A study proposes that an ancient trading network, called the Hopewell tradition, may have been wiped out by what is known as a cosmic airburst.

The quadratic formula isn't just something that teachers use to torture algebra students. The Babylonians once used it to calculate taxes.

Although saying the wrong thing could often get you killed in ancient civilizations, history shows that the ideal of free speech has deep roots.

A new analysis of an ancient hominin fossil sheds light on the "Out of Africa" dispersal events that occurred more than one million years ago.

Math offers good evidence that humans can solve any problem — as long as there’s money in it.

Dating of volcanic ash suggests the remains are at least 230,000 years old.

We are generally taught that there is an arc of history — an inevitable path of progress that leads to modern society. Maybe it isn't true.

Many key inventions were unique: one-offs.

Scientists used 3D scans to analyze the corpse of Amenhotep I. They discovered that his brain was never removed and that he was circumcised, among other curiosities.

One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was a rather powerless virgin.

If you put very fine black powder powder in a confined space it explodes in a cloud of heat, gas and noise.

Haters and disrespect aside, fruitcake is still a robust American tradition.

For consumers of festive beverages, the news is bad: this holiday season, Guinness may not be on tap and glass for bottling wine is scarce. Climate disasters, like British Columbia’s floods, have further weakened already […]

What was this mammoth tusk doing on the ocean floor 150 miles from land?

Today, every Homo species is extinct besides humans. But one of our close evolutionary relatives still lives on in our DNA.

What value does wit hold in genres defined by brute strength?

Fittingly, the skull was found in the Rising Star cave of South Africa, itself located at a site known to UNESCO as the Cradle of Mankind.

Looking with lasers, researchers discovered that many Olmec and Mayan ruins seem to have been constructed from the same blueprint.

It’s how successful our current theories are. Some 500 years ago, there was one scientific phenomenon that was, without controversy, extremely well-understood: the motion of the celestial objects in the sky. […]

The Crab Nebula goes back to 1054, opening a window into our cosmic past. On July 4, 1054, Chinese astronomers recorded a “guest star” in the Taurus constellation. A ‘guest star’ […]

And if you have a friend at the same longitude, you can even measure its circumference. This year’s equinox, on March 19/20 of 2020 (longitude-dependent), is Earth’s earliest in 124 […]

If you were to compress the entire history of the Universe into one calendar year, everything we love happens on December 31st. Our Universe has been around for 13.8 billion years […]

And how if you try this with someone shorter than you are, you’ll find it extra convincing! “I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to […]