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Cool Finds

The sea urchins are causing havoc.

Voracious Purple Sea Urchins Are Ravaging Kelp Forests on the West Coast

The trouble started in 2013, when sea stars, an urchin predator, began to die off

Cool Finds

Canine Archaeologists Sniff Out 3,000-Year-Old Graves in Croatia

A new study shows how canines trained to find human remains could help archaeologists locate new sites

Talk about a rat race.

Scientists Taught Rats to Drive Tiny Cars to Earn Froot Loops

What’s more, driving seemed to relax the rodents

A male white bellbird screaming its mating call.

Listen to the Shattering Call of the World’s Loudest Known Bird

The song of the white bellbird can reach 125 decibels, which rivals ‘the amplitude of a pile driver,’ says the author of a new study

The discovery highlights the dynamic nature of a site most frequently associated with the gruesome deaths of England’s rich and powerful

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Medieval Woman and Child’s Skeletons at the Tower of London

The remains shine a light on the ordinary people who lived and worked in one of England’s most notorious historic sites

Lord Elgin is a controversial figure accused by many—including the Greek government—of looting valuable artifacts from the city of Athens

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Treasures Came From the Same Sunken Ship That Carried the Controversial ‘Elgin Marbles’

The “Mentor,” a vessel owned by the notorious Lord Elgin, sank in 1802 while carrying panels and sculptures looted from the Parthenon

Artist's impression of gas flow in a protoplanetary disk.

New Research

To Find Baby Planets, Researchers Chase Waterfalls of Gas

Analysis of data from the ALMA telescope shows gas flows from the surface to middle of protoplanetary discs as new planets form

A visitor catches a whiff of T. Rex breath at the Field Museum.

Cool Finds

You Can Now Smell a T. Rex’s Stinky Breath at Chicago’s Field Museum

The museum recently added a multi-sensory experience to SUE’s new exhibit

The wooden sarcophagi boast colorful, well-preserved paintings and inscriptions

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 20 Sealed Ancient Egyptian Coffins

The sarcophagi—decorated in shades of red, green, white and black—were found stacked in two layers in a giant tomb

Violet King, an usherette at the London Coliseum, pocketed the half-smoked cigar and safeguarded it for the rest of her life

Cool Finds

A Cigar Puffed by Winston Churchill Is Set to Go on Auction

The British prime minister smoked the cigar while attending a movie premiere in 1953

The team discovered a whale fall while exploring Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast.

Cool Finds

Watch Marine Life Feast on a Complete Whale Skeleton on the Ocean Floor

It’s spooky season on the seafloor, too

A humpback whale, not involved in the study, shows off its pecs.

Watch Humpback Whales Scoop Fish Into Their Mouths Using Their Fins

With the help of a drone and other new technologies, researchers were able to study the whales from a bird’s-eye view

This inverted cross was likely carved on the inn's hearth stone in hopes of discouraging witches from flying down the chimney

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Shot Glass Shards, Anti-Witch Carving at Centuries-Old Scottish Pub

At the time of its construction, the Wilkhouse Inn was considered a “statement of modernity and affluence”

The scene features a wounded gladiator appealing for mercy

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Bloody Gladiator Fresco in Pompeii

The scene, one of many paintings recently found in the ruins of the ancient city, depicts a defeated gladiator begging for his life

Cool Finds

Tiny Stone Tools Show Humans Hunted in the Rainforest 45,000 Years Ago

A ‘toolkit’ found in Sri Lanka adds to growing evidence that early humans inhabited many ecosystems, not just open grasslands

American assault troops move up the beachhead from their landing craft in northern France.

Cool Finds

Man Discovers Original D-Day Dispatch Audiotape in Basement

The tape and several other recordings have since been donated to the National D-Day Memorial

Artists reconstruction of Phoebodus sharks.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Shark Looked Like an Eel and Swallowed Its Prey Whole

Scans of a rare 360-million-year-old shark skeleton shows the beasts used hunting techniques similar to modern sharks and fish

Dolphins and their calves enjoying a summer day in the lower Potomac River.

Cool Finds

Dolphins Are Finally Living and Breeding in the Potomac River Again

About 1,000 bottlenose dolphins have been recorded in the lower reaches of the recovering river, including one that gave birth in August

The wrestler's cap alludes to Hercules' defeat of the Nemean lion

Cool Finds

Jar Depicting Thracian Athlete Found in Grave of Sports Fan of Antiquity

Your move, fanatics of the 21st century

Previously, researchers believed giraffes' spots grew darker with age

Color of Giraffes’ Spots Reflects Social Status, Not Age

New research suggests male giraffes with darker coloring are more solitary, dominant than lighter-hued counterparts

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