Smart News

Central High School, where school integration battles of the Civil Rights Movement played out, is among 39 sites and historical projects to get National Park Service grants.

Trending Today

New Grants Give Out Millions to Preserve African-American History

A $7.5 million grant program will fund 39 projects in over 20 states

2016 broke temperature records on land and sea, report both NOAA and NASA.

Trending Today

2016 Was the Hottest Year Ever Recorded

Never in modern memory has the Earth's surface and sea temperature been so high

Edgar Allan Poe as imagined in an 1895 image by Swiss/French printmaker Félix Valloton.

Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea

In Baltimore, they’re keeping the tradition of visiting Edgar Allan Poe’s grave for his birthday—but without the mystery

An artist's impression of the gas being stripped away from spiral galaxy NGC 4921

New Research

Dark Matter Could Be Destroying Distant Galaxies

The mysterious substance may suck gas from the galaxies—and a gasless galaxy is a dead galaxy

A mug shot of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, taken in prison in 1946.

Iva d'Aquino Toguri Remains the Only U.S. Citizen Convicted of Treason Who Has Ever Been Pardoned

She was an American DJ who served six years in prison for her wartime radio broadcasts from Japan

This aerial view shoes the weird wonder of "fairy circles" in the Namibian desert.

New Research

Dueling Theories on the Cause of “Fairy Circles” Could Both Be Right

New research brings together competing concepts to describe how the mysterious features form

Scimitar-horned oryx being released into their holding pen in Chad last March

Trending Today

Second Group of the Once-Extinct African Oryx to Be Released Into the Wild

Hunting wiped out wild populations of the scimitar-horned creatures, but breeding programs are helping them make a comeback

Synesthesia, or the entangling of the senses, may be much more common than once thought.

New Research

One in Five People May Be Able to "Hear" a Flash of Light

Once thought to be a rare condition, some forms of synesthesia may be fairly common

A 1952 report on a flying saucer sighting in East Germany housed in the CIA's recently released archive suggests that the truth is, perhaps, out there.

Cool Finds

Over 12 Million Pages of CIA Documents Are Now Accessible Online

Coups, clairvoyants, invisible ink

Detail of a surfer in "A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee," an etching made by an artist accompanying the Cook expedition.

What the First European to Visit Hawaii Thought About Surfers

The Europeans were fascinated by Pacific Islanders' comfort in the water

Samuel Zemurray was sometimes called "The Banana Man."

Where We Got the Term “Banana Republic”

Hint: it’s not a great moment in American history

Colo died at age 60 in the zoo where she was so famously born.

Trending Today

Colo, the World's First Gorilla Born in Captivity, Is Dead

The miracle baby turned matriarch was 60 years old

Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan inside the lunar module on the moon after his second moonwalk of the mission. His spacesuit is covered with lunar dust.

Trending Today

Eugene Cernan: The Last Man on the Moon and So Much More

His experience helped make spaceflight safer

Cool Finds

This Altar Cloth Might Have Been Elizabeth I’s Skirt

It belonged to a parish church for centuries

Nearly 100 false killer whales are currently stranded in the Everglades in the worst Florida stranding of its kind.

Trending Today

Scores of Dolphins Are Stranded in the Everglades

So far, at least 82 false killer whales have died

The bow-shaped wave on Venus

New Research

Scientists Spot Massive Wave in Venus' Atmosphere

The 6,200-mile long bow-shaped wrinkle may have been caused by gravity waves

Benjamin Franklin's portrait on the 2009 design of the hundred dollar bill.

Benjamin Franklin Was a Middle-Aged Widow Named Silence Dogood (And a Few Other Women)

The founding father wrote letters in the voice of female pseudonyms throughout his life

The White Spy and Black Spy have inspired video games, action figures, and an animated TV series.

This Cuban Cartoonist Drew the Cold War for MAD Magazine

The Black Spy and the White Spy have been chasing each other around in <i>MAD</i> Magazine for 56 years

It can get much, much colder than this.

New Research

Scientists Make the Coldest Object on Earth

Researchers cooled a tiny aluminum drum almost to absolute zero and think they can go even further

The Saalfelden hermitage

Austria

Austrian Town Seeks Professional Hermit

The beautiful locale makes up for the spartan lifestyle expected of successful applicants

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