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The Heerlen curse tablet has an ancient Greek inscription.

Cool Finds

This Magical Curse Written in Greek on a Small Lead Tablet Was Meant to Punish Enemies Nearly 2,000 Years Ago

The lead curse tablet was discovered in a city square in the Netherlands and recently deciphered by researchers in Germany

The Longaberger basket company headquarters has been a landmark in Newark, Ohio, since it was built in 1997.

This Giant, Seven-Story Picnic Basket, Once Home to an Iconic American Brand, Could Be Yours for $8.5 Million

The former Longaberger basket company headquarters in Ohio is for sale to a buyer who is willing to preserve its quirky design

A Heliconius melpomene butterfly feeding on pollen.

These Butterflies Can Live 25 Times Longer Than Their Relatives. They Might Provide Insights Into Healthy Aging in Humans

Their unusual diet of pollen—rather than nectar—might partially explain why members of the Heliconius genus live so long, up to nearly a year

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins live in the tropical waters of the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

Female Dolphins Seem to Remember Which Males Were Aggressive During Mating Season—and May Try to Avoid Them

When researchers played underwater recordings of pushy males, females that were capable of becoming pregnant swam away from the sounds

The Rumkale fortress ruins sit on the banks of the Euphrates River in Turkey.

Scientists May Have Discovered the Origins of the Euphrates River, Which Helped Nurture Some of the Earliest Known Civilizations

The famous waterway began as two rivers, a new study suggests. Tectonic activity around five million years ago probably made them change course and merge, helping to birth the Fertile Crescent

The researchers tracked eye and body movements of larval zebrafish.

Fish and Humans Share Surprisingly Similar Sleep Habits, Including Daytime Naps

A recent study suggests that zebrafish have four sleep substates, just like humans do—and one of them is akin to an afternoon snooze

An abandoned section of the railway in Myanmar photographed in 2015

This Infamous ‘Death Railway’ Station, Built by Forced Labor From Prisoners of War and Civilians in World War II, Was Just Revealed in Thailand

The Nithe Station, usually submerged under a reservoir, will be accessible this summer as officials drain the site to perform dam maintenance

A coral reef in the southern Andaman Sea, in Southeast Asia

Scientists Identify Swaths of Coral Reefs That Might Be Able to Withstand Climate Change, Offering New Avenues for Conservation

New research has mapped more than 64,000 square miles where the crucial habitat seems to be somewhat protected from the impacts of the warming ocean

Aerial view of excavations at the newly discovered villa in Castel di Guido

Cool Finds

Authorities Investigated Reports of an Illegal Excavation in Rome. Then, They Stumbled Upon an Ancient Villa Adorned With Mosaics

In the second century C.E., Roman emperors such as Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius frequented the area where the residence was found

The two protomes, approximately 1,700 years old, were found laying face-down inside an empty wine vat in a villa near the Mediterranean Sea. 

Cool Finds

Two Well-Preserved Roman Busts Were Discovered Inside a Wine Vat in Israel Near the Capital City of a Roman Province

One is inscribed with the name “Lycurgus,” suggesting the bust may depict the legendary founder of ancient Sparta

This weekend, thousands of people are expected to gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Evidence That a Wooden Prototype for Stonehenge May Have Aligned With the Solstice 500 Years Before the Stone Circle

The remains of a wooden monument in southern England, three miles away from Stonehenge, may demonstrate Neolithic people’s interest in the heavens

A 6-year-old boy found this single-edged sword in a field in southern Norway in April.

Cool Finds

A 6-Year-Old Boy Spotted Something Sticking Out of the Ground in a Field. It Turned Out to Be a Viking Sword

Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt was on a school field trip when he found the roughly 1,200-year-old weapon. The single-edged blade will now be preserved at an Oslo museum

The researchers say the early strains of plague they identified were highly lethal.

New Research

New Discovery That Hunter-Gatherer Children Died of Plague More Than Five Millennia Ago Sets Back the Date of the Earliest Outbreak

The skeletons of nomadic families unearthed in Siberia harbor “Yersinia pestis” bacteria, which challenges theories about conditions needed for the disease to spread

Located in Sherwood Forest, the Major Oak failed to produce leaves this spring and is now presumed dead.

Major Oak, the 1,200-Year-Old Tree with Ties to the Robin Hood Legend, Is Presumed Dead After Failing to Produce Leaves

The legendary bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor is said to have used the massive tree as a hideout while running from the sheriff of Nottingham

A black-and-white photograph from the 1910s of a girl named Gladys by Hooks Brothers Studio in Memphis

This Photography Studio Captured the Beauty of Black Life in the South. Soon Its Archive, Once Hidden Away, Will Have a New Museum Home

The Hooks brothers documented life and joy in Memphis during the 20th century. Their images will be put on public view when the Memphis Art Museum opens

Astronomers used galaxy cluster MACS J0416 (background), as a magnifying glass to view the extremely faint galaxy LAP1-B (inset), which is visualized here based on the James Webb Space Telescope's infrared data.

Astronomers Discovered a ‘Cosmic Fossil’ in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time

The James Webb Space Telescope observed 13-billion-year-old light, using a closer galactic cluster like a magnifying glass. The work helps experts understand the universe’s earliest stars and mysterious ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

David Drake’s 1857 ceramic jar is featured prominently in the museum’s redesigned 18th-century galleries ahead of its America at 250 celebration. 

America's 250th Anniversary

By Signing His Name to Massive Jars, This Enslaved Artist Defied Literacy Bans in the South. Now, His Masterpiece Is on View With a Famed Paul Revere Bowl

Born into slavery around 1800, David Drake was a skilled ceramicist. His work will be on display at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as the institution marks America’s 250th birthday

Chinese money plant

Researchers Find a Mathematical Pattern Used in City Planning Hidden in the Leaves of a Common Houseplant

The major veins of Chinese money plant leaves form what’s called a Voronoi diagram. It might be caused by a plant-growth hormone that emanates in waves from developing leaves’ pores

Researchers created a map of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks across Earth's topsoil.

Nearly All Plants Depend on Tiny Underground Fungi. The Microbes’ Vast Global Networks Were Just Mapped for the First Time

If lined up end to end, the thin, tubular threads that make up the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks in Earth’s topsoil could stretch between our planet and the sun almost one billion times

Archaeologists discovered musket balls thought to have been fired during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

America's 250th Anniversary

In June 1775, the American Patriots Faced Off With the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Archaeologists Are Uncovering Evidence of the Fighting 251 Years Later

Researchers discovered gun parts, musket balls and other artifacts in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood

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