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A Fremont Correctional Facility inmate reading a book on the top bunk of his cell.

Prison Book Bans Are ‘Arbitrary and Irrational,’ Report Finds

PEN America’s report coincided with the annual Banned Books Week

New Research

In Ukraine, Megastructures Help Chart the Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization

The arrangement of large public spaces at the sprawling Maidanetske site suggests the culture became less democratic before collapse

New Research

If We Connect Fragmented Habitat, New Species Will Come, Study Shows

An 18-year study of longleaf pine savannah showed a 5 percent species increase per year when isolated plots were reconnected

That's the tea.

Your Soothing Cup of Tea May Contain Billions of Microplastics

That’s ‘several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods,’ according to a new study

Researchers extracted DNA from more than 400 lions

Zambia’s Lions Roam Areas Previously Believed to Be Uninhabitable

A select group of migrating big cats ensures high levels of genetic diversity throughout the country’s lion population

Workers found traces of the fort while surveying the area ahead of redevelopment

Cool Finds

Construction Reveals Remnants of Roman Fort Below British Bus Station

Archaeologists found three defensive ditches, as well as coins, pottery and imported tableware

Virtual Travel

Listen to the Stories of Alabama’s Civil Rights Sites

A new interactive project seeks to preserve oral testimonies connected to 20 historic locations

Renia Spiegel in Przemyśl circa 1930

The Poignant Wartime Diary of a Jewish Teenager Living in Poland Has Been Published in English

Renia Spiegel was killed by the Nazis when she was 18 years old

Trending Today

Climate Report Warns Oceans and Polar Ice Are in Serious Peril

The IPCC study shows that without immediate change, sea level will rise, fish stocks will crumble and glaciers and polar regions will thaw

Trending Today

The “Versailles of Dresden” Has Been Rebuilt, 74 Years After World War II

The opulent royal apartments at the Residential Palace were Augustus the Strong’s attempt to project and prolong his power

The map shows locations including accused witches' places of residence, sites of trial, detention and execution

This Map Shows the Scale of 16th- and 17th-Century Scottish Witch Hunts

The interactive tool tells the stories of 3,141 men and women accused of practicing witchcraft

Mother walruses like this one on a waterfront near Svalbard, Norway, are very protective of their young.

An Angry Walrus Mother Derailed a Russian Naval Expedition

The hulking marine mammal was likely trying to protect her calves

The crypt-keeper brainwashes victims, then consumes them from the inside out

Parasitic Crypt-Keeper Wasp Manipulates the Minds of Seven Fellow Insect Species

The ‘hypermanipulator’ is named after Set, the Egyptian god of war and chaos

New Research

These Prehistoric Sea Monsters Had a Mean Breast Stroke

A new study shows Mosasaurs not only swam using their tails but used powerful pectoral muscles for short bursts to ambush prey

New Research

Research Suggests Machu Picchu Was Purposely Built on Top of Intersecting Fault Lines

It’s believed the fissures produced chunks of cracked rock that aided in the construction of the city’s tightly fitted stone walls

Too cute to be nameless.

Help the Shedd Aquarium Name Its Rescued Otter Pups

The aquarium hopes the contest will help raise awareness about southern sea otters’ ongoing conservation needs

One 23-year-old supermom gave birth to 17 pups over her lifetime

New Research

Select Elephant Seal ‘Supermoms’ Produce Most Pups

The most successful seal mothers were those that ‘bred at every opportunity and lived long’

The unveiling ceremony of the statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill.

Chief Standing Bear, Who Fought for Native American Freedoms, Is Honored With a Statue in the Capitol

‘That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain,’ the chief famously said during a landmark 1879 trial

Artist's conception of a watery Venus.

New Research

Venus Could Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years

New simulations show the planet could have maintained moderate temperatures and liquid water until 700 million years ago

Even Shy Cats Are Bonded to Their Human Caregivers

A new study suggests that cats form ‘secure attachments’ to their owners, just like dogs and human babies do

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