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Venus, a great place to take a few laps in orbit

The Lame Reason NASA Gave Up on Sending Astronauts to Venus in 1973

We had the technology, but not the will

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Panda Cub Watch

The latest updates on the National Zoo’s new baby giant panda

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Travel to Europe’s Most Stunning Landmarks in Under Four Minutes

Spanning three months, 21 countries and thousands of photos, “Nightvision” celebrates the finest architecture in Europe

The Zoo reports that the “cub’s heart rate is steady and its belly was full.” Veterinarians report that they “could hear breath sounds from both lungs.”

New Baby: Giant Panda Gives Birth at the National Zoo!

The first cub is healthy and doing well. Mei Xiang gave birth to a second, stillborn cub on Saturday

Football Team Losses Make Fans Eat Their Feelings

A fan’s closeness to his team may be so tied up in his personal identity that his body interprets the loss as an effrontery to his own psyche

The original lineup for speakers at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington. (Text by Megan Gambino.)

Document Deep Dive

Document Deep Dive: A Play-by-Play of the March on Washington

Fifty years after the historic event, take a look at the lineup of speakers who addressed the crowd of 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial

Luca Parmitano Shared Exactly How It Feels to Start Drowning in Space

During a spacewalk, the Italian astronaut’s helmet filled with water

“I’d rather gnaw a bean than be gnawed by continual fear.”

Scientists Investigate Whether the City Mouse Is Smarter Than the Country Mouse

Contrary to biologists’ expectations, critters living in cities don’t always have an adaptive edge over their rural counterparts

Kumquat-Eating Crocodilians: Crocs And Gators Love Their Fruits and Veggies

Grapes and berries, fruit and veggies—crocodiles and alligators eat more than meat

The grizzly bear, known as No. 122, eating the corpse of a black bear.

It’s a Bear-Eat-Bear World Out There, Literally

Hikers were startled when they came across a grizzly eating a black bear

Most of China’s Infamous Black Carbon Smog Comes From Cars And Cook Fires

Surprisingly, until now authorities struggled to pinpoint the main pollution culprits behind the black carbon, or soot

Five Unusual Ways Scientists Are Studying Climate Change

Fossilized urine, old naval logbooks and the recent speeds of satellites are among the unexpected records that track changing climate

Food service crew workers

Eating on the March: Food at the 1963 March on Washington

Organizing an event that large was a formidable task in and of itself. Tackling the issue of handling food for the masses was another issue entirely

Zombie Pigeons Are Invading Moscow

In humans, the offending disease produces mild sniffles and flu-like symptoms, not an undead stupor or craving for flesh

An artist’s rendition of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Back From the Dead: Mothballed Telescope to Hunt for Killer Asteroids

Following the scare from the Russian meteor, an asteroid hunting telescope is brought back online

What is it that makes honey such a special food?

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life

A slew of factors—its acidity, its lack of water and the presence of hydrogen peroxide—work in perfect harmony, allowing the sticky treat to last forever

Blind People Can Still Identify Race (And Be Racist)

People’s idea of race has far less to do with what people look like, and far more to do with what society teaches us about what people are like

The Last of the Watergate Tapes Show Just How Weasely Nixon Was

Nixon’s public declarations and his private communications were a bundle of contradictions

There’s Now Evidence That Other Europeans Beat the Vikings to the North Atlantic

Someone, and we don’t know who, beat the Vikings to the Faroe Islands by as much as 500 years

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To Control Feral Cat Populations, Cut the Tubes of Dominant Males

Rather than taking the goods entirely from feral cats, researchers now propose vasectomies are the way to go

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