Cool Finds

John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s Boat the "Western Flyer" Will Voyage Again for Science

The $1 million boat will see the water once again as an updated research vessel

Inside the Collective That Turns VHS to Digital Video for Free

A team of media lovers wants to preserve your memories for history's sake

Revolution-Era Building Buried Beneath Future Hotel Uncovered by Construction Crew

Intact foundations, including wooden beams, floorboards and what might even be a repurposed ship’s mast, were found just 8 feet underground

Pub signs illustrat the creative names of local watering holes, like the Dog & Sausage in St. Helier, Jersey.

A Brief History of British Pub Signs

The colorful signs boast more than good looks—they're like miniature history books

Wide-angle view of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken by OSIRIS on 12 September 2014

Watch the Philae Lander's Bouncing Touch Down on Comet 67P

A year after its crash-landing, researchers reflect on the unexpected successes of the mission

A London Zoo Wants to Hypnotize Away Your Fear of Spiders

This program turns what phobics perceive as terrifying threats into fuzzy friends

Minnesota Is Expanding Its Bike Share to Include Canoes

Because bikes and boats are a perfect pair

A group of escaped former slaves gathered at the plantation of Confederate General Thomas Drayton. After Federal troops occupied the plantation they began to harvest and gin cotton for their own profit

A Free Man's Letter to A Former Slaveowner in 1865

When asked to return to the farm where he was held in bondage, Jourdon Anderson wrote this thoughtful reply

X-Rays Unveil Hidden Paintings Beneath an Avant-Garde Classic

The brightly-colored cubist work below "Black Square" adds new dimensions to a masterpiece

Watch 'Swan Lake' Transform Into a Spectacular Light Show

The classic ballet has never looked so stunning

How to Visit the British Museum Without Going to London

A new partnership with Google allows art aficionados to take virtual strolls through the museum’s treasures

These French Vending Machines Sell Short Stories

Super-short fiction that's as good as any snack

The Apollo 17 Saturn V rocket, the last human flight to the moon, on its launch pad at dusk on November 21, 1972

Help Save the Booster that Sent Apollo Spacecrafts to the Moon

A Kickstarter campaign hopest to save the only remaining booster rocket from the Apollo launches

The Salad Garden at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, where art is salad and salad is a chance for performance art.

An L.A. Museum Is Turning Salad Into Performance Art

Because there's more to salad than that satisfying, leafy crunch

A painted wooden coffin beside a looted tomb in the Abu Sir al Malaq necropolis in Bani Suef, Egypt.

This Ingenious Archaeologist Uses Satellites to Hunt Down Tomb Raiders

Can satellite imagery help protect humanity's priceless artifacts?

A Lost Story by Edith Wharton Has Been Discovered in Yale's Library

"The Field of Honor" is about a failed marriage during World War I

During the Cold War, the Military Had Plans to Wage War in Space

The U.S. Army's Future Weapons Office proposed theoretical ways to defend non-existant lunar bases

Now Available: The Ultimate Old-Timey Playlist

Listen to digitized recordings of wax cylinders, an obsolete technology that revives turn-of-the-century culture

Can you hear me now? Good.

This Ear Was Made With Vincent Van Gogh's DNA

What secrets have been whispered into this creepy, living copy of the most famous ear in art history?

A photo of the Hydrus before the ship sank in November, 1913

Divers Discover 102-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Huron

The Hydrus and her crew were lost during the Great Storm of 1913

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