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Teenage Girls Have Led Language Innovation for Centuries

They've been on the cutting edge of the English language since at least the 1500s

New Research

Search Engines Can Sway Undecided Voters

New research uncovers "the search engine effect" and its potential to influence election outcomes

New Research

Humans Evolved to Be Moved by Art

New research shows that while people respond to art for very different reasons, the ability to be moved in the first place is universal

New Research

Why Don't Balancing Boulders Fall During Earthquakes?

The interaction of nearby fault lines may lessen ground shaking around some balancing rocks

The Animas River under better circumstances in 2011.

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What's Next for the Animas River?

Cleanup efforts are underway at the river, which turned a bright orange-yellow after a catastrophic chemical spill

A hyalotype photo printed and mounted as a glass lantern slide, by William and Frederick Langenheim.

Cool Finds

This is the First Known Photo of the Smithsonian Castle

On the Smithsonian's 175th birthday, a glimpse into the iconic Castle's construction

Cool Finds

Bats and Balloon Bombs: The Weird Weapons That Could Have Won WWII

World War II's lesser-known weapons were ingenious, indeed

Cool Finds

The Washing Machine of the Future May Use Beads Instead of Water

A new washing machine cuts down on water use with deep-cleaning polymer beads

Johannes Vermeer's "The Concert" was one of the most valuable paintings stolen from the Gardener Museum

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Could This Video Solve One of History's Greatest Art Mysteries?

Footage shows an unknown man entering the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum the night before the infamous robbery

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These Academics Are Outracing (and Outwitting) ISIS

Historians, archaeologists and librarians scramble to save precious cultural capital before it can be sold or destroyed by militants

A family tunes in to the 1976 debate

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Americans Have Always Loved to Hate Presidential Debates

Audiences are ambivalent — but they still tune in

Jobs holds up an iPhone 4 at a tech conference in 2010.

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Steve Jobs is About to Get His Own Opera

But will it include a singing Woz?

The crew of the Bockscar

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The Nagasaki Bombing Almost Didn’t Happen

What really happened on the mission to drop the second atomic bomb

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Austin Just Sidestepped a Brawl Over BBQ Smoke

Don't mess with Texas...barbecue

Alpine cows near Berne, Switzerland.

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Swiss Troops Stormed France in the Name of Cheese (and Cows)

Thirsty cows + torrid heat = trouble between nations

Tsuyuko Nakao, 92 and Kinuyo Ikegami, 77 both survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, pictured here in 2010.

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The Health Effects of the Atom Bomb Are Still Being Studied

Studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors influence worldwide radiation standards, even 70 years later

Cool Finds

Blueberries: A Biography

The world's commercial blueberries all have their roots in New Jersey

The Sydney Opera House at night

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He Designed the Sydney Opera House...But Wasn't Even Invited to its Opening

Somehow, an inexperienced architect and a mismanaged project still produced one of the world's most iconic buildings

Aldrin was became the second human to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

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Astronauts Fill Out Customs Forms, Too

Read Buzz Aldrin's expense report and customs form from his Apollo 11 mission to the moon

Giovanni Stanchi (Rome c. 1645-1672). Oil on canvas, 38 5/8 x 52½ in.

Cool Finds

This Renaissance Painting of Fruit Holds a Modern-Day Science Lesson

Hint: it's in the watermelon

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