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Detail of Michelangelo's The Last Judgment fresco

This $22,000 Book Features Life-Size Photos of the Sistine Chapel’s Art

The pricey tome consists of three 25-pound, two-foot-tall volumes

A view of the Dujiangyan Zhongshu bookstore

Virtual Travel

See a Stunningly Surreal Bookstore in China

Dujiangyan Zhongshu features gravity-defying staircases and infinite bookshelves

Colorado's two largest fires in state history seen from space via Landsat 8. The Cameron Peak fire is on the upper right and the East Troublesome fire is on the lower left; the fires have burned more than 190,000 and 200,000 acres, respectively.

Colorado’s Record-Breaking Blazes Illustrate the West’s Lengthening Fire Season

Fire season is usually over by this time in October, but, in a trend experts expect climate change to exacerbate, that’s not the case this year

American women wouldn't be able to sport 'I Voted' stickers if not for Susan B. Anthony.

100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

Why Women Bring Their ‘I Voted’ Stickers to Susan B. Anthony’s Grave

This year, visitors will find a clear plastic covering protecting the fragile marble headstone

Tourigny analyzed gravestones from four large pet cemeteries in the United Kingdom, including the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals.

New Research

Pet Cemeteries Reveal Evolution of Humans’ Relationships With Furry Friends

By analyzing a thousand tombstones, an archaeologist revealed how animals evolved from companions to family in just 100 years

A Lidl grocery store in Ireland is pictured here in 2019. The German grocery chain's new Dublin location features a surprising archaeological display.

Cool Finds

Shoppers at Dublin Grocery Store Glimpse Viking History Beneath Their Feet

A new Lidl boasts plexiglass windows that reveal archaeological wonders, including an 11th-century house and 18th-century staircase

Archaeologists found the remains of cabins, broken clay tobacco pipes, ceramic cups and other artifacts.

Maryland Archaeologists Unearth Jesuit Plantation’s 18th-Century Slave Quarters

Researchers are working with the descendants of enslaved people seeking to document their family histories

Invasive species, like the zebra mussels seen here, have been on scientists' radar for decades. But intensifying storm surges and flooding caused by hurricanes are moving these, and other non-native species, to new locations.

‘Storm Tracker’ Maps Shows How Hurricanes Spread Invasive Species

The U.S. Geological Survey launched the program in 2018 after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate scrambled coastal ecosystems

Satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Zeta as it passes over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Zeta, 2020’s 27th Named Storm, Bears Down on Louisiana

Downgraded to a tropical storm after striking Mexico, Zeta is expected to regain strength and make landfall in the U.S. as a Category 1 hurricane

Scientists have known about ice in the dark, deep craters at the moon's poles, some of the coldest known places in the universe, but voyaging into one just wouldn't be likely.

New Research

The Moon Has More Water and Ice Hidden All Over Its Surface Than Originally Predicted

Scientists discovered that water is stored in tiny patches all across the moon’s surface, not just in the deep, freezing craters of its south pole

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait With Monkeys, 1943

How Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Defined Mexican Art in the Wake of Revolution

A touring exhibition now on view in Denver traces the formation of Mexican modernism

Art historians used clues in the paintings' artistic techniques to estimate their age.

Cool Finds

These Newly Discovered Buddhist Temple Paintings May Be Among Japan’s Oldest

Art historians used infrared photography to identify images that could date to around 685 A.D.

Two-headed snakes struggle more when their heads are joined close together.

In Florida, Pet Cat Brings Home a Rare Two-Headed Snake

The snake is now in the care of Florida Wildlife Conservation’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

The Santa Claus and Rudolph puppets are expected to sell for between $150,000 and $250,000.

Iconic ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ Puppets Are Up for Auction

You could own the Santa and Rudolph figurines featured in the classic 1964 holiday special

An entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture vacuums invasive Asian giant hornets out of a nest discovered last week in the city of Blaine on October 24, 2020.

Entomologists Destroy Asian Giant Hornet Nest Found in Washington

The crew sucked nearly 100 hornets from the tree-hollow hive—the first ever found in the U.S.—using a vacuum and captured escapees with nets

Anne Boleyn was the only Tudor figure beheaded with a sword instead of an ax.

Why Henry VIII Orchestrated Every Detail of Anne Boleyn’s Execution

The Tudor king had his disgraced queen killed by beheading rather than burning

Satellite records show a 13 percent decrease in sea ice per decade since the 1980s.

Arctic Sea Ice Fails to Refreeze by Late October, Setting a New Record

At this rate, the Arctic will experience its first ice-free summer as early as 2035

Halloween features a full moon every 19 years, and it's always a blue moon.

This Halloween, Look for the Hunter’s Blue Moon

The second full moon of the month gives Halloween an extra spooky atmosphere

Installation view of "Russian Avant-Garde at the Museum Ludwig: Original and Fake, Questions, Research, Explanations"

Why a German Museum Is Displaying Fake Paintings From Its Collections

A taboo-breaking exhibition at Cologne’s Museum Ludwig spotlights misattributed Russian avant-garde works

David Copperfield has sold more tickets than any other solo performer in history.

How Harry Houdini and David Copperfield’s Jewish Heritage Shaped Their Craft

The illusionists join Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Steven Spielberg in the National Museum of American Jewish History’s hall of fame

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