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Surveyors Find Sunken WWI Battleship

Danton in top condition deep under Mediterranean

(Newser) - A French battleship famously sunk by Germans in World War I has been found in “extraordinary” condition on the Mediterranean Sea floor, the BBC reports. A geosciences firm came upon the Danton while surveying the waters between Italy and Algeria for a planned gas pipeline, set to be diverted...

Now 100, Lincoln Penny Was First With 'Heads'

'Monarchical' fears long prevented use of presidents

(Newser) - As Honest Abe's 200th birthday approaches, his likeness in our pockets is often disregarded. But the 100-year-old Lincoln penny is actually an American artistic milestone: Its debut marked the first appearance of a real person on a US coin, the New York Times reports. After the nation’s birth, putting...

Shipwreck Found Off UK May Hold $1B in Treasure

Florida firm finds HMS Victory, lost in 1744

(Newser) - A shipwreck that could contain treasure worth over $1 billion has been found in the English Channel, Reuters reports. Florida’s Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered the wreck of the HMS Victory, an English flagship that was lost in a storm in 1744 with all 900 crew—and a stash of...

First First Lady Was No Frump
First First Lady Was No Frump
Feb 2, 2009 9:27 AM CST

First First Lady Was No Frump

Forget the unflattering paintings; Martha Washington was quite the fox

(Newser) - Chances are when you think of Martha Washington, you imagine a frumpy old fat lady smothered in lace. Not so, say those who study her and her husband. If you ignore the unflattering images painted years after her death, and instead focus on tailors' records and letters from Martha's youth,...

Eat This Brain and Call Me in the Morning

Europe's first doctors prescribed 'medicinal cannibalism'

(Newser) - Though safely out of fashion in today’s Europe, Western doctors just a few centuries ago recommended drinking blood, tasting brains, and eating flesh, Der Spiegel reports. Pieces of cadavers could be had in almost any pharmacy, says a British researcher who’s writing a book on "medicinal cannibalism....

America's First Newspaper Lasted Just One Day

(Newser) - An exhibit of early American journalism wraps up today at a DC museum, and among its gems is the first edition of the colonies' first paper: Publick Occurrences, from 1690. It's "no small treasure," notes Ned Desmond in his One Last Question blog, because the newspaper's first edition...

Obama Team Won't Promote Him as Racial Pioneer

Obama team focuses on message of unity, not historic status

(Newser) - Barack Obama's inauguration as the first black president tomorrow will make history, but don't expect him to dwell on that point, Politico reports. The president-elect's team is weaving a narrative not about a racial milestone, but about unity—just look at the diversity of yesterday's We Are One festivities.

Bush Farewell: 'I Followed My Conscience'

(Newser) - President Bush made his farewell address to the nation tonight, acknowledging "setbacks" and the wish to do some things differently but insisting that he "always acted with the best interests of our country in mind." The president—who said he had always followed his conscience and "...

Terminator, Deliverance Join US Film History

(Newser) - The Terminator will live forever. The Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick is among 25 films being added this year to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, which seeks to preserve movies of historical, cultural, or aesthetic note. Also among the crop this year were Deliverance, The Asphalt Jungle, Sergeant York,...

Three Genes Made 1918 Flu So Deadly
Three Genes Made 1918 Flu So Deadly
Dec 30, 2008 2:58 PM CST

Three Genes Made 1918 Flu So Deadly

They cause pneumonia by letting virus into lungs

(Newser) - Researchers have pinpointed the reason the flu pandemic of 1918 was “the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in human history,” Reuters reports. The key is a combination of three genes that allowed the virus to enter the lungs and cause pneumonia. Typically, the flu affects only the...

Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?
Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?
Dec 28, 2008 8:02 PM CST

Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?

Scots' obscene verbal tradition gave birth to musical 'dueling': prof

(Newser) - While most don't associate rap with a bunch of white guys in skirts, a University of New Mexico professor traces the music’s roots back to the barrooms of medieval Scotland, the London Telegraph reports. “The Scots have a lengthy tradition of flyting—intense verbal jousting, often laced with...

Anti-Abe Views Resonate in Dixie

(Newser) - The bicentennial of Lincoln's birth will be celebrated Feb. 12, so expect endless tributes to the president beloved by ordinary citizens and historians alike. Unless, of course, you're south of the Mason-Dixon line, where anti-Lincoln views "aren't particularly radical," writes Alex Beam of the Boston Globe. Lincoln is...

China to Lop Off Tall Buildings in Hangzhou

Hangzhou aims to become World Heritage site

(Newser) - Hoping to turn the city into a World Heritage site, China is lopping top floors off tall buildings in Hangzhou, the BBC reports. Two hotels, a TV tower, and other buildings will get the shrinking treatment in a $5.8 million effort; the city’s government has said that all...

Belafonte, Sotheby's Cancel MLK Auction

King estate disputes ownership of papers

(Newser) - Sotheby's has canceled the auction of three Martin Luther King documents amid an ongoing feud between their owner—Harry Belafonte—and the King estate, the New York Times reports. MLK's heirs contend that Belafonte is not the rightful owner of the papers, which include an important King speech on Vietnam...

Humble Mouse Turns 40
 Humble Mouse 
 Turns 40 
Dec 9, 2008 2:39 PM CST

Humble Mouse Turns 40

A look at milestones in the life of that crucial computer accessory

(Newser) - It’s been 40 years since the computer mouse made its public debut, and though innovations have been legion, the basic concept is still the same. Macworld takes a look back at some key moments in the device’s evolution.
  • 1963: The first recognizable mouse prototype is built. It only
...

History Often Forgets About This Adams
History Often Forgets About This Adams
BOOK REVIEW
Nov 26, 2008 4:22 PM CST

History Often Forgets About This Adams

And it's a shame: Sam, cousin of John, helped shape our revolution

(Newser) - When people think of Samuel Adams these days, the beer, and not the Revolutionary War hero, may come to mind first. But a new book from Ira Stoll—Samuel Adams: A Life—makes the case for bringing the cousin of John Adams out of "the attic of history."...

Remember History: Give Pirates No Quarter...

How Jefferson would deal with Somalia

(Newser) - The US can learn from its 18th-century experience with piracy, Michael Oren writes in the Wall Street Journal. America had no Navy in 1785, so when the Barbary Pirates demanded a million-dollar tribute in exchange for free passage through the Mediterranean, America paid. That million dollars represented 10% of the...

Spain Drops Probe Into Franco Crimes

But plan to dig up mass graves may still go ahead

(Newser) - One of Spain's leading judges terminated an inquiry into atrocities committed during the 1936-1939 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship, ending the country's first criminal investigation into Francisco Franco's regime. The judge dropped the case after government prosecutors questioned his jurisdiction over what the suit called crimes against humanity. But...

Family History of Breast Cancer Trumps Genes

Incidence among relatives is red flag, even without mutations

(Newser) - Women with family history of breast cancer are at elevated risk even if they don’t have a proven genetic indicator, HealthDay reports. Specific mutations in the BRCA gene correlate with an 80% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer; women in a new study who had a family history of...

The Bush Era: An 'American Fiasco'
 The Bush Era: 
 An 'American Fiasco' 

OPINION
Nov 3, 2008 11:38 AM CST

The Bush Era: An 'American Fiasco'

Columnist rips into the White House's 'all-time loser' on election eve

(Newser) - In the waning days of the Bush administration, Simon Schama wonders how the president is handling his role as the “all-time loser in presidential history.” “If the Statue of Liberty were alive,” Schama writes in the Guardian, “she would be weeping tears of blood” over...

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