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Stories from Meilan Solly

Af Klint saw herself as a “holy transcriptionist, a technician of the unknown” whose work was simply a stepping stone in the pursuit of knowledge

From Obscurity, Hilma af Klint Is Finally Being Recognized as a Pioneer of Abstract Art

Before the modernists, the Swedish painter’s monumental canvases featured free-wheeling swirls, mysterious symbols, pastel palette

Previous excavations at the site have revealed raven talons, toad bones and even bronze cauldrons filled with the remains of ritually sacrificed puppies

This Ancient 10-Year-Old Received a ‘Vampire Burial’ to Prevent Return From the Dead

The malaria-stricken Roman child was buried in the ominously named Cemetery of the Babies with a stone inserted into its mouth

The upcoming installation will feature a choral work inspired by Mary Borden's wartime love sonnets

Mary Borden’s Forgotten World War I Ballad to Mark Centenary of Armistice Day

The heiress, poet and activist funded and oversaw military field hospitals during both world wars, penned series of sonnets inspired by wartime experiences

The sample included women from 31 out of 34 Chinese provinces and 36 out of 55 ethnic minority groups

Largest Ever Study of Chinese People’s Genetics Reveals Insights on Migration Patterns, Diet, Disease

Scientists analyzed DNA samples from 141,431 pregnant Chinese women, or roughly 1/10,000 of the country’s population

Hurricane Michael made landfall along the Florida Panhandle Wednesday, devastating the region with winds of up to 155 miles per hour and storm surges of up to 14 feet

Hurricane Michael Could Worsen—or Alleviate—Florida’s Toxic Red Tide Outbreak

Experts describe conflicting scenarios that alternately find the state’s poisonous algal bloom either weakening offshore or spreading inland

The contemporary Wolf Hall manor stands on the same property as the lost 16th-century estate

Archaeologists Unearth Foundations of Wolf Hall, Where Henry VIII Fell for Jane Seymour

The team’s finds include a network of Tudor-era brick sewers, the foundations of two towers and ornate tiles

The intricate network of crevices seen on the African elephant's skin helps it retain moisture and stay cool

How African Elephants Get Their Wrinkles

The animal’s crevice-filled skin helps keep it cool and shares a surprising set of similarities with the human skin disease ichthyosis vulgaris

The institution begins the long road to restoration

Brazil’s National Museum Launches Rebuilding Efforts with Temporary Exhibition of Surviving Collection

Stabilization work must be completed before experts can assess extent of damage to museum’s collection of more than 20 million artifacts

From L to R: Frances H. Arnold was recognized for her work in the directed evolution of enzymes, while George P. Smith and Sir Gregory Winter were honored for the phage display of peptides and antibodies

Three Evolutionary Scientists Share This Year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Frances Arnold, George Smith and Gregory Winter employed principles seen in evolution to develop proteins that tackle global chemical problems

Sloths' slow-paced lifestyle is a survival strategy, not a sign of laziness

Sloths Don’t Just Live in Slow-Mo, They Can Put Their Metabolism On Pause

Unlike most mammals, sloths don’t use vast amounts of energy when it’s hot, instead opting to slow down and conserve power, more like birds or reptiles

Swedish researchers used phase-contrast imaging to examine the soft tissue of a 2,400-year-old mummified hand

Now We Don’t Have to Unravel Mummies to Study Them at a Cellular Level

Phase-contrast imaging enabled researchers to non-invasively examine a mummified hand’s blood vessels, skin layers and connective tissue

Altar Frontal (1741), Isfahan. Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

The Met’s Latest Show Traces Armenia’s Cultural Evolution

Armenia! features more than 140 artifacts, including gilded reliquaries, illuminated manuscripts, textiles

Philip James de Loutherbourg's 19th-century depiction of the Battle of Bosworth Field highlights the chaotic nature of the clash

Local Council Approves Plan to Turn Portion of Battle of Bosworth Site Into Driverless Car Testing Track

The 1485 clash between Richard III and Henry VII precipitated rise of Tudor dynasty

Urban cats are more likely to hunt down birds, mice than rats

Cats Are Surprisingly Bad at Killing Rats

Over a 79-day period, feral felines killed just two rats, instead opting to hunt less challenging prey

Scientists analyzed 3D scans of entheses, or scars left at points where muscle attaches to bone

Neanderthals Used Their Hands for Precision, Not Just Power

Researchers suggest that the early human ancestors’ hand usage places them in line with tailors, painters rather than brute-force laborers

Smith spotted the elusive creature while searching for rare flowers in the Wondiwoi mountain range

Elusive Tree Kangaroo Spotted for First Time in 90 Years

An amateur botanist spotted the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo in the remote mountains of West Papua, New Guinea

The dazzling pink and yellow fish is the only member of its genus known to reside in the Atlantic rather than the Pacific

Newly Discovered Neon Fish Species Is Named After Greek Goddess of Love

Researchers were so entranced by the pink and yellow fish that they failed to spot a sixgill shark swimming just above their heads

Michael D’Antuono, "The Talk"

NYC Pop-Up Exhibition Traces Broken Windows Policing’s Toll

The show explores how the policing of minor crimes has caused an uptick in racial profiling, particularly targeting African American and Latino communities

London Stone sat largely unnoticed behind this iron grill for roughly 50 years

London’s Lucky Stone—Referenced by Shakespeare, Blake—Set to Return to Rightful Place

It’s been identified as a remnant of an ancient Roman monument, the altar employed in Druidic human sacrifice, even the stone that yielded Excalibur

Females that inherited two copies of a mutated gene developed antenna and claspers similar to males, rendering them unable to lay eggs or bite their prey

Gene Drive Technology Eliminates Malaria-Transmitting Mosquito Population

Researchers introduced a sterilization mutation that wiped out lab populations in seven to 11 generations

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