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Dig Thinks It's Found Richard III Under Car Park

Archeologists find skeleton with curved spine, arrow through back

(Newser) - Archeologists in England think they may have indeed found the remains of the "tyrant king" Richard III in a dig under a car park in Leicester, reports the Daily Mail . They announced today that a number of factors that make them think it's the real deal, most notably...

Hitler's Nephew to FDR: Can I Fight for US?

William Patrick Hitler's letter published online

(Newser) - Adolf Hitler's nephew was determined to fight in World War II—against his uncle. William Patrick Hitler fled Germany for New York in 1939, and in 1942 sought Franklin D. Roosevelt's permission to join the US military; he wrote that his "difficult and singular situation" could be...

4 Weird Fourth Facts
 4 Weird Fourth Facts 
Jul 4, 2012 11:43 AM CDT

4 Weird Fourth Facts

3 presidents died and one was born on the holiday

(Newser) - As you're watching fireworks tonight, consider this: If John Adams had had his way, you would have had a three-day weekend. That's because the second president believed Independence Day should have been celebrated on July 2, when the Founding Fathers voted for independence, rather than the day John...

Cave Art Dates Back to Neanderthals
 Cave Art 
 Dates Back 
 to Neanderthals 
study says
Jun 14, 2012 5:30 PM CDT

Cave Art Dates Back to Neanderthals

Earliest work more than 40K years old

(Newser) - Our ancestors were artists far earlier than experts had believed, new dating techniques reveal. Paintings in El Castillo cave in northwestern Spain are at least 40,800 years old—the oldest ever found, and ancient enough that Neanderthals could have painted them. That would come as a surprise, since experts...

Obama Writes Himself Into Presidents' Bios

White House slips its accomplishments into bios, conservatives guffaw

(Newser) - History is written by the winners, and in this case by the winner of the 2008 presidential election: Take a gander at almost any presidential biography on WhiteHouse.gov from Calvin Coolidge on up, and you'll find a "Did You Know?" section that somehow, some way, links their...

Santorum: Calif. Schools Don't Teach US History

Republican candidate slams California universities

(Newser) - Rick Santorum continued his verbal assault on higher education today by accusing California universities of failing to "even teach an American history course." The GOP candidate slammed UC universities during a speech in Wisconsin, Mediaite reports, saying that "I think it's seven or eight" schools that...

How This Woman Changed Physics

Emmy Noether may be obscure, but her work was revolutionary

(Newser) - Her work may be the "backbone" of all modern physics; her key theorem could be as important as the theory of relativity; yet hardly anyone knows who Emmy Noether is. Celebrating her 130th birthday this month, Noether has suffered what the New York Times calls "chronic neglect"—...

Forget 8 Hours of Sleep: Try 4 Hours, Twice

History suggests it could be the 'natural' way

(Newser) - Eight hours of sleep—doctor's orders, right? Perhaps not. A number of recent studies have pointed to a human tendency to sleep in two sessions of about four hours each, with an hour or two between, the BBC reports. A researcher in the 1990s put subjects in darkness 14...

Romans' Beasts of Burden: Camels?

Archaeologists find animals' bones across northern Europe

(Newser) - The Roman Empire may have brought camels a long way from home to serve as its beasts of burden, archaeologists say. Researchers have found Roman-age camel bones at 22 sites across northern Europe, USA Today reports. What's more, "antique literature and iconographical sources inform us about the uses...

Gingrich More 'Nutty Professor' Than Historian

Noah Feldman is amused by Gingrich's academic past

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich's attacks linking President Obama to Saul Alinsky delighted Harvard law professor Noah Feldman. "What excites me is not the preposterousness of the statement," though indeed, it was preposterous, he writes for Bloomberg . "What I love was the absurdity of Newt Gingrich apparently believing that...

O'Reilly: Lincoln Book Has Just 4 Errors, 2 Typos

Says his enemies are 'full of rage at our success'

(Newser) - Bill O’Reilly vigorously defended his book, Killing Lincoln, yesterday, after the National Park Service lambasted it for historical inaccuracies . “Our enemies are full of rage at our success,” he said on his show. He said the book contained "four minor misstatements, all of which have been...

O'Reilly's Lincoln Book Slammed for Historical Boo-Boos

Ford's Theatre superintendent writes scathing 4-page letter

(Newser) - Bill O'Reilly's book, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, has sold nearly a million copies and currently sits at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list . Only problem is, it's riddled with errors, according to a scathing review from the National Park Service...

Researchers to Build Computer Designed in 1830s

The world shall at last know if the Babbage Analytical Engine would have worked

(Newser) - Quick when was the first programmable computer designed? If you said the early 19th century … well, you probably looked at the headline. But you might be right, and researchers in Britain are currently planning to test that theory. They’re about to spend 10 years and millions of dollars...

New Theory: Van Gogh Was Murdered

Local boy shot him, authors of ' Van Gogh: The Life' suggest

(Newser) - The accepted explanation for Vincent Van Gogh's death may be all wrong. While the standard story is that the artist shot himself in a field, managing to return to a nearby inn before he died, a new 900-page book paints a very different picture. In Van Gogh: The Life,...

Mount Everest's Mystery: Should We Solve It?

Two British adventurers may have climbed it first

(Newser) - A long-frozen roll of film may solve one of Mount Everest's most enduring mysteries. England has long been caught in the romance of two British adventurers who scaled the mountain with a team in 1924 and were last seen a few hundred yards from the peak. Did George Mallory...

Eva Peron Helped Nazis, Hid Jewish Treasure: Book

And Simon Bolivar was a racist, it alleges

(Newser) - A new book is giving Argentina a new reason not to cry for Eva Peron: She helped a number of Nazis who fled Europe after World War II, and was rumored to have harbored treasures taken from their Jewish victims. The accusations come from The Politically Incorrect Guide to Latin ...

Vikings Left Greenland Because of ... Climate Change

Sinking temps may have forced them out, says study

(Newser) - We’re far from the first humans to grapple with climate change: It seems several populations were forced to leave Greenland when things got too cold for comfort, according to a new study. The Saqqaq people arrived in Greenland some 4,500 years ago, and were gone when weather cooled...

How You Can Join Hunt for Genghis Khan

Online volunteers examine satellite images of Mongolia

(Newser) - Armchair history buffs, take note: A University of California scientist needs all the help he can get finding the tomb of Genghis Khan. The only thing participants need to join the Valley of the Khans Project is a computer and an Internet connection, reports the Washington Post . Under the program,...

Luddites Didn't Hate Technology
 Luddites Didn't 
 Hate Technology 
OPINION
Mar 19, 2011 9:40 AM CDT

Luddites Didn't Hate Technology

They were actually just labor protesters with pizazz

(Newser) - The word “Luddite” is bandied about a lot these days, usually to denote someone steadfastly opposed to the march of technology; it’s “simultaneously a declaration of ineptitude and a badge of honor,” observes Richard Conniff in Smithsonian Magazine . There’s just one problem: the real Luddites...

New Mexico Celebrates a 'Terrorist'

Columbus celebrates Pancho Villa, who once sacked the town

(Newser) - Think New York City will ever name a park after Osama bin Laden or hold a parade in his honor? Before you answer, consider Columbus, New Mexico, which today celebrates “Raid Day,” a festival commemorating the day in 1916 when Pancho Villa raided the town with 500 soldiers,...

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