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Cool Finds

Lead from mining operations in Broken Hill, Australia, reached Antarctica before humans did.

Cool Finds

Pollution Beat People to the South Pole

Before people ever made it to the South Pole, a pollutant had beaten us there

Giant pandas Hsing-Hsing (left) and Ling-Ling frolic at the National Zoological Park near Washington, DC. Photo circa 1974.

Cool Finds

Don’t Worry Mr. Nixon, the National Zoo’s Pandas Figured Out How to Have Sex

President Nixon wanted to make sure Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing had enough time to “learn the ropes”

A baby chimp in the 1950s

Cool Finds

This Guy Simultaneously Raised a Chimp and a Baby in Exactly the Same Way to See What Would Happen

When treated as a human, the baby chimp acted like one—until her physiology and development held her back

The original expedition to Wyoming's Natural Trap Cave, more than 30 years ago.

Cool Finds

A Wyoming Cave Full Of Ice Age Animal Bones is Finally Being Opened To Scientists

After being closed for three decades, a remote sinkhole full of ancient bones will be opened to researchers

A cyclist rides his bicycle on the former border patrol road between East and West Germany.

Austria

Cycle Through History on the Iron Curtain Trail

The trail stretches 4,225 miles from the Barents to the Black Sea

Cool Finds

Creepy Internet-Style Tracking and Targeting Analytics Are Moving into Real Life

A company is using cameras and heat sensors to track people in their store

An old-fashioned lettuce farm.

Cool Finds

Japan’s Massive Indoor Farm Produces 10,000 Heads of Fresh Lettuce Every Day

The innovative farming solution could help cut down on food waste

The Fort William Henry Museum and Restoration in New York

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Are Excavating the Battleground that Inspired ‘The Last of the Mohicans’

For these students, archaeology field school is taking place on a very famous battlefield

MOLAB in Hopi Buttes (1967)

Cool Finds

Looking Back at NASA’s Strange Mobile Lunar Laboratory

Unfortunately, the odd-looking MOLAB remained earthbound

An artist's rendition of the Cambrian seafloor

Cool Finds

Take a Virtual Reality Trip to the Cambrian Explosion with David Attenborough

Admit it, virtual reality David Attenborough is something you’ve always wanted

Cool Finds

This Grocery Store Will Be Powered By Its Own Waste

Microbes digest tossed food, belch up electricity-generating methane

Cool Finds

Along I-95, 5,000 Years of History

Archaeological excavations along I-95 are digging up the past

Cool Finds

Suburban Skunks are on the Rise

Grand Rapids, Michigan, is basically enveloped in a cloud of stink

Cool Finds

This Smart Cat Feeder Uses Facial Recognition to Exclude Greedy Kitties

The feeder tracks each cat’s food intake to make sure no one is taking the lion’s share

Shiki 1, a Japanese White Pine Bonsai suspended from a weather ballon as it ascends to the edge of space for artist Azuma Makoto's project Exobiotanica

Cool Finds

Artist Sends a Bouquet and a Bonsai to Space

What happens when you send a Bonsai tree to space? See for yourself

Cool Finds

This 71-Year-Old Just Set a Record With His 1,673th Ascent of Mt. Fuji

The mountaineer says that now he’s ready to tackle Everest

The comet Cheryumov-Gerasimenko seems to be shaped like a rubber duckie

Cool Finds

The ESA is on a Mission to Harpoon a Duck-Shaped Comet

As if catching a comet wasn’t already hard enough

Cool Finds

In Microgravity, Some Snakes Tie Themselves in Knots, Others Attack Themselves

Some animals just don’t know how to deal when gravity goes away

Cool Finds

Meet the Newest (Robotic) Member of Your Family

This emotional robot can tell stories, remember appointments, and make faces

Cool Finds

Chicago Is Trying to Blackout-Proof Its Downtown

Chicago is installing a cable that will prevent blackouts, at least within the Loop

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