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Smart News

Members of the Portela samba school perform during Rio's Carnival parade.

Good News

Carnival Makes a Triumphant Return to Rio de Janeiro

Covid canceled the 2021 festival. Now, the Brazilian city is reclaiming its streets

an aurora borealis over Lake Inari in Finland

Evidence of Earliest Aurora Found in Ancient Chinese Texts

Such historical records of celestial events can help astronomers track and model patterns of space weather

Spotted tree frogs are critically endangered in New South Wales.

Critically Endangered Spotted Tree Frogs Released Into the Wild in Australia

Bushfires, fungal disease, predation and other threats have pushed these amphibians to the brink of extinction

A Book of Ryhmes by Charlotte Bronte

Cool Finds

Lost Charlotte Brontë Manuscript Sells for $1.25 Million

The tiny booklet contains the author’s last unpublished poems

Drawing of an early medieval king eating and drinking at Tintagel Castle in England

New Research

New Research Suggests England’s Early Medieval Rulers Had a Veggie-Based Diet

Two papers argue that these 5th- through 11th-century kings and queens mainly ate meat during special feasts thrown by their subjects

A pied avocet wades in a wetland.

Protected Areas Don’t Always Help Wildlife, Study Shows

After examining waterbird populations, researchers found that how a protected area is managed is key in determining its effectiveness

Kane Tanaka was born on January 2, 1903.

Kane Tanaka, World’s Oldest Person, Dies at 119

According to her family, the Japanese supercentenarian had been hospitalized and discharged repeatedly in recent weeks

Reseachers tested out the backpack dubbed KNaCK in a volcanic field in New Mexico, and are hoping the tech can support astronaunts on future lunar missions.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Lunar Backpack Could Aid Astronauts on Future Missions to the Moon

The pack can create 3-D maps in real-time of uncharted terrain

The leather sandal's owner likely wore it with wool wrappings or socks made out of fabric or animal skins.

Cool Finds

Melting Ice in Norway Reveals 1,700-Year-Old Sandal

An ancient traveler likely discarded the worn-out leather shoe as rubbish around 300 C.E.

Oreo cookies helped inspire a new field of study coined "Oreology" by researchers at MIT.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Why MIT Researchers Are Studying Oreos

Fluid dynamics experts find that it’s nearly impossible to split the black-and-white cookie’s sweet filling evenly in half

Cherokee citizens can now collect wild indigo, river cane, wild onion, hickory, bloodroot and other plants at Buffalo National River.

Good News

Cherokee Nation Members Can Now Gather Plants on National Park Land

A new agreement between the tribe and the National Park Service allows Cherokee citizens to collect plants with cultural and medicinal significance

The Hickson Compact Group 40 features five galaxies caught in a gravitational dance.

Hubble Space Telescope’s 32nd Anniversary Photo Features Dramatic Galaxy Cluster

The five galaxies, dubbed the Hickson Compact Group 40, will merge in roughly a billion years

Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson depicted the experiences of Black Americans through often-overlooked, working-class characters.

How Playwright August Wilson Captured the Highs and Lows of Black America

An immersive exhibition in Pittsburgh explores the award-winning dramatist’s life and legacy

Biotech firm Oxitec is genetically modifying mosquitoes in the hopes of curbing the overall population. The company completed its first open-air release of the bugs in Florida.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

First U.S. Open-Air Test of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Deemed a Success

Biotech firm Oxitec engineered the bugs in an effort to curb their numbers and help stop the spread of disease

The Dixie Valley toad lives only in a remote Nevada valley. 

Nevada Toad Receives Rare Emergency Protection

The construction of a geothermal power plant could create problems for the amphibian

The FORMAT festival will be held on 250 acres of open green land just a few miles outside of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Walmart Heirs Launch New Music Festival in Bid to Make Arkansas an Art Destination

FORMAT will bring big-name musicians, contemporary artists to Bentonville

The fossilized head crest of a pterosaur with evidence of feathers.

Pterosaurs May Have Had Vibrant Feathers Like Modern Birds

Researchers say different colors on the flying reptiles were a possible means of communication, and may indicate a common ancestor with dinosaurs

The 700-year-old book is thought to be the oldest surviving document of its kind. 

Holocaust Survivors Ask Israel Museum to Return One-of-a-Kind Haggadah

Their lawsuit claims the Passover book was stolen, then purchased under dubious circumstances

Denver's apology for an 1880 anti-Chinese riot comes during a surge of racially motivated violence and discrimination toward Asian Americans. 

Denver Apologizes for Anti-Chinese Riot of 1880

A white mob terrorized residents and murdered a man, but the city never punished the perpetrators

The restored still life was painted by a 17-year-old artist known for his careful renderings of everyday objects.

Cool Finds

A Dutch Teenage Painter’s Multi-Million-Dollar Masterpiece Was Hidden in Plain Sight

The still life went unnoticed at an Australian school for 150 years

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