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The bone carving shows a deliberate pattern.

Cool Finds

Is This 51,000-Year-Old Deer Bone Carving an Early Example of Neanderthal Art?

Made at least a millennium before modern humans’ arrival in what is now Germany, the engraved object may reflect abstract thinking

An explosion seen off the Caspian Sea on July Fourth was attributed to a mud volcano eruption.

Azerbaijan Mud Volcano Erupts in Fiery Display

The flames towered an impressive 1,600 feet into the air

Attributed to Cubist master Pablo Picasso, this mixed-media artwork was rediscovered in the closet of a house in Maine after five decades. It recently sold at auction for more than $150,000.

Cool Finds

Artwork Attributed to Picasso Discovered in Maine Closet After 50 Years

The long-forgotten piece was likely a preparatory sketch for a huge stage curtain for the 1919 Russian ballet “Le Tricorne”

In total, there are 3,200 species of water scavenger beetles belonging to the family Hydrophilidae. These beetles have previously been known to use tiny hairs lining their abdomens and legs to trap air bubbles.

New Research

Some Bugs Walk on Water, but This Talented Beetle Scurries Underneath Its Surface

The aquatic critter may use bubbles to stay inverted

View of the dig site in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Sand Dunes in Wales Preserved This Medieval Cemetery for Centuries

Erosion threatens to destroy the historic burial ground at Whitesands Beach in Pembrokeshire

The north-facing orientation of the grave suggests it was a pagan burial.

Cool Finds

2,000-Year-Old Sarcophagus Found in England Reveals Roman Burial Practices

A limestone coffin unearthed in Bath contains the remains of two individuals. Possible offerings to the gods were discovered nearby

An installation view of "Automania" at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. The red car in front is a Cisitalia 202 GT Car (1946) designed by Italian firm Pininfarina; the green car in the background is a German "Beetle," a.k.a. a Volkswagen Type 1 Sedan (1949). The lithograph on the wall is Watch the Fords Go By (1937) by A. M. Cassandre.

How the Automobile Changed the World, for Better or Worse

New MoMA exhibition explores artists’ responses to the beauty, brutality and environmental devastation of cars and car culture

After analyzing the mitochondrial genome, the team discovered that the island-dwelling elephant is the descendant of straight-tusked elephants and was possibly isolated on Sicily between 50,000 and 175,500 years ago.

Ancient Elephants the Size of Shetland Ponies Once Roamed Sicily

The animals’ size reduction is comparable to if humans were to shrink down to the size of a rhesus monkey

Abraham Lincoln (left) claimed first place, while William Henry Harrison (right) came in 40th.

History of Now

Who Were the Best and Worst Presidents Ever—and How Do Historians Decide?

C-SPAN’s 2021 ranking places Trump near the bottom of the list. Obama, Grant rises higher, while Lincoln holds steady in first

An undated photograph shows Wally Funk standing with a U.S. Air Force jet.

Trailblazing Pilot Wally Funk Will Go to Space 60 Years After Passing Her Astronaut Tests

Wally Funk, the youngest of the ‘Mercury 13,’ will join the inaugural crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule

A newly discovered white dwarf star (right) is only slightly larger than the moon (left).

New Research

Incredibly Dense White Dwarf Star Packs the Mass of the Sun Into the Size of the Moon

Researchers say if the star was any more massive it would likely collapse under its own weight and explode

Satellite images of the Southern Amery Ice Shelf show the ice-covered lake before and after a fracture in the ice shelf beneath caused it to drain into the sea.

New Research

Massive Antarctic Lake Vanishes in Just Three Days

Researchers estimate the body of water once held as much as 26 billion cubic feet of H2O that has now all drained into the ocean

Data collected revealed that a neutron star twice as massive as the sun was swallowed up by a black hole nine times the size of the sun.

Astrophysicists Detect a Black Hole Gobbling Up a Neutron Star in Two Separate Events

Researchers spotted both events using sensors to locate ripples in spacetime that traveled 900 million years to reach Earth

A close-up image of the snake carving.

4,000-Year-Old ‘Snake Staff’ Discovered in Finland

A Stone Age shaman may have used the carving during special rituals

A researcher looks at Artemisia annua seedlings. The plant contains malaria-fighting compounds.

World Health Organization Certifies China as Malaria-Free

In the 1940s, the country recorded 30 million cases of malaria each year

The statue is finally being unveiled this week after a seven-year fundraising effort and a three-year construction effort.

Women Who Shaped History

Chicago’s First Monument to a Black Woman Will Commemorate Activist Ida B. Wells

Sculptor Richard Hunt designed the statue, which is called ‘Light of Truth’

Visitors explore during a sneak preview of the newly renovated Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Museum in Independence, Missouri. The $29 million expansion took 2 years to complete.

At the Harry Truman Library and Museum, Visitors Get to Ask Themselves Where the Buck Stops

Interactive exhibitions pose questions about the decision to drop the nuclear bomb, the Red Scare, Truman’s foreign policy and more

The supernova SN2018zd (large white dot on the right) located 30 to 40 million light years away was first identified in 2018 and may be the first observed evidence of an electron-capture supernova.

First Observed Nearly a Thousand Years Ago, Scientists Finally Confirm Elusive Third Type of Supernova

The stellar explosion may explain an odd event documented by Chinese astronomers in 1054 C.E.

Greek police recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso (left) and Piet Mondrian (right) this week, after the works were stolen in a 2012 heist of the National Gallery.

Cool Finds

How a Self-Professed ‘Art Freak’ Pulled Off a Bold Heist at Greece’s National Museum

Greek police recovered two paintings by Picasso and Mondrian, stolen 9 years ago in an early morning caper, after a 49-year-old man confessed to the crime

Ancient DNA and proteins gathered from the specimen's bones and teeth revealed the presence of Yersinia pestis.

New Research

Oldest Strain of Plague Bacteria Found in 5,000-Year-Old Human Remains

Unlike the ‘Black Death’ in the 14th century, the ancient infection probably did not spread quickly between people

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