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Two photographers recently set a world record for the number of individual baleen whales seen in a single group at 304. It’s not just hard rockers that can form supergroups. Humpback whales seem to like it too, though scientists don’t know why. What they do know, however, is that they will congregat...

In one of India’s largest-ever legislative reviews, 717 offenses that might have come with a steep fine or even jail time have been decriminalized. Called the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, the aim is for a shift away from excessive criminalization to help create a more relaxed business...

The under-2-hour marathon mark has been broken officially for the first time—twice—by a pair of African runners at this year’s London Marathon. Thousands cheered as Kenyan champion runner Sabastian Sawe passed the finishing line at 1:59:30, a long-awaited and practically fabled achievement that has...

In Geneva, delegates from more than 120 countries gathered on Monday to mark 20 years of the UN Human Rights Council and a shared commitment to international law, amid runaway global instability, wars and resurgent conflict.

140 years ago today, an American inventor used electrolysis to extract aluminum from aluminum oxide, a process that eventually resulted in reducing the price of aluminum by a factor of 200, making it affordable for many practical uses from soda cans to the Wright Flyer. As small grains amid clay, it...

207 years ago today, Spain sold Florida to the United States as part of the Adams-Onis Treaty. It settled a standing border dispute between the two countries and was considered a triumph of American diplomacy. The cost was equivalent to $537.8 million in today’s dollars priced in gold, but was just...

Scientists called “astonishing” the first indisputable evidence of a new species of Spinosaurus found in over a century—uncovered in a remote area of the Sahara Desert. The newly discovered scimitar-crested dinosaur was described as a “hell heron” that fed on fish despite living hundreds of miles fr...

A sprawling online scam industry worth an estimated tens of billions of dollars a year is being powered by trafficked workers subjected to torture, sexual abuse and forced labour inside heavily guarded compounds in Southeast Asia, a new UN human rights report has found.

The state of São Paolo in Brazil recently passed a law in honor of a famous loyal dog that will allow residents to have their pets buried in family cemetery plots. Bob, nicknamed Bob Gravedigger, was an orange dog who spent 10 years living next to the grave of his owner after attending his funeral [...