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Fur seal pups on Bogoslof Island.

On an Active Volcano, a Northern Fur Seal Population Is Booming

Scientists estimate that there were 36,000 pups on Bogoslof Island this year—up from around 28,000 in 2015

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Queens Museum Brings Rube Goldberg Machine to Life

To celebrate an exhibition of the cartoonist and hometown hero, curators commissioned one of Rube’s overly complicated gadgets

This interactive map predicts fall foliage changes across the U.S.

This Interactive Map Shows Fall Foliage Predictions Across the U.S.

The tool will help cross-country travelers in search of colorful leaves

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Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to Scientists Who Revealed How Cells Respond to Different Oxygen Levels

Three medical scientists will share the award for further explaining how the body responds to oxygen abundance

Cool Finds

Tiny Stone Tools Show Humans Hunted in the Rainforest 45,000 Years Ago

A ‘toolkit’ found in Sri Lanka adds to growing evidence that early humans inhabited many ecosystems, not just open grasslands

Two surviving elephants were trapped on a small cliff at the waterfall at Khao Yai National Park in central Thailand.

Six Elephants Die After Plummeting Down a Waterfall in Thailand

It is believed that five adults lost their lives while trying to save a calf

Photo shows seized pangolin scales and elephant ivory in Singapore this July

New Report Finds at Least One in Five Terrestrial Vertebrate Species Are Traded Globally

The research team also predicts increased trade going forward

Ming at Noah's Lost Ark, Inc., a non-profit exotic animal sanctuary in Ohio.

A Farewell to Ming, the Siberian-Bengal Tiger Who Spent Three Years in a Harlem Apartment

Antoine Yates, Ming’s owner, once said that the tiger was his ‘only friend, really’

The sculpture “Rumors of War” is unveiled in Times Square on September 27, 2019 in New York City.

A New Statue in Times Square Challenges the Symbolism of Confederate Monuments

The work by artist Kehinde Wiley will soon be moved to Richmond, Virginia, not far from a street lined with controversial Civil War memorials

Cool Finds

New Organic Compounds Found in Plumes From Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus

Analysis of data from the late, great Cassini spacecraft reveals the moon is spurting oxygen and nitrogen-bearing organic compounds into space

One of the scrolls being scanned by the Diamond Light Source and digitally deciphered.

New Research

Light Billions of Times Brighter Than the Sun Used to Read Charred Scrolls From Herculaneum

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. carbonized papyrus scrolls, which may now be readable

Picture taken at the unveiling of the Totem Pole in May 2017.

Thieves Return Hand Stolen From Montreal Totem Pole, With an Apology Note

‘After we realized what [the artwork] stood for and represented for so many people, we immediately felt sick to our stomach,’ the letter reads

American assault troops move up the beachhead from their landing craft in northern France.

Cool Finds

Man Discovers Original D-Day Dispatch Audiotape in Basement

The tape and several other recordings have since been donated to the National D-Day Memorial

Artists reconstruction of Phoebodus sharks.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Shark Looked Like an Eel and Swallowed Its Prey Whole

Scans of a rare 360-million-year-old shark skeleton shows the beasts used hunting techniques similar to modern sharks and fish

How Drones Are Helping Scientists Figure Out Whales’ Weight

Because it is so difficult to weigh the huge marine mammals, whale body mass is often not included in studies

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D.C.’s Newseum Is Closing Its Doors at the End of the Year

The museum dedicated to the history of journalism and the First Amendment has struggled financially since opening 11 years ago

A print from an oil painting attributed to J Clevely, showing Captain James Cook arriving at Queen Charlotte's Sound in New Zealand.

British Government ‘Expresses Regret’ for Māori Killed After James Cook’s Arrival in New Zealand

The statement comes as New Zealand prepares to grapple with the 250th anniversary of the first meetings between Captain Cook and the Māori

Did a 1964 Earthquake Bring a Dangerous Fungus to the Pacific Northwest?

A new study posits that tsunamis triggered by the Great Alaska Earthquake washed Cryptococcus gattii onto the shore

Dolphins and their calves enjoying a summer day in the lower Potomac River.

Cool Finds

Dolphins Are Finally Living and Breeding in the Potomac River Again

About 1,000 bottlenose dolphins have been recorded in the lower reaches of the recovering river, including one that gave birth in August

Trending Today

Record-Breaking Storm Dumps Four Feet of Snow on Parts of Montana

The September storm broke snowfall and temperature records across several states

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