As part of a bioweapon experiment, Serratia marcescens (pictured on an agar plate above) was released in San Francisco back in 1950.

In 1950, the U.S. Released a Bioweapon in San Francisco

This was one of hundreds of bioweapon simulations carried out in the 1950s and 1960s

Benjamin Rush, prominent colonial physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a treatise on alcohol in 1784 that still influences how medicine views substance abuse today.

Cool Finds

Meet the Doctor Who Convinced America to Sober Up

Meet Benjamin Rush, father of the temperance movement, signer of the Declaration of Independence

A portion of the Great Wall of China in a more rural area

Trending Today

More than 1,200 Miles of China’s Great Wall Have Been Destroyed

Only a small fraction of the remaining wall is in good condition

Trending Today

Summer Jobs May Be a Thing of the Past

Fewer than one third of American teens snag summer employment

Pasquino in Rome

Cool Finds

Have Something Rude to Say? Put it on This 2300-Year Old Statue in Rome

A cardinal started the tradition of decorating this statue with snarky poems and insults

Cool Finds

This Mockumentary Explains the Appeal of Skateboarding to Scared Parents

“The Devil’s Toy” looks “an epidemic from which no one was secure”: having fun on skateboards

Cool Finds

People Used to Wear Dunce Caps to Shower

“Extinguisher caps” were nineteenth-century shower caps

Hitler's signature on one of his watercolors.

Trending Today

Did an Auction of Hitler’s Art Go Too Far?

A collection of Hitler’s paintings just sold for $450,000

A mermaid as depicted in Sea Fables Explained by Henry Lee, published in 1883.

Cool Finds

The Murky Tale of John Smith and the Mermaid

Alexander Dumas probably just made it up

Little Havana, Miami, Florida.

Urban Explorations

These Are the Most Threatened Historical Places in America

The Grand Canyon, The Factory and the A.G. Gaston Motel are just a few of the 11 names on the list

New Research

In Egypt, There Was Once a Tomb Full of Eight Million Dog Mummies

Devotees of the Ancient Egyptian deity Anubis buried dogs at the necropolis of Saqqara

These 15th-century female musicians are clearly in grave medical danger.

Cool Finds

Some 19th-Century Physicians Thought Music Could Infect the Brain

When it comes to music in the brain, medicine has come a long way

These tags were used to identify slaves before emancipation

Trending Today

Juneteenth Didn’t Stop the Enslavement of Black People in Houston

The delayed enforcement of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation still didn’t bring freedom to many black Texans

Napoleon in battle, presumably craving rotisserie chicken

Cool Finds

Napoleon Had a Thing for Rotisserie Chicken

The military powerhouse ate chicken dinners 24/7 — even as his army starved

The first $10 Federal Reserve Note featured Andrew Jackson.

Trending Today

Andrew Jackson Wasn’t Always on the $20 Bill

The controversial president’s face has only been on $20 bills since 1928

Cool Finds

Michigan Owns 1,500 Shipwrecks

Divers, historians and state officials team up to preserve the state’s underwater heritage

Cool Finds

Los Alamos’s “Atomic Secretary” Was Never Told What the Manhattan Project Was For

Dorothy McKibbin coordinated entry of all people and property to the Los Alamos site

Afghan men stand near the ruins of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Cool Finds

Destroyed Buddha Statues Are Coming Back to Life in Afghanistan as Beautiful 3D Projections

3D light projections recreate a pair of statues destroyed by the Taliban

A screen shot from a video about how Indo-European languages spread around the globe.

Cool Finds

Half of All Languages Come From This One Root Tongue. Here’s How it Conquered the Earth.

Today, three billion people speak Indo-European langauges

New Research

How Much Water Did Rome’s Aqueducts Really Carry?

Not as much as previously thought

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