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Flamingos mingle in a small group at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in England.

New Research

Flamingos in Captivity Pick Favorite Friends Among the Flock

These cliques wear pink every day of the week

An image of the April 2012 Lyrid meteor shower raining down on Earth, taken from the International Space Station.

How To Watch April’s Lyrid Meteor Shower From Home

Though not as plentiful as the Perseids in summer, the Lyrids can serve up some serious fireballs

Capitol Hill Books is one of several independent bookstores selling "mystery bags."

Covid-19

Local Bookstores Offer ‘Mystery Bags’ of Quarantine Reading

Buyers can ask for a mix of their favorite genre or seek booksellers’ recommendations

Health care workers at Stanford and the University of Massachusetts who have placed smiling portraits of themselves on the outside of their protective gear

Covid-19

Portrait Project Reveals the Faces Behind Health Care Workers’ Protective Gear

Doctors and nurses are attaching smiling photos of themselves to the outside of their protective gear to maintain connections with patients

"[W]e again have the collective opportunity to reduce usage of scarce items—both for the community at large and particularly for those on the frontline of this crisis," says curator Lora Vogt.

Covid-19

Cook These Quarantine-Friendly World War I Recipes

An online exhibition from the National WWI Museum and Memorial features recipes detailed in 1918 cookbook

An art installation by Raul Walch, created for the "Life, art, pandemic and proximity" project, is seen in Berlin on April 12, 2020.

Covid-19

Berlin Artists Turn Their Balconies Into Mini Galleries

Some 50 artists around the Prenzlauer Berg district displayed works of art for passersby to enjoy

Fragments of a large early Neolithic vessel that was likely used to process meat stew

Cool Finds

Traces of Millennia-Old Milk Help Date Pottery Fragments to Neolithic London

These dairy products are no longer edible, but they’re still valuable to researchers

Artist's conception of SN2016aps, a supernova that was brighter and released more energy than any other ever observed by astronomers.

New Research

Astronomers Spy Brightest Supernova Ever Seen

A star 100-times more massive than the sun exploded with 10-times more energy than a normal-sized supernova

"A Peep into the Life of a Data Scientist"

Poo-Sniffing Peeps, Miss Ameripeep and More Emerge Victorious in #PeepYourScience 2020 Competition

Blending marshmallows with scientific rigor, the contest offers levity during a difficult time

Some dolphins are shy, too.

Wild Dolphins Seem to Have a Range of Personalities

From shy to bold with shades in between, dolphin personalities are surprisingly similar to ours

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau in Lampung erupted on April 10, 2020 sending a column of ash up to 1,640 feet high.

Indonesian Volcano ‘Anak Krakatau’ Fired Lava and Ash Into the Sky Last Weekend

This eruption is the longest since 2018 when the volcano caused a deadly tsunami

An artist's impression of 'Oumuamua, first spotted in 2017.

Scientists Suggest New Origin Story for ‘Oumuamua, Our Solar System’s First Interstellar Visitor

Perhaps the cigar-shaped object is a shard from a shredded planetary body, a computer simulation suggests

MoMA visitors walk around a sculpture by Barnett Newman titled Broken Obelisk.

Education During Coronavirus

The Museum of Modern Art Now Offers Free Online Classes

The nine classes span contemporary art, fashion and photography

The Puratos Sourdough Library in St. Vith, Belgium, uses refrigerated cabinets to slow the starters' fermentation process in order to preserve their original flavor.

Virtual Travel

Take a Virtual Tour of This Belgian Sourdough Library

Sourdough librarian Karl De Smedt has traveled the world to gather more than 120 jars of starters

Shel Silverstein's houseboat, Evil Eye, is up for sale.

Shel Silverstein’s Historic Sausalito Houseboat Is Now on Sale

The children’s book author and illustrator purchased the repurposed World War II vessel in 1967

Researchers recently scanned some of the oldest dinosaur embryos in the world

Digital Reconstructions Reveal 200-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Embryo’s Unusual Teeth

New scans suggest unhatched dinosaurs reabsorbed a set of teeth during development

A team of researchers has discovered carefully buried Iron Age chicken and hare bones that show no signs of butchery.

New Research

Hares and Chickens Were Revered as Gods—Not Food—in Ancient Britain

New research indicates that Iron Age Britons venerated brown hares and chickens long before modern Easter celebrations

With fluorescent dye, biologist Tagide deCarvalho beautifully illuminated the insides of a tardigrade.

Colorful Image Lights Up Microscopic Guts of ‘Water Bear’

Biologist Tagide deCarvalho created this award-winning image of the tardigrade using fluorescent stains

The House With the Garden, seen here, is one of two excavated sites featured in the new video tour.

Virtual Travel

Take a Virtual Tour of Two Recently Excavated Homes in Pompeii

Pompeii Archaeological Park Director Massimo Osanna narrates stunning drone footage of preserved daily life in the ancient city

Some eastern monarch butterflies travel about 3,000 miles to reach their overwintering sites in Mexico.

New Research

Hand-Reared Monarch Butterflies Are Weaker Than Their Wild Cousins

In the wild, only about one in 20 caterpillars grows up to be a butterfly

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