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Stories from Christian Thorsberg

Italian officials with the five stones and brick fragment

Italian Police Catch Tourist Stealing Stones From the Ancient City of Pompeii

According to legend, travelers who remove artifacts from the historic Italian city are cursed to endure hardship. Many have even returned the stolen items years later

Wildlife officials in Oregon are using drones with speakers to deter wolves from attacking cattle.

Drones Are Blasting Iconic Argument From ‘Marriage Story’ to Scare Wolves Away From Cows in Oregon

Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver’s charged dialogue is playing from speakers attached to drones as wildlife officials get creative in their efforts to stop wolves from killing cattle

A digital rendering of the bridge

Italy Plans World’s Longest Suspension Bridge to Connect Mainland With Sicily

The bridge, expected to cost more than $15 billion, would stretch more than two miles across the Messina Strait

Exterior of Norwich Castle Keep, commissioned by William the Conqueror.

William the Conqueror’s Norwich Castle to Reopen Following $37 Million Renovation

In partnership with the British Museum, 900 Norman artifacts will be displayed across the reimagined space’s five floors

Artists Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood

See the Abstract Artworks That Defined Radiohead’s Iconic Visual Style

A new exhibition explores the artistic collaborations between Thom Yorke, the rock band’s frontman, and artist Stanley Donwood, his longtime friend

A large section of the possible La Fortuna shipwreck sits on the beach in southern North Carolina

In the Muddy Banks of North Carolina, Student Archaeologists May Have Discovered the Remnants of a Centuries-Old Spanish Ship

While taking measurements of an abandoned wharf site, the students found timber from what experts believe may be part of La Fortuna, a Spanish ship destroyed nearly 300 years ago

Umpire Jen Pawol during a spring training game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins on March 16, 2024

Jen Pawol Is About to Become the First Female Umpire in Major League Baseball History

When the Atlanta Braves face off against the Miami Marlins this weekend, Pawol will become the first woman to umpire in a regular season MLB game

An exterior view of the Studio Museum in Harlem's new building

Studio Museum in Harlem, Closed for Renovations Since 2018, Sets November Reopening

The museum, which features work from African and African American artists, will debut a new look in its expanded space

Composer John Williams conducting in 2023

John Williams, the Famous Composer Known for ‘Jaws’ and ‘Star Wars,’ Debuts First Piano Concerto at Age 93

The renowned composer has scored many of the most famous films of our time. But until this summer, he had never attempted a concerto for piano

The guitar previously used by Keith Richards on display at Christie's in 2004

Former Rolling Stones Musician Mick Taylor Claims His Stolen Guitar Is at the Met

The guitarist’s team says he last saw the famous instrument when it vanished 54 years ago. The Met, which received the guitar as part of a recent donation, disputes these claims

Bill Cunningham worked as a photographer for the New York Times for nearly 40 years.

Tens of Thousands of Stunning Images by Photographer Bill Cunningham Acquired by New York Historical

The museum will house photographs, negatives and slides belonging to the renowned photographer, who captured life in New York City for decades before his death in 2016

Measuring just 3.5 inches long, the grasshopper is carved from ivory and wood.

3,400-Year-Old Grasshopper Artifact That May Have Been Stolen From King Tut’s Tomb Sells at Auction for More Than $450,000

While the artifact’s provenance is unclear, many experts think the archaeologist Howard Carter took the item for himself after excavating the pharaoh’s tomb in 1922

The Earl of Chatham, previously a Royal Navy vessel called the HMS Hind, was discovered in February 2024 on the shores of Sanday.

A Boy Found a Shipwreck on a Scottish Beach. It Turned Out to Be a 250-Year-Old Warship From the American Revolution

The HMS “Hind,” later renamed the “Earl of Chatham,” was a frigate in the British Royal Navy before it was repurposed as a whaling vessel

A Late Neolithic skull. For the recent study, scientists extracted DNA from skulls and teeth to look for traces of diseases.

With Ancient DNA, Scientists Have Mapped 37,000 Years of Disease Across Europe and Asia

Zoonoses—diseases that spread from animals to humans—began to gain prevalence some 6,500 years ago with the rise of animal husbandry, a new study suggests

The central reservoir of Hadrian's Aqueduct

Athens Is Reviving a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Aqueduct to Deliver Water to the City Amid Prolonged Droughts

With the capital’s reservoirs approaching historic lows, officials are turning to ancient engineering to conserve potable water

Darth Vader's lightsaber, used in the final two films of the franchise's original trilogy, will go up for auction in September.

Darth Vader’s Lightsaber From the ‘Star Wars’ Original Trilogy Is Heading to Auction for the First Time Ever

The iconic prop, which is expected to fetch up to $3 million, will be sold in September alongside other pieces of movie memorabilia

The manuscript that contains excerpts from The Song of Wade

A Tiny Typo May Explain a Centuries-Old Mystery About Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ and ‘Troilus and Criseyde’

The medieval writer made puzzling references to a story called “The Song of Wade,” which has been lost to history. Only a few lines quoted—or perhaps misquoted—in a 12th-century sermon survive

Walter De Maria's The New York Earth Room, which opened in 1977

New York City Loft Filled With 280,000 Pounds of Dirt Lives on After Death of Beloved Caretaker

Bill Dilworth, who died at age 70, had carefully maintained the curious art installation—known as “The New York City Earth Room”—and charmed visitors since 1989

A Squamellaria plant grows on a tree in Fiji. As an epiphyte, its roots don't attach to the ground, so it needs to find an alternate source for nutrients rather than the soil.

Enemy Ant Colonies Are Peaceful Roommates in Apartment-Like Plants on Fiji. Scientists Discovered How This Delicate Coexistence Works

New research explores the surprising symbiotic relationship between tubers and different ant species at rainforest heights

A firefighter stands beside the charred remains of a burned structure near the Grand Canyon Lodge.

Historic Grand Canyon Lodge Destroyed by Wildfire as Blaze Continues Across National Park’s North Rim

Constructed in 1937, the lodge was one of dozens of buildings consumed by the fast-moving Dragon Bravo wildfire, which has raged across thousands of acres

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