Cool Finds

Michelin's X-Tweel SSL, pictured in 2012.

Finally! A Tire That Will Never Go Flat

The Tweel went into commercial production in November, recently got picked up by John Deere and may soon be rolling towards you

This Woman Can’t Feel Fear

Damage from a rare genetic condition appears to have knocked out the "fear center" in her brain

Elizabeth Blackwell was a pioneer of women in medicine.

The First Woman in America to Receive an M.D. Was Admitted to Med School as a Joke

When the students at Geneva Medical College voted in jest to admit a woman, they unwittingly paved the way for Elizabeth Blackwell’s trailblazing career

The Wine of the Future Could Be Aged Underwater

A historic shipwreck inspired a new way to age wine

Solar Power Provides About As Many Jobs As the Coal Industry in the U.S.

Estimates might even give solar and edge in the jobs department, but is that a good thing?

The ancient artifact was found in a field and used as a doorstop for years before being identified as a rare ceremonial dirk.

This 3,500-Year-Old Dagger Made a Really Great Doorstop

One man’s doorstop is another man’s rare, ancient artifact

Le Grand Baigneur (The Large Bather) by Paul Cezanne illustrates the kind of bathing suit that inspired the creation of the modern brief.

Tighty-Whities First Hit the Market More Than 80 Years Ago

Even a blizzard couldn’t dampen the excitement from the release of the first pair of men’s briefs in 1935

Beavers Once Parachuted into Idaho’s Backcountry

Strange things can happen when you combine WWII military surplus, innovative thinking and a bunch of beavers in need of a new home

Read Through Early Drafts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speeches

One website gives you a peek into the mind of one of America’s most powerful orators

The Doctor Who Introduced the Virtues of Hand Washing Died of an Infection

A sad fate: Ignes Semmelweis, a maternity doctor who fought for hospital sanitation, died of sepsis

One of many abstract images of the Moon collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

These Photos From a Lunar Orbiter Could Be Abstract Art

Our distant view of the Moon from Earth is nice, but these close-ups are amazing

James Joyce in 1938.

Save the Voices of Tolkien, Joyce And Tennyson

The British Library is fighting time and budget constraints to save its vast collection of audio recordings

Young boer goats, a meat breed, in Texas

America's Goats Are Concentrated in Texas

In 2012, famers reported more than 2 million goats living in the U.S.

Shewanella oneidensis

Some Microbes Can Eat And Breathe Electricity

How many ways can life exist? Some recently discovered microbes can live on a cathode, apparently without the need for a carbon food-source

Cangrande della Scalla was one of the most respected warriors of his day.

Mummy Feces Solve the Mystery of How Verona's Most Powerful Man Died

Digging deep for the secret behind a medieval warlord's mysterious death

Inside Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2010

A Museum in England Is Hiding a Forgery Among Its Masterpieces

A South London gallery is asking its patrons to identify the fake in order to spark discussion about how and why we appreciate the art

Bayard Holmes as a medical student

Two Men Tried To Cure Schizophrenia by Removing Their Patients’ Intestines

Bayard Holmes and Henry Cotton were separated by a generation, but both thought that mental illness arose from toxins produced within the body

How a Single Penny Became Worth More Than $2 Million

Fifteen years ago, few would pay $1 million for a coin—no matter how rare. That's changing.

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

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