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Stories from Meilan Solly

Melanosomes linked with blue feathers are much longer than they are wide

Scientists Identify Blue Hues in Fossilized Bird Feathers for the First Time

A new study shows how the shapes of tiny pigment-carrying structures called melanosomes are associated with different colors

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' "The Grand Odalisque" is one of eight works of art featured in the project

The Louvre Recruited Top Perfumers to Create Scents Inspired by Its Famous Works of Art

The fragrances evoke masterpieces including ‘Venus de Milo,’ ‘The Winged Victory of Samothrace’ and ‘La Grande Odalisque’

A 14-inch goldfish caught downstream of a wastewater treatment plant in the Black Rock Canal of New York’s Niagara River

Giant Goldfish Shows Why You Should Never Flush Fish Down the Toilet

Invasive goldfish threaten the livelihood of native species, growing unchecked by predators and monopolizing habitats’ limited resources

Robert Friend photographed in 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

Robert Friend, Tuskegee Airman Who Flew in 142 Combat Missions, Dies at 99

The World War II veteran also led Project Blue Book, a classified Air Force investigation of unidentified flying objects, between 1958 and 1963

This summer, Fairbanks' Running Reindeer Ranch is offering visitors the chance to practice yoga alongside adult and baby reindeer

Alaska Now Offers Reindeer Yoga Classes

Attendees find their flow as reindeer wander around, grazing on grass, sniffing humans’ belongings and eventually settling down for the session

L to R: The statue of St. George prior to 2018 restoration attempt, statue post-restoration, and statue following recent "unrestoration"

Statue of St. George Undergoes ‘Unrestoration’ to Salvage Botched Paint Job

A 2018 restoration attempt left the 16th-century statue looking like a cartoon character

Poachers’ Poison Kills 530 Endangered Vultures in Botswana

Circling vultures bring attention to poachers, so the scavengers were likely poisoned by illegal hunters hoping to evade detection

This geoglyph, previously identified as a hummingbird, actually depicts a hermit, a subgroup of hummingbird known to live in the forested regions of northern and eastern Peru

Scientists Identify Exotic Birds Depicted in Peru’s Mysterious Nazca Lines

The researchers argue that the non-native birds’ presence must be closely related to the etchings’ overall purpose

Rose Cleveland (left) and Evangeline Simpson Whipple (right) exchanged passionate love letters throughout the course of their nearly 30-year relationship

New Book Chronicles First Lady Rose Cleveland’s Love Affair With Evangeline Simpson Whipple

Rose and her longtime partner are buried side by side in the Italian town where they once shared a home

To lower one's risk of contracting infection, avoid eating raw or undercooked shellfish and cover open wounds with bandages before venturing into the water

Warming Waters May Be Driving Flesh-Eating Bacteria to East Coast Beaches

Patients can contract vibriosis by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, or handling infected animals while sporting an open wound

John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz, the creators of BASIC.

New Hampshire Is First State to Install Highway Marker to Computer Programming

The roadside sign is dedicated to BASIC, a computer programming language developed at Dartmouth College in 1964

The hydrogel mimics the epiphragm, a temporary adhesive layer that hardens when dried and softens when rehydrated with water

Snail-Inspired Super Glue Can Support the Weight of a 200-Pound Human

The adhesive offers both impressive strength and reusability, avoiding the problems posed by strong but irreversible glues and vice versa

Thanks to a $392,000 restoration campaign, tourists can now explore the space, roaming the baths’ still-standing walls and the extensive network of tunnels hidden below

You Can Now Tour the Tunnels Beneath Rome’s Baths of Caracalla

The newly opened underground network features a brick oven once used to heat the baths’ caldarium, as well as a contemporary video art installation

Archaeologists unearthed the cannonballs while excavating the ruins of Zishtova Fortress in Bulgaria

Trove of Cannonballs Likely Used by Vlad the Impaler Found in Bulgaria

The primitive projectiles probably date to the Romanian ruler’s 1461 through 1462 siege of Zishtova Fortress

The team studied heritability of behavioral traits in three breeds: Maine Coon, Ragdoll and Turkish Van

Your Cat’s Attitude Actually Is Closely Linked to Its Breed, Survey Shows

Nearly half of breed behavioral differences can be attributed to hereditary factors

The tough little egg made it all the way through the digestive system of a coscoroba swan like this one.

A Swan Swallowed This Fish Egg, Pooped It Out—and Then 49 Days Later, It Hatched

The new study is one of the first to demonstrate fish egg dispersal via avian fecal matter

The Rebecca Salome Foster monument pictured before (left) and after (right) restoration

Long-Forgotten Monument to Prison Reformer Will Be Reinstalled in New York Courthouse

Rebecca Salome Foster was known as the “Tombs Angel” in recognition of her work with inmates housed at a Manhattan prison known as “The Tombs”

Frida Kahlo photographed with Diego Rivera and Malu Block.

This May Be the Only Known Recording of Frida Kahlo’s Voice

The sound of the speaker on recording, which was found earlier this year, has been described as ‘sweet, delicate, very feminine’

The specimen is the first (partial) carcass of an adult Pleistocene steppe wolf—an extinct lineage distinct from modern wolves—ever found

A Perfectly Preserved 32,000-Year-Old Wolf Head Was Found in Siberian Permafrost

Given the head’s state of preservation, researchers are hopeful that they can extract viable DNA and use it to sequence the wolf’s genome

Hans Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves convinced Henry VIII of his bride-to-be's charms

Historian’s New Novel Raises Controversial Theory: Henry VIII Divorced Anne of Cleves Because She’d Already Given Birth

Alison Weir acknowledges the claim, which pulls on previously unexplored evidence, is “inconclusive and speculative” but says it might make readers think

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