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This cartoon was published on November 7, 1874, in 'Harper's Weekly.'

The Third-Term Controversy That Gave the Republican Party Its Symbol

The elephant and the donkey as symbols for America’s biggest political parties date back to the 1800s and this controversy

Marie and Pierre Curie in the laboratory.

Three Quirky Facts About Marie Curie

In honor of her 150th birthday, let’s review a few lesser-known pieces of her personal history

Hundreds of Sea Turtles Found Dead Off the Coast of El Salvador

Authorities aren’t sure what caused the die-off, but a prime suspect is a toxic algal bloom

New Research

Our Nearest Neighbor Might Harbor Its Own Solar System

New data from Proxima Centauri shows it has a ring of cold dust—a sign that many planets may orbit the distant star

Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.

Cool Finds

Brazil Begins Effort to Plant 73 Million Trees in the Amazon

The experiment in reforestation involves spreading native seeds instead of planting saplings

"A witch summoning devils" from "The Kingdom of Darkness" by Nathaniel Crouch, 1688.

200 Artifacts of Witchcraft Cast a Spell in Cornell’s “The World Bewitch’d”

The exhibit, full of manuscripts, photographs and posters, highlights the history of witchcraft in Europe

Sousa around 1915, about a decade after he first decried "mechanical music."

John Philip Sousa Feared ‘The Menace of Mechanical Music’

Wonder what he’d say about Spotify

A member of the new orangutan species, Pongo tapanuliensis.

New Research

Found: A New Species of Orangutan

But it’s thought to be already critically endangered

Trending Today

The Ozone Hole Is the Smallest It’s Been in 30 Years—But We Can’t Take Credit

Warming in the stratosphere has kept away ozone-killing chemicals, reducing annual thinning for the last two years

Trending Today

Most Antiquities Sold Online Are Fake or Illegal

Social media and ISIS have combined to flood the web with thousands of questionable artifacts

New Research

Clues for Earthquake Prediction May Be Hiding in Earth’s Molten Core

Researchers propose that irregularities in the core’s rotation could spawn clusters of major quakes

Harriet Tubman’s Canadian Church Is Struggling to Survive

The Salem Chapel in St. Catharines, Ontario, is in desperate need of repairs

"Black Bart" robbed at least 28 stagecoaches in his lifetime. He left poems at two of them.

The Poetic Tale of Literary Outlaw Black Bart

Stagecoach robber Charles Bole took the inspiration for his pseudonym from pulp fiction

A familiar-looking image from the Uncrustables patent.

Can a Sandwich Be Intellectual Property?

This is the story of a patent war over PB&J

A coral polyp chowing down on a flake of white plastic

New Research

Corals Seem to Like the “Taste” of Plastic

Corals are attracted to the material not for its coloring, but for one of its many chemicals

Trending Today

Watch the Winners of the 2017 Dance Your Ph.D. Competition

From sea stars to mathematical braids, scientists translate their work into hot moves and killer choreography

This Sea Slug Has a Crafty Way of Getting Super-Sized Meals

These colorful creatures prefer to feast on prey that has just eaten

New Research

Stopping the Aging Process May Be Mathematically Impossible

Researchers find that removing low-functioning cells can slow aging—but allows cancer cells to proliferate

New Research

Noisy Colonies Help Bat Babies Learn Different Dialects

A new study has found that baby bats mimic the vocalizations that surround them

Decennatherium rex

New Research

Four-Horned Giraffe Ancestor Unearthed in Spain

The fossil is an unusually complete individual of an ancient giraffid species

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