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A western gull like this one surprised researchers by riding on an 18-wheeler to an outdoor composting facility in California.

A California Gull Hitched a Ride on a Garbage Truck and Took an 80-Mile Journey to a Compost Facility. Then It Happened Again

GPS tracking data showed the bird zooming across bridges and interstates at 60 miles per hour on two occasions in 2018

Concentric star trails glow behind a single dragon's blood tree, an otherworldly species native to Yemen's Socotra island.

Check Out Ten Spectacular Space Images From the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

The annual competition for professional and amateur astrophotographers released its shortlisted images, which capture the beauty of the cosmos seen from Earth

Artist Charlie Whinney poses for a photo inside the installation he created around a section of the Sycamore Gap tree.

The Largest Section of the Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Is Going on Display in England

The iconic tree was illegally chopped down in September 2023, but its memory will live on in the form of a new art installation that invites visitors to touch—and even embrace—a piece of its trunk

Greenlandic sled dogs, also known as Qimmit, play while resting.

Greenland Sled Dog DNA Reveals a Story of Human Migration and Ancestry of the Unique Breed

Researchers analyzed ancient and modern genetic samples of the Greenlandic Qimmit breed to shed light on the long relationship between the Inuit and their dogs in the Arctic

Likely in the 1930s, someone split a flat fossil slab in half, leaving the skeleton on one side and the skeleton's outline on the other.

A Paleontologist Matched Two Halves of the Same Fossil Stored at Different Museums—and Discovered a New Species

Meet Sphenodraco scandentis, a tree-dwelling, lizard-like reptile that roamed around with the dinosaurs during the Late Jurassic period roughly 145 million years ago

The tomb was found in an acropolis to the right of Caana, the central architectural complex at Caracol, which is more than 140 feet tall.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Treasure-Filled Tomb Belonging to the First Known Ruler of a Maya City in Belize

Te K’ab Chaak was a wealthy warrior king who rose to power in 331 C.E. His burial is the first royal tomb found in the ancient city of Caracol

At the Neumark-Nord site in central Germany, researchers found the remains of at least 172 individual animals, including foxes, horses, big cats and an extinct species of rhinoceros.

New Research

Neanderthals May Have Been Running a Sophisticated ‘Fat Factory’ in Germany 125,000 Years Ago

New research suggests that they smashed animal bones into tiny pieces before boiling them to extract the high-calorie grease inside

For the first time ever, the genome of a knotty sea spider was sequenced in high resolution.

These ‘Weird’ Sea Spiders Don’t Have Abdomens—and Instead Store Organs in Their Legs. With DNA, Scientists Are Learning Why

Researchers sequenced the knotty sea spider’s genome for the first time, revealing a missing gene that many other animals have

The box given to Brand contained records from the Dutch East India Company.

Cool Finds

Stolen Historic Documents Surface in Attic—Ten Years After an Employee Used Them as Collateral to Borrow Money

The thief likely took the trove when he worked for the Dutch National Archives in 2015. Recently, someone found them in storage and contacted art detective Arthur Brand

The Louvre's current visitor entrance is underneath a pyramid designed by I.M. Pei in the Napoléon courtyard.

The Louvre Is Asking Architects to Submit Their Design Ideas for an Ambitious $316 Million Expansion

The Paris museum has launched a competition to design a new entrance and underground exhibition spaces, including one dedicated to the “Mona Lisa”

Scientists found a partial dinosaur vertebra inside a geological core sample that measures just 2.5 inches in diameter.

‘Nothing Short of Magical’: Scientists Discover a Dinosaur Bone Nearly 800 Feet Beneath a Parking Lot at a Denver Museum

The partial vertebra appeared inside a 2.5-inch-diameter column of rock that researchers drilled, earning the title of the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil found in Denver

A NASA astronaut captured this odd weather phenomenon, called a red sprite, from the International Space Station.

Mysterious ‘Red Sprite’ Appears in NASA Astronaut Photo From the Space Station. What Is This Strange Electrical Flare?

Red sprites are among a class of enigmatic weather phenomena that appear over thunderstorms, known as Transient Luminous Events

The structure and stamps on the base of the anchor helped researchers confirm the bow belonged to the USS New Orleans. The words "Navy Yard" are still visible through the marine growth.

Lost Bow of American Warship Found Eight Decades After It Was Blown Off by a Japanese Torpedo in World War II

After the attack, crews sailed the USS “New Orleans” backward for more than 1,000 miles across the Pacific. Since then, the location of the vessel’s bow has been a mystery

Gilad Topaz's "Drifting In Space" captures the moment that passengers onboard an icebreaker in the frozen Baltic Sea took a short break to swim.

See Ten Stunning Images From the International Aerial Photographer of the Year Awards

Breathtaking views of glaciers, volcanoes and animals were celebrated in the competition’s inaugural year

An aerial view of Peñico in Peru

Archaeologists Unveil a 3,500-Year-Old City in Peru That Sheds Light on the Caral Culture

Known as Peñico, the city is now open to tourists. It was once a vibrant urban center that connected coastal, mountain and jungle communities

Scientists are investigating the production of ancestral alkaloids by tomatoes in the Galápagos Islands.

Something Strange Is Happening to Tomatoes Growing on the Galápagos Islands

Scientists say wild tomato plants on the archipelago’s western islands are experiencing “reverse evolution” and reverting back to ancestral traits

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry

The 230-Foot-Long Bayeux Tapestry Is Returning Home to England for the First Time in Nearly 1,000 Years

The tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England, will be on display at the British Museum in 2026. Officials have been trying to arrange the loan for decades

Researchers found small Homo erectus fossils among other animal remains. 

A Massive Underwater Fossil Find Includes Remains From Ancient Human Ancestors

More than 6,000 animal fossils were found in Indonesia, and two of them belong to Homo erectus

Chile's Mocho-Choshuenco volcano, as seen from the air in June 2019

Melting Glaciers Will Lead to More Volcanic Eruptions, Study Suggests. Now, All Eyes Are On Antarctica

New research from the Chilean Patagonia has identified a link between glacial retreat and underground volcanic activity

Guimard's Place de la Bastille Métro entrance was demolished in the 1960s.

The Architect Who Designed the Iconic Entrances to the Paris Métro Is Finally Getting the Attention He Deserves

When Hector Guimard’s subway designs were unveiled in the early 1900s, the public rejected his Art Nouveau style. Soon, a new museum devoted to his work will open in the city

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