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Starfish Prime 0 to 15 seconds after detonation, photographed from Maui Station, July 9, 1962.

Going Nuclear Over the Pacific

A half-century ago, a U.S. military test lit up the skies and upped the ante with the Soviets

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Archaeologists Excavate Death Pit, Finding Hundreds of Sacrificed Soldiers in Denmark

Archaeologists are excavating hundreds of skeletons from the boggy swamps, and the remains belong to men who all sacrificed around the time of Christ

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What 9 Famous Chefs and Food Writers Are Cooking to Honor Julia Child’s 100th Birthday

As these luminaries will attest, there’s a lot more to Julia than Beef Bourguignon

An artist’s vision of a Neanderthal and her baby. If the Neanderthal lived 47,000 to 65,000 years ago, her baby might have been the result of breeding with a human.

Neanderthal and Human Matings Get a Date

New research shows modern humans bred with Neanderthals 47,000 to 65,000 years ago as our ancestors left Africa

A crowd gathers in Times Square in 1945. Since then, we’ve added a few more people to the population.

A Different Kind of Pi Day – the U.S. Population Hits π x 100,000,000

The U.S. Census Bureau announced yesterday that our population has hit one of math’s favorite landmarks

Imagine going from the podium, to the pickle aisle.

After London Many Olympians Find Real Life Hard to Swallow

You’re not the only one with post Olympics blues, athletes have it way worse

A new technology harnesses the energy in wastewater to produce electricity.

Could Sewage Be Our Fuel of the Future?

A new way of treating wastewater uses bacteria to produce electricity, potentially solving a pair of environmental problems

Julia Child’s Kitchen on display at the NMAH is exactly as it was in Child’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1961.

Happy 100th Birthday, Julia Child!

Child’s kitchen is back at the American History Museum in time for what would have been her 100th birthday

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The Scene of Deduction: Drawing 221B Baker Street

From pen-and-ink sketches to digital renderings, generations of Sherlock Holmes fans have undertaken drafting the detective’s famous London flat

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Shark Week Proves We Are Fascinated by Sharks, So Why Do We Kill So Many of Them?

Around the world, these animals command a strange sort of fascination in their human admirers—an urge to see, learn and encounter, but also to kill

Three of the 87 record eggs removed from the python

Big Momma – Record 87 Eggs Found in Gargantuan Everglades Python

University of Florida researchers cut into the largest python found in the Everglades, measuring a whopping 17-feet-7-inches long and weighing 165 pounds

The magazine every kid awaited eagerly, Bradley’s Game and Toy Catalogue. 1889-1900.

Helpful Tips for Playing Games in a Corset: A Trip Through the Deep-Rooted Anxiety of Playtime

As this gaming literature from the 19th century shows, games were nothing to play around with

Would you eat dinner, “in the dark?”

Dining in the Dark?

You’ve heard of mood lighting, try no lighting with the latest trend

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The 5 Coolest Planets Orbiting Distant Stars

Of the hundreds of exoplanets discovered by scientists, we list of some of the most interesting

Banjo’s reconstructed hand, with the thumb claw on top

Banjo Gets a Hand

Recently-discovered fossils fill out the arms of one of Australia’s formidable predatory dinosaurs

Augmented reality puts flesh on dinosaur bones.

Augmented Reality Livens up Museums

We still have to wait a bit for Google Goggles, but augmented reality is moving mainstream, even bringing museum dinosaurs to life

Some chemicals in antibacterial soap have been banned by the FDA after testing showed they did not provide any benefit over normal soap and water.

Triclosan, a Chemical Formerly Used in Antibacterial Soaps, Was Found to Impair Muscle Function

In a study, the chemical inhibited muscle activity in individual human heart cells, mice and minnows

Living Better Now

Q&A: Jayson Musson Breaks Down Coogi Sweaters

With the ‘80s and ‘90s status-symbol clothing a bargain on eBay, the Brooklyn artist buys, disassembles and reconstructs them to make abstract “paintings”

Julia Child would have marked her 100th birthday this August 15.

Celebrate Julia Child’s 100th Birthday with the Smithsonian

The American History Museum has a full day of screenings, book signings and special events for the famous chef’s birthday

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Tooth Chemistry Confirms Early Homo Loved Meat

Two million years ago hominids evolved more specialized diets with early Homo preferring meat and Paranthropus choosing plants

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