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Cool Finds

400-Year-Old Painting by Dutch Master Found in Iowa Storage Room

Otto van Veen’s “Apollo and Venus” was likely hidden away by the Des Moines Women’s Club for showing too much skin

A rendering of the Statue of Unity.

India Is Building the World’s Tallest Statue

The monument will stand nearly 600 feet tall and it honors India’s first deputy prime minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Last year, Sesame Street introduced Julia, a Muppet with autism.

Sesame Place Becomes First Theme Park to Be Designated a Certified Autism Center

The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards announced the honor on World Autism Day

Governor Djehutynakht

New Research

The F.B.I. Helped a Museum Learn the Identity of a 4,000-Year-Old Severed Head

Cutting-edge DNA analysis revealed the mummified head belonged to Djehutynakht, a governor in Middle Kingdom Egypt, and not his wife as some believed

New Research

How Do Tiny Chicks Crack Out of Their Eggs?

The secret is in the egg shells’ nanostructure

Rare Case of ‘Coffin Birth’ Seen in Medieval Grave

The pregnant woman’s remains may also suggest that she underwent cranial surgery due to a life-threatening complication

Chilling Out in Hot Springs May Help Japan’s Snow Monkeys Reduce Stress

A new study found that bathing in the springs is linked to lower levels of a metabolite associated with stress

Two related images from The Book of Ishness, a sketchbook of abstract paintings that Tolkien began while he was an undergraduate at Exeter College, Oxford. The images date from early 1914 when Tolkien was in his third year.

Europe

Unseen Illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien Are Coming to Oxford

“Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth,” opening at the Bodleian libraries this summer, will include manuscripts, letters, maps and artwork

Cool Finds

Rare Tiny T. Rex Unearthed in Montana

Researchers are yet unsure if the creature is a baby dino or an example of the contentious Nanotyrannus

New Statue Immortalizes Mary Thomas, Who Led a Revolt Against Danish Colonial Rule

It is the city’s first public monument to a black woman

Winnie Mandela is cheered by supporters after appearing in the Krugersdorp Magistrate's court in connection with her arrest for flouting a banning order which prevents her from living in her Soweto home West of Johannesburg on Jan. 22, 1986.

Trending Today

Anti-Apartheid Crusader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Dies at 81

The activist who died Monday in Johannesburg after a prolonged illness left behind a polarizing legacy in South Africa

Oil Spill in Colombia Kills 2,400 Animals

The spill also damaged 1,000 tree species and caused adverse health effects in residents of the affected areas

Sauropod footprint on the Isle of Skye.

50 Rare Dinosaur Footprints Found on Scottish Island

The prints date to the Middle Jurassic period, which has yielded relatively few dinosaur fossils

Icarus, the most distant star ever detected

New Research

Meet Icarus, The Most Distant Star Yet Detected

The blue supergiant lies 9 billion light-years away

More than 150 Years Later, Canada Exonerates Six Indigenous Chiefs Hanged in 1864

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed that the chiefs had acted in ‘war, not murder’ when they attacked white settlers who had encroached on their land

Orange snow dusted eastern Europe thanks to sands from Sahara

Why Orange Snow Fell Over Eastern Europe

It had to do with storms in North Africa

Johan van Hulst

Johan van Hulst, Who Helped Save Hundreds of Children During the Holocaust, Has Died at 107

He hid young Holocaust victims in the school where he taught, saving them from near certain death

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

China’s Tiangong-1 Finally Crashes Back to Earth

Most of the craft likely burned up as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere

One of the structures at Jacó Sá site.

Satellite Images Reveal 81 Pre-Hispanic Settlements in the Amazon

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests settlements in the Amazon were far more wide-ranging than scholars once thought

Cool Finds

Centuries-Old Shipwreck Washes Up in Florida

The 48-foot section of ship’s hull was found last week at South Ponte Vedra Beach

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