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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo during yesterday’s test.

Celebrating Nearly a Decade of Richard Branson Almost Sending Us to Space

In 2004, Richard Branson said we’d be in space by 2008. That didn’t pan out

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This New Robot Has a Sense of Touch

A robot with a sense of touch can better navigate our cluttered world

The Wolfsschanze, or Wolf’s Lair, was Hitler’s bunker outside of Rastenburg, Germany.

Meet the Woman Who Taste-Tested Hitler’s Dinner

Now 95, Margot Woelk is ready to share her story of life in the Wolf’s Lair

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What Are You Thinking About?

One researcher recorded the fascinating inner monologues of random people walking, sitting or standing in New York City

In places where malaria thrives, mosquito nets are used to keep the bugs away from people as they sleep.

In 2010, Malaria Killed 660,000 People, And Now It’s Resistant to the Drugs We Use to Fight It

Scientists have discovered a drug-resistant strain of malaria, and it’s spreading

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The First LPs Weren’t for Music—They Were Audiobooks for the Blind

Record companies hadn’t yet figured out how to make music sound good on LPs

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One Confused Loon Spent 48 Days Trying to Hatch Rocks

In July 2011, something strange was going on with one of the loons at a Massachusetts sanctuary

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How Can the U.S. Government Know If Syrian Combatants Were Affected by Sarin Gas?

Reports from the White House that sarin gas were used in Syria, but how could you test for it?

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Why Guppies Seem to Have a Death Wish

Aquarium-leaping guppies don’t necessarily want to die, they’re just trying to colonize the next pond over

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This 16-Year-Old Has a Bionic Hand Almost as Good as Luke Skywalker’s

While Patric Kane didn’t have his hand sliced of by a lightsaber, he’s got a bionic replacement that’s one step closer to Skywalker’s eerily lifelike robot paw

Here’s How Scientists Are Keeping You From Inhaling Deadly Microbes in the Subway

An invisible odorless gas will be released into seven subways throughout New York City this July

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The Center of the Earth Is as Hot as the Sun

1,800 degrees warmer than we previously thought, the Earth’s core is super hot

In True Pirate Form, the Pirate Bay Can’t Find Anyone to Take It In

The Pirate Bay just relocated to Icleand, but they may have to be on the move again some time soon

How a Pizza Maker Revolutionized the Stunt-Kite-Flying World

First, let’s establish the fact that there is something in the United States called the American Kitefliers Association

Fish Bladders Are Actually a Thing People Smuggle, And They’re Worth a Lot of Money

One bladder from the totoaba macdonaldi fish can garner $5,000 in the United States, and over $10,000 in Asia

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This Cute Little Liver Might be the Future of Drug Testing

Researchers just printed the tiniest human livers ever

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The New $100 Bill Will Have Thousands of Tiny Lenses Built In

The $100 is the note most frequently targeted by counterfeiters

Native Australians, 1939

Ancient Australia’s First Settlers Probably Came There On Purpose

Rather some chance encounter with the continent down under, researchers think that the original migrants set out to deliberately colonize Australia

A tunnel excavation in Guatemala

Ancient Maya Were Cultural Sponges

Rather than the Maya influencing the Olmec or vice versus, similarities between their cultures represent a general shift in ancient Mesoamerica

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Russia’s Cold War Plan to Reverse the Ocean and Melt the Arctic

A giant dam across the Pacific could re-route ocean currents and melt the Arctic, and the Soviets wanted to try

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