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Cool Finds

Romanian villagers dress up in real bearskins for ursul.

Cool Finds

Ring in the New Year by Dressing Up as a Bear

Romania’s famed bear dance scares away winter

The Detroit Reservoir preserved this 19th-century utility wagon.

Cool Finds

West Coast Drought Uncovers Remnants of a Long-Sunken Oregon Town

Historic low water levels revealed remains of a town beneath Detroit Lake

Screenshot from "American Panorama" showing the origins of foreign-born Americans living in Washington, D.C. in 2000.

Cool Finds

Explore America’s History With These Richly Interactive Maps

“American Panorama” delves into the social, political and economic movements that define this country

A copy of a photograph of a solar eclipse taken by the English astronomer Arthur Eddington in 1919.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Photos of Eclipses and Stars Found in an Observatory Basement

The stash of old negatives includes a 97-year-old copy of the photo that helped confirm the Theory of Relativity

Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark is the resting place of Hans Christian Andersen. Now, it will mark the home for the city's homeless, as well.

Cool Finds

Copenhagen Has a Cemetery for Homeless People

But proper burials for indigent individuals remain few and far between

Cool Finds

What Should People Do With Food Waste? Make Beer

Craft beers are getting creative

Excerpt from the "Executive Coloring Book" by Brenda Jackson, Dennis Altman, Marcie Hans, Martin A. Cohen, and Ronald L. McDonald, published in 1961.

Cool Finds

Adult Coloring Books Were Popular (and Subversive) in the 1960s

Coloring books made fun of corporate culture, conspiracy theorists and Communist fears

Cool Finds

A Giant Squid Visits a Japanese Harbor

These denizens of the deep usually lurk between 2,000 to 3,000 feet below the surface

Screenshot from “The story of space debris” showing the Earth's cluttered space in 2015.

Cool Finds

Jettison Through Nearly 60 Years of Space Junk Accumulation

People have been leaving a mess out in Earth’s orbit

Cool Finds

France Has a Power Plant Fueled by Cheese

Of course they do

Pile of yarn or unknotting opportunity?

Cool Finds

Tied Up in Knots? Call a Yarn Detangler

A niche group of knitters specializes in wrangling disobedient skeins

This mysterious object was discovered buried in a Jerusalem cemetery.

Cool Finds

It Took Israeli Authorities Months to Identify This Strange, Gold Object

Ancient artifact or back massager?

Cool Finds

Oysters Could Save Staten Island From the Next Hurricane Sandy

A living breakwater could prevent future flooding while cleaning polluted waters

An illustration of a prosthetic hand.

Cool Finds

Sensors Designed for Prosthetic Hands Could Lead to New Textile Standards

Haptic sensors might help figure out if thread count really matters

This yellow-bellied watersnake gave birth without male contact in the last eight years.

Cool Finds

In Nature, Virgin Births Are Pretty Common

Fish do it, bugs do it, even some species of snakes do it

Astronomers have discovered strange chemicals in interstellar objects like the Horsehead Nebula.

Cool Finds

Scientists Are Searching for Space Chemicals That Could Never Exist on Earth

Bizarre chemicals in deep space could help explain the origins of life

The Catalan Nativity character known as Caganer in the Santa Llucia Christmas Market, Barcelona, Spain.

Catalonia

Catalonian Nativity Scenes Feature a Man Pooping in the Manger Scene’s Corner

Kids also celebrate Christmas by beating a log until it poops out treats

Cool Finds

A Brief History of Figgy Pudding

The dense, spicy dish has been giving good cheer for centuries

The Ursid meteor shower appears to radiate from the Little Dipper (top right).

Cool Finds

Two Sparkling Meteor Showers Will Bookend the New Year

Sky-watchers should be on the lookout in coming weeks for the Ursid and Quadrantid showers

Cool Finds

Skaters Turned a 100-Year-Old Church Into a Mural-Covered Skatepark

Talk about holy rollers

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