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The temple's north tower, which holds a newly discovered chamber

Cool Finds

Hidden Entrance to a Mysterious Ancient Temple Found Tucked Away in an Egyptian Cliff Face

Researchers have been carefully excavating the artifacts and decorative reliefs found at the 2,100-year-old site in the ancient city of Athribis

This year's list includes Clouds in Space, The Manicurist's Daughter and The Ministry of Time.

The Best Books of 2024, as Chosen by Smithsonian Scholars

Staff at the Institution pick their favorite reads of the year, including riveting memoirs, fascinating true histories and fun fiction

Arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate.

New Research

The Arctic Could Have Its First 'Ice-Free' Day by as Early as 2027

In a new study, scientists used climate models to predict the alarming milestone

Left: Portrait of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, 1888. Right: The Little Cat, Paul Gauguin, 1888

New Research

X-Rays Reveal a Tiny 19th-Century Beetle Embedded in a Paul Gauguin Painting

A new analysis of the artist's "The Little Cat" has uncovered a wealth of new information about the strange artwork—including the one-millimeter-long creature

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero Galaxy with MIRI (its Mid-Infrared Instrument).

See the Sombrero Galaxy Like Never Before, as the James Webb Telescope Captures It in Unprecedented Detail

The mid-infrared light image shows astronomical features that can’t be seen with visible light cameras or in previous infrared views—and in this shot, the galaxy doesn’t look much like a Sombrero anymore

Thessaloniki's Venizelou subway station contains the ruins of a Roman-era thoroughfare.

Cool Finds

A New Subway System in Greece Is Decorated With the Artifacts Unearthed During Its Construction

An ancient marble thoroughfare and shards of classical pottery are on display in the city of Thessaloniki's new underground "archaeo-stations"

An illustration of the Mary Celeste in 1861, when the ship was known as the Amazon

On This Day in History

An Abandoned Merchant Ship Was Discovered Floating in the Atlantic in 1872. The Mystery of Its Missing Crew Was Never Solved

Speculation about what happened to the "Mary Celeste," found empty on this day in 1872, was so rife that even famed author Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a sensational short story about it

Grazing cows produce more methane than feedlot cows because of the fiber content of the grass they consume.

Eating Seaweed Could Make Cows Less Gassy, Slashing Methane Emissions From Grazing by Nearly 40 Percent

A new study finds that feeding seaweed pellets to grazing beef cattle dramatically reduces their greenhouse gas emissions

The coin features the bust of Honorius on one side. The other side depicts a person holding a banner or flag with a cross on it.

Cool Finds

This Mysterious Gold Pendant Featuring a Misspelled Inscription Is an Early Medieval Imitation of a Roman Coin

A metal detectorist in England discovered the unusual piece of jewelry, which was likely made in the late fifth or early sixth century C.E.

An artist's depiction of two sauropodomorphs in a wet Early Jurassic environment, eating the newly evolved plants.

The Secret to the Rise of Dinosaurs Could Be Hidden in an Unlikely Place: Their Poop

In a new study, scientists examined bromalites, including fossilized feces and vomit, to reveal prehistoric diets and reconstruct the timeline of how dinosaurs established dominion over the world

Jim Sichko, a Catholic priest from Lexington, Kentucky, visited Pope Francis in May and asked him to sign two bottles of bourbon for charity. 

Pope Francis Signed These Two Bottles of Bourbon to Support Charities in Kentucky

Earlier this year, a priest from Lexington brought the spirits to the Vatican to get the pope's autograph. They will soon be sold at auction, where they could raise up to $20,000

Archaeologists Caesar Bita and Filipe Castro dove to investigate the wreck.

New Research

A Mysterious Shipwreck Rests Just 20 Feet Below the Surface. It May Be Connected to Vasco da Gama's Final Voyage

Researchers think a coral-covered vessel discovered off the Kenyan coast could be the "São Jorge," a galleon that sank 500 years ago

The Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, India

On This Day in History

The World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster Exposed 500,000 People to Toxic Gas and Claimed Thousands of Lives

A web of technical failures, human errors and corporate malpractice in Bhopal, India, culminated in an unthinkable tragedy on this day in 1984

Researchers hypothesize that this footprint was made by a member of the hominin species Paranthropus boisei.

Footprints Reveal Two Early Human Species Walked the Same Lakeshore in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

A new, “mind-blowing” discovery reveals evidence that Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei stepped at the same site within days—or hours—of each other

"Brain rot," which is now linked to social media overload, first appeared in Henry David Thoreau's Walden in 1854.

'Brain Rot,' the Scourge of the Chronically Online, Becomes Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year

The term refers to "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state" that's linked to spending extensive stretches of time scrolling through low-quality content

Scientists created a spear using tar they produced from a makeshift hearth to test whether Neanderthals might have used similar methods to obtain tar.

New Research

A 65,000-Year-Old Hearth Reveals Evidence That Neanderthals Produced Tar for Stone Tools in Iberia

While Neanderthals have been found to create glue-like substances with other materials, this finding, if confirmed, would be the first sign of Neanderthals burning the rockrose plant to make tar

The Blind Girl, John Everett Millais, 1856

You Can Actually Smell the Incense, Rainy Meadows and Musty Cloth in These Pre-Raphaelite Paintings

At an exhibition in England, curators have placed artworks alongside diffusers that dispense carefully crafted fragrances, which visitors can trigger by pushing a button

After the varnish is removed, the painting appears matte and gray.

The Public Is Watching as Conservators Carefully Restore a Rembrandt Masterpiece to Its Former Glory

Experts are removing layers of old varnish from "The Night Watch," which have yellowed with time, as museumgoers look on through a glass barrier

A NASA scientist's picture out the window of a plane over Greenland, combined with the new radar map of Camp Century, at the bottom.

NASA Radar Detects Abandoned Site of Secret Cold War Project in Greenland—a 'City Under the Ice'

Camp Century was built in 1959 and advertised as a U.S. research site—but it also hosted a clandestine missile facility

Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island

On This Day in History

The Little-Known Story Behind the Oldest Surviving Synagogue in America

Through revolution and war, Touro Synagogue, which opened in Newport, Rhode Island, on this day in 1763, has long been a beacon for religious tolerance on the coast of New England

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