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20 Years Ago Today, the Northridge Earthquake Rocked L.A.

Sixty people died and thousands were left homeless in one of the most deadly earthquakes in American history

From an illuminated manuscript circa 1350s

Cool Finds

Not All the Knights of the Round Table Were White

The storytellers assumed we’d be sharp enough to pick up on their hints that Sir Morien was black. Turns out, we’re not

Cool Finds

What Prompts People to Eat Human Flesh?

Power, violence, revenge—and the heat of the moment

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall of China, seen here, there was another.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Chart the First Great Wall of China

Hundreds of years before the Great Wall, the Qi Dynasty built a wall of rammed earth

Did the English discover Canada's west coast hundreds of years before it was officially charted by Spanish explorer Juan Perez?

New Research

Francis Drake May Have Discovered Western Canada Hundreds of Years Earlier, Kept Quiet About It

The discovery of a 16th century coin is threatening the story of British Columbia’s history

War elephants depicted in the battle of Zama, 202 BC.

New Research

A Lesson from History: When Assembling an Army of War Elephants, Don’t Pick Inbred Ones

Even though African elephants usually trump Asian elephants for might and aggression, in 217 B.C. Ptolemy made the crucial mistake of choosing inbred ones

Rendering of map by artist John Swogger.

New Research

This Stone Age Mural Might Be the Oldest Map Ever

But before it can be crowned oldest map, archaeologists have to figure out whether it is a map at all

A statue of Captain James Cook.

New Research

The Dutch Nearly Beat James Cook to New Zealand

A shipwreck discovered off New Zealand dates to a time before Cook’s arrival

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Copyright Law Kept These Famous Works From Entering the Public Domain This Year

Here is a list of books, movies, music & scientific research that would have entered the public domain today had the 1978 copyright law not been passed

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Meet the People Who Stole From the FBI—After 43 Years, They’ve Decided To Come Forward

In 1971 eight activists stole documents that unveiled a secret FBI campaign to squash dissidents

Dinosaur Poop Is Harder to Find Than It Should Be

Why don’t archaeologists find fossilized poop all over the place? In a word: roaches

People Pirated Many More Files (And Many Fewer Ships) in 2013

While there were zero Somali pirate hijackings this year - the amount of content that was uploaded to The Pirate Bay this year increased by 50 percent

Border Agents Can Search Laptops “Without Reasonable Suspicion”

A U.S. District Court judge says border agents should be allowed to search travelers’ laptops

World War II Just Took Another Life As Relic Bomb Explodes

An old bomb just killed one and injured eight in Germany

Why So Many Afghanis Celebrate Their Birthdays on January 1

In the war-ravaged nation, many peoples’ birthdays are on January 1st

The World’s Third Oldest Bible, the Codex Washingtonianus, Is Making a Rare Museum Appearance

When the Codex was first published publicly in 1912, it caused a controversy because it contained an extra passage in the Gospel of Mark

A memorial ceremony held in 1974 in Tel Aviv, where a tribute to the victims of the Munich massacre was unveiled.

How Worried Should We Be About Terrorism at the Sochi Olympics?

The 1972 summer games held in Munich, Germany, suffered the worst terrorist attack in history

Futurists Once Dreamed of Submarine Helicopters And Spaceships Powered by Swans

The ships that we’ve dreamed up tell us a lot about just how badly humans have wanted to travel beyond our own world

The Shackleton expedition's scientist, Alexander Stevens, stands on one of the team's ships, the Aurora.

A Century-Old Roll of Undeveloped Film Was Just Found in Antarctica

A century-old set of negatives was found in an Antarctic supply hut

The History of Cone-Shaped Medieval Princess Hats

Known as hennins, the tall headdresses were popular among European noblewomen in the late Middle Ages

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