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Neonics are responsible for 92 percent of the increase in U.S. agricultural toxicity

Toxic Pesticides Are Driving Insect ‘Apocalypse’ in the U.S., Study Warns

The country’s agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to insects than it was 25 years ago

July was the hottest month in recorded history.

Trending Today

Last Month Was the Hottest July in Recorded History

The EU’s weather satellites show the global average was 0.072 higher than July 2016, the previous record holder

Toni Morrison, painted by Robert McCurdy, 2006, oil on canvas

Toni Morrison, ‘Beloved’ Author Who Cataloged the African-American Experience, Dies at 88

‘She changed the whole cartography of black writing,’ says Kinshasha Holman Conwill of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Kiwi birds are native to New Zealand.

It Will Take New Zealand 50 Million Years to Recover Its Lost Bird Biodiversity

Half of the country’s unique avian taxa have gone extinct since humans came to the island

Saber-toothed cats likely ambushed plant-eating prey in forests, not open grassland

Fossils Reveal Why Coyotes Outlived Saber-Toothed Cats

Contrary to popular belief, carnivorous cats and canines probably didn’t hunt the same limited pool of prey

Marcel Proust in 1900.

Cool Finds

Nine Newly Discovered Proust Stories to Be Published

The works were slated to be part of the French author’s first collection of poems and stories, but were cut for unknown reasons

Dorothy Toy and her tap dance partner Paul Wing circa 1942.

Remembering Dorothy Toy, a Dazzling Asian-American Tap Dance Star

She and her dance partner Paul Wing appeared together as stars of stage and screen, but they were not immune to prejudicial attitudes

Some of the plastic trash pulled from the stomachs of flesh-footed shearwater chicks.

New Research

Eating Even One Piece of Plastic Has Health Consequences for Baby Seabirds

A study of fleshy-footed shearwater babies found plastic increased their cholesterol, impacted their kidneys and disrupted normal growth

Ngwevu intloko skull

After 30 Years, a South African Dinosaur Is Identified as a New Species

The fossil, held for decades at the University of Witwatersrand, was previously thought to belong to the most common dinosaur species in South Africa

An aerial view of meltwater rivers carving into the Greenland ice sheet on August 04, 2019.

Greenland Lost 12.5 Billion Tons of Ice in a Single Day

The amount of ice collectively lost last Wednesday and Thursday would be enough to cover Florida in almost five inches of water

Moving forward, individuals will only be able to spray paint the wall on specified days

Future Graffiti Additions to Prague’s John Lennon Wall Will Be Strictly Regulated

Local authorities are introducing security measures in response to vandalism, obscene graffiti

Cool Finds

New England ‘Vampire’ Was Likely a Farmer Named John

In 1990, archaeologists discovered a corpse that had been disturbed during the Great New England Vampire Panic

Eva Papamargariti, Acedia (still from video work), 2019.

Miami Museum Launches Exhibition Exclusively on Instagram

Over eight weeks, ‘Joyous Dystopia’ is posting digital works by eight different artists

The musical finds the six queens competing for the dubious honor of telling the most tragic tale

The Six Wives of Henry VIII Are Coming to Broadway

In ‘Six,’ the Tudor queens get a chance to share their side of the story

John Dillinger's mugshot.

Why John Dillinger’s Relatives Want to Exhume His Body

They suspect that the man killed by federal agents in 1934 was not, in fact, the outlaw, but a Dillinger expert dismisses the theory as ‘total nonsense’

Cool Finds

Nevada Has a Massive New Dark Sky Sanctuary

The night skies at 100,000-acre Massacre Ridge are some of the starriest in the world

The Posbury Clump.

Would You Like to Buy an Extinct Volcano?

The U.K.’s Posbury Clump may not have the snazziest of names, but the site boasts a rich history—and is available for around $60,700

New Research

New 3-D Map Shows Milky Way’s Big Twist

By mapping the distance of Cepheid stars, researchers reveal that our galaxy is warped

Section of fragment found

Cool Finds

Fragment of ‘The Rose Thorn,’ a Poem About a Talking Vulva, Dated to the 1300s

The section of the erotic Medieval fantasy was found in the binding of book in Austria’s Melk monastery

Warmer temperatures yield more female hatchlings, while colder temperatures yield more males

Turtle Embryos May Be Able to Influence Their Sex by Moving Around Inside the Egg

When embryos found the so-called ‘Goldilocks’ temperature zone, sex selection was randomized, producing a nearly even split between males and females

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