Smart News

The brown bear patella researchers dated to 12,500 years ago

New Research

Bear Bone Adds 2,500 Years to History of Humans in Ireland

Carbon dating of a bear bone covered in cut marks pushes human habitation of Ireland back into the Paleolithic Era

Only about 2,000 people speak Lakota.

Cool Finds

This News Website Is a Lakota-Speaker’s “Dream”

Woihanble.com could help preserve a threatened language

Cool Finds

Roald Dahl’s Iconic Illustrator Inspired This New Font

Quentin Blake’s handwriting has elements of spontaneity and joy

Perhaps Magnolia rzedowskiana should be renamed Magnolia interneta.

Cool Finds

Two New Flower Species Were Discovered Online

These naturalists didn’t know one another—but that didn’t keep them from discovering two new magnolias together

The green object is the comet 252P/LINEAR as it passed by the Larger Megellanic Cloud.

Trending Today

A Pair of Comets Are Making a Record-Breaking Pass by Earth

This is the closest a comet has come in 246 years

In 1957, the former first lady took to the wheels of steel.

Cool Finds

That One Time Eleanor Roosevelt Was a DJ

In 1957, the first lady spun records for a cause

Some of the items found in the Watlington hoard including coins depicting Alfred the Great and Ceolwulf II together

Cool Finds

Blokes with Metal Detectors Uncover Pieces of British History

Finds by amateur history sleuths shed light on the time when Anglo-Saxons clashed with Vikings

You can thank William Perkin for that garish dress your best friend will make you wear at her wedding.

Cool Finds

How Malaria Gave Us Mauve

Tropical diseases and coal tar have a lot to do with brightly-colored clothing

Weird Animals

Storks Move to a Trashy Neighborhood

White storks in Portugal and Spain are forgoing thier annual migration to Africa to pig out in landfills

New Research

Five New Things We Learned About Pluto This Week

A new set of studies paints Pluto as a weirder planet than scientists once thought

Figure from the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, Germany

New Research

New Study Details Interbreeding of Ancient Humans With Evolutionary Cousins

Genetic analysis shows multiple periods of inbreeding—trysts that may have given ancient humans the genetic tools they needed to survive

Eric Underwood's Instagram rant about having to put makeup on his shoes inspired a new ballet shoe by Bloch.

Cool Finds

Flesh-Toned Ballet Shoes Will Soon Be Available for People of Color

At long last, there are options for non-white dancers

Trending Today

Watch a Statue of Lenin Being Torn Down in Real Time

It’s hard to topple a 66-foot statue—or contend with the symbols of Ukraine’s communist past

Wacky Victorian women play behind a clothing screen, ca. 1900.

Cool Finds

Researchers Seek Silly Sherlocks to Dig up Victorian-Era Jokes

Joke detectives are using the British Library to uncover what made Victorians chuckle

Trending Today

Washington D.C. Welcomes a New Baby Bald Eagle

With one chick hatched, there’s another still to come

Cool Finds

Geometric Shapes Inspire New, Stretchy Materials

Intricate designs drawn from Islamic art could help make materials that stretch in new ways

Trending Today

SeaWorld Is Shutting Down Its Orca Breeding Program

But the orcas currently living in its parks will remain there for the rest of their lives

Detail from King Tut's throne

New Research

New Evidence Shows King Tut's Tomb May Have Its Own Chamber of Secrets

Scans in the boy-king's tomb reveal there may be two rooms beyond its walls that contain metal and organic objects

Cool Finds

MAD Magazine’s Iconic Alfred E. Neuman Turns 60 This Year

The impish mascot has had a long, colorful life

The dorsal side of Oneis tanana, which could be the only butterfly species endemic to the Alaskan Arctic.

New Research

A New Species of Butterfly Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The Tanana Arctic could be a rare butterfly hybrid—and it’s the first such find in nearly 30 years

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