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Gustave Courbet's Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine is one of some 100,000 artworks now freely available online.

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download Images of 100,000 Artworks From Prominent Paris Museums’ Collections

Paris Musées, which manages 14 important institutions, has released a trove of images into the public domain

Even for grasshoppers, being upside-down can be a high (blood) pressure situation.

Like Humans, Grasshoppers Grapple With Gravity’s Effects on Blood Pressure

After putting the insects into a linear accelerator, researchers got some surprisingly weighty results

Española tortoises are reared for five years before being released on the Galápagos' Española Island.

Diego, the 100-Year-Old Tortoise Who Fathered 900 Babies, Returns to the Wild

The breeding program brought the Española tortoise population back from the brink

Hernán Cortés had Aztec treasures melted into gold bars for easier transport back to Europe.

Cool Finds

Spanish Conquistadors Stole This Gold Bar From Aztec Emperor Moctezuma’s Trove

Forces led by Hernán Cortés dropped the looted treasure during a hasty retreat from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in June 1520

The top ten include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat.

Trending Today

New York Public Library Announces Its Most Borrowed Books of All Time

The list, dominated by children’s literature, spans 125 years of reading

Watch the Spectacular Eruption of One of Mexico’s Most Active Volcanoes

Officials say no one was hurt in the explosion. But over in the Philippines, a brewing eruption in threatens to be more severe

With the Khumbu valley and Cholatse peak in the background, shrubs grow at about 4,900 meters about sea level.

Plants Are Now Sprouting High in Himalayas as the Planet Warms

Just what this means for the fragile mountain ecosystem is unclear, but researchers say the need to find out is ‘urgent’

Layers of dirt accumulated over the centuries, hiding the painting under what is now the church's gift shop.

Cool Finds

Artwork Discovered in Vienna Cathedral’s Gift Shop May Be the Work of German Renaissance Master Albrecht Dürer

The find is particularly intriguing because it represents the first evidence that Dürer visited the Austrian city

These scavenging bird could use a lesson or two in manners.

Vulture Poop Has Compromised a Customs and Border Protection Radio Tower in Texas

Officials are scrambling for a solution to the fecal fiasco

The high-status 16th-century woman (right) appears to have suffered from leprosy, a disfiguring disease that likely left its mark on her skin, tissues and bone.

Artists Reconstruct Centuries-Old Faces of Early Edinburgh Residents

Skulls uncovered beneath St. Giles’ Cathedral gave faces to a 12th-century man and a 16th-century woman

This illustration of Venice accompanied a manuscript of one friar's journey from Venice to Egypt and Jerusalem.

Cool Finds

14th-Century Illustration of Venice Is the Oldest Found Yet

The drawing accompanied one friar’s first-person account of a trip from Venice to Jerusalem and Egypt

The Taliabu Grasshopper-Warbler is one of ten new bird species and subspecies described by ornithologist Frank Rheindt.

New Research

Ten New Bird Species and Subspecies Found in Indonesia

Previous bird-collecting expeditions never trekked inland, leaving a treasure trove of undiscovered warblers and leaftoilers

The venomous Indian cobra (Naja naja) is one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

Newly Sequenced Indian Cobra Genome Could Lead to Better Antivenoms

A genetic approach could circumvent the pitfalls associated with current antivenom synthesis techniques

With the number of visitors projected to keep rising, the Netherlands tourist board has decided to shift its focus from promotion to crowd control.

Why the Dutch Government Wants You to Stop Referring to the Netherlands as ‘Holland’

In a push to redirect tourists to other parts of the country, officials are dropping “Holland” from promotional and marketing materials

A large meteorite can launch bits of molten rock into the atmosphere when it impacts Earth. When that molten rock cools, it forms tektites, shown here.

New Research

Crater From Giant Meteorite Strike Might Be Hidden Under Volcanic Plateau

Debris from the strike scattered across Earth, but the exact point of impact has been a mystery

June Bacon-Bercey on Buffalo's WGR-TV, where she became the first African American female meteorologist to forecast the weather on television.

Remembering June Bacon-Bercey, a Pioneering African American Meteorologist

She is believed to be the first African American woman with meteorological training to deliver weather news on TV

A Chinese paddlefish specimen made in 1990 is seen on display at the Museum of Hydrobiological Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, China. The Chinese paddlefish's sharp, protruding snout made it one of the largest freshwater species in the world.

The Chinese Paddlefish, Which Lived for 200 Million Years, Is Now Extinct

New research concludes the freshwater species likely disappeared between 2005 and 2010 due to human activity

Sweden's 1,200-year-old Rök stone is inscribed with more than 700 runes, some of which may discuss climate change.

New Research

Viking Runestone May Trace Its Roots to Fear of Extreme Weather

Sweden’s Rök stone, raised by a father commemorating his recently deceased son, may contain allusions to an impending period of catastrophic cold

The bicolored white-toothed shrew (Crocidura leucodon), a small mammal known to carry and transmit Borna disease virus to other animals.

A Shrew-Borne Virus Is Responsible for Deadly Brain Infections in Humans

First discovered in livestock hundreds of years ago, Borna disease virus has apparently been claiming human lives for decades

“Their bone size indicates that they were probably militiamen,” says archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni. "Their femur bones show that they clearly walked a lot and carried a lot of weight back in their day.”

Cool Finds

Skeletons Unearthed in Connecticut May Belong to Revolutionary War Soldiers

If confirmed, the bones would be the first remains recovered from Revolutionary War soldiers in the Constitution State

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