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Stories from Meilan Solly

The unabashed depiction of violence seen in Caravaggio's "Judith Beheading Holofernes" underscores its creator’s bestial inclinations

Caravaggio May Have Died of Infected Sword Wound, Not Syphilis

The Italian Old Master had a notoriously mercurial temperament and was forced to flee Rome in 1606 after killing his rival in a duel

Researchers produced the immature egg cells (seen in pink) out of stem cells created using human blood

Scientists Create Immature Human Eggs Out of Blood Cells For the First Time

The lab-grown eggs were not advanced enough for fertilization, but researchers say this next step in the future of reproduction could arrive soon

An aerial view of the razed Mackintosh building following the June 2018 fire

Glasgow School of Art Will Be Rebuilt, But Construction Could Last Up to a Decade

In June, an inferno blazed through the Scottish school’s historic Mackintosh Building, which was under renovation following a 2014 fire

Researchers first discovered Dickinsonia fossils back in 1946.

The World’s Earliest Known Animal May Have Been a Blob-Like Undersea Creature

Traces of fat found on a 558-million-year-old fossil suggest Dickinsonia was an animal rather than fungus, plant or single-celled protozoa

Ptil Tekhelet sells tzitzit, or fringes attached to the corners of Jewish prayer shawls, colored with dye from the Murex trunculus snail

Jerusalem Museum Untangles History of the Color Blue, From Biblical Hue to Ancient Royalty

The show inks out the history of the enigmatic sky blue dye known as ‘tekhelet’

This 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln, believed to be by John C. Wolfe, depicts the young presidential nominee without his signature beard

More Than 700 Lincoln Collectibles Are Set to Go on Auction

Historian Harold Holzer amassed his extraordinary collection of lithographs, prints and assorted Lincolniana over the course of half a century

Faced with rising floodwaters that threaten to top their 19-inch absorption limit, the open-air pits could pose a significant environmental and health hazard

Florence Fall-Out Threatens to Release Waste Stored in Dozens of North Carolina Hog Lagoons

As of noon Wednesday, the Department of Environmental Quality had identified 21 flooded lagoons actively releasing hog waste into the environment

SpaceX released an updated rendering of the Big Falcon Rocket launching into the solar system

Elon Musk Is Sending a Japanese Billionaire to the Moon, and He’s Taking a Group of Artists With Him

Yusaku Maezawa hopes to recruit six to eight artists for the week-long mission, which is expected to launch as early as 2023

Pope Joan allegedly enjoyed a brief tenure as the Catholic Church's leader during the mid-800s

Why the Legend of Medieval Pope Joan Persists

The mythical female pope is back in the news as an academic uses medieval coins to look for physical evidence of her reign

Humans' CMAH gene mutation may enable them to exhibit higher endurance over long periods of exercise

Human Gene Mutation May Have Paved the Way for Long-Distance Running

Mice with engineered versions of the CMAH gene exhibited 30 percent better endurance than those without

The wolf cub is the better-preserved of the two specimens, with everything from its fur to its tail and curled upper lip still intact

Gold Miners Unearth 50,000-Year-Old Caribou Calf, Wolf Pup From Canadian Permafrost

Both animals’ fur, skin and muscle are almost perfectly preserved

The master female ceramicist likely created large vases, known as pithoi, similar to these

Her 3,000-Year-Old Bones Showed Unusual Signs of Wear. It Turns Out, She Was a Master Ceramicist

After analyzing the woman’s skeleton, researchers unlocked her past as an ancient Greek artisan

A popular 19th-century slide depicts rats jumping into the throat of a sleeping man

Before There Was Streaming, the Victorians Had “Magic Lanterns”

New research finds these early image projectors, which brought world landmarks, fairytale favorites to life, were a regular part of middle-class life

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured incredible images of Hurricane Florence on Sept. 10.

Five Ways Cultural Institutions, Landmarks and Zoos Are Prepping for Hurricane Florence

Many museums are closing their doors, while zoos and aquariums are moving their animals indoors

Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen, Preparatory sketch with a drawn frame for an illustration of the "Comedy Les Moissonneurs," 1768

Cornelius Wasn’t the Only Gurlitt Sibling to Inherit Nazi-Looted Art

Nicoline Benita Renate Gurlitt received 18 works from her father’s trove of stolen art, and four of these works were just returned to their rightful owners

The toppled head of Augustus spent centuries buried underneath the door to an invading force's victory shrine

British Museum Traces History of Dissent From Ancient Egypt to Today

‘I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent’ span centuries, continents

In 2017, scientists identified 2,189 new species of fungi, including the Galapagos Island lichen pictured here

Fungi Call Oil Paintings, Cockroach Guts Home Sweet Home

Scientists say they have identified a fungus species that could aid the fight against plastic pollution

A cross marks the death of the 340 murdered villagers of Lidice.

The Lost Children of the Lidice Massacre

The Nazis arbitrarily slaughtered the Czech villagers, angering the world, even as Europe’s Jews faced similar fates in concentration camps

Nine men's morris is a strategy game that dates back to the Roman Empire and is similar to modern-day checkers

Excavations at Medieval Vyborg Castle Reveal Secrets of “Hidden” Passageway

The finds include a game board etched into the surface of a clay brick that was likely used to play a variation of the strategy game nine men’s morris

The device is designed to function as an artificial shoreline, drifting with ocean currents and collecting plastic in a 10-foot net-like screen

2,000-Foot-Long Plastic Catcher Released to Aid Cleanup of Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Skeptics argue the device will endanger marine wildlife, exacerbate existing pollution problems

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