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Some soldiers (although not necessarily the ones pictured here) dyed their lighter locks to avoid appearing washed out in photographs.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Hair Dye Bottles Used by Self-Conscious Civil War Soldiers Posing for Portraits

Hair-do it for the gram

The Cosmic Crisp apple

Meet ‘Cosmic Crisp,’ a New Hybrid Apple That Stays Fresh for a Year

Proponents have called it “the Beyoncé of apples”

An amateur astronomer in India doggedly searched for the remnants of the country's Vikram lander after it crashed into the lunar south pole.

Amateur Astronomer Locates India’s Moon Lander Crash Site

After blipping out of contact in September, India’s Vikram lander has now been found strewn across the lunar surface

February II, 2019 by Devan Shimoyama

Unraveling the Tangled History of the Hoodie

Over the years, the oft-politicized garment has straddled the worlds of sports, street culture, Silicon Valley and high fashion

Indian Roller on Sandalwood Branch, by Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Impey Album, Calcutta, 1780.

Art Meets Science

London Exhibit Celebrates Indian Artists Who Captured Natural History for the East India Company

Paintings once anonymized as “company art” will finally be labeled with the names of their creators

A portrait (by Juan Carreño de Miranda) of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburg kings, and his father, Philip IV (painted by Diego Velázquez, of whom the king was a patron). Both men had prominent jaws, which a new study concludes is most likely the result of the family's inbreeding.

The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding

New research finds correlation between how inbred rulers of a notoriously intermarrying dynasty were and the prominence of their jutting jaw

After DART smashes into an asteroid, the Hera spacecraft will analyze the impact.

Trending Today

A Spacecraft Will Follow NASA’s Asteroid-Smashing Mission to Measure the Effects of the Impact

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission will collect data after NASA’s DART mission impacts the asteroid Didymos B

When the scientists played the sounds of healthy coral ecosystems at damaged reefs, 50 percent more species showed up than at quiet sites.

One Way to Lure Fish Back to Damaged Reefs? Play the Sounds of Living Coral

The find is fascinating, but can’t save these marine ecosystems by itself

A tiger similar to the one pictured here trekked more than 800 miles over the course of five months.

Trending Today

Tiger Takes Record-Breaking 800-Mile Trek Across India

The male, dubbed C1, left the Tipeshwar Tiger Reserve in June and is likely looking for a mate, new territory or prey

Potato harvest are down, but french fry demand is up.

Poor Potato Crops Could Lead to a North American French Fry Shortage

Say it isn’t so

Scenes from the dig under the Jaques Cartier Bridge

Archaeologists Unearth 19th-Century Kiln That Fired Up Pipes for Montreal’s Smokers

The city was once a prominent center of Canada’s pipe-making industry

Historical texts, pollen samples and mortuary archaeology suggest the Justinianic plague was not as devastating as previously believed.

The Justinianic Plague’s Devastating Impact Was Likely Exaggerated

A new analysis fails to find evidence that the infamous disease reshaped sixth-century Europe

Cool Finds

Was This 18,000-Year-Old Puppy Frozen in Siberian Permafrost the Ancestor of Wolves, Dogs or Both?

DNA tests on the well-preserved remains can’t determine whether the little canine was wild or domestic

Mercury-Laden Fog May Be Poisoning California’s Mountain Lions

A new study has found that pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains display higher mercury levels than big cats in inland regions

The rook in question certainly wasn't the first chess piece ever created, but it may be the oldest found to date.

Cool Finds

Is This Chess Piece Unearthed in Jordan the World’s Oldest?

The two-pronged rook, found in a seventh-century trading post, shows how quickly the game spread across the Islamic world

Pieter de Hooch, Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room, 1658, detail with fingerprint

New Exhibition Leads to Discovery of Dutch Painter’s Signature and Fingerprint

In advance of a retrospective at Museum Prinsenhof Delft, experts took a closer look at three works by Pieter de Hooch

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing rising in direct correlation with the crown's increasing demands.

Cool Finds

Elizabeth I’s ‘Idiosyncratic’ Handwriting Identifies Her as the Scribe Behind a Long Overlooked Translation

The Tudor queen wrote in an “extremely distinctive, disjointed hand,” says scholar John-Mark Philo

The newly discovered Viking ship

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Use Georadar Tech to Find Buried Viking Ship in Norway

Researchers say the vessel is probably more than 1,000 years old

An image from Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting the Great Auk.

Humans May Be Solely to Blame for the Great Auk’s Extinction

A new study suggests that the flightless birds were not declining due to environmental changes when humans began to hunt them in large numbers

First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca, the raccoon she and her family kept as a pet

Raccoon Was Once a Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a President

Calvin Coolidge refused to cook the raccoon sent to him, but the critter was a beloved staple for many Americans

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