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"Butterflies and caiman," by Mark Cowan. Special commendation: Butterflies suck the salt off of an Amazonian caiman's head.

Trending Today

Royal Society Photo Contest Winners Capture Breathtaking Details of Our Rapidly Changing World

Winning photos capture moments of stark change in the natural world in the Royal Society’s second annual contest

Produced by the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, this three-dimensional view of the Milky Way Galaxy is the first of its kind.

Behold a Billion Stars in This Stunning New Map of the Milky Way

Generated from Gaia satellite data, this stellar new map is the most complete chart of our galaxy to date

A rendering of the 10-ton block of ice.

Cool Finds

Watch a 10-Ton Ice Cube Melt on a Seattle Square

It’s a different kind of block party

A new imaging system could help people to read books without touching them.

New Research

This Camera Uses Radiation to Read Closed Books

No need to open a book to read past its cover

The proposed pipeline is nearly 60 percent complete.

Understanding the Controversy Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline

What to know as protesters and the oil company continue to clash

Randall Munroe’s xkcd comic tackles a range of popular science topics with an enlightening and humorous approach.

Age of Humans

New xkcd Comic Masterfully Shows How Climate Has Changed Through Time

Scroll through 20,000 years of humorously illustrated climate data

Cool Finds

Four Finds from University of Kansas’ Collection of Radical Zines

The university’s Solidarity! Radical Library boasts a collection of almost 1,000 alternative papers

Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic "V-J Day in Times Square" photo.

Trending Today

The Woman in the Iconic V-J Day Kiss Photo Died at 92, Here’s Her Story

There’s more to the image than meets the eye

Sugar companies have gotten themselves in a sticky situation.

New Research

Sugar Study Draws Attention to Food Industry’s Sour Secret

Food industries have long opened their wallets to snag a piece of the science pie

The HMS Terror was missing for nearly 170 years after it got trapped in ice and sunk in frigid Arctic waters.

Second Ship From Sir John Franklin’s 19th-Century Expedition Found

Two years and a day after its sister ship was discovered, Canadian researchers find the H.M.S. Terror

"Shotgun Seamstress"

Cool Finds

The New York Public Library’s Radical Zine Collection Is Now on Display

Check out pamphlets from people like Noam Chomsky and Mumia Abu-Jamal

Kayak may be the best way to explore the climate change memorial of the future.

Anthropocene

What Will the Memorials of the Future Look Like?

From underwater trees to mechanical parrots, the memorials of tomorrow don’t look much like the ones that exist today

How badly do you want those fries?

New Research

What Does Science Say About the Five-Second Rule? It’s Complicated

The real world is a lot more nuanced than this simple rule reflects

E. coli quickly becomes antibiotic resistant.

New Research

Watch E.coli Evolve Before Your Eyes

This is how antibiotic resistance happens

Magritte apparently recycled a lost painting to create The Human Condition.

Cool Finds

Curators Are One Piece Closer to Solving the Mystery of Magritte’s Missing Painting

The Enchanted Pose is coming back from the dead—one painted-over quarter at a time

Trending Today

Here’s How the Oxford English Dictionary Chooses New Words

“YOLO,” “uptalk” and “gender-fluid” have all made the cut

Pew Research Shows Public Libraries Remain Vital to Communities

The latest poll shows that the majority of Americans think libraries have the resources they need

The low wages in the neighborhoods around Hull House can be seen in these maps, which illustrate income based on household. Each square shows an apartment building, and incomes are shown on the legend below. Black squares earned just $5 a week or less.

Cool Finds

These Early Infographics Illustrated the Plight of America’s Poor

Florence Kelley used hard numbers to effect change

Reports found that critically endangered largetooth sawfish are sometimes passed off as shark in some fish markets.

Anthropocene

Fish Industry On the Hook for Rampant Mislabeling of Species

A new report identifies rampant fraud in the seafood industry

New Research

A Starchy Sixth Sense Could Explain Why Humans Love Carbs

Our tongues may be even more sensitive than once thought

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