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In Germany, Santa’s Sidekick Is a Cloven-Hooved, Child-Whipping Demon

The Krampus is even gaining a following on this side of the pond, with Krampus art shows, Krampus beer crawls and Krampus rock shows

Can You Make Medical Devices Out of LEGOs?

Using ribbons, buttons, LEGOs and 3D printing, this scientist is trying to make it easier and cheaper for doctors and nurses to create medical devices

A Game Designer Thinks He Can Improve on Chess’ 1,500-Year-Old Rules

A young MIT-grad and game designer named David Sirlin says he’s come up with something better than the timeless board game

Washing Your Hands in Hot Water Wastes Energy–And Doesn’t Make Them Any Cleaner Than Cold

If Americans turned down the heat when washing their hands they could save 6 million metric tons of CO2 every year

Robot

In the DARPA Robotics Challenge, Robots Drive, Climb, Bust Through Walls And Prepare to Take Over the World

Trials for the DARPA Robotics Challenge this weekend will put these robots to the test

There Is a Way to Make Lion Hunting Good for Lions

A contentious issue may have a bright side

Great White Sharks Swim Up, Down, Far, Wide—All Over the Place, Really—And We Had No Idea

Satellite tags map great white shark movements

The Scientific Reason Super-Villains Always Lose

Evil isn’t the only culprit

Ancient Reptiles Kept Switching Between Laying Eggs And Giving Birth to Live Babies

Colder temperatures seem key to triggering the switch to live births

There’s a Simple, Effective Way to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables—Pay Them

Kids throw away around $3.8 million of uneaten veggies and fruits from school lunches each year

The British Library Just Put More Than a Million Images in the Public Domain

From the largest library in the world, more than a million images free to download and use

This Past November Was the Hottest November Ever Recorded

In the 134-year observational record, we’ve never had a hotter November

The new tapir, Tapirus kabomani.

Scientists Discover a New Species of Tapir; Locals Say, “We Told You!”

The new tapir is the smallest of the world’s five known species but it still counts as one of the largest mammals found in South America

The northern subtropical jet stream flows in Cameron Beccario's Earth.

Watch How the Wind Moves Around the Earth—It’s Hypnotic

This mesmerizing tool helps visualize the winds all over the globe and is known simply as “Earth”

StarCraft II Player Is Now Officially an Athlete, According to the U.S. Government

Kim Dong-hwan, a competitive StarCraft player, was just issued a P-1A visa—the type that’s usually given to athletes

Two Scientists Share Credit for the Theory of Evolution. Darwin Got Famous; This Biologist Didn’t.

When the Linnean Society of London hears the case for natural selection in 1858, Darwin shared credit with biologist A.R. Wallace

NSA Metadata Collection Is Unconstitutional, Judge Says

A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the NSA’s metadata surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment

The inside of a newly assembled Ikea temporary home.

Ikea’s Getting Into the Refugee Shelter Business

Ikea’s latest installments are popping up in Lebanon, where around one million Syrians have sought refuge from the violence plaguing their own country

Some Olympic Athletes Have To Crowd-Source Money to Get to Russia

While Olympic athletes may be our heroes, they aren’t getting rich off their work, and some have to crowd-source funding for their trips to Sochi

Every Year, a Swedish Town Builds a Giant Straw Goat, And People Just Can’t Help Burning It Down

In the 47 years that the town has erected Gävlebocken, it’s been set on fire 26 times

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