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Cool Finds

"Monna Vanna," ca 1515. Found in the collection of the Condé Museum, Chantilly.

Cool Finds

Experts Think This ‘Nude Mona Lisa’ Could Have Been Drawn by Leonardo da Vinci

Previously attributed to his students, close examination of the charcoal drawing shows a left-handed artist created most of the artwork

Cool Finds

The City of Chicago Is Sinking. Here’s Why

Ice sheets that receded 10,000 years ago are responsible for the Windy City dropping at least four inches over the last century

Cool Finds

Cave Full of Untouched Maya Artifacts Found at Chichén Itzá

The intact offerings will allow researchers to understand changes over time at the site

This could be your future.

You Can Now Apply to Be a Cadbury Chocolate Taster

A “passion for confectionary” is required

American South

Houston’s Rothko Chapel Casts a New Light

When the meditative space reopens, a new skylight will filter the right amount of light on the 14 canvasses installed in the artist’s octagonal masterpiece

Cool Finds

Using Landmine Detectors, Meteorite Hunt Turns Up 36 Space Rocks in Antarctica

The scientists had a hunch that more meteorites were hidden a foot below the ice—they were right

The bluestone quarry at Carn Goedog.

New Research

Secrets of Stonehenge Found in Quarries 180 Miles Away

Archaeologists believe the builders popped out “ready-made” bluestones at a quarry in Wales and dragged them overland to Salisbury

Cool Finds

Museum of the Dog Takes Manhattan

After 30 years in St. Louis, the American Kennel Club museum is back in the Big Apple, with artifacts, portraits and a kiosk that matches people to dogs

Trending Today

Southern California Will Soon See Another Booming Superbloom

If the rain keeps up, the deserts and burn scars will soon explode with acres of colorful poppies, lupines, lilies and other ephemeral flowers

New Research

Feeding Mosquitoes Diet Drugs Makes Them Stop Biting

The drugs—which block hunger signals in humans and the insects—keep the bugs from bloodsucking for a few days

An image of the true U.S. pizza king Filippo Milone in the May 9, 1903 issue of the Italian-language newspaper Il Telegrafo.

Cool Finds

The Father of American Pizza Is Not Who We Thought He Was

New research suggests pizza came to the U.S. earlier than 1905, spread by pizza evangelist Filippo Milone

That's so metal.

New Research

Planetary Smash-Up May Have Produced This Distant Iron Exoplanet

Computer simulations suggest Kepler 107c could have been formed when two rocky planets collided, stripping it down to its metal core

Cool Finds

Drone Captures Thousands of Years of Archaeology on Remote Scottish Islands

A drone survey of Canna and Sanday Islands collected 420 million data points, creating what may be the most detailed 3-D map of islands yet

Mansa Musa as seen in the Catalan Atlas.

Cool Finds

New Exhibition Highlights Story of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived

Read about Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, who once disrupted Egypt’s economy just by passing through

Charred residue containing evidence of beer making.

Cool Finds

Oldest Evidence of British Beer Found in Highway Dig

Charred residues show cracked grain and starch molecules likely used as part of a beer brewing session in 400 B.C.

Cool Finds

Revealed: Leonardo da Vinci’s Reddish-Brown Thumbprint

The inky impression made on an anatomical drawing of a woman will go on view to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death

President Kennedy declassified images like this one that showed medium-range ballistic missile launch sites in the Cuban countryside

Cool Finds

How CIA-Backed Spies Detected Soviet Nukes First During Cuban Missile Crisis

A report from Yahoo News lays out how a network of agents detected Soviet operations on the island before a U-2 spy plane snapped the famous photos

Uroplatus finaritra, a new species of leaf-tailed gecko.

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Leaf-Tailed Gecko From Madagascar Is Already Threatened by Pet Trade

The master of camouflage is about 4-inches-long and hides amid dead leaves

Cool Finds

3,000-Year-Old Quinoa Found in Ontario

The batch of charred grain is the farthest north a now-extinct version of the crop has been found

Researchers drilled into the depths of Lake Mercer with a pencil-sized nozzle that sprayed hot water

Cool Finds

Trove of Tiny Ancient Animal Remains Recovered From Depths of Antarctic Ice

The crustaceans and tardigrade, or water bear, were found around a kilometer below the surface of the subglacial Lake Mercer

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