Smart News

People Have Spent Years Trying to Diagnose Mary Todd Lincoln From Beyond the Grave

Abraham Lincoln's wife has been called a "wildcat," "menstrual" and "bipolar" among other things

Rice paddies are one source of global methane emissions.

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Methane Levels Have Surged, and Scientists Don’t Know Why

As Earth heads toward climate crisis, the pressure is on to learn more about CH4

Men smoke pipes and drink on the London streets. Booth's police notebooks reveal the everyday habits of Londoners.

Cool Finds

Explore the Seedy Reality of a London Long Gone

Charles Booth explored the poorest parts of England’s capital—and changed the way social scientists think about the world

This Egon Schiele painting, Portrait of Wally, was looted during World War II and became the subject of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the 2000s after it was exhibited in New York.

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Reclaiming Nazi-Looted Art Is About to Get Easier

HEAR Act removes legal loopholes that prevented victims of Nazi art plunder to restore what’s rightfully theirs

Robert Noyce (left) and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in from of the Intel SC1 building in Santa Clara, 1970.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Silicon Valley Owes Its Success To This Tech Genius You’ve Never Heard Of

Robert Noyce was one of the founders of Silicon Valley

A panoramic map of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO.

Cool Finds

The Library of Congress Is Putting Its Map Collection on the Map

A new partnership with the Digital Public Library of America will put three major LOC map collections online

Artist's rendering of KITE

Cool Finds

Japan Testing "Space Tether" to Knock Junk Out of Orbit

The KITE experiment will use a half-mile long cable to guide some of the 500,000 chunks of space junk out of orbit

Williams is perhaps best known for his iconic Theme Building, a space-age structure at Los Angeles International Airport.

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Why You Should Know Trailblazing Architect Paul Revere Williams

Almost four decades after his death, the African-American architect whose work came to define Los Angeles gets his due

A postcard of the Motel Inn, circa 1940s.

The World’s First Motel Was a Luxury Establishment, Not a Dive

The first motel was supposed to turn into a chain, but it was quickly overtaken by cheaper competitors.

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Austria

Austria’s Word of the Year Has 52 Letters

<i>Bundespraesidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung</i> isn’t just a mouthful—it tells an annoying political story

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U.S. Life Expectancy Drops for the First Time in 23 Years

While it only decreased by 0.1 percent overall, eight of the top ten causes of death all saw increases in 2015

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Giraffes Silently Slip Onto the Endangered Species List

Years of habitat destruction and poaching have reduced giraffe numbers by 30 percent, placing them in the vulnerable category for the first time

This jaguar was spotted by a wildlife camera in Arizona.

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America’s Only Known Jaguar May Not Be Alone Anymore

Perhaps "El Jefe" isn't so lonely after all

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.

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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

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