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French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel with some of his works in Hong Kong, May 2014. The sculptures he is designing for Versailles have a similar pearl-strand shape.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in 300 Years, a New Permanent Sculpture Will Grace Versailles

A fountain sculpture being installed on the grounds is intended to be the first permanent addition to the collection in centuries

New Research

This Deep-Sea Octopus Tended Her Eggs For More Than Four Years

It appears that the octopus mom also largely refrained from eating over those 53 months

The London as it looked before it blew up

Cool Finds

In 1665, a British Warship Mysteriously Blew Up—And Soon We Might Know Why

349 years ago, the warship The London exploded in the Thames Estuary. Now archaeologists are trying to figure out why

The Enola Gay crew (Van Kirk is standing, second from left).

Trending Today

The Last Crew Member Who Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Died

Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk said he never regretted his involvement in the bombing

Cool Finds

If Certain Couples in Yemen Choose to Divorce, Their Siblings Must Get a Divorce, Too

"Swap" marriages dictate that both marriage vows and divorces must be evenly shared between siblings of two families

Natural Chocolate Is Actually a Reddish Color

Chocolate didn't turn brown until chemists got their hands on it

New Research

Sardines Take 400 Times Less Fuel To Catch Than Shrimp

Your shrimp cocktail is secretly a major waste of fossil fuel

New Research

If You’re Feeling Stressed After Work, Skip the TV

People who arrived home stressed and then watched TV or played video games wound up feeling guilty about those activities

This half-albino redwood tree has swirls of green and yellowish-white, as well as male and female cones.

Trending Today

Rare Half-Albino Redwood Tree Is Safe, For Now

One rare, half-albino redwood in California was slated to be chopped down, but local outcry has saved it

The CAP canal is pictured running past houses and businesses it feeds in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Central Arizona Project is a 336-mile, man-made river of canals that delivers water from the Colorado River basin uphill to service water needs in southern Arizona, including Tucson and Phoenix.

New Research

Don’t Bank on Groundwater to Fight Off Western Drought—It's Drying Out, Too

Water losses in the west have been dominated by dwindling groundwater supplies

New Research

Researchers Crack the Code of First Impressions

Mathematics identifies the subtle facial features that influence how we judge others

Across the country, families lost houses like this one—and a substantial portion of their household wealth—during the financial crisis.

New Research

The Average American Household Lost a Third of Its Net Worth During the Recession

A new study shows how much, exactly, the 2008 recession contributed to rising inequality in America

New Research

DDT Is Still Killing Birds in Michigan

DDT was banned in the United States more than 40 years ago, but it's still killing birds in a town in Michigan

Balan, the Blowpipe maker.

Cool Finds

Meet One of the Last Bornean Elders Who Still Makes Traditional Poison Dart Blowpipes

It takes two days of constant drilling by hand to create a single pipe, which can be used to hunting animals

This Monet reproduction is composed of tiny bits of metal assembled on the micron scale.

New Research

This Monet Isn't the Real Thing—But It's Awfully Close

Nanoprinters can duplicate great artwork with remarkable precision

Lead from mining operations in Broken Hill, Australia, reached Antarctica before humans did.

Cool Finds

Pollution Beat People to the South Pole

Before people ever made it to the South Pole, a pollutant had beaten us there

Giant pandas Hsing-Hsing (left) and Ling-Ling frolic at the National Zoological Park near Washington, DC. Photo circa 1974.

Cool Finds

Don't Worry Mr. Nixon, the National Zoo's Pandas Figured Out How to Have Sex

President Nixon wanted to make sure Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing had enough time to "learn the ropes"

Trending Today

It Will Soon Be Legal (Again) To Unlock Your Phone

A new law expected to go into effect soon will make it legal to unlock your phone

New Research

How a Flock of 400 Flying Birds Manages to Turn in Just Half a Second

The birds' patterns of movement are surprisingly similar to that of superfluid helium

The Bahamian Andros Island, surrounded by the bright blue of Great Bahama Bank.

New Research

Saharan Dust Helped Build the Bahamas

Minerals blown off the Sahara fuel the microbes that undergird the Bahaman ecosystem

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