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The golden bowl may have been used in religious ceremonies honoring the sun.

Cool Finds

3,000-Year-Old Golden Bowl Adorned With Sun Motif Found in Austria

Researcher Michał Sip described the prehistoric vessel as the “discovery of a lifetime”

A public art installation commemorating Americans killed by Covid-19 on the National Mall featuring more than 650,000 small plastic flags, some with personal messages to those they’ve lost.

More Than 700,000 Americans Have Now Died of Covid-19

There have been over 100,000 deaths since mid-June despite widespread vaccine availability

Spotted lanternflies naturally leap away from predators when threatened. Holding a water bottle near one will usually prompt the bug to flee, so it launches itself directly into the trap. 

How to Easily Catch Spotted Lanternflies Using a Water Bottle

Unchecked by natural predators, the invasive insect species is rapidly expanding across the United States

Of the 1,525 artifacts included in the show, 881 were recovered from abroad.

Trove of Artifacts, Many Recovered From Abroad, Traces 4,000 Years of Mexican History

A new exhibition in Mexico City features 1,525 objects linked to the Maya, Toltec, Teotihuacán, Aztec and Mixtec cultures

The stone seats are inscribed with Latin names in Greek letters.

Inscribed VIP Seats Unearthed at Roman Amphitheater in Turkey

Pergamon’s elite watched gladiator and animal fights, public executions, and naval reenactments at the ancient arena

In researching the formation of these multicellular organisms, Ratcliff used a strain of snowflake yeast with budding “daughters” that tend to cling to their parents, allowing the creation of small clumps of connected yeast cells.

Evolving Yeast Shows How Complex Life May Have Arisen

Over two years, clumps of single-celled yeast grew into a multicellular structure that could explain how living organisms developed on early Earth

Kīlauea has an elevation of 4,009 feet and a magma system that reaches 37 miles below the ground. The volcano is the youngest and most active on the Hawaiian Islands.  

Kīlauea Spews Magma and Golden Strings of Volcanic Glass on Hawaii’s Big Island

Most recently, the volcano had a series of small eruptions that began in December 2020 and lasted five months straight

Artist conception of the controversially named James Webb Space Telescope, which will be launched in just a few months.

NASA Won’t Rename New Space Telescope Despite Anti-LGBTQ Controversy

The agency says the James Webb Space Telescope will retain its name regardless of concerns from astronomers, the public and NASA employees

The museum has a written agreement that the money must be returned when the exhibition ends on January 16, 2022. But Haaning says he has no plans to repay the cash.

Artist Takes Museum’s $84,000, Returns With Blank Canvases Titled ‘Take the Money and Run’

Jens Haaning says he has no plans to repay the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, which expected him to incorporate the cash into a new artwork

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the audit found that the majority of America's monuments commemorate white, male historical figures.

History of Now

Scholars Spent a Year Scrutinizing America’s Monuments. Here’s What They Learned

A major audit of nearly 50,000 monuments reveals the historical figures, themes and myths that dominate the nation’s commemorative landscape

Scientists used DNA analysis of mummies from ancient Egypt to reconstruct the faces of three men buried more than 2,000 years ago.

Art Meets Science

3-D Reconstruction Reveals the Faces of Three Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Researchers used a combination of DNA and physical analysis to approximate the trio’s visages

An aerial view of the "In America: Remember" installation on the National Mall, which commemorates the nearly 700,000 Americans who've lost their lives to Covid-19.

Covid-19

In D.C., 695,000 Flags—and Counting—Memorialize the Americans Who Have Died of Covid-19

Created by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, the installation covers the National Mall in white pennants featuring handwritten dedications to the dead

Early humans may have eaten late-stage fertilized eggs, known as balut, or raised the chicks for feathers and meat.    

Thousands of Years Before Humans Raised Chickens, They Tried to Domesticate the World’s Deadliest Bird

Fossilized eggs found in rock shelters suggest cassowaries were cohabitating with our ancestors

Some conservationists have held out hope for species like the ivory-billed woodpecker, which was last spotted in 1944.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and 22 Other Species Declared Extinct

Many organisms included in the latest declaration were feared to be lost long before the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was first passed

The photographs show the "fossil" imprint of a wooden ship that rotted away long before the dig.

You Can Now Explore a Trove of Behind-the-Scenes Photos From the Famed Sutton Hoo Dig

Schoolteachers Mercie Lacks and Barbara Wagstaff captured the snapshots in August 1939

Inspired by the fluttering seeds, researchers designed a tiny, winged microchip that is powerful enough to monitor environmental contamination, biohazards, and airborne disease. Here it is shown next to a lady bug for scale.  

Innovation for Good

This Flying, Chemical-Detecting Microchip Is Smaller Than a Grain of Sand

Inspired by helicopter seeds, the device could soon be used to monitor the environment

"Remember Me," now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, unites more than 100 European Renaissance portraits. Pictured here is Albrecht Dürer's 1508 chalk sketch of an unidentified African man.

Display of 100 Renaissance Portraits Underscores Humans’ Enduring Desire to Be Remembered

An exhibition at the Rijksmuseum unites two early likenesses of African men in Europe, among other 15th- and 16th-century masterpieces

Early Etruscans had advanced knowledge of art, farming and metallurgy, leading some historians to believe the civilization originated elsewhere before settling in what is now Italy. DNA analysis shows they were actually locals.

New Research

Where Did the Ancient Etruscans Come From?

A new DNA analysis suggests the enigmatic civilization was native to the Italian Peninsula

Researchers in Turkey have uncovered an all-but-forgotten ancient Greek temple and a 50,000-seat stadium (shown).

Entrance Gate to Greek Temple of Zeus Unearthed in Turkey

Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Magnesia hope to fully restore the 2,300-year-old sacred structure

The fire destroyed the property's porch, which was built more than 100 years ago but wasn't originally part of the house.

‘Suspicious’ Fire Destroys Porch at Susan B. Anthony House and Museum

Authorities are investigating the blaze, which left the New York landmark’s historic interior and contents largely unscathed

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