Cool Finds

Edwin L. Drake's first oil well.

Oil Companies First Built Pipelines in the 1860s; They've Been Contested Ever Since

In the 19th century, reformers were happy to have oil come out of the ground—but they objected to the way oil companies controlled it

Hattie Wyatt Caraway on November 6, 1942.

On This Day in 1932, America Elected Its First Female Senator

This year, a record number of women are serving in Congress; Hattie Wyatt Caraway was the first ever in the Senate

Come for the Giant Rock, Stay for the UFO History

George Van Tassel believed he could communicate with aliens

Harvey W. Wiley and his Poison Squad in 1902

Early Food Safety Workers Tested Poisons by Eating Them

They were hailed as heroes and even had a song

It’s Cheaper to Make Diabetes Test Strips of Silk Than of Paper in India

Skilled handloom weavers and abundant silk hold the key for an innovative solution

The Academy's live Lexias pardais with gynandromorphism

A Museum’s Butterfly Emerged Half Male, Half Female

The rarity is like a natural experiment that tells scientists how genes and hormones interact to produce different sexes

Space Fence, a radar system sponsored by the U.S. Air Force and built by Lockheed Martin, should help the U.S. detect and track more of the estimated 500,000 pieces of space debris.

U.S. Air Force Builds New Radar for Space Junk

It’s called Space Fence and should help us track the estimated 500,000 pieces of debris that orbit Earth

Cattle graze on the open range in this shot from ca. 1920-1930.

The 1887 Blizzard That Changed the American Frontier Forever

A blizzard hit the western open range, causing the “Great Die Up” and transforming America’s agricultural history

Doctors, army officers and reporters protect themselves during the 1918 pandemic.

The Flu Has Been Making People Sick for At Least 500 Years

The 1918 flu pandemic gets all the headlines, but the malady is thought to have first appeared in the 16th century—and possibly earlier

European immigrants arrive in America.

Ellis Island Isn’t to Blame for Your Family’s Name Change

A long-standing myth obscures the truth behind the Americanization of some European names

An artist's rendition of Kepler, on the hunt for planets like our own.

Visit Kepler's Exoplanets—And Don't Worry About the Natives (At Least for Now)

NASA has made a set of travel posters themed to exoplanets while a nonprofit searches for life among them

Jurassic Park May Have Been Right—Some Dinosaurs Hunted in Packs

The film inspired paleontologists to discover the truth about dinos, including whether raptors were social hunters

Henry Ford whispers in Thomas Edison's ear

A Test Tube in Michigan Holds the Air From Thomas Edison's Death Room

Two famous inventors, one glass tube and a museum mystery

An albino bottlenose dolphin, like this one but without its melanin, was spotted off the coast of Florida in December.

An Albino Dolphin Was Spotted Off the Coast of Florida

It is only the 15th albino dolphin sighting recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The BelAZ 75710 is the world's largest dump truck — note people in the bottom right for scale.

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

The mega Earth-mover is hard at work digging a coal mine in Russia

Marilyn Monroe playing on the beach

Model Your New Year’s Resolutions After Marilyn Monroe’s in 1955

The actress wrote that she wanted to "keep looking around me — only much more so"

The rim of white light emanating from the disco clam's lips in this image seems to be its best defense against a predator.

Disco Clams Are Flashy

Their orange lips twinkle in a particularly funky display

Stony Ground by Edwin Austin Abbey

The Second Divorce in Colonial America Happened Today in 1643

The Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans weren’t as conservative as you may have thought

Create Your Very Own False Memories by Lying on Facebook

The brain is notoriously poor at recalling past events, and social media just makes it worse

Almonds on a tree, ready for harvest in California

Watch How Farm Machines Shake Down Almond Trees

California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, for now

Page 149 of 262