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History

Lapis lazuli cylinder seal

A Sip from an Ancient Sumerian Drinking Song

A newly analyzed cuneiform hymn accompanied a drinking song dedicated to a female tavern-keeper

Artist's rendition of the Burning of Washington

Today We Celebrate the Time Canada Burned Down the White House

Two hundred years ago today, a 36-year old America declared war, for the second time, against Great Britain

Disease has often been blamed for the extinction of the last dinosaurs, such as this Edmontosaurus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

Disease and the Demise of the Dinosaurs

Cataracts, slipped discs, epidemics, glandular problems and even a loss of sex drive have all been proposed as the reason non-avian dinosaurs perished

A reconstruction of the Edmontosaurus skull LACM 23502, with a beak based on a natural mold.

Shovel-Beaked, Not Duck-Billed

A rare fossil shows that duck-billed dinosaurs were not so duck-like after all

Why Do Men Grill?

Globally, it seems that this gendered division of cookery is an American thing

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The Unnatural History of the Dixie Cup

The product was a life-saving technology that avoided the transmission of disease from communal “tin dippers”

The exterior of the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg

A Toast to the Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia

A Russian icon in the Art Nouveau style on St. Isaac‘s Square near the Neva River, the Astoria evokes a Belle Époque world gone by

Even familiar dinosaurs, such as this Allosaurus at Utah's Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, still raise many questions about dinosaur biology.

The Dinosaurs They are a-Changin’

Paleontologists are describing new dinosaurs at an unprecedented pace, but there’s much we still don’t know about the biology of these animals

Palace of the Winds in Jaipur, India

Jaipur via The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

A delightful new film takes viewers to India’s picturesque western state of Rajasthan

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Elderberries, Liqueurs and Meat Stamps

These elder-containing concoctions, credited with reviving a taste for liqueurs, came about as folk remedies

The original AMNH mount of Brontosaurus, reconstructed in 1905

Brontosaurus Returns

Paleontologists may have killed the dinosaur a century ago, but it was revitalized in the King Kong remake

The r-TWR remote air traffic control center

Saab Reinvents Air Traffic Control With a Digital Panorama

With Saab’s new digital panorama, the local air traffic controller may soon go the way of the technical support specialist

A few old honeymoon hotels linger on in the Pennsylvania Poconos.

Passion in the Poconos

Home of the heart-shaped tub, the Pennsylvania mountains once rivaled Niagara Falls as a honeymoon destination

A gliding Stegosaurus

The Fantastic Gliding Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus was as aerodynamic as a brick, but one writer thought the prickly dinosaur used its huge plates for gliding

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The Birth of Non-Alcoholic Ketchup

One of the first recipes for ketchup published in the United States called for “love apples”

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What Sunken Sandwiches Tell Us About the Future of Food Storage

The sinking of the Alvin was an accident that demonstrated the promise of a novel food preservation method

Crawfish étouffée

Five Quintessential Cajun Foods

If you’ve only had the pleasure of eating a bowl of gumbo, queue up some Beausoleil and prepare some of these specialties

A design diagram for the interior of the Stratocruiser

The 86-Year-Old Company that Still Designs Your In-Flight Experience

Seattle-based design firm Teague has designed every Boeing aircraft interior since the 1940s, from the post-WWII Stratocruiser to the 2009 Dreamliner

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Tarbosaurus on Trial

An almost certainly poached tyrannosaur skeleton kicks off a legal dispute over Mongolia’s fossil heritage

Salt

Mark Kurlansky on the Cultural Importance of Salt

Salt, it may be useful to know, cures a zombie

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