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Cool Finds

The Hubble Space Telescope

A U.S. Spy Agency’s Leftover, Hubble-Sized Satellite Could Be on Its Way to Mars

What do you do with a spare world-class satellite?

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You Can Now Get a College Degree in Rock

In Nottingham, England, you can now get a college degree studying Heavy Metal

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Police Could Soon Get Their Hands on the U.S. Military’s ‘Pain Ray’

This high frequency microwave weapon makes you feel like your skin is burning, but leaves no scars

Workers examine remains at a mass grave in eastern Bosnia in 2004.

Buried Pig Bodies Help Scientists Refine Search Methods for Mass Graves

Currently, the science of detecting mass graves is hit or miss, though the remains of thousands of missing persons may be stashed in clandestine graves

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Why Your Lucky Underwear And Pre-Game Routine Might Actually Work

One in three students in the UK wears lucky underwear. And while you might laugh their habits off, there’s a reason that those rituals might actually work

Curses! The Four-Letter Word Renaissance Speakers Wouldn’t Flinch At

Back in the ninth century, the S-word referred to excrement in a matter-of-fact, not a vulgar, way

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Why Do We Laugh?

What is the evolutionary purpose of laughter? Are we the only species that laughs?

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Scientists Map Britain’s Most Famous Underwater City

Researchers have created a 3D visualization of Dunwich using acoustic imaging

How Often Does the Oldest Person in the World Die?

Every so often you hear about the oldest person in the world dying, but how often does this actually happen?

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This 3-D Printed Robot Also Can Assemble Itself

Robots get smaller, smarter, faster and easier to assemble every day. In fact, they’re so easy to make that this robot can actually assemble itself

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This is a Real Time Map of Wikipedia Changes

Who are the people who edit Wikipedia and where do they come from? Here is a real-time map to answer that question

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This App Uses Audio to Guide Blind Photographers

While blind people can’t enjoy photographs the same way sighted people do, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to take them

3-D Printed Gun Plans Are Going to Be on the Internet, Whatever the State Department Says

Barns Are Painted Red Because of the Physics of Dying Stars

Have you ever noticed that almost every barn you have ever seen is red? Here’s why.

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Feel Your Head Roll With This Virtual Reality Guillotine Simulator

Through a combination if sight and touch, virtual reality can actually be incredibly realistic

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What Is it About Music That Triggers All of These Emotions?

Real feel or social construction? Where does the mood of your music come from?

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Shell Is Drilling the World’s Deepest Offshore Oil Well in the Gulf of Mexico

The new well contains around 250 million barrels of recoverable oil total - or just over three percent of the oil used by the U.S. each year

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Women Appear on Less Than Five Percent of Sports Illustrated Covers

A recent analysis of 11 years of SI covers shows that if you take out the swimsuit issue, women appear just 4.9 percent of the time

Over the past few decades Lake Urmia in Iran has steadily dried up.

28-Year Satellite Time-Lapse Shows Exactly What We’re Doing to Our Planet

28 years in just a few seconds, as seen from space

Dawn LeClair, member of the 1975 Wickenburg High School Math Club, sits in front of the paper clip computer.

Can You Build a Computer Out of Paper Clips?

You might never have asked yourself this question, because it’s a pretty weird question, but the answer is essentially yes

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