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Smart News

Five Things to Know About Net Neutrality

The Dec. 14 vote will decide whether to reverse the landmark 2015 regulations placed on Internet service providers

Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, to hear the verdict in his genocide trial.

Ratko Mladic, Known as the ‘Butcher of Bosnia,’ Found Guilty of War Crimes and Genocide

A United Nations court found that Mladic had directed the murders of thousands of Muslims in the 1990s

The dark, narrow streaks were once thought to be caused by flowing water. But a new study suggests they are just rolling sand.

Mars’ Streaks of Flowing Water May Actually Be Sand

Scientists have debated for years if—and how much—water could exist on the Red Planet

Virginians may have celebrated early Thanksgivings with wild turkey, like this one. Other historical accounts say the first Thanksgiving was scraped together from ship rations, oysters, and ham.

The Pilgrims Weren’t the First to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Virginia has a claim to an earlier Christian Thanksgiving celebration

"Perhaps you'd be interested if I had a sponge?"

New Research

Male Humpback Dolphins Woo Mates By Presenting Sponges as Gifts

They also use “wingmen” and occasionally sport the sponges as hats—but researchers aren’t sure just how much game they really have

Found: A Rare White Crocodile in Australia

Its name is Pearl

None

Self-Taught Rocket Scientist Will Launch From California This Weekend

Mike Hughes built his homemade rocket in an effort to “prove” the Earth is flat. He also plans to run for governor

New Research

Blue Whales Have a Secret Feeding Weapon: Ambidextrousness

Though they tend to favor their right side, blue whales can switch to ‘left-handedness’ while hunting

Forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley (left) and APVA Preservation Virginia/ Historic Jamestowne archaeologist (Danny Schmidt) discussing the double burial of two European males. James Fort site, 1607.

What Did Virginia’s Jamestown Colonists Eat?

So far, researchers have found remains of horses, rats and snakes in a well that dates back to the Starving Time

Screenshot of a new, interactive website devoted to Pablo Picasso's most famous work.

Cool Finds

You Can’t Get Closer to Picasso’s “Guernica” Than This 436-Gigabyte Image

The new “Rethinking Guernica” website also includes 2,000 documents and photos charting the painting’s 80-year history

Among the artifacts was a pair of John Lennon's glasses, complete with his optometrist's prescription.

100 Stolen John Lennon Items Found in Berlin

The trove of memorabilia, which was stolen from Yoko Ono, includes Lennon’s diaries, glasses and handwritten music scores

Cool Finds

Skeleton of a Massive Extinct Sea Cow Found on Siberian Island

Remains of the Steller’s sea cow shed light on one of the first animals that taught humans about extinction

A cameraman at the coronation of King George V.

Why Do We Call TV Watchers ‘Viewers’?

It all goes back to a quirky BBC subcommittee working in the 1930s to change the English language

Portrait of Don Diego Ortiz de Zúñiga by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Oil on canvas, in a carved and gilt wood frame.

“Lost” 17th-Century Portrait by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Found in a Welsh Castle

The portrait, which depicts a Spanish writer and historian, has now been added to a Murillo exhibition in New York

Hetty Green circa 1900 in the black widow's mourning clothes that earned her nickname.

The Peculiar Story of the Witch of Wall Street

Walking the streets in black clothes and making obscene amounts of money, Hetty Green was one of the Gilded Age’s many characters

Voltaire was enabled to become an old and famous aristocrat by his lottery winnings.

Voltaire: Enlightenment Philosopher and Lottery Scammer

The French government was trying to raise money by running a bond lottery, but a group of intellectuals had other ideas

New Research

Your Brain Swells—Then Deflates—While You Learn

Researchers hypothesize that the brain “auditions” various cells that form, but only keeps the best of the best

Watch This Year’s Hurricanes Swirl Across the Globe in New NASA Visualization

Scientists combined supercomputer simulations with satellite data tracking particles of sea salt, dust and smoke to create the mesmerizing graphic

New Research

How Clogs Damaged the Feet of 19th-Century Dutch Farmers

A study of 132 skeletons revealed bone chips associated with a rare condition

Artist's rendering of 'Oumuamua

New Research

The First Interstellar Object Seen Buzzing by Earth Is Pretty Weird

Roughly the size of a football field, the object is roughly 10 times longer than it is wide

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