Gabby Shell

Designed to Be Unsinkable, the World’s Fastest Ocean Liner Finally Hits the Ocean Floor. The 53,330-Ton S.S. ‘United States’ Is Now the World’s Largest Artificial Reef

The 1,000-foot ship, longer than the “Titanic,” once carried celebrities and politicians across the Atlantic in midcentury style. Now, after decades of uncertainty and rust, it’s taking on a second life as an underwater refuge for marine creatures and curious divers

November 12, 2026 1:51 p.m.

The Handwritten Final Draft of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Was Considered Lost. It Turned Out to Be Sitting in a Desk Drawer for Decades

Across seven yellow notepad pages, King is seen wrestling with word choice and revising his remarks the night before the March on Washington. The manuscript will head to auction in January and is expected to pull in more than $10 million

November 10, 2026

While Cleaning Out Her Aunt’s Manhattan Apartment, a Woman Found a Long-Lost Georgia O’Keeffe Painting Buried Beneath Fur Coats in the Closet

Painted in 1930, “Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I” sat in the closet for 40 years, with only a single photograph, by O’Keeffe’s husband, Alfred Stieglitz, attesting to its existence. It could fetch upwards of $3 million at auction this month

November 9, 2026

See a Stunning Simulation of the Early Universe, Which Will Help Astronomers Shed Light on the Cosmic Dark Ages

The model, created by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, and other institutions, captures how the first stars and black holes gradually illuminated the universe after millions of years of darkness

November 3, 2026

Madagascar’s Giant Bats Seem to Be Shrinking. After Measuring 121 Specimens, Scientists Suggest Hunting by Humans Is to Blame

In a new study, researchers looked at museum specimens of the island’s flying foxes, spanning 150 years of history. They found a significant decline in size—right when commercial hunting ramped up

October 30, 2026

Mexico’s Bread of the Dead Kneads Together Indigenous and Catholic Traditions

Pan de Muerto, a Mexican sweet bread eaten for Día de los Muertos, is more than just a festive treat. Its history mirrors the holiday itself, a combination of cultures that breathes life back into the dead

October 30, 2026

From a Black Limo With a Silken Armchair to a Bulletproof ‘Sardine Can,’ the Vatican Looks Back at the Evolution of the Popemobile

A new exhibition at the Vatican Museums highlights a century of collaboration with Mercedes-Benz, showcasing eight papal vehicles that developed from a “means of transportation into an instrument of encounter,” per Pope Leo XIV

October 29, 2026

‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd, One of the Most Notorious Outlaws of the Great Depression, Was Shot and Killed in an FBI Raid 92 Years Ago

Some Americans lauded the 30-year-old bank robber as a Robin Hood-esque folk hero. Others castigated him as a violent criminal whose misdeeds were emblematic of the troubled era

October 22, 2026

To Understand Social Divides in Medieval England, Archaeologists Examined Tooth Enamel From Lead Mining Communities

Some residents of the Peaks District in the 13th century may have experienced worse lead pollution than city-dwellers during the Industrial Revolution. Female skeletons showed higher lead levels and earlier ages of death

October 21, 2026

This Dog Learned to Sniff Out a Slimy Marine Invader Called ‘Sea Vomit’—a Skill That Earned Her the Animal of the Year Award

Sgiath, a 6-year-old Labrador from the Scottish Highlands, received the honor from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. She’s believed to be the first pup trained to hunt for the invasive carpet sea squirt, which is threatening marine life along the British coast and elsewhere

October 20, 2026

At the Bodega, Customers Can Get Pork Rinds, Plantains and Just About Anything They Need. Here’s How These Stores Became a ‘Community Anchor’ of Latino Life

For immigrants, bodegas provide daily necessities and cultural connections to the homelands they left behind. The recent book “Bodega Stories” paints a picture of one Florida family’s history working in and operating the stores

October 15, 2026

London’s Oldest Restaurant, Frequented by Monarchs and Pop Stars Alike, Is a Site of ‘Living History.’ Now It’s Protected by the National Trust for Generations to Come

Rules, a historic restaurant where the likes of Charles Dickens and Madonna have dined, is changing hands for only the fourth time in over 200 years. Visitors can see artifact-covered walls and indulge in rich British cuisine

October 15, 2026

Did Industrialization Gut Our Microbiomes? A New Study on Rural Foraging Communities in South America and Africa Hints the Answer Is Yes

Two groups—the Tsimane forager-horticulturists in Bolivia and the Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania—remarkably share more than 1,200 gut microbe species. However, around 60 percent of them are rare or absent in people living in industrialized places, according to researchers

October 13, 2026

Scientists Discover Two New Species of Sea Spider in the Pacific Northwest—and They Look Like They Came Straight Out of a Horror Movie

You don’t need to worry about the critters coming after you, since they’re only a fraction of an inch across. They join the roughly 1,400 known species of ocean-dwelling spiders

October 2, 2026

Archaeologists Unearth the 2,400-Year-Old School Where Aristotle Taught Alexander to Be Great

The latest excavation at Aristotle’s gymnasium in ancient Mieza has revealed ornate, mosaic-covered halls where researchers believe Alexander the Great learned his formative lessons

September 28, 2026