Shorts

Only now do scientists fully understand just how strong a 1972 solar storm was.

It had a shell as big as a car.

Not only does it taste gross, but castor oil was used as an instrument of political control for years.

It has had a second life as a photogenic, atmospheric ruin.

Asbestos mining in Canada stopped only in the past decade.

A single male Gulf covina is louder than a jet engine.

A nativity break-out, heirloom string lights, giant Christmas trees, and more.

An Irish pub reports that a woman pulled a steel bollard right out of the ground.

Hoping to make education more accessible, the International Astronomical Union is compiling all the signs of outer space.

See the creative costumes that mummers in St. John's wore this year.

Whatever is causing whales to strand themselves on shore, it's likely a more complicated cocktail of factors.

Them wild-eyed birds that had been away.

A new study highlights how the nutrients in dust feed plants along the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Mutant DNA, cuddling babies for healthy genes, and more news from the microscopic world.

Hawaii is testing its nuclear warning signal. How much other infrastructure is still ready for action?

A yearly procession commemorates a smallpox cure.

All the record-breaking stories you may have missed over the past seven days.

Without forks, hand-washing at mealtime was extra important.