No city in the country—or the world—does Halloween quite like Anoka, Minnesota. For almost a century, residents of the small Minnesota town located about 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis have been holding a community-wide celebration in honor of October 31, eventually earning the town of nearly 18,000 the title of .It all began on November 1, 1919, the day after Halloween, when Anoka residents woke up to a prank of epic proportions at the hands of some of the local youth. As the sun rose, community members were greeted by wagons parked precariously on rooftops, overturned outhouses and...…No city in the country—or the world—does Halloween quite like Anoka, Minnesota. For almost a century, residents of the small Minnesota town located about 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis have been holding a community-wide celebration in honor of October 31, eventually earning the town of nearly 18,000 the title of .It all began on November 1, 1919, the day after Halloween, when Anoka residents woke up to a prank of epic proportions at the hands of some of the local youth. As the sun rose, community members were greeted by wagons parked precariously on rooftops, overturned outhouses and...WW…

Haskell County, Kansas, lies in the southwest We cannot say for certain that that happened in 1918 in Haskell County, but we do know that an influenza outbreak struck in January, an outbreak so severe that, although influenza was not then a “reportable” disease, a local physician named Loring Miner—a large and imposing man, gruff, a player in local politics, who became a doctor before the acceptance of the germ theory of disease but whose intellectual curiosity had kept him abreast of scientific developments—went to the trouble of alerting the U.S. Public Health Service. The report...…Haskell County, Kansas, lies in the southwest We cannot say for certain that that happened in 1918 in Haskell County, but we do know that an influenza outbreak struck in January, an outbreak so severe that, although influenza was not then a “reportable” disease, a local physician named Loring Miner—a large and imposing man, gruff, a player in local politics, who became a doctor before the acceptance of the germ theory of disease but whose intellectual curiosity had kept him abreast of scientific developments—went to the trouble of alerting the U.S. Public Health Service. The report...WW…

Across the country, as Americans practice social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19, graduation ceremonies are moving from grand auditoriums and campus greens to the virtual space. The commencement at Kent State University is likewise moving online, which normally wouldn’t be all that extraordinary. Except that this year, the school was set to commemorate 50 years since the last time graduation didn’t happen after National Guard troops fired upon a crowd on campus, killing four and wounding nine others.For the past half-century, Kent State has been trying to live down those 13...…Across the country, as Americans practice social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19, graduation ceremonies are moving from grand auditoriums and campus greens to the virtual space. The commencement at Kent State University is likewise moving online, which normally wouldn’t be all that extraordinary. Except that this year, the school was set to commemorate 50 years since the last time graduation didn’t happen after National Guard troops fired upon a crowd on campus, killing four and wounding nine others.For the past half-century, Kent State has been trying to live down those 13...WW…

Editor's Note, May 27, 2020: Due to poor weather conditions, the SpaceX shuttle launch slated for this afternoon has been postponed to Saturday, May 30. The launch would have been the first to blast off from United States soil in nine years.NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, set to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket at 3:22 p.m. on May 30. After about 24 hours, the Crew Dragon will autonomously dock with the International Space Station (ISS), where Behnken and Hurley will join the three astronauts currently onboard.The mission was...…Editor's Note, May 27, 2020: Due to poor weather conditions, the SpaceX shuttle launch slated for this afternoon has been postponed to Saturday, May 30. The launch would have been the first to blast off from United States soil in nine years.NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, set to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket at 3:22 p.m. on May 30. After about 24 hours, the Crew Dragon will autonomously dock with the International Space Station (ISS), where Behnken and Hurley will join the three astronauts currently onboard.The mission was...WW…

Paleontologists have unearthed a new species of burrowing dinosaur that once walked on two legs some 125 million years ago in modern-day China, reports Jon Haworth for . A new paper describing the species, published this month in the journal , argues it is the most primitive —the family of dinosaurs that includes bipedal “duck-billed” species such as Iguanodon—ever found.Found in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, researchers named the dinosaur Changmiania liaoningensis after the serene postures of the two almost perfectly preserved skeletons that underpin the discovery—changmian means...…Paleontologists have unearthed a new species of burrowing dinosaur that once walked on two legs some 125 million years ago in modern-day China, reports Jon Haworth for . A new paper describing the species, published this month in the journal , argues it is the most primitive —the family of dinosaurs that includes bipedal “duck-billed” species such as Iguanodon—ever found.Found in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, researchers named the dinosaur Changmiania liaoningensis after the serene postures of the two almost perfectly preserved skeletons that underpin the discovery—changmian means...WW…

that in 1963, Tanzanian high school student Erasto Mpemba was making ice cream with his class when he impatiently put his sugar and milk concoction into the ice cream churner when it was still hot, instead of letting it cool first. To his surprise, the confection cooled faster than his classmates’ had.With the help of a physics professor, Mpemba performed additional experiments by putting two glasses of water, one just-boiled and one warm, in a freezer, and seeing which one reached the freezing finish line first. Often, the water with a higher starting temperature was the first to freeze....…that in 1963, Tanzanian high school student Erasto Mpemba was making ice cream with his class when he impatiently put his sugar and milk concoction into the ice cream churner when it was still hot, instead of letting it cool first. To his surprise, the confection cooled faster than his classmates’ had.With the help of a physics professor, Mpemba performed additional experiments by putting two glasses of water, one just-boiled and one warm, in a freezer, and seeing which one reached the freezing finish line first. Often, the water with a higher starting temperature was the first to freeze....WW…

Our sun’s surface is rarely calm. Even now, when the star is in its phase of relative inactivity known as the “,” the surface will light up with a rare solar flare or darken with the occasional sunspot.Last month, scientists took images of the sun that revealed its surface activity in unprecedented detail, in dramatic swirls of grey and yellow. The researchers also witnessed a surprising phenomenon: a spate of mini-flares, dubbed “campfires,” that seem to take place everywhere on the sun’s surface.NASA and the European Space Agency captured the images—the closest ever taken of the sun—in...…Our sun’s surface is rarely calm. Even now, when the star is in its phase of relative inactivity known as the “,” the surface will light up with a rare solar flare or darken with the occasional sunspot.Last month, scientists took images of the sun that revealed its surface activity in unprecedented detail, in dramatic swirls of grey and yellow. The researchers also witnessed a surprising phenomenon: a spate of mini-flares, dubbed “campfires,” that seem to take place everywhere on the sun’s surface.NASA and the European Space Agency captured the images—the closest ever taken of the sun—in...WW…

Venus, an inhospitable planet where surface temperatures hover around , just became an even tougher sell for Earthlings looking to switch planets. New research has identified 37 structures on the second planet from the sun that appear to be massive, active volcanoes, reports (AFP).Venus’ volcanism has long been known to scientists but was thought to be a thing of the planet’s distant past, reports Will Dunham for . The new paper, published this week in the journal , suggests the planet’s volcanoes are not dormant and that its geologically volatile days are not yet behind it.“People have...…Venus, an inhospitable planet where surface temperatures hover around , just became an even tougher sell for Earthlings looking to switch planets. New research has identified 37 structures on the second planet from the sun that appear to be massive, active volcanoes, reports (AFP).Venus’ volcanism has long been known to scientists but was thought to be a thing of the planet’s distant past, reports Will Dunham for . The new paper, published this week in the journal , suggests the planet’s volcanoes are not dormant and that its geologically volatile days are not yet behind it.“People have...WW…

The Red Planet’s atmosphere glows green, scientists announced this week.Scientists have long known that Earth’s upper atmosphere glows a bright emerald shade and have photographed the phenomenon, known as airglow, from the International Space Station. But spotting the airglow on Mars is the first time the phenomenon has been detected on a planet other than Earth, reports Jonathan Amos for .The European Space Agency’s spotted Mars’ upper atmosphere emitting a greenish glow, it announced this week in a statement. The team published a study featuring their discovery in the journal this...…The Red Planet’s atmosphere glows green, scientists announced this week.Scientists have long known that Earth’s upper atmosphere glows a bright emerald shade and have photographed the phenomenon, known as airglow, from the International Space Station. But spotting the airglow on Mars is the first time the phenomenon has been detected on a planet other than Earth, reports Jonathan Amos for .The European Space Agency’s spotted Mars’ upper atmosphere emitting a greenish glow, it announced this week in a statement. The team published a study featuring their discovery in the journal this...WW…

From the Smithsonian MuseumsThis year was full of exciting research and discoveries at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. From tripling the number of known electric eels to uncovering how humans changed nature across millennia, our researchers addressed fundamental questions, sparked curiosity and showed the beauty and wonder of our planet with their research. Here are some of our most popular discoveries from 2019.1. Humans first caused environmental change earlier than we thoughtWe transform our environment by building roads, airports and cities. This isn’t new. But,...…From the Smithsonian MuseumsThis year was full of exciting research and discoveries at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. From tripling the number of known electric eels to uncovering how humans changed nature across millennia, our researchers addressed fundamental questions, sparked curiosity and showed the beauty and wonder of our planet with their research. Here are some of our most popular discoveries from 2019.1. Humans first caused environmental change earlier than we thoughtWe transform our environment by building roads, airports and cities. This isn’t new. But,...WW…