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Sister Andre, Lucile Randon celebrated her 117th birthday this year after surviving Covid-19.

New Research

Study Suggests 150 Years May Be the Human Lifespan’s Upper Limit

Researchers say beyond that age the body simply can no longer repair itself after normal stresses such as disease

While most open ocean sharks disappeared after the event, coastal sharks survived, and today's sharks most likely ascended from the survivors.

A Puzzling Extinction Event Almost Wiped Sharks Out of Existence 19 Million Years Ago

Sediment cores show that shark populations declined by 90% during the Miocene, but no one knows why

The gold ring's chemical composition suggests it originated in Cornwall, England, and likely traveled to Germany via a vast trade network.

Cool Finds

Did a Bronze Age Woman Wear This 3,800-Year-Old Gold Spiral in Her Hair?

The precious metal accessory is the oldest gold object ever found in southwest Germany

Part of a clinical study called Project S, a small town in Brazil set out to vaccinate its entire adult population. With 95% of adults vaccinated, the city has seen a steep decline in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Mass Vaccination Success in This Small Brazil City Shows Promise of Low-Efficacy Vaccines

In Serrana, 95 percent of adults received the CoronaVac vaccine, which has a 50% efficacy rate. Now, the city is ready to reopen

The researchers taught 26 volunteers to use mouth clicking to observe nearby objects and navigate outdoors.

New Research

People Can Learn Echolocation in Ten Weeks

Researchers taught 12 people who are blind and 14 people with sight to use clicks to navigate their environments

During the 1860s, Chinese laborers dug extensive tunnels through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Eleven Endangered Historic Places That Tell Complex American Stories

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2021 list includes Mississippi hotel, Navajo trading post and California railroad tunnels

JR's newest illusion seemingly opens up a ravine in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Dazzling Illusion Creates Gaping Canyon Beneath the Eiffel Tower

Street artist and photographer JR unveiled his latest large-scale installation last month

An African elephant gives itself a dust bath by blasting dirt from its trunk.

New Research

Elephant Trunks Can Suck Water at 330 Miles Per Hour

A new study puts impressive numbers to some of the elephant trunk’s many feats

Two protesters hold a sign reading "Reparations to descendants instead of 'development aid' to Namibia" at a demonstration in Berlin on May 28. That day, the German foreign minister formally acknowledged the Herero and Nama genocide and promised €1.1 billion in infrastructure aid—but stopped short of labeling the effort "reparations."

History of Now

Germany Acknowledges Genocide in Namibia but Stops Short of Reparations

Between 1904 and 1908, colonial forces murdered tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people

The find suggests that the two frog species diverged 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch, before Australia and New Guinea were separated by water, causing the two species to become distinct from one another.

Scientists Discover ‘Chocolate Frog’ in New Guinea

Despite its distinct cocoa color, the new species is related to the green tree frog

Immaculate Heart College Art Department, c. 1955

Women Who Shaped History

Studio of ‘Pop Art Nun’ Corita Kent Saved From Becoming Parking Lot

The artist’s brightly colored silkscreen works addressed civil rights and social justice issues

Experts describe the Galloway Hoard as the “richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland.”

Trove of Viking-Age Treasures Makes Its Long-Awaited Public Debut

The Galloway Hoard, a collection of 100 rare artifacts buried in Scotland around 900 A.D., is finally on view

“We have these iconic figures from history and literature, who people feel possessive about in some way,” says scholar Miranda Kaufman, author of Black Tudors: The Untold Story. “But you have to remember that it’s not a historical reconstruction: it’s a thriller; it’s a drama; it’s entertainment.”

Why the Controversy Over a Black Actress Playing Anne Boleyn Is Unnecessary and Harmful

Long before Jodie Turner-Smith’s miniseries came under criticism, British Indian actress Merle Oberon portrayed the Tudor queen

Around 1,200 residents stopped by to touch, photograph, and view the Alameda corpse flower. (Not pictured)

Corpse Flower Steals the Spotlight at Abandoned California Gas Station

A local nursery owner grew the rare botanical wonder and shared the bloom with the community, where they could touch and interact with the plant

These baby bobtail squid going to the International Space Station for an experiment that examines whether space alters the symbiotic relationship between the squid and a bioluminescent bacterium that allows them to glow.

NASA Is Launching Tardigrades and Baby Squid Into Space

The experiments could help astronauts stay healthy and survive longer outside Earth’s atmosphere

A tiny piece of orbiting debris punched a five-millimeter-wide hole in the robotic arm's insulation.

Space Junk Hit a Robotic Arm on the International Space Station

The arm, called Canadarm2, remains functional and will continue with its next mission

The carvings show the large antlers of adult male red deer.

Cool Finds

Amateur Archaeologist Discovers Prehistoric Animal Carvings in Scottish Tomb

The 4,000- to 5,000-year-old depictions of deer are the first of their kind found in Scotland

The team used bacteria to clean the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (pictured here). Allegorical sculptures of Night and Day flank the marble sarcophagus.

Art Meets Science

Italian Art Restorers Used Bacteria to Clean Michelangelo Masterpieces

Researchers deployed microbes to remove stains and grime from the marble sculptures in Florence’s Medici Chapels

New genetic research finds that the Kordofan melon (pictured), native to Sudan, is the watermelon's closest wild relative.

Researchers Uncover the Watermelon’s Origins

A Sudanese plant called the Kordofan melon is the watermelon’s closest wild relative, according to a new study

Archaeologists work at the site of the former Golden Rock Plantation, where researchers recently found an 18th-century graveyard that holds the remains of at least 48 enslaved Africans.

Remains of Enslaved People Found at Site of 18th-Century Caribbean Plantation

Archaeologists conducting excavations on the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius have discovered 48 skeletons to date

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