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Mulleriblattina bowangi, a cockroach that lived in caves during the Cretaceous

Oldest Known Cave-Dwellers Are 99-Million-Year-Old Cockroaches

The pale-bodied pests belong to a family that’s still around today

A gray whale "spyhopping" off the coast of Alaska. Gray whales migrate over 12,000 miles along North America's west coast.

New Research

How Storms on the Sun Interfere With Whale Migration

The new research gives weight to the hypothesis that gray whales use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate

Gardens alongside the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace became archaeological sites where Girl Scouts discovered handmade nails and a shard of pottery.

Girl Scouts Join Archaeological Dig at Birthplace of Organization’s Founder

The 200-year-old house, where Juliette Gordon Low was born in 1860, is undergoing renovations to increase its accessibility

Chitetsu Watanabe as a young man (left) and at age 112 (right)

Chitetsu Watanabe, the World’s Oldest Man, Dies at 112

The Japanese supercentenarian attributed his longevity to not getting angry and keeping a smile on his face

A half-submerged stone inscribed with Luwian hieroglyphs detailing the fall of Phrygia

Cool Finds

Ancient Inscription Unveils the King Who May Have Toppled Midas

A newly discovered stone hints that a lost civilization defeated the ancient Turkish kingdom of Phrygia around the eighth century B.C.

The common merganser appears to have the ring from a plastic bottle stuck around its mouth and neck.

Duck Ensnared in Plastic Sparks Rescue Mission in Central Park

Rangers and bird enthusiasts are searching for a common merganser that appears to be unable to eat due to plastic debris that has become stuck in its bill

A reconstruction image showing the scale and decorated interior of Bishop Bek’s 14th-century chapel at Auckland Castle

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Identify Site of Long-Lost Chapel Razed During English Civil War

The “sumptuously constructed” 14th-century chapel was roughly the same size as Sainte-Chapelle in Paris

NASA's InSight lander, with its dome-shaped seismometer

InSight Lander’s First Big Batch of Data Reveals Mars’ Seismic Activity and Surprising Magnetism

The robot’s new data has answered plenty of questions, but raises new ones as well

A Dixie Highway marker on Georgia State Route 3

Parts of Florida Highway Honoring the Confederacy Will Be Renamed in Honor of Harriet Tubman

Miami-Dade County commissioners unanimously approved plans to rename local stretches of Dixie Highway

Icebergs breaking off of Pine Island Glacier into Pine Island Bay, where researchers found an uncharted island now named Sif.

Melting Glaciers Reveal a New Island in Antarctica

Earlier this month, Antarctica experienced its third major melt event of the summer, including record high temperatures

Greg Lecoeur won the title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his Frozen Mobile Home, a playful snapshot of seals circling an iceberg.

Dazzling Display of Seals Wins Underwater Photographer of the Year Award

French photographer Greg Lecoeur triumphed over more than 5,500 submissions from hundreds of artists around the world

Evidence that blue tits (pictured) rely on social cues to determine whether to nibble on a snack or not wasn't clear, but a new study shows they can even learn from videos.

By Watching Videos, Birds Can Learn to Avoid Gross Foods

A new study suggests that great tits and blue tits eat fewer unpalatable snacks after observing videos of ‘disgust responses’ in other birds

Posed in Hampton, Virginia, Katherine Johnson stands before a backdrop of gathering clouds, "symbolic of the obstacles ... that she had to face in her career," says curator William Pretzer.

Women Who Shaped History

Smithsonian Curators Remember Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician Highlighted in ‘Hidden Figures,’ Who Died at 101

An African American woman who battled workplace discrimination, Johnson performed crucial calculations to send astronauts into space

“Why did the Royal Canadian Mint make the world's purest and largest gold bullion coin?” the mint’s site asks. “Because we can.”

Berlin Court Sends Three Suspects to Prison for Theft of Giant Gold Coin Worth $4 Million

Prosecutors say two cousins carried out the heist with the help of a childhood friend hired as a security guard at Berlin’s Bode Museum

This remarkably well-preserved horned lark died toward the end of the last ice age

This Bird Froze 46,000 Years Ago. Now, It Can Tell Scientists About the Last Ice Age

A likely ancestor of today’s horned larks, the specimen was preserved in pristine condition by permafrost

A coral-covered propeller of a U.S. SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber stands on the sea floor in Truk Lagoon.

Three U.S. Planes Lost During World War II Found in Pacific Lagoon

Project Recover, a nonprofit dedicated to locating MIA service members, identified the planes’ location

The coins show the first three dinosaurs found in modern-day Britain.

Three Ferocious Dinosaurs Featured on New U.K. Coins

Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus were the first dinosaurs to be discovered in modern-day Britain

Archaeologists uncovered nine walls made of human bones beneath Saint Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

Walls Made of Ancient Human Leg Bones Found Beneath Belgian Church

The macabre creations are likely the product of an overcrowded cemetery cleared out hundreds of years ago

Shawn Walker, Neighbor at 124 W 117th St, Harlem, New York, ca. 1970-1979

Library of Congress Acquires 100,000 Images by Harlem Photographer Shawn Walker

The African American photographer was a founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop, an art collective launched during the 1960s

View of Takarkori shelter from the west.

New Research

Fossilized Fish Bones in the Sahara Desert Show How Diets Changed With the Climate

Thousands of years ago, hunter-gatherers in the “green Sahara” ate mostly catfish and tilapia

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