The I-85 fire could have destroyed Basil Eleby’s life. Instead, it may have saved it.

Gaze Upon the Reconstructed Face of an Infamous 19th Century British Assassin

Ancient hippo-like reptile was a giant to rival the dinosaurs

The act of drawing something has a “massive” benefit for memory compared with writing it down

Trans-galactic Streamers Feeding Most Luminous Galaxy in the Universe

Why America’s Airports Suck Compared to Asia’s

What Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Costs New York City

An Rx for Doctors

What if a deadly influenza pandemic broke out today?

Video: Paragliders furnish unconventional footage of the Pyramids of Giza

Why The White Album is The Beatles’ greatest

Thanksgiving and the Myth of Native American “Savages”

That Escalated Quickly: Putting the Fun in Funiculars

Leaning Tower of Pisa ‘now leaning less’

The Greatest Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of

The Ripple Effect of Death in a Hotel

Inside the court of Ashurbanipal, king of the world

On this day in 1987 a Max Headroom lookalike invaded televisions in Chicago

Video Games In East Germany: The Stasi Played Along

One of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets might have an ocean, researchers now say

There’s a Secret Code Hiding on These Madrid Security Bollards

Have Astronomers Found Another “Alien Megastructure” Star?

Visitors From the Ocean’s Twilight Zone

Bouncing Boulders May Finally Explain How Mars’ Ugliest Moon Got Its Stripes

On this day in 1980 a disastrous fire struck the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas

Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink

Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

Infectious ‘Prions’ Found in the Eyes of Patients with Fatal Brain Disease

Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Moving Parts

The International Space Station turns 20 – in pictures

On this day in 1980 a lake in Louisiana fell out

Tracking Down a Catastrophic Fire’s First Spark

‘I hire a man to pretend to be my daughter’s dad’

To predict the future, the brain has two clocks

Scientists find way to melt gold at room temperature

Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead It Unleashed a Catastrophe.

Viking city: excavation reveals urban pioneers not violent raiders

Bar Fights, Lawsuits and the Flu Pandemic: The War Between Henry Ford and the Dodge Brothers

The Would-Be Terrorist vs. the FBI

Everyone Wants to ‘Influence’ You

World’s first full-body medical scanner generates astonishing 3D images

Fear, more than hate, feeds online bigotry and real-world violence

The same taste receptors found on the tongue are in the stomach, intestines and elsewhere, too. What are they doing there?

Once parents felt children needed a little fear to grow up well. Today they are desperately protective. What went wrong?

The Cavernous World under the Woods

England, But New: How John Smith’s 1616 Map Helped Define America

Over a period spanning decades, three teachers at one Ottawa high school preyed on their teenage students

Crippled and gigantic, a tadpole-shaped galaxy

Trouble in the Congo: The Misadventures of Glencore

He claims he’s America’s deadliest serial killer with 90 victims. Police believe him.

Colorful Asteroids Near Neptune Reveal a Solar System Conundrum

America’s Health-Care System Is Making the Opioid Crisis Worse

Some Good News, and a Hard Truth, About Science

Elevator at one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers plunges 84 floors after hoist rope breaks

Targeted Advertising Is Ruining the Internet and Breaking the World

Why NASA wants to look at flying tourists to space — a dramatic change for a by-the-book agency

11 Things We’d Really Like to Know (And a Few We’d Rather Not)

High score, low pay: why the gig economy loves gamification

Take me to your Leda: sensual Pompeii bedroom art uncovered

How cat tongues work—and can inspire human tech