Every February, people across the world turn yards, balconies, parks, and sidewalks into observation posts. The Great Backyard Bird Count…
In 1991, two hikers found a body emerging from an Alpine glacier. The discovery first looked like a modern accident—and…
In 1974, farmers near Xi’an broke through fragments of clay while digging a well. What emerged was one of archaeology’s…
In 1939, an amateur archaeologist opened a Suffolk burial mound and found a ship, royal treasures, and a new way…
In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson found a faint, stubborn microwave signal in the sky. Their careful investigation helped…
In 1940, four teenagers and a dog followed a hole in the French countryside and uncovered one of humanity’s most…
Found near the Dead Sea in 1947, the scrolls transformed the study of Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, and life in…
Found by soldiers near Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in 1799, the Rosetta Stone gave scholars the comparisons they needed to read…
When Howard Carter entered KV62 in 1922, he found more than a royal burial. The tomb’s extraordinary contents gave modern…
In 1928, an overlooked patch of mold revealed a substance that bacteria could not withstand. Turning that observation into a…
Recovered from a Roman-era shipwreck, the Antikythera Mechanism showed that ancient Greek engineers could build a compact device to track…
A slow-moving reptile with a powerful bite helped scientists uncover a molecule that became the basis of an important diabetes…