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For the first time in some 450 years, Nelli’s "Last Supper" is finally on public view

Renaissance Nun’s ‘Last Supper’ Painting Makes Public Debut After 450 Years in Hiding

The 21-foot canvas, created by self-taught artist and nun Plautilla Nelli, is now on view in Florence

On a cold day in early spring in China’s Qilian Mountains National Nature Reserve, photographer Yongqing Bao watched a fox and marmot tango for about an hour before they finally clashed. Minutes later, the fox trotted away with a delicious meal.

See a Fox Spook a Marmot and More Award-Winning Wildlife Photographs

The London National History Museum’s 55th annual contest garnered more than 48,000 entries from 100 different countries

Part of the Badlands Opens to Bison—for the First Time in 150 Years

A parcel of private land had previously stopped the animals from expanding their range in the Badlands National Park

The Melckmeyt sank in October 1659

Virtual Travel

Take a Virtual Tour of a 17th-Century Shipwreck

A new VR experience lets users explore the “Melckmeyt” without diving into Iceland’s freezing waters

Artist's impression of gas flow in a protoplanetary disk.

New Research

To Find Baby Planets, Researchers Chase Waterfalls of Gas

Analysis of data from the ALMA telescope shows gas flows from the surface to middle of protoplanetary discs as new planets form

“The poor Girls & their Teeth!” the author wrote in a letter to her sister. “ ... Lizzy’s were filed & lamented over again & poor Marianne had two taken out after all"

This Jane Austen Letter Highlights the Horrors of 19th-Century Dentistry

The missive, penned after the author accompanied her nieces on a visit to the dentist, will be up for auction later this month

The team hypothesized that works published during the so-called “good old days” would be more uplifting than those penned during times of hardship

What Millions of Books Reveal About 200 Years of Happiness

Researchers analyzed eight million texts to gauge how lifespan, warfare and the economy affect national well-being

NASA astronauts Christina Koch (left) and Jessica Meir (right).

Watch the First All-Female Spacewalk

Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will exit the International Space Station to replace a power controller that failed last weekend

A visitor catches a whiff of T. Rex breath at the Field Museum.

Cool Finds

You Can Now Smell a T. Rex’s Stinky Breath at Chicago’s Field Museum

The museum recently added a multi-sensory experience to SUE’s new exhibit

The wooden sarcophagi boast colorful, well-preserved paintings and inscriptions

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 20 Sealed Ancient Egyptian Coffins

The sarcophagi—decorated in shades of red, green, white and black—were found stacked in two layers in a giant tomb

The 'blob' now lives in a terrarium where it loves warm temperatures and humidity.

Paris Zoo Unveils Bizarre, Brainless ‘Blob’ Capable of Learning—and Eating Oatmeal

Physarum polycephalum is known as a slime mold, but it is not in fact a fungus. It’s also not a plant. Or an animal.

Joint winners Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo attend the 2019 Booker Prize Winner Announcement at the Guildhall in London

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo Win the 2019 Booker Prize

Some critics are lamenting that Evaristo, the first black woman to receive the award, has to share it

Violet King, an usherette at the London Coliseum, pocketed the half-smoked cigar and safeguarded it for the rest of her life

Cool Finds

A Cigar Puffed by Winston Churchill Is Set to Go on Auction

The British prime minister smoked the cigar while attending a movie premiere in 1953

The team discovered a whale fall while exploring Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast.

Cool Finds

Watch Marine Life Feast on a Complete Whale Skeleton on the Ocean Floor

It’s spooky season on the seafloor, too

Karly Bast with her scale model of Leonardo da Vinci's bridge design

Trending Today

Scientists Prove Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-Year-Old Bridge Design Actually Works

A model created at MIT shows the bridge, which would have been 10 times longer than typical ones, could have spanned the Golden Horn

Summer snowpack at Zackenberg in 2018.

New Research

Extreme Snowfall Prevented Arctic Species From Breeding Last Year

Snow coverage persisted through late July, which prevented plants, insects and birds from reproducing normally

A humpback whale, not involved in the study, shows off its pecs.

Watch Humpback Whales Scoop Fish Into Their Mouths Using Their Fins

With the help of a drone and other new technologies, researchers were able to study the whales from a bird’s-eye view

This inverted cross was likely carved on the inn's hearth stone in hopes of discouraging witches from flying down the chimney

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Shot Glass Shards, Anti-Witch Carving at Centuries-Old Scottish Pub

At the time of its construction, the Wilkhouse Inn was considered a “statement of modernity and affluence”

The scene features a wounded gladiator appealing for mercy

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Bloody Gladiator Fresco in Pompeii

The scene, one of many paintings recently found in the ruins of the ancient city, depicts a defeated gladiator begging for his life

Medieval roundhouse identified using laser scans of the Isle of Arran.

Cool Finds

Lasers Help Scientists Spot 900 New Archaeological Sites on Scotland’s Isle of Arran

The tech allowed researchers to conduct a ‘rapid archaeological survey, over weeks rather than months or years’

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