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Stories from Meilan Solly

The earliest recorded reference to Tholey Abbey dates to 634 A.D.

New Stained Glass Is Coming to Germany’s Oldest Monastery

Gerhard Richter is set to design a trio of windows for the Benedictine Tholey Abbey

Potential explanations for the disorder include infectious disease, rat poison, toxic algae and nutritional deficiencies.

Florida Authorities Investigate a Disorder Affecting Panthers’ Ability to Walk

The crippling condition appears to hamper the big cats’ back leg coordination

The latest fire forecast from the European Union's Copernicus satellite.

Three Things to Know About the Fires Blazing Across the Amazon Rainforest

Experts say the majority of blazes were set by farmers hoping to clear land for agricultural endeavors

The 8-year-old girl lived in the Andes around 1470

500-Year-Old Inca Mummy Repatriated to Bolivia

Dubbed Ñusta, or ‘Princess,’ the mummy represents the first archaeologically significant set of remains to be repatriated to the Andean country

Alvin Baltrop, "Untitled (Portrait of Marsha P. Johnson)," undated

Bronx Exhibition Spotlights Alvin Baltrop, Photographer Who Documented Manhattan’s Underground Queer Community

Baltrop took thousands of snapshots at New York’s West Side Piers between 1975 and 1986

Experts hope the bridge will enable mountain lions to find potential mates and increase the local population's genetic diversity

California Will Build the Largest Wildlife Crossing in the World

The overpass will provide safe passage for mountain lions, coyotes, deer, lizards, snakes and other wild animals crossing the 101 Freeway

One critic of the proposed redefinition says, "It would be hard for most French museums—starting with the Louvre—to correspond to this definition, considering themselves as ‘polyphonic spaces'"

The Term ‘Museum’ May Be Getting Redefined

But experts are divided on the proposed new definition

The spider species featured in the study is unusually social, living in colonies of several hundred females and exhibiting either aggressive or docile tendencies

Hurricanes Are Making This Spider Species More Aggressive

The new findings have broader implications for understanding extreme weather events’ effects on animal behavior

Graduate student Karen Fleming recreated Hilda's face using wax

See the Face of Hilda, a Toothless Iron Age Druid Woman

A Scottish university student has recreated Hilda’s likeness out of wax

The underground shelter was transformed into a Resistance command post the week before Paris' liberation

Paris Basement Used as WWII Resistance Headquarters Transformed Into Museum Centerpiece

The soon-to-open museum also explores the lives of Resistance leaders Jean Moulin and General Leclerc

A Beloved Baby Dugong Has Died After Ingesting Plastic

The orphaned marine mammal became an internet sensation after images of her nuzzling human caretakers went viral

Europe's cave bear population started crashing around 40,000 years ago—roughly the time period when modern humans arrived on the continent

Ice Age Humans Likely Played Major Role in Cave Bears’ Extinction

Researchers have long debated whether human activity or climate change precipitated the species’ demise

Black squirrels are seen across North America and England

Interspecies Breeding Is Responsible for Some Squirrels’ Black Coloring

Color-changing mutation originated in fox squirrels but spread to eastern gray squirrels via mating

Edward Hopper, "Western Motel," 1957

Thanks to the Hopper Hotel Experience, You Can Now Spend a Night at the Museum

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host guests in a 3-D recreation of Edward Hopper’s 1957 painting, ‘Western Motel’

The F.D.A. approved pretomanid's use in conjunction with two other drugs

F.D.A. Approves New Treatment for Deadliest Strain of Tuberculosis

The drug regimen involves just five pills taken orally for a duration of six months

The cloth is embroidered with animals, plants and narrative scenes

See Scrap of Cloth Believed to Be From Elizabeth I’s Only Surviving Dress

The fabric, set to go on view, was previously used as an altar cloth in a small village church

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is normally housed in the Louvre's Salle des États gallery

People Aren’t Happy About Their Increasingly Brief Encounters With the ‘Mona Lisa’

The problem stems from the masterpiece’s temporary relocation to a different wing of the museum

Players who sustained a high number of subconcussive hits suffered more midbrain tissue damage

One Concussion-Free Football Season Can Still Damage Players’ Brains

A new study found that more than two-thirds of subjects experienced a decrease in structural integrity of the brain by the end of the college season

A worker sprays a gel on the ground to absorb lead as he takes part in a clean-up operation at Saint Benoit school near Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris during a decontamination operation on August 8, 2019.

Notre-Dame Restoration Delayed Due to Lead Poisoning Concerns

Work is set to continue next week with more stringent safety protocols, decontamination units

A previous strain of the TR4 fungus led banana producers to switch from the Gros Michel strain to the now-dominant Cavendish variety

A Banana-Destroying Fungus Has Arrived in the Americas

The so-called Panama disease targets bananas’ vascular systems to prevent fruit from growing

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