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Experts are concerned about the dome's structural integrity.

Coastal Cities of Europe

Experts Think the Hagia Sophia Is in Danger. They’ve Got a Plan to Protect It From Earthquakes

Turkey is located near two fault lines, leaving the 1,500-year-old structure vulnerable to damage. Architects and engineers will be investigating how to best preserve it

Geoscientist Martin Köhler stands in front of Maka Lahi, which measures 46 feet by 39 feet by 22 feet—about the same size as a two-story house.

A 164-Foot Tsunami Pushed This Enormous Boulder Atop a Cliff in Tonga 7,000 Years Ago

The hulking rock, called Maka Lahi, is the size of a two-story house and sits on a 120-foot-tall cliff, covered in vegetation

The Bromeswell Bucket, restored its original form, is on display in the High Hall at Sutton Hoo.

New Research

This Bewildering Byzantine Bucket Stumped Archaeologists for Decades. Now, They’ve Finally Discovered Its Purpose

Fragments of the bucket were first found at England’s Sutton Hoo burial site in 1986. New research has revealed that the 1,500-year-old artifact was probably used as a cremation vessel

The five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union are Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake—and these are pictured with 2017 OF201 in a telescope image.

Astronomers Discover a Possible Dwarf Planet Far Beyond Neptune, Where There Should Have Only Been Empty Space

As it orbits the sun once every 25,000 years, the celestial body 2017 OF201 travels beyond the Kuiper Belt into a region thought to be largely devoid of objects

Researchers revealed that differences in sloth habitats drove the wide variation in size seen in extinct species.

Giant Sloths the Size of Elephants Once Walked Along the Ground. Here’s How the Massive Animals Evolved and Declined

Researchers analyzed fossils and DNA to get a big-picture view of sloth evolution and determine what drove their immense size variation

An 18th-Century Family, Joy Labinjo, 2022

New Exhibition Features Contemporary Portraits Honoring Forgotten Black Abolitionists

Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum is spotlighting the men and women who fought to end slavery but received little attention from artists during their lifetimes

Bedbugs that feed on humans experienced a sharp rise in numbers after the development of the first cities, according to new research.

Bedbugs Could Have Been the First Urban Pest to Plague Human Cities, New Study Suggests

Scientists examined the genomes of two bedbug lineages to trace how their population sizes have changed over time

The Aska figurine is the only known depiction of pregnancy from the Viking Age.

New Research

How Did Vikings View Pregnant Women? New Research Reveals That They Were Sometimes Depicted With Weapons

Researchers studied Old Norse literature and archaeological evidence to shed new light on women’s experiences of pregnancy during the Viking Age

Stone Age humans were likely scavenging the remains of whales that washed ashore along the Bay of Biscay and fashioning them into tools. This projectile point made from a gray whale bone was found in Landes, France, and dated to between 17,500 and 18,000 years ago.

Scientists Discover the Oldest Known Tools Made From Whale Bones, Crafted in Western Europe 20,000 Years Ago

Stone Age humans scavenged the skeletons of several whale species along the Bay of Biscay in what is now southwestern France and northern Spain, according to a new study

The men summited Mount Everest just five days after leaving the United Kingdom.

Climbers Summit Mount Everest in Five Days Using Controversial Xenon Gas

The four British former special forces soldiers left the United Kingdom on May 16. By 7:10 a.m. on May 21, they were standing at the top of the 29,032-foot-tall peak

Conservators have spent the last 14 years carefully cleaning and restoring the 18th-century ship.

America's 250th Anniversary

Revolutionary War-Era Gunboat Found Underneath World Trade Center Wreckage Finds a Permanent Home in Upstate New York

Researchers are reassembling the ship, which was likely built in the 1770s near Philadelphia

A study participant puts in a contact lens. Researchers developed lenses with nanoparticles that convert infrared wavelengths into visible light that humans can perceive.

New Contact Lenses Give Users Super-Vision to See Infrared Light—Even With Their Eyes Closed

Researchers have developed experimental contact lenses that use nanoparticles to convert the invisible wavelengths of near-infrared light into visible colors

Paintings in the tomb of Amum-em-Ipet depict a funeral procession and banquet.

Cool Finds

Egyptian Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Tombs Belonging to Three Senior Statesmen Who Helped Keep the New Kingdom Running

The burials were found at Dra Abu el-Naga, a necropolis for nobles and officials on the West Bank of the Nile River

A photogrammetric reconstruction of the submarine USS F-1, showing the conning tower and collision damage that caused the boat to sink

New Research

See a Lost U.S. Navy Submarine, Sunk During a World War I Test Run, in Digital Detail

Researchers descended to the wreck in underwater vehicles to collect data for 3-D models

Anna's hummingbirds seem to be thriving amid urbanization in California, even as other hummingbird species have declined due to human activity.

California’s Hummingbirds Have Changed Their Beaks in Response to Backyard Feeders, Study Finds

With plenty of artificial nectar available, Anna’s hummingbirds have expanded their range northward and their beaks have tended to become longer and larger

A research team measured ammonia concentrations from a colony of 60,000 Adélie penguins.

Penguin Poop Helps Drive Cloud Formation Over Antarctica, According to a New Study

The ammonia from Adélie penguin guano reacts with sulfur-containing gases in the atmosphere to aid in forming clouds, which scientists say may be significant to regulating the climate

The wreckage is submerged under nine feet of water in Lake Michigan.

Cool Finds

He Went Out to Catch Fish in Lake Michigan—and Discovered a 102-Year-Old Shipwreck Instead

Angler Christopher Thuss stumbled upon the scuttled tugboat “J.C. Ames,” which was located just nine feet below the surface off the coast of Manitowoc, Wisconsin

A group of female South Korean free divers on Jeju Island, known as the Haenyeo, exit the water after catching marine snails in November 2015.

South Korea’s Female Free Divers May Have Evolved to Thrive Underwater, Study Finds

The Haenyeo, a group of skilled divers on Jeju Island, plunge beneath the ocean’s surface without any breathing equipment, thanks to a combination of their training and genetics

England has long been considered the birthplace of modern soccer. But new archaeological evidence is challenging that long-held belief.

Where Was Soccer Invented? A New Archaeological Discovery Suggests Scotland, Not England, Was the Sport’s Birthplace

Archaeologists say they’ve found the ruins of a soccer field in southwest Scotland that date to the 17th century

Cooper's hawks are skilled hunters that feast on small and medium-sized birds.

A Young Cooper’s Hawk Learned to Use a Crosswalk Signal to Launch Surprise Attacks on Other Birds

Researcher Vladimir Dinets watched the bird repeatedly sneak behind a row of cars to ambush its unsuspecting prey

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