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Cool Finds

Cool Finds

How to Fold a World Record-Setting Paper Airplane

The secret lies in the design, but having a football quarterback on hand to throw the plane might help you break records

Marsha Ivins takes a nap on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Cool Finds

Astronauts Nap on the Launchpad While Waiting for a Ride to Space

There’s not much to do while NASA goes through its pre-launch checks

False-color micrograph of Caenorhabditis elegans

Cool Finds

We’ve Put a Worm’s Mind in a Lego Robot’s Body

A wheeled Lego robot may not look like a worm, but it “thinks” like one after programmers gave it the neuron connections in a C. elegans roundworm

Cool Finds

India Once Released 25,000 Flesh-Eating Turtles Into the Ganges

A plan to clean up corpses failed due to lack of planning

Previously excavated art from the ancient city of Karkemish

Cool Finds

This Archaeology Site Is Guarded by 500 Turkish Soldiers

The excavation of a 5,000 year old city on the Turkey-Syrian border continues despite nearby presence of the Islamic State extremists

Cool Finds

Outfitting Football Helmets With Magnets Could Reduce Concussions

Strong magnets can repel at least 300 lbs of force, preventing heads from colliding

Cool Finds

How to Live With Hallucinatory “Voices” Without Drugs

A European-centered movement is trying to change the perception that hearing voices is bad

We’re Running Out of Chocolate

We’re eating so much chocolate that plants can’t keep up

A seaweed farmer in Tanzania shows off her crop.

Cool Finds

Eat More Seaweed (It’s Good for You)

Foraging for fresh seaweeds gives you option and the best taste according to this Brittany seaweed eater

Cool Finds

Get Past the Vile Smell: Ginkgo Nuts Are Delicious

People have been feasting on these tasty little morsels since at least the 11th century

Around 1,400 chimps might lose their home in Congo.

Cool Finds

How a Misdrawn Map Put 1,400 Chimps and a Rare Plant in Peril

Miners and farmers are moving into a protected forest in Congo thanks in part to an administrative blooper

Cool Finds

Look How 30 Years of Automation Changed How Crayons Are Made

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” showed how people made crayons. Today, crayon-making is a robot’s job

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Cool Finds

This Artist Makes E. coli-Shaped Popsicles

For those who prefer plants to pathogens, there’s popsicle cacti, too

Cool Finds

Giant, Slow-Moving Sharks Are Secretly Everywhere

We know very little about Greenland sharks, including the extent of their range, but what we do know is intriguing

Cool Finds

Europeans Thought Coffee Was Satanic

Until the Pope tried it out and became a fan

Cool Finds

This Is Your Brain on Ideas

Momentarily tuning out the world seems to be a requirement for tapping into an insightful idea

First introduced in 1961, the B-52 is still an important part of the U.S. Air Force's fleet. Retrofitting some to let them carry and launch drones could give these flying fortresses even more utility.

Cool Finds

DARPA Wants Flying Drone Carriers

Retrofitting big bombers into drone carriers could make Cold War tech more useful for modern warfare

Cool Finds

Grad Students Carry 40 Percent of All Student Debt

But they make up just 14 percent of enrollment at U.S. universities

Prehistoric cave painting of a steppe bison from Altamira, Spain

Cool Finds

Researchers Are Examining a 9,000-Year-Old Bison Mummy

The well-mummified specimen of a steppe bison, a now-extinct species that lived in the Ice Age, has intact organs

Cool Finds

A Lost John Steinbeck Short Story Was Rediscovered, Published

The short story deals with the racial politics of the mid-20th century

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