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Cool Finds

The execution of pirates in Hamburg, 1573

Cool Finds

Execution Ballads Once Spread the News of Punishment to the Public

The grisly tunes deliberately pull on emotions to discourage crime

Cool Finds

There’s Now Whiskey On the ISS

(But astronauts can’t drink it)

Molted glass during the 3D printing process, screenshot from "Glass" on Vimeo

Cool Finds

3D Printing Molten Glass Is Beautiful

The innovation comes out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cool Finds

How a Single Wedding Ring Led to a $6 Billion Gold Hoax

People really wanted to believe there were 13 million pounds of gold there for the taking

Lon Chaney Jr. and Evelyn Ankers in "The Wolf Man," 1941

Cool Finds

There’s a Conference in the U.K. All About Werewolves Next Month

Wolf-to-human transformations in literature and history and their significance take the stage

Cool Finds

See, in Slow Motion, how Ladybugs Fit Wings Inside Their Spotted red Shells

A view of the insects that is rarely seen

Cool Finds

American Vegetarianism Has a Religious Past

Thank the creators of corn flakes and graham crackers for veggie burgers and not-dogs

What does luggage see when you can't see it?

Cool Finds

Follow a Piece of Luggage on a Rollercoaster Ride Through the Airport

One bag’s journey through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport

A satirical 16th-century print showing a chastity belt

Cool Finds

Medieval Chastity Belts Are a Myth

People probably chuckled just as much then about the idea as they do today

In the 19th century this pie might have contained birds

Cool Finds

Americans Used to Eat Robin Pie and Calf’s Foot Jelly

A food historian points out some forgotten favorites

One glorious memorial (The Moon on August 2, 2015 with the International Space Station just visible as a silhouette)

Cool Finds

Go to the Moon for Less than $10,000! One Catch: Dead People Only

It’s the cheapest option yet for choosing the Moon as a final resting place

Cool Finds

Why Airplane Seats Come With Barf Bags

One of the last remaining luxuries of airplane travel

Leaf-cutter ants tending a fungus garden in Guadaloupe

Cool Finds

Future Antibiotics for Humans Could Come From Ant Fungus Gardens

A unique symbiotic relationship exists between leaf-cutter ants, fungi and bacteria

An image of the Italian Alps, snapped in June by the ESA's Sentinel-2, could be used in biodiversity studies.

Cool Finds

Why Satellites Are a Biologist’s Best Friend

From tracking penguins to coral reefs, satellites are changing the way scientists study ecology

Fruit vendor in São Paulo, Brazil

Cool Finds

Why Humans Love Things That Fit into Other Things

There’s comfort in unexpected order

The motor convoy departed D.C. on July 7, 1919.

Cool Finds

How a Hellish Road Trip Revolutionized American Highways

Quicksand, food rationing, and embarrassment may have prompted Ike to push for a better highway system

Loren P. Woods, curator of fish at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1968. But could he handle a horse?

Cool Finds

Would You Pass This 1910 Museum Curator Test?

Don’t know how to steer a canoe? Instant fail

A painting of a bird from the 1633 Manual of Calligraphy and Painting.

Cool Finds

The World’s Oldest Multicolor Printed Book Was Too Fragile to Read…Until Now

The 1633 book has now been digitized

Cool Finds

Why Coffee Makes Some People Poop

It’s not the caffeine

Screenshot from the short "Chad Gadya"

Cool Finds

This Animation Is Made of Embroidery

It took a year and a half to create a short film using “embroidermation”

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