Crystal Skull
Crystal Skull Thanks to films like Indiana Jones, the crystal skull is “woven into our modern-day consciousness,” Winchester says. “The fact is that nearly all of these are forgeries as well, produced...
View ArticlePhrenology Skull
Phrenological Bust “I’m fascinated, once again, with deluded idiocy,” Winchester said, referring to phrenology, the long-ridiculed study of a cranium’s shape and size as it relates to a person’s...
View ArticleKara Mustafa Pasha Skull
Kara Mustafa Pasha Skull It’s a game of “Track that Skull”! We won’t get into the gory details -- buy Winchester’s book for that -- but we will say the story of Kara Mustafa Pasha and his severed head...
View ArticleBabirusa
If you were to go clicking down Alan Dudley’s anonymous-looking English street in Google’s Street View, there’d be no reason to stop outside his anonymous-looking English home. But inside, in a space...
View ArticleDodo
Dodo “I’ve been awash in dodo mythology since I was 17 or 18,” Winchester said of the extinct flightless bird. “I studied geology at Oxford. To get to my lectures, we would pass the case with the...
View ArticleGaboon Viper
Gaboon Viper “The Gaboon viper is just weird. So delicate. It looks dangerous even as a skull, with its great big fangs,” Winchester says. Note the jawbones, held loosely together so each side of the...
View ArticleHippo
Hippopotamus “The hippopotamus is merely huge,” Winchester says, “but has these adaptations like the eye sockets which are sufficiently protected by bone that it can more or less submerge itself and...
View ArticlePiltdown Man
Piltdown Man In the early 20th century, Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist in Britain, made an astonishing discovery: a half-chimp, half-human skull found in the Sussex village of Piltdown. It...
View ArticleBlack-Headed Spider Monkey
Black-Headed Spider Monkey “It’s a physically very beautiful thing, with its great big eye sockets,” Winchester said of this creepy child-like skull.
View ArticleNov 4, 2012
Dwarfed by Saturn Saturn's moon Mimas appears near Saturn, dwarfed by its parent planet in this image. Mimas (246 miles, or 396 kilometers across) appears tiny compared to the storms clearly visible in...
View ArticleNov 5, 2012
Gorgeous Aurora Over Oregon "It's not every day you see the aurora in Central Oregon," wrote photographer Brad Goldpaint to Wired regarding his incredible shot of heavenly phenomenon. That is certainly...
View ArticleNov 7, 2012
Smiley Crater It looks like even the craters on Mercury have heard of Bob Ross! The central peaks of this complex crater have formed in such a way that it resembles a smiling face. This image is...
View ArticleAlzheimer's Drugs for Everyone
Alzheimer's Drugs for Everyone More than 5 million Americans -- including an estimated 1 in 8 people over 65 years old -- suffer from Alzheimer's disease, a neurological affliction that is dreadful,...
View ArticleClimate Change
As is usually the case following an election, promises of bipartisanship bloom ubiquitous. Finally, say politicians and partisans, we'll reach across the aisle, find common ground, negotiate...
View ArticleGenome Dilemmas
Genome Dilemmas Though it's taken longer than expected, the promise of genome-based insights in medical care is starting to be fulfilled. The price of genome sequencing continues to fall; more...
View ArticleEnd-of-Life Decisions
End-of-Life Decisions Though a ballot proposal to legalize doctor-assisted suicide was narrowly defeated in Massachusetts, the issue is not going away. America is aging rapidly, and many terminally ill...
View ArticleWeighing the Evidence
Weighing the Evidence With Obamacare and widespread awareness of unsustainable U.S. health spending came a renewed focus on preventive medicine and what's known as evidence-based care: Treatment...
View ArticleThe Future of Farming
The Future of Farming Though innocuously named, the farm bill guides food production and consumption in the United States. The latest version, presently stalled in Congress, would account for nearly $1...
View ArticleNext-Gen GM
Next-Gen GM Debate over genetically modified crops tends to focus on shaky scientific concerns about their dietary safety, or fears that excessive regulation will stop the development of...
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