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An 18th-century Spanish coin next to a modern American quarter

Cool Finds

Florida Treasure Hunters Unearth Trove of Silver Coins From 18th-Century Shipwreck

The find stems from a fleet of 11 Spanish ships that sank off the coast of Florida in 1715

NASA's newest class of astronaut candidates at their graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center.during their graduation ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in January of 2020. The class includes 11 NASA candidates, as well as two Canadian Space Agency (CSA) candidates.

So You Want to Be an Astronaut? NASA Is Hiring

For the first time in four years, eligible candidates will have a shot at joining missions headed for the moon, Mars or the International Space Station

New Yorkers use an estimated 23 billion plastic bags every year.

New York Says Goodbye to Plastic Bags

A statewide ban prohibiting the distribution of single-use plastic bags went into effect on Sunday

The mother lion, her lion cubs and her adopted spotted leopard baby, all got along just fine.

In a ‘Bizarre’ Biological Twist, a Mother Lion Adopted a Leopard Cub in India

There have been only two other documented instances of interspecies adoption—and never between animals that strongly compete for resources in the wild

A digital reconstruction of a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus fragment adorned with the face of a leopard

2,000-Year-Old Leopard Face Painting Reconstructed From Egyptian Sarcophagus

To the ancient Egyptians, the big cat symbolized strength and power, demarcating a tomb of high status

Artemisia Gentileschi's newly attributed David and Goliath painting

Cool Finds

Once Attributed to a Male Artist, ‘David and Goliath’ Painting Identified as the Work of Artemisia Gentileschi

Conservation efforts uncovered the Baroque artist’s signature along the hilt of David’s sword

3-D model of Head of Amenhotep III on Sketchfab

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 1,700 Free 3-D Cultural Heritage Models

A new Sketchfab collection brings models of fossils, artwork and more into the public domain

The restored dagger and sheath, following nine months of sandblasting and grinding

Cool Finds

Archaeology Intern Unearths Spectacular, 2,000-Year-Old Roman Dagger

After a nine-month restoration, the elaborately decorated blade and its sheath gleam as if brand new

So-called 'watermelon snow' sounds better than it looks and tastes; do not eat pink snow.

This ‘Blood-Red’ Snow Is Taking Over Parts of Antarctica

After a month of record-breaking temperatures, a kind of snow algae that turns ruby-hued in warm temperatures thrives

This Cranwell's frog fluoresces green in blue light

New Research

In Blue Light, Most Amphibians Have a Neon-Green Glow

Researchers at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota shed light on frog and salamander bioluminescence

Muhammad Ali speaks during a press conference held before his fight against Argentina's Oscar Bonavena.

This Exhibit Asks You to Caption Photos of People Caught in Mid-Sentence

National Portrait Gallery exhibit features snapshots of Muhammad Ali, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Two winners split the Plougastel-Daoulas contest's grand prize of €2,000.

Has This Boulder’s Mysterious, Centuries-Old Inscription Finally Been Deciphered?

Two newly publicized translations suggest the message is a memorial to a man who died in the 1700s

Ducks can apparently eat up to 200 locusts a day, one Chinese researcher says.

Is a Duck Army Coming for Pakistan’s Locusts? Not So Fast

In the wake of a social media storm, experts question a popular plan to dispatch insect-eating birds from China

Stone tools found at the Dhaba site from the same time as the Toba volcanic super-eruption.

Ancient Humans May Have Survived Supervolcano Eruption Nearly 74,000 Years Ago

Stone tools in north-central India suggest that ancient residents adapted to a world cooled by volcanic ash

Parliament at sunset

Cool Finds

Secret 17th-Century Passageway Discovered in British House of Commons

Parliament has posted photos of its members and collaborators delighting in the discovery

Barbara Karinska, “Emeralds” costume from Jewels, original designed in 1967. Lent by the New York City Ballet

From Ballerina Flats to Tutus, Ballet Has Left Its Mark on Fashion

A new exhibition in NYC features high-end couture, historic ballet costumes and modern athletic wear

Not one, but two rare cloud features hovered side by side, lit by the sunrise, on Monday morning over Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

Two Rare Cloud Features Appear Over New Hampshire’s Mount Washington

The formations are “sculpted” by differences in air pressure and usually last less than a minute

Tourists wait to see Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

More Than One Million People Saw the Louvre’s Blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition

The record-breaking show attracted almost double the number of visitors as the Paris museum’s 2018 Delacroix retrospective

A scanned page from The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke, a 15th-century courtesy book of table manners and etiquette for kids

Don’t Pick Your Nose, 15th-Century Manners Book Warns

The taboo on booger hunting stretches back centuries, reveals a book recently digitized by the British Library

A rhesus monkey photographed in Florida in 2017.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Horde of Herpes-Infected Monkeys?

Feral rhesus macaques are invasive in Florida, but there are no easy solutions for managing them

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