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Articles

Forget Bulky Smart Watches, Slip On a Smart Ring

A team of developers is taking orders for a ring that displays incoming text and email messages and helps locate lost phones

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Energy Innovation

Energy Innovation

Stop Ruining Your Christmas Cookies! Follow These Tips to Better Baking

Here are a few pointers on making the perfect cookies this holiday season

Cats have graced Asian households for millennia, as depicted in this 12th century print by Mao Yi.

Domestic Cats Enjoyed Village Life in China 5,300 Years Ago

Eight cat bones discovered in an archeological site in China provide a crucial link between domestic cats’ evolution from wildcats to pets

The inside of a newly assembled Ikea temporary home.

Ikea’s Getting Into the Refugee Shelter Business

Ikea’s latest installments are popping up in Lebanon, where around one million Syrians have sought refuge from the violence plaguing their own country

The Andromeda Galaxy

Think Big

What Does the Future of the Universe Hold?

The collision of our galaxy with the Andromeda galaxy is billions of years away, but it’s never too early to wonder what will happen

The crossword turns 100 this week.

What’s a 9-Letter Word for a 100-Year-Old Puzzle?

The crossword puzzle turns 100 this week — here’s how it rose to popularity

Villagers construct a new bridge over the Apurimac River, in Huinchiri, Peru, in 2012.

The Earliest and Greatest Engineers Were the Incas

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough treks to Peru to see how Machu Picchu was built

Some Olympic Athletes Have To Crowd-Source Money to Get to Russia

While Olympic athletes may be our heroes, they aren’t getting rich off their work, and some have to crowd-source funding for their trips to Sochi

Every Year, a Swedish Town Builds a Giant Straw Goat, And People Just Can’t Help Burning It Down

In the 47 years that the town has erected Gävlebocken, it’s been set on fire 26 times

We All Experience Smells Differently From One Another

A difference of a single amino acid on one gene can cause that person to experience a smell differently than someone with another amino acid

Stop Freaking Out About Lead in Backyard Chicken Eggs

Urban hens’ eggs have elevated levels of lead, but the levels are still pretty low

Santa could make his home on floating sea ice, but the Arctic may be ice free as early as 2016, according to the U.S. Navy.

Six Ways Climate Change Is Waging War on Christmas

If Santa really lived at the North Pole, he would have drowned long ago—his icy abode is slowly melting

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Watch A 1,400-Pound Right Whale Skull Arrive At the Smithsonian

A rare specimen from an endangered species is donated to the Natural History Museum’s collections

Vying for tamale-downing dominance, Carter demolished 16 of the Delta delicacies. A key part of his strategy: swigging from his opponent’s water bottle.

How the Hot Tamale Conquered the American South

Our intrepid reporter heads back to the Mississippi Delta in search of his favorite food—and the title of tamale-eating champ

Watch China’s Chang’e Lander Touch Down on the Moon

For the first time in 37 years, humans have landed something on the Moon

How Many Birds Do Wind Turbines Really Kill?

The giant spinning turbines are basically bird death traps - and often they cut through prime flying space making the carnage even worse

Stained transverse section of a lily flower bud. Darkfield illumination, stitched images.

Art Meets Science

The Startling Beauty of the Microscopic

Olympus BioScapes announces ten winners of their 2013 Digital Image Competition, which honors some of the best images taken through a microscope

Cut Down a Forest, Let It Grow Back, And Even 30 Years Later It’s Not the Same

In the tropics, secondary forests are often “ephemeral,” succumbing to deforestation every 10 years or so and thus never able to fully recover

Don't let the badges fool you - most people are willing to cheat.

It’s Not That Hard to Make People Do Bad Things

How many people do you think you’d have to approach before you could convince one to tell a lie?

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