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Cool Finds

What Prompts People to Eat Human Flesh?

Power, violence, revenge—and the heat of the moment

A locust swarm in Israel.

New Research

Grasshopper Gut Parasites Could Stop Ruinous Locust Swarms

The microbes confuse the chemical signals that tell pestilent locusts: swarm!

New Research

We Burn Just Half the Calories Other Mammals Do

Our slow metabolism helps explain why it takes us so long to grow up—and why we live such long lives

In addition to its limb-like front fins, Tiktaalik had large, mobile rear fins that it used to push itself around in the water.

New Research

Ancient Walking Fish May Have Walked on All Fours

A fossilized pelvis shows the fish had functioning rear “legs”

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall of China, seen here, there was another.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Chart the First Great Wall of China

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall, the Qi Dynasty built a wall of rammed earth

A university in China sponsored a beauty contest for would-be flight attendants.

Cool Finds

China And Qatar Want Flight Attendants To Be Young, Single, Skinny And Female

Just like American airlines did in the 1960s

New Research

One More Point for Coffee: It Might Boost Memory-Making Abilities

Research indicates that two cups of caffeine-laced coffee might enhance your ability to remember certain details

Did the English discover Canada's west coast hundreds of years before it was officially charted by Spanish explorer Juan Perez?

New Research

Francis Drake May Have Discovered Western Canada Hundreds of Years Earlier, Kept Quiet About It

The discovery of a 16th century coin is threatening the story of British Columbia's history

Lloyd's of London is offering $10 million to anybody who proves Bigfoot exists.

Cool Finds

Find Bigfoot, Win $10 Million

Spike TV points out that this is the “LARGEST CASH PRIZE IN TELEVISION HISTORY” [<em>sic</em>]

A black rhino in Tanzania.

Cool Finds

A Permit to Hunt a Critically Endangered Black Rhino Just Sold for $350,000

Proceeds will supposedly go toward conservation of the species

The fact that only 87.5 percent of trains arrived within three minutes of their scheduled arrival time has the Swiss up in arms.

Cool Finds

Trains Running Three Minutes Behind Anger Swiss People

The Swiss media is very displeased by the late-ness

New research suggests that before the age of seven, you can remember plenty from before you were three. But after, you start to forget.

New Research

Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7

Memories of that awesome zoo trip? Those first few birthday cakes? All gone

In the MTV show "16 and Pregnant," viewers get an inside look at the lives of teen moms.

New Research

What's the Real Effect of "16 and Pregnant"?

Don’t make major life choices based on something you saw on TV

Agraphia—or "word blindness"—is unusual because patients cannot read, but they can write and understand words out loud.

Cool Finds

What Happens When a Teacher Forgets How to Read?

She searches for another way to enjoy books

War elephants depicted in the battle of Zama, 202 BC.

New Research

A Lesson from History: When Assembling an Army of War Elephants, Don’t Pick Inbred Ones

Even though African elephants usually trump Asian elephants for might and aggression, in 217 B.C. Ptolemy made the crucial mistake of choosing inbred ones

Rendering of map by artist John Swogger.

New Research

This Stone Age Mural Might Be the Oldest Map Ever

But before it can be crowned oldest map, archaeologists have to figure out whether it is a map at all

None

Cool Finds

These Non-Gear Shaped Gears Work Better Than You’d Expect

These are the manic pixie dream gears you’ve been waiting for

The Chicago skyline during the polar vortex.

Trending Today

The Cold Snap Wasn’t Actually That Extreme, Global Warming Has Just Made Us Wimpy

The recent cold snap wouldn't have been so unusual in the past

Image: Dave Milsom

Cool Finds

Ultramarathoners Get Better With Age

Unlike sprinters or gymnasts, ultramarathoners are like a fine wine, getting better—or at least more durable—with age

New Research

These Slave-Making Ants Use Stealth, Not Force, to Take Prisoners

Chemical camouflage allow these tiny ants to sneak past enemies' defenses and steal their babies

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