From the tablets of the Babylonians to the telescopes of modern science, humans have always looked to the skies for fundamental answers.

The way that the ancient Megalodon adapted to water temperature has important implications for modern marine creatures.

Understanding the factors behind recent growth could help us better approach inequality.

In the Saudi Arabian desert, the Al Naslaa rock formation looks completely unnatural. Its perfectly vertical split remains a mystery.

Syllipsimopodi bideni is small (about 12cm in length), has ten arms, suckers, fins, and a triangular pen of hard tissue inside its body for support.

Is there any good reason for assigning North and South the way we do, or could we have just as easily done the reverse?

At the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Michigan, retrieving sunken vessels is the order of the day. Here’s how they do it. 

In the shadow of the Shard, the mosaics help paint a picture of Roman London.

Researchers speculate the famous monument was one of the world’s first solar calendars, possibly inspired by trade with ancient Egyptians. 

As always, aDNA research raises as many questions as answers.

An ancient continent called Balkanatolia rose and fell in the area in and around what is now the eastern Mediterranean.

Socrates lived during a time when people did not strive to separate fact from fiction. So how much of what we know about Socrates is true?

Da Vinci dreamed up a helicopter 400 years before they actually existed. Now, engineers have brought his design to life, but with a twist.

Using the Book of Mormon as a sacred but ambiguous atlas, the Latter-day Saints have been looking for the lost city of Zarahemla for decades.

Was this a moment when humans interbred with Neanderthals?

After it became clear that the world wasn't 6,000 years old, some proposed that northern peoples had emerged independently from others.

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?