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Articles

It’s time to give thanks for your taste buds.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Taste

Do following rituals before a meal make the food taste better? What about the ambience of the room in which you’re eating it?

This Spray-On Fabric Is a Wardrobe In a Can

Inspired by silly string, British designer Manel Torres’ spray-on clothing is re-wearable and recyclable

Lumbini in Nepal, identified as the Buddha’s birthplace

Archeologists Think They’ve Unearthed the Buddha’s Nativity Site

Legend has it that the Buddha’s mother, Queen Maya Devi, birthed her son at Lumbini while clutching the branch of a tree at that temple’s garden

Playing Sports Is Getting Too Expensive for Many Kids’ Families

Organized sports are really expensive, and informal practice grounds are disappearing

Soon this field in inner-city Detroit could be lined with maple trees.

Can Planting Gardens and Orchards Really Save Dying Cities?

Urban planners sure hope so, particularly in places like Detroit where a company plans to start filling abandoned lots with small forests

George Mallory, far right in the back row, during an Everest expedition in 1921.

George Mallory’s Frozen Body May Have Been Discovered Decades Earlier on Everest

Frank Smythe may have spotted Mallory’s body in 1936, but kept the news to himself out of respect for the fallen mountaineer

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Your Life Experiences Aren’t So Special—Here’s Proof

There’s this feeling that each of us is wandering through life, the unique product of our own past and our own experiences.

The seahorse may appear ungainly, but it’s actually a sophisticatedly engineered copepod-killing machine.

The Seahorse’s Odd Shape Makes It a Weapon of Stealth

The shape of the seahorse’s snout and its painfully slow movements create help create minimal water disturbance, increasing its odds of bagging prey

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With 502,165 Bulbs, Australian Man Retakes World Record for Most Christmas Lights on a Single Home

David Richards first claimed that title back in 2001, with a paltry 331,038 lights, but last year he was overtaken by a New York family

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Here’s Why the FDA Is More Than a Little Freaked Out by Personal Genetic Testing

Really, this debate isn’t about 23andMe, but about a broader question of how to deliver and interpret personal genetic data

Ghost Hunters Burn Down Historic Mansion

In Old Arabi, Louisiana the historic LeBeau Plantation was burned down by men looking for ghosts, according to local news reports

The production of oil and gas produces methane. But official counts may be underestimating just how much of this potent greenhouse gas comes from natural gas and similar sources.

Emissions of Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas, May Be Underestimated

Leaks from natural gas extraction may be a bigger source of U.S. methane emissions than previously thought, a new study finds

Protesters really in Tahrir Square in 2011

Egypt’s Government Bans Public Protests

A new law bans gatherings of more than 10 people

People Stay at Jobs Where They Can Have Fun And Work Less Hard

If employee performances were broken down by age, however, the data show that older employees actually increase their sales performance at funner jobs

5 High-Tech Steps to Making the Easiest and Fastest Thanksgiving Dinner Ever

Just because the Pilgrims did Thanksgiving dinner the hard way, doesn’t mean you have to

Here’s How Disney Animates Snow

In the Disney animation studio, different types of snow are made by tweaking a computer model. In the real world, they’re made by changing the temperature

St Peter’s square, as seen from St Peter’s Basilica

Are These the Bones of Saint Peter?

On Sunday, Pope Francis displayed the remains of what is thought to be Saint Peter

A mounting body of research shows that the circumstances and chronic stresses of poverty interrupt the development of the brain.

How Growing Up in Poverty May Affect a Child’s Developing Brain

A mounting body of research shows that the circumstances and chronic stresses of poverty interrupt the development of the brain

Young Girls Are More Likely to Want Braces Than Boys

The fact that women feel the need to change their appearance more than men starts long before Botox and boob jobs are on the table

The Peacock Room Comes to America: Exhibiting Freer’s Bibles

The Man Who Viewed the Bible as Art

The Washington Codex, now on display at the Freer gallery, became one of the earliest chapters in Charles Freer’s appreciation of beauty and aesthetics

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