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Still from the 1958 horror film 'Dracula' starring Christopher Lee. The character of Dracula has appeared in more than 200 films.

The Icelandic Translation of ‘Dracula’ Is Actually a Different Book

The mysteries of this Gothic classic aren’t over yet

An illustration from 'Professor Dowell's Head,' a 1925 science fiction story from Russian author Alexander Belyayev.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Good News, Everybody! Someone Once Patented Plans For Keeping A Severed Head Alive

It was what’s called a “prophetic patent”—one that isn’t real yet

Aspens are one of the American tree species moving northwest.

New Research

American Trees are Shifting West

For 86 common species, northwest seems to be best. But why?

New Research

New Zealand’s Yellow-Eyed Penguins May Be in Trouble

A new study estimates that the beloved birds could disappear locally within 25 years

On 19 March 2017 in Serbia, 9-year-old Ibrahim and 11-year-old Abuzar, both from Afghanistan, eat food they received during a lunchtime meal distribution, outside dilapidated warehouse buildings at an informal squatter settlement known as The Barracks, in Belgrade, the capital.

Trending Today

More Than 300,000 Unaccompanied Children Migrated Alone in 2015 and 2016

A new report details the risks faced by minors who flee their home countries

Orangutans may not wean for years, a new study shows.

New Research

Wild Orangutans Can Breastfeed for Over Eight Years

The primates take a while to wean their young

The Watts Bar Dam, one of the dams that is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Here’s How FDR Explained Making Electricity Public

“My friends, my policy is as radical as the Constitution of the United States,” he said

Photograph of two Havana meteoritic metal beads with a 1 cm cube for scale. The bead on the left (7.8 g mass) is cut perpendicular to the central hole, illustrating the extensive alteration of the bead and infilling of the central hole. The bead on the right (4.6 g mass) is cut parallel to the central hole and exhibits a concentrically deformed structure.

New Research

Beads Made From Meteorite Reveal Ancient Trade Network

Researchers have confirmed iron beads in Illinois come from a Minnesota meteorite, supporting a theory called the Hopewell Interaction Sphere

Iceland’s Volcano and Earthquake Museum is Devoted to the Country’s “Epic” Geology

The Lava Center is surrounded by three volcanoes

An infantry unit with bayonets marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in May 1865. They are followed by three ambulances.

See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer

Mathew Brady and the photographers he hired were the first to photograph a war zone

Ona Louise has a tale to tell.

Cool Finds

Drag Queens Are Public Libraries’ Newest Storytellers

Early reading just got a lot more glamorous

The unassuming face of one of twentieth-century America's most dangerous men, even to himself

The Innovative Spirit fy17

One Man Invented Two of the Deadliest Substances of the 20th Century

Thomas Midgley Jr.’s inventions have had an outsize impact—not all of it good—on humankind

This forest in Guatemala was burned to make way for agricultural development. A new study suggests that drug traffickers contribute to rainforest loss by laundering money with agriculture in forest lands.

New Research

Cocaine Is Destroying Forests in Central America

Once-forested lands are being used in money laundering operations

Behold T. Rex the ant

New Research

T. Rex Ants Found Alive for the First Time

It is not nearly as formidable as its namesake

The 3D printed ovaries

New Research

Mice With 3D-Printed Ovaries Successfully Give Birth

The gelatin-scaffold ovary could one day help restore endocrine function in young cancer patients and treat infertility

Mercedes Williamson

Trending Today

First-Ever Federal Transgender Hate Crime Sentence Handed Down

Mercedes Williamson’s killer was prosecuted in the absence of a Mississippi state law protecting trans people against hate crimes

This smart tag contains synthetic DNA and other security measures to help authenticate and track the provenance of canvas.

Cool Finds

Can Giving Paintings Their Own DNA Stop Art Forgery?

Science is leading the charge against copycats

72-Year-Old Love Letter Returned to WWII Veteran

The letter, which had never reached its intended recipient, was found during renovations of a New Jersey home

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

New Research

Glue Made of Mussel Slime Could Prevent Scarring

The glue, infused with a version of the protein decorin, healed wounds in rats, giving them skin with hair follicles and oil glands instead of scar tissue

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