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Snakestones, Shaligrams, Ammonites, Oh My! All About Ammonites
Ammonites, the aquatic ancestor of cephalopods such as the octopus and nautilus, have captured our imaginations for centuries. Their spiraling fossilized shells have been known by many names throughout history. Here is our roundup of the most fascinating ammonite folklore!

Coming Out of Their Shells: a New Look at the Undersides of Trilobites
An artist’s rendering of two species of trilobite in the instant before they were buried by volca...

Yasuke: a Cultural Icon in Japanese History
Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu, an anonymous painting from 1605. The man on the left is theorized to be Yasu...

The Search Beyond Our Sun: Exoplanets from the James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope under construction before its launch in 2022. (NASA)
Post Author -...

Over 50 Years After the Conviction of Muhammad Ali: Looking Back On the Greatest's Biggest Challenge
Muhammad Ali offers no comment to the press, the day before his conviction on June 20, 1967
Post ...

A Brittlestar Specimen Fossilized During Cloning
A newly discovered brittle star, fossilized during its cloning process.
Post Author - J. Carlin D...

The Fish That Didn't Stay Extinct: The Story of the Coelacanth
The Coelacanth was a prehistoric fish that thrived in the waters of the Devonian period, over 400...

Homo Erectus: the First European
Stone tools found at Korolevo
Stone tools can tell us a lot, but perhaps most importantly, these...

Take a Leap this Leap Day!
Sunrise in Dülmen, Germany by Dietmar Rabich
Today is leap day, an extra day that occurs every fo...

60th Anniversary of the British Invasion!
McCartney and Lennon at the Coliseum show. (source: AP)
This week marks the 60th anniversary of t...

See New Pictures of WWII Code-Breaking Computer Colossus
Recently released picture of the Colossus. (source: GCHQ)
Britain’s Government Communications Hea...

Nigersaurus: The Bizarre Dinosaur with 500 Teeth!
Nigersaurus, sporting its vacuum-like mouth. (Source: University of Chicago)
Across the Mesozoic ...

Ded Moroz: the Other Santa Claus
Morozko by Ivan Bilibin (1931)
An urban legend has it that Santa Claus was invented by the Coca-C...

Siberian Mammoth Statue Gets a Christmas Makeover
The Salekhard mammoth, ready for Christmas
Just below the Arctic Circle, a roadside mammoth statu...

Potential for Alien Life Found on Saturn Moon Enceladus
Enceladus' plumes may hold evidence of microbial life. (source: NASA)
A new potential source of a...

What is a Paleontologist?
Peter Larson and Sue Hendrickson alongside her T-Rex find. (source: Black Hills Institute of Geol...

The Mummified Baboon from the Land of Punt
Mummified baboon. (Source: The British Museum)
After the societal breakdown of the First Intermed...

Don’t Miss the Geminids Meteor Shower!
A composite shot of 2014's Geminids shower. (Source: NASA)
From November 19 to Christmas Eve, the...

New Island Erupts into the Japanese Archipelago
The island forming off Iōtō (Source: Japanese Self-Defense Forces)
Across its vast archipelago, J...

Listen to the New Beatles Song!
The Beatles' rooftop concert, their final live performance. (source: Apple Corps)
Over half a cen...

The Quakers, Benjamin Franklin, and the Jersey Devil
"Mephistopheles in the Sky" by Eugène Delacroix, 1828, a possible inspiration for the Jersey Devi...

The Real-Life Dracula Shed Tears of Blood
Vlad the Impaler
In searching for inspiration for his vampire count, Bram Stoker selected Vlad I...

Where Does the Werewolf Come From?
Antonietta Gonsalvus who had hypertrichosis, one possible origin of werewolf mythology
It is a co...

A Short History of Halloween
A wicker man, described by Julius Caesar in Commentaries on the Gallic War
Tracing Halloween’s or...

The Trilobite Diet
A digital reconstruction of the trilobite's gut contents
Trilobites hold a prized position in the...

Retrieved Asteroid Material Arrives on Earth!
The mission's capsule, having landed in Utah (NASA)
Yesterday on September 24, an asteroid touche...

The Ancient History of Man's Best Friend
Canis lupus familiaris
The relationship between dogs and humans stretches across thousands of yea...

The Animals That Thrive in Cities
A Red-crowned Parrot in Coahuila, Mexico
Conventional wisdom has it that urban centers are biolog...

The Best Way to Steal a Banana
A vervet monkey
Competition is the law of the land in the animal kingdom, but it is not the only ...

The Supercomputer Tackling the Climate Crisis
Geoengineering would change the atmosphere to reflect solar radiation
The National Center for At...

Nature’s Laboratories
Two tortoises on the Galápagos Islands. (Source: Magnum Photos)
Natural selection is a slow proce...

Turkey’s 22 Underground Cities
A staircase in Derinkuyu.
It was 1963, and a Turkish farmer had a strange problem: his chickens k...

Animals Took to the Streets During Covid Lockdowns
A band of mountain goats walking the streets of a Welsh town during a Covid lockdown. (Source: Ge...

Looking Back at Deep Blue
Part of Deep Blue on display. (Source: Smithsonian)
For all the talk of the current boom in arti...

The First Musical Instrument
The ancient archeological record is littered with tools and weapons, means of survival in the pal...

A New Theory of Humanity's Origins
Despite popular depictions, humanity likely didn't originate out of one population. (Source: Warn...

There’s Another Way to Count
Addition isn't the only way to count numbers.
Here’s a simple question: what number is halfway be...