Meilan Solly

Meilan Solly

 

Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's senior associate digital editor, history.

To create her dazzle camouflage design, Auerbach used a process known as marbling, or swirling pools of ink on paper to generate fluid patterns

NYC Fireboat Rebranded in Vibrant Dazzle Camouflage to Commemorate WWI

Vessels cloaked in clashing colors, patterns attempted to confuse U-boat commanders by distorting their perception of a ship’s speed, size and location

Archaeologists unearthed the 14,400-year-old breadcrumbs while excavating a pair of stone fireplaces in northeast Jordan

Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Bread Baked Before Advent of Agriculture

The bread, which was found in northeast Jordan, dates back about 14,400 years and likely resembled modern-day wraps

"Wheat Field with Cypresses," based on Vincent van Gogh

This Is What Robotic Art Looks Like in 2018

The 2018 RobotArt competition fielded more than 100 submissions entered by 19 teams from all over the world

Eight of 11 black rhinos translocated from Nairobi to Tsavo East National Park died after failing to adapt to the sanctuary's saltier water

Eight Endangered Black Rhinos Have Died in a Sanctuary

Preliminary investigation suggests the rhinos died as a result of salt poisoning

Behaviors requiring the most pressure were smashing bones for marrow and producing flint flakes

Did the Human Hand Evolve as a Lean Mean Bone-Smashing Machine?

Of nearly 40 things Pleistocene people might have done with their hands, getting to yummy marrow requires the most force and dexterity

The document actually consisted of multiple sheets of papyrus that had been glued together, perhaps to be used as book binding in a common form of medieval “recycling”

Researchers Unlock Secrets of Basel Papyrus

Now identified as a late antiquity medical document, the 2,000-year-old papyrus describes the phenomenon of female "hysterical apnea"

It took a 7.1 magnitude earthquake to unveil one of the pyramid’s oldest secrets: an ancient shrine buried about six-and-a-half feet below Tláloc’s main temple

Earthquake Reveals 12th-Century Temple Hidden Within Aztec Pyramid

The structure, which lay buried beneath two Aztec temples for centuries, is dedicated to the rain god Tláloc

To track down food and ensure the survival of the colony, worker bees must draw on their knowledge of smells, patterns and efficient routes to and from the hive

‘Safe’ Levels of Pesticide Still Hamper Bees’ Memory and Ability to Learn

Scientists analyzed data from more than 100 experiments detailed in 23 studies

An 8,000-year-old skull found in Gua Cha, Malaysia, provided DNA used in the study

Ancient DNA Offers Insight on Origins of Southeast Asia's Present-Day Population

Researchers sequenced 26 genomes using DNA samples dating as far back as 8,000 years

The unusual placement of the victims' limbs (the right humerus, or upper arm bone, in yellow, is tossed across the right femur, or thigh bone, in red) suggests they were strewn haphazardly across the burial pit rather than carefully buried.

7,000-Year-Old German Grave Shows New Side of Neolithic Brutality

The eight men and one woman bear signs of precisely inflicted blunt force cranial trauma, suggesting they were victims of mass execution

Only 17 percent of the more than 130,000 frames have been previously printed

Thousands of Unseen Photos Featuring Andy Warhol and Celebrity Pals to Be Digitized

The trove of the pop artist’s personal snapshots includes 130,000 frames, which will also be featured in an upcoming show and monograph

Obscured by tarnish and miscellaneous defacements, the plates offered no trace of the images they had once held

Particle Accelerator Reveals Hidden Faces in Damaged 19th-Century Daguerreotype Portraits

Using an experimental X-ray fluorescence process, researchers mapped contours of the plates and produced digital copies of images previously lost to time

No calves have been born over the past three years, and the current orca population is only 75

Pacific Northwest Orca Population Hits 30-Year-Low

Declining salmon population, pollution and noise disturbance pose largest threats to the killer whales’ survival

Archaeologists discovered evidence of an array of foods, including herring, eel, cod, apples, raspberries, cherries and rye bread

Archaeologists Unseal 17th-Century Danish Latrines to Discover Copenhageners' Dietary Habits

The Danish finds reveal their owners’ rich diet of fish and meat, fruits, spices—and the presence of parasites, including tapeworms and roundworms

Photographer Harry Burton spent eight years documenting the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb

Rare Photographs Put Focus on Egyptians Who Worked Alongside Carter to Excavate Tutankhamun's Tomb

Harry Burton’s 3,400 snapshots document rich array of artifacts, unseen Egyptians who contributed to the Egyptologist Howard Carter's great discovery

A dog buried in Western Illinois 10,000 years ago is one of the oldest dogs known in the Americas, and the oldest dog burial in the world. These native American dogs were almost entirely wiped out when European colonists arrived.

European Dogs Devastated Indigenous American Pup Populations

Disease, cultural change wiped out pre-contact populations, leaving no trace of ancient dogs’ DNA in modern counterparts

Gentile de Fabriano’s gold-encrusted 1423 “Adoration of the Magi” altarpiece features Arabic script on the Virgin Mary’s and Saint Joseph’s haloes

Two Florence Museums Are Tracing the City's 500-Year Connection to Islamic Art

The Uffizi explores East-West interactions between the 15th and 17th centuries; the Bargello features donations from 19th- and 20th-century collectors

The two surviving northern white rhinos, a mother and daughter, are both infertile

With Hybrid Embryo, Scientists Are One Step Closer to Saving the Northern White Rhino

Hybrid embryos were created using northern rhinos’ frozen sperm, southern rhinos’ eggs

Koala populations are expected to drop by 50 percent over the next 20 years

Newly Mapped Koala Genome Unlocks Secrets of Marsupial’s Diet, Susceptibility to Chlamydia

The cuddly creatures can survive on a diet of high-toxin eucalyptus leaves thanks to detoxifying genes

“A great deal of slow poisoning is going on in Great Britain,” Birmingham doctor William Hinds wrote in 1857, as widespread coverage of arsenic-related deaths began to turn the public away from the toxin

Arsenic-Laced Books Discovered in University Library

During the Victorian era, the toxin was commonly found hidden in wallpaper, paints and dyes

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