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Activists toppled and defaced Edward Valentine's statue of Jefferson Davis during Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond last summer.

Why a Virginia Museum Wants to Display a Defaced Sculpture of Jefferson Davis

“Actually bringing that statue back to the spot where it was created has a unique power to it,” says the Valentine’s director

An 1843 aquatint by Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet, after a painting by Carl von Steuben, depicts Napoleon Bonaparte in his final moments.

Rare Doctor’s Note Offers Glimpse Into Napoleon’s Agonized Final Years

The 1818 missive, which describes the French statesman’s failing health, recently sold at auction for $2,000

The baths featured both male and female pools, as well as laundry facilities.

Cool Finds

‘Stunning’ Victorian Bathhouse Unearthed Beneath Manchester Parking Lot

The facility offered laundry and bathing services for 19th-century textile workers and their families

The basking shark's scientific name, Cetorhinus maximus, approximately translates to "big-nosed marine monster."

Twenty-Six-Foot-Long Basking Shark Washes Up on Maine Beach

Though often mistaken for great whites, these sea creatures are filter feeders and gentle giants of the sea

Lawmakers voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 (NDAA), which includes legislation that will change how the antiquities market in the US is regulated.

How a New Law Will Impact the U.S. Antiquities Trade

In the name of cracking down on money laundering, a new law passed by Congress will increase federal oversight of the art market and limit secrecy

When plants became scarce in the winter, hunter-gatherers tweaked their diets to consume more fats and oils, such as from an animal's lower limbs, brain and organs, leaving plenty of lean meat as leftovers.

Ancient Humans May Have Tossed Meaty Scraps to Wild Wolves, Boosting Domestication

Both species competed for similar prey, but sharing their kills may have eased the competition

Los Angeles County is the most at risk for climate-related disasters out of 3,000 counties analyzed in the United States.

Los Angeles Rated Most Susceptible to Natural Disasters, According to FEMA Data

The report explains how damaging hypothetical, extreme weather scenarios would be and does not represent how frequently devastation actually occurs

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to an abundance of wildlife such as polar bears and caribou, which the region's Indigenous communities rely on and hold sacred.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Will Not Face Mass Oil Drilling—for Now

Large oil companies skipped out on the auction, but environmentalists say a worrisome precedent has been set

An illustration of the British burning Washington in 1814

History of Now

The History of Violent Attacks on the U.S. Capitol

While the building has seen politically motivated mayhem in the past, never before has a mob of insurrectionists tried to overturn a presidential election

The stone reads "blessed Maria, who lived an immaculate life."

Cool Finds

A Tombstone Inscribed in Ancient Greek Is Found in Southern Israel

The Byzantine-era stone reads ‘blessed Maria, who lived an immaculate life’

Health workers in protective suits cull ducks in Karuvatta after the H5N8 bird flu strain was detected.

Avian Flu Outbreak in India Results in Mass Poultry Culls

No cases of avian flu have been detected in humans during the current outbreak

This is the first time that dwarfism has been documented in captive or wild giraffes.

Scientists Report First Instances of Dwarf Giraffes

Two individuals spotted in the wild seem to have classic long necks but unusually short, stubby legs

Archaeologists have been excavating the site since 2017.

Cool Finds

A Medieval Nun Led This Newly Unearthed Buddhist Monastery in Eastern India

The religious center, located on a hillside away from densely populated areas, may have had all-female or mixed-gender renunciates

An Evening Grosbeak sits on a branch covered in rime ice in Minnesota.

The Wintertime Wonder of Unusual Ice

Rime ice in the Midwest and hair ice in the United Kingdom have people wondering: Why does ice do that?

Swinhoe’s softshell turtles were pushed to the brink of extinction by habitat destruction and by hunters who sought the turtles' meat and eggs.

The ‘Last’ Female Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle Died in 2019. Now, Researchers Found Another, Renewing Hope for the Species

Conservationists have been scrambling to save the most endangered turtles in the world from extinction

Helen Viola Jackson, who wed U.S. Army veteran James Bolin in 1936, died on December 16 at age 101.

History of Now

The Last Surviving Widow of a Civil War Veteran Dies at 101

Helen Viola Jackson married James Bolin in 1936, when she was 17 and he was 93

Steamboat Geyser erupted 32 times in 2018 and 48 times each in 2019 and 2020, beating the previous record of 29 eruptions in 1964.

New Research

Reawakened Geyser Is Not a Precursor of Yellowstone Eruption, Study Finds

The researchers ruled out several theories on why the Steamboat Geyser began erupting in 2018 after three years of silence

A whimsical bag designed to look like a European horse chestnut, made by contemporary British designer Emily Joe Gibbs

How the Handbag Became the Ultimate Fashion Accessory

An exhibition at the V&A in London traces the long history of the purse, from Elizabeth I’s court to “Sex and the City”

This 1465 fresco by Domenico di Michelino depicts Dante, holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to hell.

Follow Dante Into Purgatory With Online Exhibition of ‘Divine Comedy’ Drawings

The Uffizi Gallery’s digital show features 88 illustrations by 16th-century artist Federico Zuccari

Evidence of human settlement on the Urla-Çeşme peninsula, where the temple was found, dates back to the late Neolithic period.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Turkey Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Temple of Aphrodite

An inscription found at the site—dedicated to the Greek goddess of love and beauty—states, “This is the sacred area”

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