Scorched property, injured or missing persons, deaths—fires in California are taking lives and destroying homes at an alarming rate. This past wildfire season, hundreds of thousands of residents escaped ahead of some 7,579 blazes. Read More

File this under things we knew: Cat tongues are scratchy. File this under things we can’t believe we’ve just learned: Tiny hooks spring up on a cat’s tongue when it licks and grooms. And those hooks have built-in scoops to carry kitty saliva into thick fur for a deep clean. Read More

Researchers in Australia designed a new typeface. The lettering could help people remember what they read. It’s an example of using an everyday tool to fix a common problem. Read More

Chandeliers in the lunchroom? A helicopter landing pad on the campus lawn? Those are some of the strange perks that come with thinking outside the box. Read More

Animal researchers are creating complex maps involving tens of thousands of animal species. The maps won’t depict where animals live or how they migrate. But many scientists believe these genome maps could one day help prevent disease and save animals from extinction. Read More

Traipse through Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, and you’ll catch a glimpse of 1830s life in New England. But this so-called “living history” museum might not be telling the whole story. So Sturbridge staff are rethinking their presentation of the past. Read More

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creeping into modern life. Computers forecast weather, diagnose disease, and defend against cyberattacks. An AI program even defeated a human smarty-pants at Jeopardy! Now a group of researchers asks, “Can deep learning techniques be harnessed to write poetry?” Read More

Archaeologists at a railway bridge site scraped and sifted—as they had done many times. But what came out of the exploration along a New England river surprised everyone. The find would quickly become one of the most important Native American discoveries in the Northeast. Read More

Archaeologists have been digging in the desert for hundreds of years. Now they’re re-examining an area last excavated over 100 years ago—and finding important, never-before-seen relics. Read More

It’s a plumber’s nightmare. Fifty-five stories beneath New York’s Hudson River, hard-hat workers plug away—literally. They’re repairing leaks in an aging aqueduct that carries half the city’s water supply. If they do it right, New Yorkers turning on their faucets will never even notice. Read More