Continents
The FBI Once Freaked Out About Nazi Monks in the Amazon Rainforest
In October 1941, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover received a strange bit of war intelligence in a classified document
February 01, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
New X-Ray Technology To Reveal Secrets Beneath a Rembrandt Masterpiece
By 1984, conservators had discovered that there was, indeed, another figure hidden beneath the Old Man in Military Costume, but they haven't been able to see who it is
January 31, 2013 |
By Lauren Kirchner
Riding a Hundred-Foot Wave, Surfer Breaks His Own World Record
Garrett McNamara said he felt awe, joy and excitement as the massive wall of water approached - but no fear
January 31, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
China’s Air Pollution Is So Bad That One Entrepreneur Is Selling Fresh Air in Cans
It’s a bleak state of affairs indeed when a Mel Brooks schtickfest from the '80s actually predicts the future
January 31, 2013 |
By Lauren Kirchner
People Have Been Eating Curry for 4,500 Years
Thanks to new research methods and a pile of (very old) dirty dishes, archaeologists have discovered the very ancient origins of a globally popular cuisine.
January 30, 2013 |
By Lauren Kirchner
Here’s What Three Mummies Might Have Looked Like While Alive
For the first time in over 2,000 years, these three mummies' faces now stare back at viewers, much as they might have appeared just before their deaths
January 30, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Much Ado About Nothing at the Equator
Just north of Quito stands a grand and glowing tribute to one of Ecuador’s proudest features: the Equator. The problem is, it was built in the wrong place
January 30, 2013 |
By Alastair Bland
Google’s New Maps Reveal That, Yes, There Are Roads in North Korea
Seemingly overnight the formerly Google map-blank North Korea modernized, with highways, roads and train stops clustering around the capital and snaking into the country's northern stretches
January 30, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Did Shakespeare Have Syphilis?
Shakespeare acquired an uncanny obsession with syphilis late in life, perhaps along with a few bacteria of his own
January 29, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Mongolia Is Turning Politicians’ Offices Into a Dinosaur Museum
Out with the old, in with the…even older.
January 28, 2013 |
By Lauren Kirchner
Iran Says It Sent This Traumatized-Looking Monkey to Space
Western nations fear the same technologies deployed in Iran's space program could be used to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads
January 28, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Experimental ‘Alcoholism Vaccine’ Gives Drinkers an Instant Hangover
People who have been given the vaccine will experience an immediate hangover from even a drop of alcohol, making drinking such an unpleasant experience that they’ll be forced to abstain
January 28, 2013 |
By Lauren Kirchner
Faithful Monkeys Make More Babies
When owl monkeys break up the mate that takes up with "the other partner" produces fewer offspring than faithful monkeys
January 25, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Tapirs—South America’s Largest And Weirdest Mammal—Thrive in Secret Jungle Corridors
Good news for tapirs, the odd forest dwelling South American mammals that look something like a cross between a deer, pig and anteater
January 24, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
These Models Probably Never Thought They’d Be Shooting Fashion Photos With Whale Sharks
A journalist and a photographer juxtaposed beautiful women with whale sharks in order to raise awareness about the species' plight
January 23, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Sweet Potato Genes Say Polynesians, Not Europeans, Spread the Tubers Across the Pacific
Sweet potato samples preserved in centuries-old herbariums indicate that Polynesian sailors, rather than Spanish or Portuguese explorers, introduced the now-ubiquitous yam across Southeast Asia and the Pacific
January 23, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Ecuador, Land of Malaria, Iguanas, Mangoes and Mountains
The author leaves Peru behind and crosses into Ecuador, where he encounters his first sign of a mosquito
January 23, 2013 |
By Alastair Bland
Bag Full of Otters Recovered at Thai Airport
Eleven live otters turned up in a scanned bagged that someone had abandoned at the oversized luggage area of Bangkok's airport
January 23, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
In Europe, These People Wouldn’t Be Allowed To Drive
A recent study found that drivers with blind spots were more likely to hit pedestrians and less able to respond to hazardous situations
January 21, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
Sea Cows Used To Walk on Land in Africa And Jamaica
Until now, paleontologists have drawn a blank on the evolutionary link between the manatee's African and Jamaican relatives
January 18, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
