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Stories from Sarah Kuta

The vessel's timbers are shrinking and its iron fittings are disintegrating.

Watch as Experts Preserve a 249-Year-Old Gunboat That Sank During the American Revolution

Badly damaged during the Battle of Valcour Island, the “Philadelphia” is now the focus of a new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Officials in Sartell, Minnesota, pulled the vehicle from the river on August 13.

Two Friends Went Fishing on the Mississippi River. Police Say They May Have Just Solved a 1967 Cold Case

Investigators pulled a 1960s Buick sedan from the waterway in central Minnesota that provides new details about a man’s disappearance more than 50 years ago

Researchers often observed a family of bats roosting together in tight "cuddle balls."

These Big, Meat-Eating Bats Also Have a Cuddly Side. Rare Videos Reveal ‘Hugging,’ Playing and Sharing Food

Scientists observed a family of four spectral bats in their roost in a tree in Costa Rica, capturing an inside look at their social behavior

Cattle graze at the Cotoni-Coast Dairies national monument under federal leases.

Cows, Hikers and Mountain Bikers Coexist at This National Monument, With Help From New Technology

Established in 2017, the Cotoni-Coast Dairies national monument in California is now open to the public

The partial dire wolf skull was found in Iowa.

A Partial Dire Wolf Skull Is Headed to Auction This Month—and It Could Sell for $30,000

Collectors have a rare opportunity to bid on the remains of the fearsome creature, a large canid that went extinct around the end of the last ice age

Scientists found evidence of "inbreeding depression" among eastern massasauga rattlesnakes in Michigan.

Habitat Loss Is Leading to Inbreeding Among Michigan’s Only Species of Venomous Snake

Roads, buildings and other manmade barriers are preventing the small pit vipers from slithering around to find mates from other populations

The letter sold at auction in April and is now on display at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver.

See Rare Letters From a Titanic Passenger, Who Called the Vessel a ‘Fine Ship’ Days Before It Sank

Archibald Gracie’s letter, which recently sold at auction, is part of a new exhibition at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver

The new species lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, from the eastern United States down to Brazil.

Scientists Identify a New Manta Ray Species, Just the Third Known in the World

Meet Mobula yarae, a large marine creature that lives along the coast in the Atlantic Ocean

The hyper-realistic busts are on display at the Moravian Museum in Brno, Czech Republic.

See the Faces of Two Sisters Who Toiled Away in a Neolithic Mine 6,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists created 3D reconstructions of the women’s faces based on an analysis of their teeth and bones. Found in the Czech Republic, the siblings “did not have an easy life,” the new research suggests

The overpass is expected to be completed in December 2025, with landscaping work to be finished in 2026.

Colorado Is Building the ‘World’s Largest’ Wildlife Overpass, Giving Elk and Other Big Creatures a Safe Path to Cross a Busy Freeway

The completed overpass will be 200 feet wide by 209 feet long, forming a bridge across six lanes of traffic that see more than 100,000 vehicles each day

The Edmund Fitzgerald was transporting iron ore when it sank in November 1975, killing all 29 crew members.

These Swimmers Are Finishing the Final Voyage of the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald,’ Which Sank in Lake Superior 50 Years Ago

Starting at the wreck site, 68 athletes are completing a 411-mile relay to honor the 29 men who died in the Great Lakes tragedy on November 10, 1975

The petroglyphs were exposed by seasonal changes in the tides and waves.

Centuries-Old Hawaiian Petroglyphs Emerge From the Sand for the First Time in Nine Years

Discovered in 2016, the sandstone carvings on the western shore of Oahu depict human-like figures and extend across more than 100 feet

Winter-run Chinook salmon are unique because they spawn in the summer, then migrate as adults to the Pacific Ocean in the winter.

For the First Time in Nearly a Century, Adult Winter-Run Chinook Salmon Are Swimming in California’s McCloud River

Video footage shows a female guarding her nest while several smaller males compete for positioning nearby

In the 1950s, archaeologists found bronze jars in an underground shrine (left). They contained a mysterious sticky residue (right).

Scientists Found Sticky Goo Inside a 2,500-Year-Old Jar. Seventy Years Later, They Finally Know What It Is

By studying the mysterious substance’s chemical makeup, scientists determined the pot was once full of honey

Megaflashes travel horizontally, but they also produce five to seven cloud-to-ground bolts, on average.

515-Mile-Long ‘Megaflash’ of Lightning Sets a New World Record, Spanning Eastern Texas to West-Central Missouri

In October 2017, lightning stretched across multiple Great Plains states, and a weather satellite captured the event

The S. rapax fossil was initially smuggled out of Mongolia but has since been returned to the country. Its skull and a few vertebrae were lost, but not before scientists took CT scans of the skeleton.

Paleontologists Identify a ‘Rapacious’ Velociraptor Relative With Powerful Hands and a Strong Bite

The dinosaur Shri rapax likely relied on its grip strength to take down prey in what is now Mongolia

Based on the fragment, experts digitally reconstructed the piece of torso armor.

Rare Fragment of 3,200-Year-Old Bronze Chest Armor Unearthed in Czech Republic

Bronze armor made by skilled craftsmen was reserved for elite warriors, according to experts from the Brno City Museum

The Dudderhouse Hill long cairn is located inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England.

Rare 5,000-Year-Old Neolithic Monument in Northern England Granted Protected Status

The Dudderhouse Hill long cairn is one of the oldest known sites built by humans in England. It now has the highest level of heritage protection available in the country

Researchers deposited the larvae into the hull of a shipwreck off the coast of Belgium.

Scientists Deposit 200,000 Rare Oysters in a Shipwreck 100 Feet Below the Surface of the North Sea

European flat oysters have nearly disappeared from the region. Now, researchers are helping them recover by depositing the oyster larvae on gravel beds off the coast of Belgium

The leaf-toed gecko has been rediscovered on Rábida Island in the Galápagos.

Small, Secretive Gecko Rediscovered in the Galápagos After Scientists Eliminate Invasive Rats

Researchers thought leaf-toed geckos were locally extinct on Rábida Island, so they were thrilled to find several of the lizards alive and well during 2019 and 2021 expeditions

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