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Cool Finds

Cool Finds

Early Sketches From ‘The Little Prince’ Found in Swiss Collection

A folder includes images from the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, as well as a love letter written to his wife, Consuelo de Saint Exupéry

Europe's cave bear population started crashing around 40,000 years ago—roughly the time period when modern humans arrived on the continent

Ice Age Humans Likely Played Major Role in Cave Bears’ Extinction

Researchers have long debated whether human activity or climate change precipitated the species’ demise

Black squirrels are seen across North America and England

Interspecies Breeding Is Responsible for Some Squirrels’ Black Coloring

Color-changing mutation originated in fox squirrels but spread to eastern gray squirrels via mating

The Pompeiian sorceress' kit contained about 100 different objects.

Cool Finds

A Sorceress’ Kit Was Discovered in the Ashes of Pompeii

The box of small trinkets was likely used to perform fertility and love rituals and to look for omens about birth and pregnancy

Marcel Proust in 1900.

Cool Finds

Nine Newly Discovered Proust Stories to Be Published

The works were slated to be part of the French author’s first collection of poems and stories, but were cut for unknown reasons

Cool Finds

Nevada Has a Massive New Dark Sky Sanctuary

The night skies at 100,000-acre Massacre Ridge are some of the starriest in the world

New Research

New 3-D Map Shows Milky Way’s Big Twist

By mapping the distance of Cepheid stars, researchers reveal that our galaxy is warped

Section of fragment found

Cool Finds

Fragment of ‘The Rose Thorn,’ a Poem About a Talking Vulva, Dated to the 1300s

The section of the erotic Medieval fantasy was found in the binding of book in Austria’s Melk monastery

Excavation of a Celtic grave at the Kernschulhaus 2017

Cool Finds

This Iron Age Celtic Woman Was Buried in a Hollowed-Out Tree Trunk

The woman performed little physical labor during her lifetime and enjoyed a rich diet of starchy and sweetened foods

Ben Enwonwu, "Christine," 1971

Cool Finds

Family Realizes Long-Forgotten Portrait Was Painted by Famed Nigerian Artist Ben Enwonwu

Last year, a similarly rediscovered portrait by Enwonwu sold for $1.6 million, setting an auction record for Nigerian Modernist art

Grasshoppers swarm a light a few blocks off the Strip on July 26, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Swarms of Grasshoppers Invading Las Vegas Are Visible on Radar

Experts say the insects are migrating north in response to unusually heavy rainfall in the region

A picture of the XF8F-1 Bearcat. David L. Mandt was flying the same model when he crashed into the Chesapeake Bay.

Cool Finds

Traces of WWII Veteran’s Doomed Final Flight May Have Been Located in the Chesapeake Bay

Few definitive traces of either the pilot or his plane have materialized since the 1945 crash

Wait, isn’t the moon made of cheese though?

Apollo at 50: We Choose to Go to the Moon

Apollo 11 Mission Memorialized With 2,200 Pounds of Butter

A buttery Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, along with a couple cows, are on display at the Ohio State Fair

Artist's reconstruction of the Langeland grave.

Cool Finds

Viking Woman Warrior May Have Been Slavic

A new analysis of female Viking warriors suggests one found in Denmark was actually from the area of present-day Poland

Keven Walgamott lost his left hand and part of his arm in an electrical accident 17 years ago

Robotic Hand Restores Wearer’s Sense of Touch

The prosthetic enabled a test subject to pick up an egg without cracking it, send a text message, peel a banana and hold his wife’s hand

It may seem like an ugly duckling story, but it's so cute!

Cool Finds

Empty-Nester Loons Adopt a Mallard Chick in Northern Wisconsin

For two months the duckling has learned to eat fish, dive and just hang out on on mom and dad’s backs

When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent.

New Research

Laugh Tracks Make Bad Jokes Funnier, According to Science

The bursts of audience laughter hated by TV critics do induce laughter, meaning the sit-com giggles are here to stay

A baby croc is held up in front of the Turkey Point wildlife preservation area in 2008.

Why Florida Crocs Are Thriving Outside a Nuclear Power Plant

But is the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station the reptilian utopia that it seems?

Members of the control group showed none of the behavioral and physiological changes seen among the experimental clutches

New Research

Unhatched Bird Embryos Communicate With Siblings by Vibrating Their Shells

Baby seabirds exposed to nestmates’ warnings exhibit behavioral and physiological adaptations designed to help avoid predators

Cool Finds

It Took Two Years for Global Experts to ID This Little Shard of Roman Glass

The rare blue-green glass was unearthed at the Chedworth Roman Villa in the U.K.

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