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Cool Finds

Cattle graze on the open range in this shot from ca. 1920-1930.

Cool Finds

The 1887 Blizzard That Changed the American Frontier Forever

A blizzard hit the western open range, causing the “Great Die Up” and transforming America’s agricultural history

Doctors, army officers and reporters protect themselves during the 1918 pandemic.

Cool Finds

The Flu Has Been Making People Sick for At Least 500 Years

The 1918 flu pandemic gets all the headlines, but the malady is thought to have first appeared in the 16th century—and possibly earlier

European immigrants arrive in America.

Cool Finds

Ellis Island Isn’t to Blame for Your Family’s Name Change

A long-standing myth obscures the truth behind the Americanization of some European names

An artist's rendition of Kepler, on the hunt for planets like our own.

Cool Finds

Visit Kepler’s Exoplanets—And Don’t Worry About the Natives (At Least for Now)

NASA has made a set of travel posters themed to exoplanets while a nonprofit searches for life among them

Cool Finds

Jurassic Park May Have Been Right—Some Dinosaurs Hunted in Packs

The film inspired paleontologists to discover the truth about dinos, including whether raptors were social hunters

Henry Ford whispers in Thomas Edison's ear

Cool Finds

A Test Tube in Michigan Holds the Air From Thomas Edison’s Death Room

Two famous inventors, one glass tube and a museum mystery

An albino bottlenose dolphin, like this one but without its melanin, was spotted off the coast of Florida in December.

Cool Finds

An Albino Dolphin Was Spotted Off the Coast of Florida

It is only the 15th albino dolphin sighting recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The BelAZ 75710 is the world's largest dump truck — note people in the bottom right for scale.

Cool Finds

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

The mega Earth-mover is hard at work digging a coal mine in Russia

Marilyn Monroe playing on the beach

Cool Finds

Model Your New Year’s Resolutions After Marilyn Monroe’s in 1955

The actress wrote that she wanted to “keep looking around me — only much more so”

The rim of white light emanating from the disco clam's lips in this image seems to be its best defense against a predator.

Cool Finds

Disco Clams Are Flashy

Their orange lips twinkle in a particularly funky display

Stony Ground by Edwin Austin Abbey

Cool Finds

The Second Divorce in Colonial America Happened Today in 1643

The Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans weren’t as conservative as you may have thought

Cool Finds

Create Your Very Own False Memories by Lying on Facebook

The brain is notoriously poor at recalling past events, and social media just makes it worse

Almonds on a tree, ready for harvest in California

Cool Finds

Watch How Farm Machines Shake Down Almond Trees

California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, for now

Spores on the conidiophores of the fungus Penicillium notatum.

Cool Finds

We Used to Recycle Drugs From Patients’ Urine

Penicillin extracted from a patient’s urine could be reused

Cool Finds

Where the Buffalo Roam: Illinois

American bison are back in Illinois for the first time in 200 years

A happy solar system stays in orbit around the Sun

Cool Finds

If the Earth’s Orbit Stopped We Would Have About A Month To Contemplate Our Doom

Fortunately, this is just a thought experiment

A shrine set up for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012.

Cool Finds

What’s the Best Method For Preventing School Attacks?

A new type of glass designed to keep gunmen out of school raises the question of whether defense is being prioritized over prevention

Cool Finds

The Science of Why Champagne Pops

The American Chemical Society takes a look at the science of champagne

Cool Finds

Snowflakes All Fall In One of 35 Different Shapes

The latest categorization of solid precipitation types inspired a cool graphic

Cool Finds

Americans Love Cheesy Art

The most searched for artists, according to one website, run the gamut from classic masters to Duck Stamp contest winners

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