Bateman's in East Sussex in honor of the book's 130th anniversary.

Rare 'Jungle Book' Watercolor Goes on Display at Rudyard Kipling's Home in England

"The Return of the Buffalo Herd" is one of only four surviving illustrations from the book

Scientists studied the Lala Lallia star dune in the Sahara Desert in eastern Morocco.

Scientists Unravel the Mysteries of Earth's Towering Star Dunes—Massive, Moving Mountains of Sand

Using new technologies, researchers revealed an enormous star dune in Morocco formed more quickly than thought, and it's on the move

An ancient fresco depicting Helle reaching for her twin brother, Phrixus, after falling from a golden ram

Cool Finds

A Remarkable Fresco Depicting a Scene From Greek Mythology Has Been Found in Pompeii

The vibrant painting portrays siblings Phrixus and Helle as they flee from their stepmother

An artist's rendition of the Europa Clipper mission, set to launch to Europa in October. The mission could provide new insights about the life-supporting potential of the moon, which hosts a massive saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface.

Jupiter's Moon Europa May Have Less Oxygen Than Previously Thought

The new findings could have implications for whether Europa's vast ocean contains the conditions necessary to support life

Cherry blossom trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. on March 22, 2023

This Is When Washington, D.C.'s Cherry Trees Are Predicted to Bloom This Year

"Peak bloom," which typically falls in late March or early April, refers to the day when at least 70 percent of the trees have blossomed

Researchers drove a car equipped with ground-penetrating radar over the land near Utstein Monastery on the island of Klosterøy.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists May Have Found Traces of a Viking Marketplace in Norway

Ground-penetrating radar found evidence of a trading hub buried near the island of Klosterøy's historic monastery

Two green and black poison dart frogs

Why Do Poison Dart Frogs 'Tap Dance' With Their Toes? Research Sheds Light on Feeding Time Footwork

Scientists observed frogs tapping their toes up to 500 times per minute when prey was present, suggesting the behavior is related to predation

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