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The rook in question certainly wasn't the first chess piece ever created, but it may be the oldest found to date.

Cool Finds

Is This Chess Piece Unearthed in Jordan the World's Oldest?

The two-pronged rook, found in a seventh-century trading post, shows how quickly the game spread across the Islamic world

Pieter de Hooch, Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room, 1658, detail with fingerprint

New Exhibition Leads to Discovery of Dutch Painter's Signature and Fingerprint

In advance of a retrospective at Museum Prinsenhof Delft, experts took a closer look at three works by Pieter de Hooch

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing rising in direct correlation with the crown's increasing demands.

Cool Finds

Elizabeth I's 'Idiosyncratic' Handwriting Identifies Her as the Scribe Behind a Long Overlooked Translation

The Tudor queen wrote in an "extremely distinctive, disjointed hand," says scholar John-Mark Philo

The newly discovered Viking ship

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Use Georadar Tech to Find Buried Viking Ship in Norway

Researchers say the vessel is probably more than 1,000 years old

An image from Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting the Great Auk.

Humans May Be Solely to Blame for the Great Auk’s Extinction

A new study suggests that the flightless birds were not declining due to environmental changes when humans began to hunt them in large numbers

First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca, the raccoon she and her family kept as a pet

Raccoon Was Once a Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a President

Calvin Coolidge refused to cook the raccoon sent to him, but the critter was a beloved staple for many Americans

Barbara Hillary shows off the parka she wore on her trip to the North Pole.

Barbara Hillary, a Pioneering African-American Adventurer, Dies at 88

At 75, Hillary became the first black woman to set foot on the North Pole

New Research

Researchers Measure a Wild Blue Whale's Heart Rate for the First Time

The team found the world's largest mammal pushes its heart to its limits

William Shakespeare (left) and John Fletcher (right) both contributed to Henry VIII, a new study suggests.

Artificial Intelligence Reveals Second Playwright’s Contributions to Shakespeare’s 'Henry VIII'

Scholars have long suspected the play, written in 1613, was a collaborative effort. Now, an algorithm has mapped out who wrote what

Communities in Baltimore are getting a look into the future of sea level rise with virtual reality.

City Planners Use Virtual Reality to Show Residents How Climate Change Will Affect Their Neighborhoods

A start-up called Virtual Planet is rolling out demonstrations in coastal cities affected by sea level rise

Jupiter and its Great Red Spot as seen by the Hubble Telescope on June 27, 2019.

New Research

Jupiter's Great Red Spot May Not Be Dying Out Just Yet

Earlier this year, the spot appeared to be losing big chunks, but new research suggests it was gobbling up a smaller storm

Michelangelo was dissatisfied with his work and actually attempted to destroy the sculpture.

Trending Today

Visitors Can Watch the Restoration of Michelangelo's 'Bandini Pietà'

The artist once took a sledgehammer to the sculpture, which is now housed at a museum in Florence

Illegal cannabis operations often use pesticides excessively, but legal growers are not immune to a sizable environmental impact either.

The Cannabis Industry Is Not as Green as You’d Think

Illegal growers are poisoning California’s forests with pesticides, but even legal weed has a carbon footprint

Iman died of cancer on November 23 at a sanctuary in Borneo.

Sumatran Rhinos Are Now Extinct in Malaysia

Iman, a 25-year-old female and the last Sumatran rhino in the country, died on Saturday

Via Getty: "A group of young women in traditional costumes play Galician music with bagpipes, tambourines and drum in the historic center during the San Froilan festivities on October 6, 2019 in Lugo, Galicia, Spain."

Scientists Show Humans May Share a 'Musical Grammar'

Across 60 cultures, songs sung in similar social contexts have shared musical features

A New Yorker captured this image of a flooded subway entrance on November 20.

How the New York City Subway Is Preparing for Climate Change

“We’re doing this because climate change is real,” the MTA account wrote on Twitter after a local shared a snapshot of a flooded subway entrance

The study authors write: "We posit here that artificial light at night is another important – but often overlooked – bringer of the insect apocalypse."

New Research

The Devastating Role of Light Pollution in the 'Insect Apocalypse'

A new study shows excess outdoor light is impacting how insects hunt, mate and make them more vulnerable to predators

A cat statue is displayed after the announcement of a new discovery carried out by an Egyptian archaeological team in Giza's Saqqara necropolis.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Reveal Rare Mummified Lion Cubs Unearthed in Egypt

CT scans identified two of five mummified big cats as young lions, but the remaining animals' identities remain unclear

New Research

Yellowstone Bison Engineer an Endless Spring to Suit Their Grazing Needs

The cycle of grazing and fertilizing prolongs spring-like vegetation in grasslands and makes green-up more intense in following years

Police from five different countries collaborated to recover the stolen artifacts.

Authorities Recover 10,000 Artifacts Stolen by International Antiquities Trafficking Ring

The organized crime group had connections across Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Serbia

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