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Two Climbers Made It Up El Capitan Via an Impossibly Vertical Wall

It took just three weeks for Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen to make free-climbing history

January 15, 2015

Cool Finds

The Doctor Who Introduced the Virtues of Hand Washing Died of an Infection

A sad fate: Ignes Semmelweis, a maternity doctor who fought for hospital sanitation, died of sepsis

January 15, 2015

Cool Finds

These Photos From a Lunar Orbiter Could Be Abstract Art

Our distant view of the Moon from Earth is nice, but these close-ups are amazing

January 14, 2015

Trending Today

Iowa GMO Banana Trial Halted

Twelve volunteers were supposed to one whole GMO banana each — but so far they have eat zero

January 14, 2015

New Research

What’s the Best Place to Live? It May Depend on Your Personality

Why you’ll thrive in some neighborhoods (and feel miserable in others)

January 14, 2015

New Research

One Orangutan Has Learned to Sound Just Like Us

This defies scientists’ former assumption that great apes just couldn’t learn new calls

January 14, 2015

Cool Finds

Save the Voices of Tolkien, Joyce And Tennyson

The British Library is fighting time and budget constraints to save its vast collection of audio recordings

January 14, 2015

New Research

Listen to Newly Discovered Bowhead Whale Songs

Bowhead songs have been elusive, but researchers managed to record 12 unique songs using hydrophones

January 14, 2015

New Research

Some Bat Colonies Might Be Beating White-Nose Syndrome

A few recent discovering on the strange fungus wiping out North American bat colonies give reason to hope

January 13, 2015

Cool Finds

America’s Goats Are Concentrated in Texas

In 2012, famers reported more than 2 million goats living in the U.S.

January 13, 2015

Cool Finds

Some Microbes Can Eat And Breathe Electricity

How many ways can life exist? Some recently discovered microbes can live on a cathode, apparently without the need for a carbon food-source

January 13, 2015

Cool Finds

Mummy Feces Solve the Mystery of How Verona’s Most Powerful Man Died

Digging deep for the secret behind a medieval warlord’s mysterious death

January 13, 2015

Cool Finds

A Museum in England Is Hiding a Forgery Among Its Masterpieces

A South London gallery is asking its patrons to identify the fake in order to spark discussion about how and why we appreciate the art

January 13, 2015

New Research

Your Computer Knows You Better Than Your Mom

Why machines can predict your personality more accurately than your family or friends

January 13, 2015

New Research

Ancient Dogs Likely Arrived in America Thousands of Years After Humans

New research on dog DNA shows that they migrated to the new world much later than initially thought

January 13, 2015

New Research

Separate People From Their Phones, And They Perform Less Well

Here’s what happens when you’re parted from your smartphone

January 12, 2015

Cool Finds

Two Men Tried To Cure Schizophrenia by Removing Their Patients’ Intestines

Bayard Holmes and Henry Cotton were separated by a generation, but both thought that mental illness arose from toxins produced within the body

January 12, 2015

Cool Finds

How a Single Penny Became Worth More Than $2 Million

Fifteen years ago, few would pay $1 million for a coin—no matter how rare. That’s changing.

January 12, 2015

Cool Finds

Oil Companies First Built Pipelines in the 1860s; They’ve Been Contested Ever Since

In the 19th century, reformers were happy to have oil come out of the ground—but they objected to the way oil companies controlled it

January 12, 2015

Cool Finds

On This Day in 1932, America Elected Its First Female Senator

This year, a record number of women are serving in Congress; Hattie Wyatt Caraway was the first ever in the Senate

January 12, 2015