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Cool Finds

Cool Finds

Cache of Benjamin Franklin’s Original Manuscripts—Doodles and All—Gets Digitized

The Library of Congress recently released approximately 8,000 letters, drafts and documents from the founding father

"Untitled," a previously known James Castle work

Cool Finds

Eleven Never-Before-Seen Artworks Found in the Walls of James Castle’s House

The renowned Idaho Outsider artist was known for squirreling his drawings and sculptures away in the walls and ceiling of his Boise home

Ulysses Simpson Grant, Oil on canvas by Thomas Le Clear

Cool Finds

Ulysses S. Grant’s 1849 Home in Detroit May Be Restored

The house he rented as a young officer is now boarded up and full of trash on the site of the former Michigan state fairgrounds

A piece of the Almahata Sitta in Sudan

New Research

Diamonds Trapped in Strange Meteorite Came From Solar System’s Earliest Planets

Impurities in the diamonds could only have formed within a planet the size of Mercury or Mars

Cool Finds

This 13 Year Old Helped Find Viking Treasure In Germany

The silver jewelry and coins date to the reign of King Harald Bluetooth and may have been deposited during his flight from Denmark

Cool Finds

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Casket Rediscovered in Former Wine Cellar

Parishioners at St. Michael’s Church in Highgate hope to refurbish the crypt after identifying where exactly Coleridge’s final resting place was

Under Canada's Devon Ice Cap, shown here, scientists have found the first isolated hypersaline subglacial lakes in the world.

Super Salty Lakes Found Deep Below Canadian Ice Cap

The discovery could provide insights about life in extreme environments, and help in the search for extraterrestrial life

Ataqeloula stele

Cool Finds

Large Cache of Texts May Offer Insight Into One of Africa’s Oldest Written Languages

Archaeologists in Sudan have uncovered the largest assemblage of Meroitic inscriptions to date

Cool Finds

These Rare NASA Photos Were Saved From the Trash

The 1,500 press images up for sale cover the agency’s manned missions from 1961 to 1972

New Research

This Ancient Reptile Was One of the Most Massive Creatures That Ever Lived

A fossil jawbone found in England suggests the ‘sea monster’ was nearly the size of a blue whale

Judy Chicago's Sappho plate

Cool Finds

Now You Too Can Eat Off of Judy Chicago’s Famous Feminist Dinnerware

Reproductions of four plate designs from “The Dinner Party” are available for the first time

Under a blacklight, scorpions put on quite a show.

Puffin Beaks Are Fluorescent, and They’re Not the Only Ones

Scorpions, stick insects and caterpillars are among the many critters that glow under UV light

Archaeologists Used Drones to Find New Ancient Drawings in Peru

About 50 new examples of the Nazca lines had been hiding in plain sight

Cool Finds

“Lost” Feminist Dinner Set Goes on Public Display for the First Time

The 50-plate “Famous Women Dinner Set” by Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant includes portraits of the well-known and the overlooked

New Research

The Center of the Milky Way May Be Chock-Full of Black Holes

Researchers spotted about a dozen black holes lurking at our galactic center—and there may be up to 10,000 more

Cool Finds

400-Year-Old Painting by Dutch Master Found in Iowa Storage Room

Otto van Veen’s “Apollo and Venus” was likely hidden away by the Des Moines Women’s Club for showing too much skin

Cool Finds

Rare Tiny T. Rex Unearthed in Montana

Researchers are yet unsure if the creature is a baby dino or an example of the contentious Nanotyrannus

Icarus, the most distant star ever detected

New Research

Meet Icarus, The Most Distant Star Yet Detected

The blue supergiant lies 9 billion light-years away

Cool Finds

Centuries-Old Shipwreck Washes Up in Florida

The 48-foot section of ship’s hull was found last week at South Ponte Vedra Beach

The Imperial Tsesarevich Easter Egg currently on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Where to See the Fabled Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs

Remnants of a vanished past, Fabergé Easter eggs live on in museums and collections across the world

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