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A mosquito feeding on a small Northern Bog Orchid (Platanthera obtusata)

New Research

New Street Lamps Lure Mosquitoes With Fake Human Scents

Lighting the way in the fight against mosquitos

A nautical-themed hairstyle from the mind of Danny Lewis.

Cool Finds

Create Your Own Delightful, Excessive Version of 18th-Century Women’s Hairstyles

A museum’s interactive tool gives the powdered styles of the French Court of the 1700s some fierce competition

Trioceros hoehnelii, one of the 20 chameleons whose tongues a researcher tested for speed

New Research

Tiny Chameleon’s Tongue Can Beat the Fastest Sports Car

The Rosette-nosed Pygmy Chameleon can launch its tongue toward prey at 8,500 feet per second

A fragment of a scuttled Revolutionary War-era ship discovered at a Virginia construction site.

Trending Today

Revolutionary War-Era Ship Found at Hotel Construction Site

The scuttled ship could reveal new details about how American colonists built their boats

Andy Warhol's portraits of Queen Elizabeth on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Several works from this series are hung in British embassies in the United States.

Trending Today

You Can Only See a Fraction of These Publicly Owned British Artworks

Parliament official says thousands of government-owned artworks belong in a gallery

A logarithmic scale captures the whole universe

Cool Finds

This Image of the Universe Captures Its Immensity

Comets, planets, galaxies and the cosmic web crowd together in this portrait of everything known

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln in 1861 shows how the man would not have been amused by this theft.

Trending Today

A Sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’s Hand Has Been Stolen From an Illinois Museum

The 150-year-old plaster art piece went missing sometime before December 11

Gene Luen Yang becomes the first graphic novelist to be appointed as the national ambassador for young people's literature.

Trending Today

Meet the New National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The Library of Congress' decision to appoint graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang to the post reflects a growing acceptance of comic books

Where are the whales?

Trending Today

Hawaii’s Humpback Whales Have Gone Missing

Scientists expect about 10,000 whales to visit Hawaii's tropical waters this winter—but they're taking their time

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table. (Editor's Note, November 23, 2021: Image updated to reflect most accurate and up-to-date version of the periodic table.)

Trending Today

Four New Elements Are Added to the Periodic Table

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table

Trending Today

Get Excited for This Year's Space-Themed Stamps

The Postal Service honors NASA’s New Horizons Mission and Star Trek's premiere

Vermeer's "Little Street" painting compared to the buildings at the present-day address.

Cool Finds

An Expert Has Figured Out the Real-Life Location of Vermeer’s “Little Street” Painting

The painter probably had a personal connection with the house that figures prominently in the painting.

The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is tested the day before New Year's Eve atop the roof of One Times Square in New York, on Dec. 30, 2015.

Trending Today

Here’s Why New York Celebrates New Year’s Eve by Dropping a Ball

New Year’s Eve wasn’t always a riotous party

Romanian villagers dress up in real bearskins for ursul.

Cool Finds

Ring in the New Year by Dressing Up as a Bear

Romania's famed bear dance scares away winter

The Detroit Reservoir preserved this 19th-century utility wagon.

Cool Finds

West Coast Drought Uncovers Remnants of a Long-Sunken Oregon Town

Historic low water levels revealed remains of a town beneath Detroit Lake

Single-use styrofoam containers are so 2015.

Trending Today

D.C. Is Banning Plastic Foam in 2016

Say adios to polystyrene takeout containers

Screenshot from "American Panorama" showing the origins of foreign-born Americans living in Washington, D.C. in 2000.

Cool Finds

Explore America’s History With These Richly Interactive Maps

“American Panorama” delves into the social, political and economic movements that define this country

A copy of a photograph of a solar eclipse taken by the English astronomer Arthur Eddington in 1919.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Photos of Eclipses and Stars Found in an Observatory Basement

The stash of old negatives includes a 97-year-old copy of the photo that helped confirm the Theory of Relativity

A doctor and patients in Nicaragua during an outbreak of dengue and chikugunya virus earlier in 2015

Trending Today

Introducing the First Dengue Fever Vaccine

Three countries have already approved the vaccine

The "Dog Star" Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.

Trending Today

Night Sky Wonders to Ring in the New Year

The star Sirius is high in the sky, and comet Catalina is at its brightest

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