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Smart News

Japanese sea slugs that washed ashore in Oregon in 2015

New Research

The 2011 Tsunami Flushed Hundreds of Japanese Species Across the Ocean

After the Fukushima disaster, a surprising number of coastal creatures survived a multi-year journey by clinging to floating debris

Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon Sells for $35 Million

Adjusting for inflation, Bill Gates’ $30.8 million purchase of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester in 1994 remains the most expensive manuscript sale

Nobody has ever been charged with the Tylenol poisonings.

The 1982 Tylenol Terror Shattered American Consumer Innocence

Seven people lost their lives after taking poisoned Tylenol. The tragedy led to important safety reforms

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Cool Finds

Diver Explores Beautiful Blue Hole Hidden in Plain Sight

After spotting the feature while perusing Google maps, a marine biologist set out to experience and capture it in all its cerulean glory

The 2015 winner of the "GIF It Up" competition.

Competition Wants You to Turn Cultural Heritage Into GIFs

The latest round of “GIF It Up” seeks the best GIFs made from public domain prints, photos, paintings and more

This 1966 portrait of Hugh Hefner will go on display today in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Hugh Hefner’s Legacy as Told Through National Portrait Gallery Artifacts

Three objects explore the complicated and controversial life of the late founder of the Playboy empire

The Village of Whitesboro's old seal (left) adjacent to its new seal (right).

New York Village Changes Controversial Seal Showing a White Settler Wrestling a Native American

The seal was widely mocked and criticized after villagers voted against changing it last year

A Coco Chanel Little Black Dress, released in 1926.

Why Coco Chanel Created the Little Black Dress

The style icon created a… well…. style icon in 1926

A modern mocha

Your Mocha is Named After the Birthplace of the Coffee Trade

The port city of Mocha, in Yemen, was once a vast coffee marketplace

Cool Finds

Degas’ Rare Sculptures Are Stuffed With Wine Corks

X-rays show the artist fleshed out his wax and clay personal projects with bits and pieces found around the studio

A bit of 3.95 billion-year-old graphite locked in quartz

New Research

This May Be the Oldest Traces of Life Yet Found

Bits of graphite, 3.95 billion years old, suggest life was churning away soon after Earth’s formation

Pandamonium

Panda Habitat Is Severely Fragmented, Placing Pandas at Risk

Despite recent habitat improvements, roads and development are isolating panda populations

Scientists drilled under the waters around New Zealand to find evidence of a lost continent

“Lost Continent” Rises Again With New Expedition

Zealandia sank beneath ocean tens of millions of years ago, but scientists are pulling up remnants of it to study how it used to be

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Wolf Pups Spotted Near Rome for the First Time in Decades

The animals were once hunted to the brink of extinction, but are now recovering

Could New York be the Gotham we prize without the Guggenheim?

What to Know About the Controversy Surrounding the Chinese Art Exhibit Coming to the Guggenheim

As questions of animal cruelty, artistic freedom swirl, three major works were pulled from “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World”

A comparison of the man's brain activity before and after he had vagus nerve stimulation.

New Research

Experimental Treatment Partially Awakens Man in Vegetative State

Scientists are hopeful but cautious about the initial results of the test

This portrait by an anonymous photographer shows the face of the man who popularized the flush toilet: Thomas Crapper.

Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper’s actual innovation was entirely tangential to the flush toilet

The inspiration for the bendy straw came while Joseph Friedman was watching his young daughter try to drink from a tall glass.

Why You Should Appreciate the Invention of the Bendy Straw

It’s the straw that bends, not the person

An artist's impression of ripples in the fabric of space-time formed from the collision of two black holes.

Scientists Detect Fourth Gravitational Wave, Homing in on an Ancient Black Hole Collision

By triangulating measurements, scientists could soon detect these once elusive energy bursts on a weekly basis with greater precision than ever before

Cool Finds

Excavations Begin on Paul Revere’s Privy

Archaeologists in Boston hope the outhouse will reveal the diet and detritus of the families that lived on the site

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