Smart News

Deerfield Beach Pier with fisherman at dawn.

633 Divers Cleaned Up a Florida Beach—and Broke a World Record

The event marked the largest-ever underwater cleanup effort

The team studied heritability of behavioral traits in three breeds: Maine Coon, Ragdoll and Turkish Van

Your Cat's Attitude Actually Is Closely Linked to Its Breed, Survey Shows

Nearly half of breed behavioral differences can be attributed to hereditary factors

A dog being hitched to a travois in an 1844 painting by Karl Bodmer.

New Research

Ancient Dogs Weren't the Workhorses We Thought They Were

A spinal condition thought to be caused by carrying heavy loads is actually a function of age, a new study finds

Still from Mona Lisa Beyond the Glass

The Louvre’s First VR Experience Lets Visitors Get Close to the ‘Mona Lisa’

The project will be featured in a major da Vinci exhibition dropping in October

The tough little egg made it all the way through the digestive system of a coscoroba swan like this one.

New Research

A Swan Swallowed This Fish Egg, Pooped It Out—and Then 49 Days Later, It Hatched

The new study is one of the first to demonstrate fish egg dispersal via avian fecal matter

I can haz Snausage?

New Research

Dogs Evolved a Special Muscle That Lets Them Make 'Puppy Dog Eyes'

Wolves don't have the muscle to make that classic wide-eyed gaze, suggesting strong evolutionary pressures were at play in our pooches

Trending Today

Grand Canyon Will Soon Be a Dark Sky Park

After three years of retrofitting lights, the national park will soon be certified by the International Dark Sky Association

Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

Leaving lawns untreated and allowing flowering plants to grow can help support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee

A spotted salamander inside a pitcher plant.

Pitcher Plants Have Been Quietly Snacking on Baby Salamanders

It was previously thought that the plants rarely ate vertebrate animals

The Rebecca Salome Foster monument pictured before (left) and after (right) restoration

Long-Forgotten Monument to Prison Reformer Will Be Reinstalled in New York Courthouse

Rebecca Salome Foster was known as the "Tombs Angel" in recognition of her work with inmates housed at a Manhattan prison known as "The Tombs"

In 1847, all but 48 Irish immigrant passengers fleeing famine aboard the ship known as the Carricks drowned offshore from Cap-des-Rosiers.

Bones Found on Quebec Beach Traced to Irish Immigrants Fleeing the Potato Famine

The victims died when a ship transporting them to Canada was wrecked offshore of Cap-des-Rosiers beach

New Research

Decades After DDT Was Banned, It Still Impacts Canadian Lakes

A study of sediment cores in remote bodies of water shows the insecticide is still present in high levels, likely altering ecosystems

Cool Finds

Scotland's Tiny Artificial Islands Date to the Stone Age

Five crannogs in the Outer Hebrides were built 5,000 years ago, perhaps for ritual purposes

Francis Collins speaks during the Children's Tumor Foundation's 40th Anniversary at American Museum of Natural History on October 22, 2018.

N.I.H. Director Vows to Decline Invitations to All-Male Speaking Panels

“It is not enough to give lip service to equality,” Francis Collins said, “leaders must demonstrate their commitment through their actions"

Frida Kahlo photographed with Diego Rivera and Malu Block.

Cool Finds

This May Be the Only Known Recording of Frida Kahlo’s Voice

The sound of the speaker on recording, which was found earlier this year, has been described as 'sweet, delicate, very feminine'

The specimen is the first (partial) carcass of an adult Pleistocene steppe wolf—an extinct lineage distinct from modern wolves—ever found

Cool Finds

A Perfectly Preserved 32,000-Year-Old Wolf Head Was Found in Siberian Permafrost

Given the head’s state of preservation, researchers are hopeful that they can extract viable DNA and use it to sequence the wolf’s genome

Hans Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves convinced Henry VIII of his bride-to-be's charms

Historian’s New Novel Raises Controversial Theory: Henry VIII Divorced Anne of Cleves Because She’d Already Given Birth

Alison Weir acknowledges the claim, which pulls on previously unexplored evidence, is "inconclusive and speculative" but says it might make readers think

Trending Today

The Penn Museum Just Floated a 12-Ton Sphinx Out a Window

Using air-dollies, the museum moved the largest sphinx in the western hemisphere 250 feet to a new entranceway

New Research

Pterosaurs May Have Flown as Soon as They Hatched

A new analysis of the flying reptile's embryos indicates the bones needed for flight were highly developed in the egg

Trove of English Court Records Reveal Stories of Murder, Witchcraft, Cheese Theft

Archivists are cataloging documents from the Assizes court in the Isle of Ely, which tried serious crimes

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