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Pools where 11 orcas and 90 belugas—all caught illegally—were kept, in Srednyaya Bay near the city of Nakhodka in Russia's Far East, according to Getty. The whale were going to be sold to Chinese amusement parks.

Russia Will Free 97 Orcas, Belugas Held in Cramped ‘Whale Jail’ Since Last Summer

Authorities and international scientists have signed an agreement pledging to release the whales “back into their natural environment”

Polish soldier and military commander Casimir Pulaski (1745 - 1779), circa 1775. From an original engraving by James Hopwood after a painting by Oleszkiewicz.

Was the Revolutionary War Hero Casimir Pulaski Intersex?

A new Smithsonian Channel documentary may affirm long-standing suspicions about the Polish fighter’s identity

A trio of air conditioners failed to meet manufacturer recommendations regarding the use of separate circuit breakers and grounding devices

A Faulty Air Conditioning Unit Sparked the Brazil National Museum Fire

The September 2018 blaze destroyed the 200-year-old building and reduced the majority of its 20-million artifact collection to ash

Until now, it was thought that great white sharks avoid kelp forests.

Watch Rare Footage of a Great White Hunting Seals in a Kelp Forest

A new study dispels the belief that the sharks are too large to maneuver through dense kelp growths

Aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

New Research

There Hasn’t Been a Huge Earthquake on California’s Major Fault Lines in 100 Years

Major ground-rupturing quakes have not taken place along the faults since 1918, but that may mean the next century will be on shaky ground

Trending Today

Thank Dan Robbins for the Paint-by-Number Craze

Robbins, who died this month at 93, came up with the kits that let millions of people try their hand at painting

A juvenile male gorilla lingers beside his mother's body

Gorillas Appear to Grieve for Their Dead

Scientists found that expressions of grief even extended beyond members of the same peer group

Win a Sleepover at the Louvre, for One Night Only

Here’s your chance to lounge with the Mona Lisa and dine with the Venus de Milo

Thor Heyerdahl photographed with archaeological artifacts from Easter Island

Norway Will Repatriate Thousands of Artifacts Taken From Easter Island

Thor Heyerdahl Jr. says his late father had promised to return the items after they had been analyzed and detailed in published works

Skippy, the author's cat, is generally an attentive listener.

Cats May Recognize Their Own Names—but It Doesn’t Mean They Care

In a study of 78 kitties, researchers concluded our feline friends can differentiate their names out of a series of random words

Artistic reconstruction of two individuals of Peregocetus, one standing along the rocky shore of nowadays Peru and the other preying upon fish. The presence of a tail fluke remains hypothetical.

How Did Whales Reach the Americas? A Four-Legged Fossil Offers New Clues

Dubbed Peregocetus pacificus, the newly-described species was adapted to life both in and out of the water

The squirrels measure up to 36 inches from head to tail

Yes, Giant Technicolor Squirrels Actually Roam the Forests of Southern India

The colorful creatures can measure up to three feet long from head to tail and weigh in at around four pounds

New Research

Exoplanet Core Orbiting a Dying Star May Help Astronomers Understand What Lies in Store for Our Solar System

It’s likely the planetesimal orbiting a white dwarf 410 light years away was the core of a minor planet caught in its immense gravity

These illustrations come from a miniature book of classical Persian poetry.

The Library of Congress Has Digitized 155 Persian Texts Dating Back to the 13th Century

Offerings include a book of poetry featuring the epic Shahnameh and a biography of Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal

"Slow looking" is impossible in Yayoi Kusama's popular "Infinity Mirror Rooms," which enforce a strict 30-second visitor time limit

This Saturday, Museums Across the Globe Are Asking Visitors to Linger for Slow Art Day

166 institutions are participating in the 10th-annual event, which encourages visitors to spend 5 to 10 minutes in front of a single work of art

Swiss Miss sells more than 50 million boxes every year

Charles Sanna’s Cocoa Packets Changed the Way We Drink Hot Chocolate

Sanna invented Swiss Miss, the first instant hot chocolate mix that could be made with hot water instead of milk

Redoshi seen in “The Negro Farmer: Extension Work for Better Farming and Better Living"

Cool Finds

Researcher Identifies the Last Living Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Redoshi was 12 when she was kidnapped and sold to the crew of the Clotilda

Some three to five million years ago, the icy environs of Antarctica were replaced by verdant swaths of green

CO2 Levels Are as High as They Were Three Million Years Ago

The last time Earth had this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trees were growing at the South Pole

Talk about sleeping on the job.

NASA Is Recruiting Women to Stay in Bed for Two Months

The gig pays around $18,500, but this is no dream job

This is why we can't have nice things.

Trending Today

Indonesia Considers Closing Komodo Island Because Poachers Keep Stealing the Dragons

Komodo National Park may put the island off limits to restore degraded habitat and help its iconic giant lizards and their prey recover

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