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Prayers partially cover diagrams from On the Sphere and the Cylinder, a treatise written by Archimedes.

Cool Finds

Historians Say They’ve Discovered a Long-Lost Page From the Archimedes Palimpsest, a Treasure Trove of Rare Ancient Mathematical Treatises

Three leaves had been missing for more than a century. Researchers found one of them when they decided on a whim to check the archives of a French museum

The mice spent about a month aboard the International Space Station.

These Space-Faring Mice Are Helping Scientists Figure Out How to Keep Astronauts’ Muscles Working Properly

A new study suggests a gravity threshold for maintaining muscle function

Caravaggio painted Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini around 1598.

The Italian Government Just Paid Nearly $35 Million for a Rare Caravaggio Portrait—One of the Most Expensive Artworks It’s Ever Acquired

“Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini” had been on display in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome as part of a loan. Now, it’s part of the palace’s permanent collection

One of the plaster casts on display in the new exhibition

Haunting Casts Preserving Pompeii Victims’ Final Moments 2,000 Years Ago Go on Display in a Solemn New Exhibition

Since 1863, archaeologists have made more than 100 plaster casts, which show how victims died after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. A new exhibition displays 22 of the best-preserved examples

Scientists tracked the breeding behaviors of king penguins on Possession Island, part of the French-controlled Crozet archipelago.

King Penguins Seem to Be Benefiting From a Warming World. While That’s Good News for Now, It Could Spell Trouble for the Future

The birds are breeding earlier, and more of their chicks are surviving. But researchers fear this success may not last

A 1631 copy of the Bible that includes the text "Thou shalt commit adultery."

Typos Have Plagued Us for Centuries. Just Ask the Publishers Who Printed the Seventh Commandment as ‘Thou Shalt Commit Adultery’ in 1631

A new exhibition at Yale Library explores the history of typos across five centuries. Visitors will see corrections that were listed inside copies of works by James Joyce, Upton Sinclair and Nicolaus Copernicus

The shin bone was found in New Mexico.

This 74-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bone May Have Belonged to a Surprisingly Large Ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex

The massive reptile may have weighed more than 4.5 tons and been 35 feet long—much bigger than its related peers at the time

Demolition expert Thomas Zowalla after defusing the World War II-era bomb in Dresden

Specialists Carefully Defuse a 550-Pound Bomb in Dresden—Eight Decades After It Fell During World War II

After the ordnance was discovered, 18,000 people were evacuated from the city. Experts worked for several hours to safely dispose of the device

The marble bust on display inside the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls in Rome

Why Are So Many People Claiming They’ve Discovered Long-Lost Michelangelos?

One researcher wrote a 600-page report attributing an obscure painting to the artist. Another argued that he’d sculpted a marble bust on display in a Roman church

An 1894 film of a falling cat

How Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? Researchers Examined Feline Spines to Find Out

Scientists determined that the upper part of a cat’s spine is more flexible than the lower part

Even common backyard birds like house finches are disappearing.

North American Bird Losses Are Accelerating. New Research Suggests Fertilizers and Pesticides May Be to Blame

Scientists found the severest changes in decline rates in places that include hallmarks of high-intensity agriculture

An artist's conception of a magnetar surrounded by a wobbly accretion disk

Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Magnetar for the First Time. It Explains the Mysterious Flickering of an Ultrabright Supernova

New research suggests that the highly magnetized remnants of stars are responsible for powering some of the universe’s most brilliant supernova explosions

A pottery vessel analyzed for the study

New Research

Scientists Discover Microscopic Traces of Leaves, Seeds and Toxic Berries on Pots Used by Stone Age Cooks Thousands of Years Ago

Hunter-gatherers in Europe carefully selected ingredients and cooked complex foods, often pairing fish with specific plants, according to a new study

The biggest discrepancies were in Southeast Asia.

Sea Levels Might Be Higher Than We Thought, Putting Millions of People in the Path of Coastal Flooding Sooner Than Expected

A lot of past research has used flawed methodology to estimate current coastal water levels, according to a new study

This Late Bronze Age spearhead mold was found in 2007 in a garden in the Czech Republic.

Cool Finds

A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

The rectangular object dates to around 1350 B.C.E. and was likely created by members of the Central European Urnfield culture

The illustration depicts the scribe Ramose and a jackal figure that may represent the god Wepwawet.

Cool Finds

The Egyptians Used an Ancient Version of Wite-Out to Correct Their Mistakes on This Papyrus Scroll 3,300 Years Ago

An ancient artist applied a white substance to an illustration of a jackal, slimming down its appearance, according to researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum in England

Some researchers think that two varieties of orcas are so different that they should be considered separate species. 

Do These Severed Orca Fins Covered in Tooth Marks Mean Killer Whales Are Cannibals? It’s Complicated, Scientists Say

Researchers suggest that predation by a subspecies called Bigg’s orcas might explain why members of another one, called resident orcas, stay in such large family groups

Kat Baxter, curator of archaeology and numismatics for Leeds Museums and Galleries, poses with the 2,000-year-old coin.

Cool Finds

Someone Used This Mysterious Coin as Bus Fare in the 1950s. It Turned Out to Be 2,000-Year-Old Currency Minted by the Phoenicians

A public transit official working for the city of Leeds found the coin while counting bus and tram fares. Now, his grandson has donated it to Leeds Museums and Galleries

The Van Allen Probes spent seven years studying two donut-shaped rings of radiation around the Earth.

A 1,300-Pound Spacecraft Might Be Plummeting Through Our Atmosphere Right Now

The debris poses minimal risk of harming anyone

When tickets went on sale for the “Pokémon Fossil Museum" exhibition, eager fans overwhelmed the Field Museum’s website.

This Museum Is Using Pokémon to Teach Visitors About Fossils. Fans Are Waiting for Hours to Snag Tickets

“Pokémon Fossil Museum” in Chicago compares “fossil Pokémon” from the popular franchise to the real-world creatures they’re based on

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