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Who’s Digging Up Hadrian’s Wall?

Rogue diggers with metal detectors are threatening a priceless archaeological site

Cool Finds

Hypnotize Yourself With a Record-Breaking Traditional Dance

This synchronized dance won a group of 5,211 Indian women a Guinness World Record

Abraham Lincoln in the year of his death, 1865.

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The Group That’s Been Celebrating Lincoln’s Birth for Almost 150 Years

The Lincoln Association of Jersey City claims it has the longest record of celebrating Lincoln’s legacy

Physarum polycephalum in the wild, sans piano

Cool Finds

A Scientist And a Slime Mold Are Set To Play a Duet

The blob-like creatures’ movements inspired a composer to create a way for slime mold to play the piano

Don't hate eggs because of the cholesterol in their yolks

Trending Today

New Guidelines on Cholesterol: Eggs Are Ok, Butter’s Still Bad

Experts have long pushed for the change since for most, cholesterol isn’t the demon we thought it was

New Research

Imagine Dinosaurs Tripping on Psychedelics

It could have happened.

New Research

At Last, Make Perfect Popcorn With Science

Physicists now know why popcorn pops

Cool Finds

What Makes Some Orca Whales Love a Good Belly Rub?

Some pods have been observed rubbing themselves on rocky beaches; scientists are still working to understand why

Cool Finds

Nothing Says ‘I Love You’ Like a Bit of Pocket Change

Victorians seduced their sweeties with “love tokens”

The red fox is among two European imports that researchers say play a big part in the loss of some of Australia's native species.

New Research

One-Tenth of Native Mammals in Australia Are Extinct: Blame Cats And Foxes

No other country on Earth has lost a greater proportion of land mammals over the last two centuries; now, a new study zeros in on the cause

New Research

Human Languages Skew Positive

We’re all a bunch of pollyannas

Cool Finds

Why 2015 Is Shaping Up to Be Another Good Year for Snowy Owls

Ornithologists are tracking the second major snowy owl southern migration in as many years, indicating that the birds’ numbers are still going strong

Cool Finds

Farm Animals Could Soon Carry Wi-Fi

In a few years, shepherds might be monitoring their flocks with networks of wireless sensors

Trending Today

Now for Sale: Straw Houses

One new technique for green building—making houses out of straw—actually draws on century-old ideas

Cool Finds

These Bells Play Seismic Shifts

Watch as UC Berkeley’s bells play the earth’s “natural frequencies”

A member of the Ku Klux Klan holds a noose during attempts to suppress black voters in Miami, Fla., in 1939.

New Research

Lynchings Were Even More Common in the South Than Previously Thought

A group of criminal justice reformers find 700 more lynchings in the segregated South than previously recorded

A detail of one of four known existing originals of the 1297 version of the Magna Carta.

Cool Finds

An Early Copy of the Magna Carta Was Found Forgotten in an Old Scrapbook

An archivist in England stumbled upon a 715-year-old edition of the charter credited for initiating a new framework of governance

Cool Finds

Here’s How to Build an Igloo

Scratch your chilly construction itch

The variable stars flickering to the golden ratio are RR Lyrae — a class of pulsars first found in the constellation Lyra (bisected by the Milky Way here)

New Research

Pulsing Stars Flicker in a Pattern Close to the Golden Ratio

The famed ratio, which shows up in art, architecture and nature, can also be found in space

New Research

Gene Changes Make Humans’ Sense of Taste Unique

Our ability to eat bitter plants help distinguish us from our ancestors and chimpanzees today

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