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Jean Valentine, a former Bombe machine operator, shows a drum of the machine in Bletchley Park Museum in Bletchley, England.

Cool Finds

Women Were Key to WWII Code-Breaking at Bletchley Park

Female operators and mathematicians play a greater role in the history of computers and code-breaking than most realize

Cool Finds

Mostly the Old And Ill Ate Breakfast Until the Rise of the Working Man

Romans disdained the meal, few ate it in the Middle Ages, but most eat breakfast now

Cool Finds

Hive Mind: A Swarm of Microprobes Could Tell Us More About Jupiter

The miniature probes will gather atmospheric data before bursting into flames

It might sound like a gas guzzler inside, but that truck's purr could be pretend.

Trending Today

Impressed by a Big Truck’s Beefy Rev? It Could Be an Illusion

Fake engine noise is a reality for today’s more efficient trucks

The naturally mummified body of Ötzi is seen in a cooling chamber at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano.

New Research

The 61 Tattoos of Ötzi, the 5,300-Year-Old “Iceman”

Scientists have mapped the body art of one of archeology’s biggest super stars in hopes to better understand the role tattoos played in early civilization

New Research

Pollutants Are Making Polar Bears’ Penis Bones More Likely to Break

An industrial chemical contaminating the Arctic is further threatening a species already facing dire challenges

Teens from the Njarainjari Aboriginal Community walk in the shallows of Lake Albert in Southern Australia

New Research

Australian Stories Capture 10,000-Year-Old Climate History

Aboriginal groups from coast to coast describe walking to places that are now islands

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Continuously Functioning Battery From 1840

A battery at the University of Oxford has been incessantly ringing two bells for 175 years—but no one knows exactly why it’s lasted so long

None

Use This Map to Track the Snowfall and Social Media Buzz Around the Northeast Blizzard

Weather alerts and media streams can keep you up to date on the full extent of the nor’easter

William Gillette's lost Sherlock Holmes film was an unsolved mystery—until now.

Cool Finds

Mystery Solved: Footage From a Long-Lost Silent Sherlock Holmes Is Found

William Gillette is responsible for how we see Sherlock Holmes—but the loss of his single silent film was an unsolved mystery

Cool Finds

Evidence of a Seating Plan Discovered at the Colosseum

Restoration efforts reveal the red-painted numbers that would help ancient Romans find their status-dictated seats

New Research

It’s Easy to Make People Like Healthy Food…Just Rewire Their Brains

A new study imaged brains of women of different weights and found dramatic differences in how their brains responded to food

A stone relief carving of soldiers made in Assyria and now in the British Museum.

New Research

Ancient Assyrian Soldiers Were Haunted by War, Too

A new study finds evidence of trauma experienced by soldiers returning home from combat over 3,000 years ago

Cool Finds

How One 138-Page Book Inspired the Creation of the Boy Scouts

How a little military textbook evolved into a movement that would captivate generations of young men

Charles Darwin statue at London’s Natural History Museum

Cool Finds

Darwin May Have Experienced Extreme Anxiety

Many attempts have been made to diagnose Darwin’s illness, here’s a well-argued possibility

Cool Finds

Some People Have Patterns on Their Tongues That Look Like Maps

The condition is harmless and fairly common

Part of the comet's smaller lobe from about 8 km above the surface

New Research

Rosetta’s Comet Close-Ups Reveal Goosebumps And Very Little Ice

Rosetta is watching for changes as the double-lobed comet approaches the sun

Napping now might mean better memory later.

New Research

Want a Better Memory in 30 Years? Go to Sleep Now

Catching some ZZZs today could help your memory stay fresh into old age

New Research

Is Orange Juice More Nutritious?

New research challenges the assumption that fruit trumps juice

Cool Finds

How to Mind Your Manners at Silent Movies

Vintage slides give an etiquette lesson to obnoxious silent movie audiences

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