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Cool Finds

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The Fashion World Has No Excuse, But There’s a Good Reason Bill Cosby Wore Crazy Sweaters

The story behind Bill Cosby’s sweaters has a lot more to do with television production than fashion

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Amateur Naturalists Are Discovering All Kinds of New Insect Species

More and more, amateurs are contributing to the discovery of new species, especially of insects - but can they keep ahead of the extinction curve?

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Nuclear Bombs Made It Possible to Carbon Date Human Tissue

The fallout of the nuclear bomb era is still alive today - in our muscles

In Space, Infectious Diseases Reveal Their True Nature

It turns out that microgravity might reveal a thing or two about the nasty bacteria

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New York Is Running Out of Ways to Separate Gifted Pre-Schoolers From Well-Prepared Ones

Actually figuring out which four-years-old are naturally smart and which have simply prepared, is harder than you might think

Chimpanzees Remember Things Faster Than You Do

Chimpanzees are several times stronger than us, generally healthier, and research suggests that they might have better memories too

Appreciate Weird, Adorable Pangolins Before They’re Gone

Across Asia, a plague of hunting has hit pangolins, though it’s not too late to save these intriguing creatures from extinction

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Newly Approved Retinal Implants Can Help Blind People See

The first retinal implants ever approved for use in the U.S. could help with a certain type of blindness

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Water Never Goes Bad, So Why Does It Need an Expiration Date?

Really, you shouldn’t be worried about the water, but about the bottle.

Zora Ball, the first grader who coded a computer game.

First Grader Codes Her Own Computer Game

The seven-year-old Philadelphia student just became the world’s youngest known person ever to code a computer game

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Ockham Never Really Had a Razor

Ockham never really said anything about razors; he was more interested in Scripture

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Real-Life Turkish Vampire Now Cured

A man just recovered from a condition his doctor called “clinical vampirism”—which was characterized by insatiable cravings for human blood

Mistreated Robots Now Have a Advocacy Group

Someday, the Seattle-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots may begin to serve disgruntled, nonhuman customers of the AI persuasion

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Should National Parks Offer Wifi and Cellular Coverage?

Is cellular coverage inevitable in U.S. national parks, some of the nation’s last wireless hold-outs?

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A Restaurant in Japan Is Serving a $110 Tasting Menu Featuring Dirt

Japan’s foodies have turned their attention to a new delicacy on Tokyo menus; will dirt turn up next in haute cuisine in New York and London?

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The Saltiest Pond on Earth Could Explain How Bodies of Water Form on Mars

At 40 percent salinity, the pond is the saltiest body of water on the planet.

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Tourists’ Photos Could Help Scientists Understand Whale Sharks

Every year, tourists take approximately a bazillion pictures. Most of them never wind up anywhere but someone’s hard drive, never seen again, but some of those pictures might actually be useful. Especially if they’re of whale sharks

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To Measure the Taste of Food, Listen to Your Taste Buds

What does the taste of coffee actually sound like?

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Vote on Names for Pluto’s Teeny Moons

Styx, Orpheus, Erebus or something else? What should Pluto’s moons be named?

An unfinished portrait of Mozart, from 1782.

Experts Are Weeding Out Impostor Portraits of Mozart

Experts want to do away with the romanticized conceptions of what Mozart looked like, or those of a white-wigged, red-jacketed young man at the piano

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