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The Roman sarcophagus is on view in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey.

Archaeologists May Have Solved the Mystery of a Roman Sarcophagus Excavated at Westminster Abbey in 1869

New research suggests that the ancient coffin was repurposed in the 10th or 11th century to hold the remains of an abbot who had overseen the London monastery

Elephant carcasses affect the local environment for at least eight years, according to a new study.

African Elephants Shape the Savanna Ecosystem—and Continue Doing So Long After They’ve Died, Study Suggests

At first, plants below an elephant carcass die. Soil microbes and plants grow back soon after, but only a few select species. Herbivores later come in to munch on the nutrient-rich greens

The opera house's spiral staircase connects the riverfront with the roof.

Shanghai’s ‘Audacious’ New Opera House Just Opened Its Doors—and a Gravity-Defying Staircase—to the Public

The riverfront opera house is Shanghai’s latest cultural statement. It features three performance halls and is designed to be accessible to everyone, not just ticket-holders

Boulevard du Temple, Louis Daguerre, 1838

Cool Finds

Where Exactly Were the First Humans to Be Captured in a Photograph Standing? Three Obsessed Filmmakers Solved the Nearly 200-Year-Old Mystery

The sleuths spent two years digging into archives and building 3D models of 19th-century Paris. The location is now immortalized by a bronze plaque celebrating the historic site and the “poetic” early photograph

Catharina van Hemessen's 1548 self-portrait is on view in a new exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium.

She Painted the First Known Self-Portrait of an Artist at Work—and Signed It—Nearly 500 Years Ago. Who Was Catharina van Hemessen?

Few women worked as professional artists in the 16th century. A new exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium, seeks to restore this Flemish painter to the pantheon of art history giants

Researchers investigated several members of the Pseudorabdion genus in the study including P. saravacense, shown here.

These Snakes Can Cartwheel Away From Danger. Scientists Just Uncovered How the Slithering Creatures Perform Their Acrobatic Rolls

When they’re rolling, some snakes belonging to the Pseudorabdion genus can reach top speeds of 3.8 to 8.3 miles per hour, according to a new study

Third place: neurons in an expanded mouse brain

See the Scientific and the Mundane Become Surprisingly Dazzling When Viewed Through a Microscope, From Neurons to Ballpoint Pens

The Nikon Small World Competition has announced its photography winners for its 52nd annual contest. This comes weeks after its video winner was dethroned for use of generative A.I.

An artist's impression of white dwarf J1330+6435, which might appear ghostly green because of certain elements in its dense atmosphere

In a First, Astronomers Identify a Star That Might Glow Green. New Research Highlights the Strange Hues White Dwarfs Can Take on

White dwarf stars are too far from Earth to be observed directly. So, scientists reconstructed how they’d look to human eyes based on the wavelengths of light they emit and found a colorful array of objects that might appear yellow, purple or pink

Researchers examined three cemeteries across the Peak District.

Cool Finds

To Understand Social Divides in Medieval England, Archaeologists Examined Tooth Enamel From Lead Mining Communities

Some residents of the Peaks District in the 13th century may have experienced worse lead pollution than city-dwellers during the Industrial Revolution. Female skeletons showed higher lead levels and earlier ages of death

Ron Wallace set the world record for the heaviest pumpkin.

A Rhode Island Man Grew the First Pumpkin to Surpass 3,000 Pounds. The Gargantuan Gourd Is the Largest Fruit Ever

On October 10, Ron Wallace took the pumpkin king crown with a 3,156-pounder. The previous record—a respectable, nearly 2,857-pound pumpkin—was set just a week earlier by British grower Ian Paton

Bleached coral fragments touching healthy clones took as little as four weeks to recover fully.

Sick Corals Can Heal With the Help of a ‘Magic Touch’ From Healthy Ones, Offering Hope for Heat-Damaged Marine Ecosystems

A coral is often a colony of tiny, genetically identical animals. New research suggests that when a bleached coral fragment comes into physical contact with a colorful, thriving clone, the pale one can revive within weeks

Researchers used artificial intelligence to read through old British port records.

A Vast New Database Shows How Britain Built a Global Empire by Trading Goods Like Coal, Wine and Wood Closer to Home

Using AI to comb through hundreds of thousands of handwritten pages of port records, historians have constructed an interactive map of Britain’s maritime trading routes. Even as it expanded in Asia and the Americas, Britain’s commerce with Europe remained overwhelming

Coast redwoods can live for more than 2,000 years.

The World’s Tallest Trees Seem to Struggle to Make Their Own Food During Heat Waves, Leaving Them Vulnerable as the World Warms

Coast redwoods, which grow only from central California to southern Oregon, slow photosynthesis when temperatures ramp up, according to a new study. Scientists worry about the towering plants’ future amid climate change

Carpet sea squirt colonies threaten fisheries and native species.

This Dog Learned to Sniff Out a Slimy Marine Invader Called ‘Sea Vomit’—a Skill That Earned Her the Animal of the Year Award

Sgiath, a 6-year-old Labrador from the Scottish Highlands, received the honor from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. She’s believed to be the first pup trained to hunt for the invasive carpet sea squirt, which is threatening marine life along the British coast and elsewhere

The archaeologists were thrilled when they found the human remains.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Searching for Evidence of a Norse Church in Greenland Have Found ‘the Smoking Gun’ Near Erik the Red’s Settlement

The site was first identified as a possible church decades ago, but researchers did not confirm that hunch until they found human remains there this summer. It could offer another clue to the Viking’s unexplained 15th-century disappearance

The late-19th-century Limoges city hall burned extensively over the weekend.

The Burning of This French City Hall Was a ‘Catastrophe for Heritage,’ Tragically Reminiscent of the Notre-Dame Fire

French authorities say that the Limoges city hall, built in the late 19th century and celebrated as an architectural gem, was the victim of an arson attack amid mass protests in France over the weekend

An artistic rendering of the MMX spacecraft next to the potato-shaped Martian moon Phobos

Scientists Don’t Know How Mars Acquired Its Two Moons. Japan Just Launched a Historic Space Mission That Will Fetch Samples to Find Out

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s spacecraft is expected to reach the Martian system in August 2027 and return samples from the moon Phobos to Earth in 2031

Archaeologists and volunteers took part in excavating the dike near Glasgow.

Cool Finds

When a 19th-Century Scottish Landowner Blocked a Public Footpath, Locals Rebelled. Now, Archaeologists Have Unearthed Parts of His Controversial Wall

The rebellion against “Harvie’s Dyke,” a pair of stone walls erected in the 1820s, was a triumph for the workers and middle classes of Glasgow, who used riots, boycotts and lawsuits to win back access to the River Clyde

Earth's layers are more mobile than you might think.

Earth’s True North and South Poles Have Wandered Four Times Over the Past 320 Million Years, Study Suggests

The phenomenon, which involves the geographic poles, is distinct from when the magnetic poles move. The planet’s solid crust and molten mantle occasionally shift and subsequently reorient themselves during what’s called true polar wander

Colorado's new $15 million wildlife overpass opened in December.

How Colorado’s Wildlife Mitigation Efforts—Including the Largest Animal Crossing Overpass in North America—Are Making Everyone Safer

Animals can now cross a dangerous stretch of Interstate 25 thanks to new infrastructure, including fences, underpasses and a massive overpass, which has led to a 91 percent reduction in wildlife-vehicle collisions

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