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The sun sets behind the Manhattan Bridge and One World Trade Center in a haze created by smoke from the west coast wildfires reaching the east coast on September 15, 2020 in New York City, according to Getty Images.

West Coast Wildfire Smoke Reported as Far East as the Netherlands

Hazy skies covered the United States and parts of Europe this week as jet streams pushed fumes eastward

Film Still, My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki

Movie Museum to Open With Show Honoring Japanese Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ inaugural exhibition debuts on April 30, 2021

Smoke rises from a fire in the Amazon rainforest, south of Novo Progresso in the Para state, Brazil.

Humans Wiped Out Two-Thirds of the World’s Wildlife in 50 Years

Threats to global biodiversity are also threats to humans, experts warn

Drone images show the location of a council circle found on an ancestral Wichita site in Kansas.

New Research

Drone Imaging Reveals Pre-Hispanic ‘Great Settlement’ Beneath Kansas Ranch

The 164-foot-wide earthwork is the sixth ancestral Wichita “council circle” discovered in the region

Curators removed the tsantsa, or shrunken heads, from display in July.

Oxford Museum Permanently Removes Controversial Display of Shrunken Heads

Citing the exhibit’s reinforcement of “racist and stereotypical thinking,” the Pitt Rivers Museum moved a total of 120 human remains into storage

Climate change is causing trees, like black spruces, grow fast and die early, which in turn negates the trees' ability to absorb as much CO2 as scientists previously thought.

Trees Are Growing Fast and Dying Young Due to Climate Change

Rapid growth reduces the capacity of forests to absorb and store carbon dioxide

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial's formal dedication is slated to take place on Thursday, September 17.

Controversial, Long-Delayed Eisenhower Memorial Finally Makes Its Debut

Celebrating Ike’s political, military accomplishments required compromise between the architect and the president’s family

An acorn woodpecker wearing one of the radio tags used in the study.

New Research

These Woodpeckers’ Bloody Wars Draw Crowds

Acorn woodpeckers will fight to the death to control the finest habitat and new research finds up to 30 non-combatants will pull up a branch to watch

Starlet anemone grow tentacle arms based on how much food they intake.

These Sea Anemones Grow Limbs When They Eat

The starlet sea anemone is the first known species to translate food into limbs

Storm Francis uncovered more petrified tree stumps in Wales' Cardigan Bay, 15 miles south of the sunken forest in Borth.

New Section of Petrified Forest Uncovered on Wales Beach After Storm

The petrified forest in Borth appears in a myth written in the oldest surviving Welsh manuscript

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890-1, is one of 25 in a series by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, who frequently created similar depictions of a single subject in different lights, seasons and atmospheres.

How Chicago Became a Monet Destination

A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago explores the Impressionist painter’s connection to the Midwestern city

Researchers identified a "trench" previously dated to modern times as a 3,700-year-old fissure.

New Research

Did an Earthquake Topple This Ancient Canaanite Palace?

Excavations at Tel Kabri in Israel revealed physical evidence of a natural disaster

Refugees established communities in displaced persons (DP) camps across Germany.

The Little-Known Story of World War II’s ‘Last Million’ Displaced People

A new book by historian David Nasaw tells the story of refugees who could not—or would not—return home after the conflict

Venus, the second planet from the sun

In Clouds on Venus, New Potential for Microbial Life

Astronomers have detected a chemical in Venus’ atmosphere that signifies life on Earth. Could it mean the same on Venus?

The cave angel fish's unique pelvic shape was first documented in 2016. Its uncommon anatomy allows it to walk with all four appendages the way a salamander or a lizard might.

New Research

Study Finds Ten Species of Fish That May Have a Secret Talent for Walking on Land

The strange fish may help researchers envision the gaits of Earth’s first terrestrial vertebrates

A research team surveyed the seafloor near Thwaites Glacier on the RV Nathaniel B Palmer in early 2019.

New Research

Mapping Technology Reveals Channels of Warm Water Under Florida-Sized Glacier

The new research will inform computer models of how quickly the glacier is melting

The Golden Coach, as seen during Budget Day celebrations in 2011

Why Is the Dutch Royal Family’s Golden Carriage So Controversial?

Critics say the coach, which is set to go on view at a museum next June, features racist, colonialist imagery

A one-inch-long gaming piece found at the site of a former Roman fort in Chester, England

Cool Finds

Roman Gaming Piece Crafted Out of Bone Found in England

Ancient soldiers may have used the oblong token to play “Ludus Latrunculorum,” or the “Game of Mercenaries”

This painting depicts the night the Phoenix steamboat caught fire on Lake Champlain.

Cool Finds

Lost Pieces of 19th-Century Steamboat Wreck Found in Vermont

Divers discovered the Phoenix’s hull in 1978, but the vessel’s wheels remained lost—until now

A regular mouse is pictured on the left of a bulky "mighty mouse."

Space Mice Return to Earth, Mighty as Ever

Their space voyage provides new insights for treating muscle and bone loss

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