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New Research

Science Is Falling Woefully Behind in Testing New Chemicals

Over 10 million new chemicals are synthesized each year, but with little funding science can’t keep up

View of La Danta—one of the world's largest pyramids—located in the Mirador Basin.

LiDAR Scans Reveal Maya Civilization’s Sophisticated Network of Roads

Detailed aerial images reveal a remarkably ambitious transportation network consisting of 17 roads

This 195-million-year-old rib bone may still have bits of protein clinging to its crevices.

New Research

Meaty Finds: Two Studies Claim to Have Isolated Dinosaur Proteins

Scientists have long thought soft tissues couldn’t survive over millennia—but new research suggests that isn’t the case

The walnut-sized stone likely caused back pain, leg pain and difficulty urinating.

New Research

These 12,000-Year-Old Prostate Stones Likely Led to One Prehistoric Man’s Painful Death

The walnut-sized stones were found inside a skeleton buried in modern-day Sudan

Preening automaton

Cool Finds

This Robotic Silver Swan Has Fascinated Fans for Nearly 250 Years

It preens, fishes and impresses

New Research

Are “Education Genes” on the Decline?

People in Iceland with genes associated with educational attainment are having fewer children, which may be affecting the population’s smarts

Rachel Carson in 1962.

Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring (Partly) Because of the Author of Stuart Little

The book was a turning point for the environmental movement

New Research

Diet Deficiency Can Lead to Cannibal Hamsters

A new study may explain why the rodents are declining in western Europe

Vera Lynn performing a lunchtime concert at a munitions factory in 1941.

WWII Songstress Croons Her Way to Age 100 With a New Album

Dame Vera Lynn “the Forces’ Sweetheart” will make the history books with the release

So hot, it's cool.

Cool Finds

Watch a Lava “Firehose” Spew Out of a Hawaiian Cliff

Kilauea is putting on a spectacularly scorching show

Appert devised the canning process using that old standby, trial-and-error.

The Father of Canning Knew His Process Worked, But Not Why It Worked

Nicolas Appert was trying to win a hefty prize offered by the French army

The beautiful Mauritius island may be hiding a chunk of continent.

New Research

Researchers Think They’ve Found a Mini Continent in the Indian Ocean

The island of Mauritius sits on a sunken piece of earth’s crust torn apart by plate tectonics

This photograph of Abigail Scott Dunway features the words "Yours for Liberty,"—the phrase she always used when she signed her name.

Cool Finds

This Hell-Raising Suffragist’s Name Will Soon Grace an Oregon Hotel

Abigail Scott Duniway staged a lifelong fight for women’s rights

A man administers a security screening at the Clinton Engineer Works, part of the Manhattan Project.

Lie Detectors Don’t Work as Advertised and They Never Did

Barred from use in U.S. court, lie detectors are still used today in other parts of the legal system

The President, one of only three Inner Circle members who are allowed to handle Punxsutawney Phil, holds him aloft during ceremonies in 2013.

Meet the Inner Circle That Runs Groundhog Day

They’ve been holding the ceremony in Gobbler’s Knob every year since 1887

Portrait of Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher

Google Doodle Sculpts a Tribute to Pioneering Artist Edmonia Lewis

Celebrate the first day of Black History Month by getting to know the 19th-century sculptor

Frogs have a sticky secret: spit.

New Research

Special Spit Helps Frogs Get a Grip on Insects

Secretly sticky spit snatches snacks, study shows

Astronaut Twin Study Shows How Hard Space Is on the Body

The study’s first results suggest that space travel can cause changes on the molecular level

Just call it "the house on Pooh corner."

Cool Finds

The House Where ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ Was Written Is for Sale

The 9.5-acre estate was once home to Christopher Robin and A.A. Milne

Leila Denmark practiced medicine until age 103 and lived to 114.

One of America’s First Female Pediatricians Saved Lives for 74 Years

Dr. Leila Denmark lived to be 114, and practiced medicine for three quarters of a century

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