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Since WHO established the Public Health Emergency of International Concern designation in 2005 following the SARS outbreak, it has only been used five times.

Last Week, the World Health Organization Declared Coronavirus a Global Health Emergency. What Does That Mean?

The Public Health Emergency of International Concern designation was established in 2005—and has only been used five times since

Light pollution is threatening firefly populations.

Study Shines Light on Urgent Threats to Fireflies

Habitat loss, light pollution and pesticide were identified as three key risks that could push the insects toward extinction

The genetic legacies of modern humans and Neanderthals are more intertwined than once thought.

Modern Humans May Have More Neanderthal DNA Than Previously Thought

A new study is the first to identify a significant amount of Neanderthal DNA in African populations

Wave action in December collapsed part of the Olympic Discovery Trail in Port Angeles, Washington. Passersby began to notice ancient human remains a few weeks later.

Father and Four-Year-Old Son Find Ancient Human Remains While Biking in Washington State

Erosion along the Olympic Discovery Trail has exposed ancient bones on three separate occasions in January

An artist's impression of a pterosaur trying and failing to snag a cephalopod from the ocean

Pterosaur Tooth Found in Rare Ancient Squid Fossil

A tooth embedded in prehistoric cephalopod offers a glimpse into predator-prey interactions from 150 million years ago

The Bender family abandoned the scene of their crimes, and their ultimate fate remains unclear.

The Kansas Homestead Where America’s First Serial Killer Family Committed Its Crimes Is Up for Sale

Authorities recovered the bodies of up to 11 people from the Old West tract of land owned by the notorious “Bloody Benders”

The Moai sculptures on Rapa Nui are at risk of collapsing into the ocean as coastal erosion continues.

New Tool Tracks Climate Change’s Impact on World Heritage Sites

The online portal showcases the craggy cliffs surrounding Edinburgh Castle, Easter Island’s famed sculptures and other cultural heritage hotspots

Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremberg Chronicle (Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kamermaister), 1493

Education During Coronavirus

One Hundred Museums Transformed Their Collections Into Free Coloring Pages

This year’s #ColorOurCollections campaign features everything from medical drawings to zany 1920s advertisements for butter

European honeybees are used by commercial beekeepers worldwide to pollinate crops and produce honey.

New Research

These Bees Fight Varroa Mites With Help From Special Engineered Bacteria

Honeybees with engineered microbiomes were more likely to survive both mites and the viruses they carry

Though Kentucky is landlocked today, giant sharks swam around some 330 million years ago when it was underwater during the Late Mississippian period.

Jaw of 330-Million-Year-Old Shark Discovered in Kentucky Cave

“My mind was blown,” said one of the scientists involved in the discovery

The beloved "Queen of Suspense" died Friday at age 92.

Mary Higgins Clark, Mystery Novelist Dubbed ‘Queen of Suspense,’ Dies at 92

Today, more than 100 million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone

Churchill painted Lake Scene at Norfolk with bright colors inspired by Impressionists like Monet sometime in the 1930s.

See Winston Churchill’s Little-Known Art

Best known for serving as Britain’s prime minister during World War II, Churchill was also an amateur painter and avid writer

Researchers diving amongst the wreckage of the S.S. Cotopaxi, which disappeared almost 95 years ago.

Cool Finds

Lost Ship Rediscovered After Disappearing Near Bermuda Triangle 95 Years Ago

Far from falling prey to a paranormal occurrence, the S.S. “Cotopaxi” actually sank during an unfortunate storm

Each finger is made of two layers of hydrogel that react to temperature by contracting and leaking water.

New Research

This Robotic Hand Stays Cool by Sweating

The robot is three times more efficient at sweating than the animal kingdom’s best, humans and horses

Staff won’t be able to check properly until March, because further exposure to cold air could kill any surviving bees.

10,000 Rare Bees Feared Dead After Attack at U.K. Castle

A local councillor deemed the perpetrators ‘morons’

The vest said to have been worn by Charles I at his execution on January 30, 1649

See Charles I’s Stained Execution Shirt

The vest will feature in an upcoming exhibition on London’s long and gruesome history of public killings

Kryptos, displayed in a courtyard of the CIA’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters, has long puzzled codebreakers.

New Clue May Be the Key to Cracking CIA Sculpture’s Final Puzzling Passage

“Northeast” joins “Berlin” and “clock” as hints for deciphering a 97-character section of Kryptos’ code

Researchers conducting excavations near Bath Abbey have uncovered the remains of an apse dated to between the late eighth and late tenth centuries.

Cool Finds

Newly Unearthed Anglo-Saxon Monastery May Have Hosted England’s First Coronation

In the millennia since Edgar the Peaceful’s 973 coronation, the content of the royal ceremony has remained largely the same

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has produced the highest resolution image of the sun's surface ever taken. In this picture, taken at 789 nanometers (nm), we can see features as small as 30km (18 miles) in size for the first time ever. The image shows a pattern of turbulent, “boiling” gas that covers the entire sun.

See the Sun’s Surface Move in ‘Unprecedented’ Detail

The images were taken with the immensely powerful Inouye Solar Telescope, which could shed light on some of the sun’s more confounding secrets

The red-breasted nuthatch eavesdrops on chickadee conversations to get advanced notice of predators like pygmy owls.

New Research

Nuthatches Heed Chickadees’ Warning Calls—but They’re Wary of False Alarms

Nuthatches prefer to check the facts before they ‘retweet’ chickadees’ alerts

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