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The development of ARPANET, the precursor of the modern internet, from December 1969 to March 1977

See How Fast ARPANET Spread in Just Eight Years

The internet of today touches the vast majority of the globe—and beyond—but not so long ago the net had a much more modest footprint

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The Star Tau Boo Flips Its Magnetic Field, Too

Scientists watched the magnetic field of a star 51 light years away flip back and forth

New research shows that abnormally cool waters in the Pacific, part of a natural cycle, have masked the warming we should have seen due to greenhouse gas emissions. When the waters go back to normal, global warming will likely accelerate.

Why Global Warming Has Paused—And Why It Will Soon Start Up Again

Abnormally cool waters in the Pacific, part of a natural cycle, have masked the underlying warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels

One-year-old cubs play at the nursery in Bifengxia, China

A Zoo Panda Keeper on His Trip to China and Why Mei Xiang is a Great Mom

Panda keeper Juan Rodriguez opens up about Mei Xiang’s first days with her new cub, as well as a recent trip to a partner panda facility in China

Saving the Last of the Great Carousels

The ornate, well made carousels of the past are in danger - degrading, being sold piecemeal and sometimes even for parts

Smithsonian Buddha. (Digital image courtesy of the Smithsonian. Text by Vick Gan.)

This Life-Size Sculpture Gives You a Map to the Buddhist Cosmos

Get an up-close look at the Smithsonian’s stunning Buddha

Haters May Have a Natural Disposition to Hate

The researchers coined the term “dispositional attitudes” as a new means of assessing a person’s baseline outlook on the world

Can Wikipedia Edits Predict Box Office Success?

How do you quantify the buzz around a movie? One group of researchers suggests looking at Wikipedia edits

John Surratt after he was captured

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Family Plot to Kill Lincoln

Mary and John Surratt helped John Wilkes Booth assassinate Abraham Lincoln and then paid the ultimate penalty for their actions

Red Mural, by Amber Hasselbring

A Butterfly Species Settles in San Francisco’s Market Street

Two advocates track Western tiger swallowtails through the city and use art to encourage residents to think of the fluttering creatures as neighbors

The Housing Bubble’s Latest Victims Are Doomed Desert Tortoises

The Bureau of Land Management funded the center through mandatory fees for housing developers, but money dried up after the housing bubble burst

Drones Could Carry Defibrillators Straight to Heart Attack Victims

For heart attack victims, life expectancy decreases by about 10 percent for every minute that ticks by after an emergency

The Rim Fire

Wildfires Now Could Mean Floods Next Spring

By burning down trees, wildfires open the door for future flooding

The Bullialdhus Crater. It looks little, but it ain’t.

The Moon Had Water Since the Day It Was Born

The Moon was birthed from the Earth—a blob of molten rock sent spiraling off into space in the aftermath of a massive collision 4.5 billion years ago

Boston Children’s Hospital Once Relied on the Opera to Power X-Rays

In the 1880’s the Children’s Hospital in Boston didn’t have electricity, so it couldn’t use X-rays. But the nearby Opera House did

This Company Just Added Auto-Pilot to Their Bulldozers

Construction equipment operators have to go through apprenticeships and training to learn to maneuver machines. But one company thinks that’s all too hard

Much like bats and dolphins, some people have developed the ability to analyze bouncing sound waves to generate a picture of their environment.

How Human Echolocation Allows People to See Without Using Their Eyes

Mimicking bats and dolphins, some people have developed the ability to analyze bouncing sound waves to generate a picture of their environment

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

What Did San Francisco Look Like in the Mid-1800s?

A look at a sailing chart of San Francisco and its bay, made in 1859 by the fledgling US Coast Survey

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

When Real Estate Plotters Planned Out Denver

Bankers and speculators in the Colorado capital used this 1879 map to explore the Mile High City’s real estate potential

Photo courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection; Interactive by Esri; Text by Natasha Geiling.

American Cities: Before and After

Before There Could Be a Los Angeles, There Had to be Water

California’s first state engineer, along with a team of surveyors, created this hand drawn map in 1880 to explore Los Angeles’ water resources

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