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The blue-throated barbet, illustrated here in 1871, is native to southern Asia.

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 150,000 Free Illustrations of the Natural World

The artworks, collected by the open-access Biodiversity Heritage Library, range from animal sketches to historical diagrams and botanical studies

Coyotes and badgers teaming up to hunt is actually normal behavior in nature.

Watch a Coyote and Badger Hunt Their Prey Together

The viral video gives scientists an inside look at how cooperative hunters interact with human-made structures

A piece of worked glass unearthed from the English island of Lindisfarne that researchers suspect may have once been a Viking game piece

Cool Finds

This Glass Gaming Piece May Hail From First Viking Raids in England

Discovered on the island of Lindisfarne, the artifact was likely once part of a Hnefatafl board game set

These palms are a modern variety photographed along the shore of the Dead Sea.

Scientists Grew Palm Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds

Judean dates were once renowned for their size and flavor

The left lobe of Pluto's distinctive heart is called Sputnik Planitia, covered with craterless plains of frozen nitrogen that vaporize each day.

New Research

Pluto Has a Nitrogen Heartbeat

Nitrogen on the dwarf planet’s glacial ‘heart’ becomes vapor each day and freezes each night

Now that's a big bubble.

Education During Coronavirus

Here’s How to Blow the Perfect Giant Soap Bubble, According to Physics

Sometimes, science really blows

Bees from the nest structures: A) Head, side, top and bottom views of bees found inside the cells, B) drawing of Eufriesea surinamensis and photograph of the head of a modern bee taken by David Roubik

Panama

150-Year-Old Mummified Bee Nests Found in Panama City Cathedral

The nests, covered in gold leaf and paint, act as a time capsule for the surrounding environment circa 1870

A new analysis of 12,000- to 16,000-year-old pottery fragments suggests ancient Siberians navigated the harsh ice age climate with the help of "hot pots."

Siberian Hunters Cooked in ‘Hot Pots’ at the End of the Last Ice Age

Chemical analysis of the cookware reveals the diets of two ancient Siberian cultures

To escape loud noises, sperm whales have been known to swim to the surface too quickly and give themselves the bends.

Whales Struggled to Find Food After New Zealand’s 2016 Earthquake

Sperm whales are at the top of the food chain, and the effects of undersea landslides rippled up

So-called Gwion figures feature prominently in some Aboriginal artworks. New research shows some of these paintings may have been completed as recently as 12,000 years ago.

Bookended by Wasp Nests, These Aboriginal Artworks May Finally Have Definitive Dates

New estimates place paintings in Australia’s Kimberley rock shelters at about 12,000 years old

Actor Kirk Douglas, seen here around 1950, died Wednesday, February 5, at the age of 103.

Kirk Douglas, Towering Icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Dies at 103

A mainstay of 1950s and ‘60s cinema, Douglas was one of Classic Hollywood’s last surviving stars

Jackass penguin calls don't sound like human words. But the two forms of communications follow the same linguistic laws.

Jackass Penguin Calls Follow Similar Rules to Human Speech

These birds are nicknamed for donkeys, but structure their calls like words

By the time of his arrest in 1953, Rustin was profoundly committed to non-violent resistance.

Gay Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin Posthumously Pardoned in California

The openly gay Rustin was convicted during the 1950s under laws targeting LGBTQ individuals

This 7,200-year-old well may have once helped early farmers get the most out of their land.

Cool Finds

This Czech Well May Be the World’s Oldest Wooden Structure

Researchers suspect the 7,200-year-old well stayed intact because it spent several centuries underwater

When wind and water deflect of the dunes, they nudge their neighbors away.

Sand Dunes ‘Communicate’ as They Migrate

Wind or water flow deflecting off one dune will shove its neighbor away

Desert locusts cover branches in Katitika village, Kitui county, in Kenya on Friday, January 24. Kenya hasn't seen locust swarms of this size in 70 years.

Billions of Locusts Are Swarming East Africa

The swarms were sparked by the unusually high number of cyclones in 2019

Grey seals will clap their forelimbs together underwater, generating a sharp sound that communicates to others around them.

In a First, Scientists Film Wild Grey Seals Clapping to Show Their Strength

The behavior is believed to scare off competitors while wooing potential mates

Researcher Peter Robinson led the team that developed the first app version of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Education During Coronavirus

A New App Guides Readers Through Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’

The tool includes a 45-minute audio performance of the work’s General Prologue in Middle English

View of the bow of the R.M.S. Titanic, as photographed by an ROV in June 2004

Court Case Alleges Submarine Collision With Wreck of the Titanic Went Unreported

During a 2019 dive, a white fiberglass vehicle sent to explore the site of the wreck resurfaced with a red stain on its side

A satellite view of a region of Buckingham, England where 42 skeletons were recently unearthed on a former farm situated near a cemetery (center)

Cool Finds

U.K. Developers Unearth 42 Bizarrely Buried Skeletons

The individuals, buried with their hands tied behind their backs, may be executed Anglo-Saxon prisoners or casualties of the English Civil War

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