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Trending Today

Try to Smuggle an Illegal Elephant Tusk Out of Kenya, Pay a $230,000 Fine

For the first time, Kenya exercised its new, stricter punishments for wildlife trafficking crimes

Kitty wants a snack.

Cool Finds

That Time Cats Attacked a NYC Butcher Shop

Cats are clearly untrustworthy creatures. Everybody knows that. But lest you forget, here’s a historical horror story.

What do roses smell like?

New Research

English Speakers Are Bad at Identifying and Describing Smells

But is this a problem with our noses, or with English?

A scientist examines a 1500-year-old tooth from a Justinian plague victim in the lab.

Bubonic Plague Family Tree Sheds Light on the Risk of New Outbreaks

The Black Death and the Justinian Plague arose separately from the same pathogen. Could a new strain emerge in the future?

The USS Pueblo.

Cool Finds

The Time the U.S. Nearly Nuked North Korea Over a Highjacked Spy Ship

The Pueblo incident ended peacefully, but newly unclassified documents detail President Johnson’s contingency plans

A curious, rare snow leopard checks out the researchers' camera trap.

Cool Finds

The Elusive Snow Leopard, Caught in a Camera Trap

Researchers managed to capture images of notoriously elusive snow leopards in Pakistan

The frozen brain of famous memory patient H.M., shown during the slicing process.

A Postmortem of the Most Famous Brain in Neuroscience History

Patient H.M.’s brain has been sliced and digitized, leading to new insights for scientists

The cottage rented by Edgar Allan Poe from 1846 until his death in 1849, located in Poe Park in the Bronx.

When Edgar Allan Poe Needed to Get Away, He Went to the Bronx

The author of ‘The Raven’ immortalized his small New York cottage in a lesser-known short story

Pigeon paté most likely resembles the common chicken-based version

Cool Finds

Amsterdam Is Feasting on Pigeon Paté

Street birds, not farm-raised squab, are rumored to be the meat of this tasty spread

Pete Seeger in concert in February, 1986.

Trending Today

Spend the Morning With Pete Seeger’s Voice

“A good song makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think,” Seeger once said

What’s Up With This Russian House? The Ceiling

As part of an art installation, the “All-Russian Exhibition Center” built a house — the wrong way

A computer simulation of how the Hope Diamond likely appeared when it was owned by King Louis XIV of France. The sunburst inside the stone results from specially-cut facets on its back, which produce a translucent area that conveys the color of the diamond's gold mounting.

New Research

The Hope Diamond Was Once a Symbol for Louis XIV, the Sun King

New research indicates that the stone was once specially cut to produce an image of a sun when mounted on a gold background

In Selfmade, microbiologist Christina Agapakis and scent artist Sissel Tolaas made cheese from bacteria collected from people's mouths and toes.

Art Meets Science

Cheese Made From Bacteria Between Your Toes and Other Bizarre Bio Art

With groundbreaking (and controversial) projects, artists are starting a conversation about the future of synthetic biology

Researchers recreated what the 7,000 year-old man likely looked like.

New Research

Just Call This Hunter-Gatherer Ol’ Blue-Eyes

DNA from an ancient human tooth found in a cave in Spain reveals one European hunter-gatherer’s complexion

The Spanish Entertainment, 1825, Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), c. 1816-24, Lithograph

Rare and Imaginative Drawings Reveal an Untold Chapter in European Art History

A new exhibit in Santa Fe showcases 132 drawings and prints from Spain—some of which have never been on display before

Nababiep and her cubs.

New Lion Cubs at the Smithsonian Zoo

Mother Nababiep and two cubs are doing well, keep watch on the lion cam

China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover, or Chang'e 3

Trending Today

China’s Lunar Rover Just Melodramatically Announced Its Impending Demise

A mechanical failure could mean the end of China’s Jade Rabbit

A rare atmospheric anomaly in December filled the Grand Canyon with fog.

New Research

The Grand Canyon Is Young And Old, All at the Same Time

Geologically, the Grand Canyon is a baby, but you might say it has an old soul

A Kambala, or buffalo race in Mangalore, India.

Photos: India’s Karnataka Coast

Explore western India’s Coastal Karnataka region with these photos taken by our readers

The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way.

New Research

Stephen Hawking Thinks Black Holes Don’t Exist

And he’s been trying to tell the rest of us for a decade

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