Part of the centuries old depiction from the Japanese art scroll He-Gassen

Cool Finds

Anthropologists Are Afraid to Ask About Farting

Why are farts so universally reviled?

Sewer cover in Los Angeles

Cool Finds

L.A. Needs Water, And for a Century, the “Mother Ditch” Supplied It

Built in 1781, the “Mother Ditch” supplied water to the early city

Everything at This 4,500-Year-Old Site Was Removed—And Then Reburied

An unprecedented trove of artifacts and burials found at a development site were recently removed and reburied

Charles Dodgson

Cool Finds

Lewis Carroll Hated Fame So Much He Almost Wished He’d Never Written His Books

At least, that’s what he said in a letter, now in the University of Southern California library

Discovery Hut

Cool Finds

Preserving Antarctic History Means Chipping Out Tons of Ice From Between Floorboards

Built by Robert Falcon Scott, Discovery Hut is one of several historic structures being preserved in Antarctica

Wheelie

Cool Finds

The Wheelie Was Invented in 1890

A stunt bicyclist named Daniel Canary claims to be the first person to master the trick

Skeletal remains being dug up at La Isabela, the first European settlement in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus is 1493.

New Research

Scurvy Plagued Columbus’ Crew, Even After the Sailors Left the Sea

Severe scurvy and malnutrition set the stage for the fall of La Isabela

Trending Today

An Avalanche on Mount Everest Made This the Deadliest Day in the Mountain’s History

With at least 12 dead, today is worse than the day in 1996 when eight people were killed in a storm

Poveglia Island

Cool Finds

Lease a Haunted Venetian Island for 99 Years

Formerly a quarantine island for plague victims and an insane asylum, now you can call this island home

Roman Forum

Cool Finds

Ancient Walls Show That Rome Is Older Than Legend

Romulus and Remus were 100 years late to the party

Wooden letterpress type

Cool Finds

New York Once Had an Entire District for Typography

Downtown New York used to have an entire neighborhood of type foundries, before they all disappeared

You Can Read All 17,198 of Susan Sontag’s Emails

She sent emails with subject lines like “Whassup?”

This is not the 101 year old message in a bottle.

Cool Finds

Message in a Bottle, Found in the Baltic Sea, Is 100 Years Old

While this new Baltic bottle will probably take the prize for oldest verified message in a bottle, it’s probably not actually the oldest

The papyrus is just a few inches wide.

New Research

The “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” Is Most Likely Not a Modern Fake

Chemical analyses show the text was written thousands of years ago

St Louis

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Have Turned Up Teeny Tiny Pieces of St. Louis’ French Past

St. Louis was originally a French colonial city, but most remnants of that period have been lost to time, until now

Voynich Manuscript

Cool Finds

Is One of the Weirdest Books on the Planet Actually a Hoax?

This small book has puzzled scholars for decades and remains a mystery

Roseland

Trending Today

Why the Roseland Ballroom Had to Stop Dancing

Tonight is the last preformance at the iconic New York concert venue the Roseland Ballroom

The Shroud of Turin's image is more consistent with this idea of crucifixion.

New Research

Some Visions of the Crucifixion Aren’t T-Shaped

Jesus and others who were crucified didn’t necessarily die with their arms pinned straight out, the way we often imagine them

Mayan Ruins

New Research

Mayas Used Spiked Clubs to Bash Combatant’s Heads

Analysis of skulls gives insight into violence in the Mayan culture

A replica of Sputnik 1 at the National Air and Space Museum.

Trending Today

Even During the Cold War, Russian and U.S. Rocket Scientists Were Friends, But Now They’re No Longer Talking

U.S. and Soviet scientists worked together throughout the Cold War, but now, because of Crimea, those ties are being cut

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