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The portrait is dated to 1844, making it the oldest known portrait of Davidge.

Cool Finds

A Rare Portrait of Maryland’s Medical Hero Was Rediscovered in a Mussels Joint

The painting depicts John Beale Davidge, a physician known for his ideas about yellow fever and founding the University of Maryland School of Medicine

The excavations are taking place at the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula while crews install an elevator to make the landmark more accessible.

Cool Finds

The First Major Excavation at the Tower of London in Three Decades Is Shedding New Light on the Iconic Landmark’s History

Archaeologists have discovered the skeletal remains of at least 25 individuals and possibly as many as 50, as well as various artifacts and architectural remnants

 The scientists found R. wellingtoni in two different color combinations, black-purple and red-black.

Scientists Just Found a Coral Species They Thought Had Gone Extinct, Marking the First Record of It in 24 Years

After the 1982-1983 El Niño warming event, the coral endemic to the Galápagos Islands experienced sharp population declines and was rarely observed during surveys

Researchers collect soil samples in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.

More Than 90 Percent of the World’s Fungal ‘Hotspots’ Are Not Protected, New Study Suggests

Mycorrhizal fungi play an essential role in climate regulation and ecosystem health, and researchers have used A.I. to predict the locations that host a high diversity of these underground organisms

Migrant Child depicts a shipwrecked young child in a life jacket holding up a flare emitting bright pink smoke.

Venice Breaks Ground on Controversial Banksy Mural Restoration

“Migrant Child” is being removed for restoration after years of water and salt damage, despite concerns from artists and community members

An ancient fragment of a bronze military diploma from Sardinia dating to the second century C.E.

New Research

Google Just Released an A.I. Tool That Helps Historians Fill in Missing Words in Ancient Roman Inscriptions

Known as Aeneas, the tool was trained on an extensive dataset of Latin epigraphy. Experts hope it will help decipher segments of text that have been lost to history

The Barbados threadsnake is just three to four inches long and about the same width as a strand of spaghetti. Pictured here in 2006, the species was officially described in 2008.

Scientists Feared the World’s Smallest Snake Had Gone Extinct. They Just Found It Again

When fully grown, the Barbados threadsnake is only three to four inches long—shorter than many earthworms

Anthropologist Aleksandra Pudło (left) and archaeologist Sylwia Kurzyńska (right) carefully excavated the knight's skeleton.

Archaeologists Discover Mysterious Medieval Knight Buried Beneath an Ice Cream Parlor in Poland

The well-preserved skeleton was buried under a rare limestone tombstone, which suggests the individual may have been an important member of Gdańsk society during the Middle Ages

Early detection cancer tests are showing signs of promise, but some researchers still have reservations.

Cancer DNA Can Be Detected in the Bloodstream Up to Three Years Before Diagnosis, Study Suggests

For a few individuals, scientists found genetic material from cancerous tumors in blood samples taken years before they were diagnosed through traditional methods

A new study reveals that optimists show similar brain activity when they think about the future, while pessimists' neural patterns are more individual.

Optimists Really Are on the ‘Same Wavelength’ When They Think About the Future, New Study of Brain Activity Suggests

As the research participants thought about future scenarios, optimists displayed similar neural patterns, but pessimists showed more individualized brain activity

UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, is headquartered in Paris and has 194 member countries.

The U.S. Is Withdrawing From UNESCO for the Third Time in the Agency’s 80-Year History

The country previously left the agency for two brief stints—once from 1984 to 2003 and again from 2017 to 2023. The newly announced decision will take effect by the end of 2026

Antonio Solario's Madonna and Child

This Woman Didn’t Want to Return a Stolen 16th-Century Painting. Then She Changed Her Mind

Despite her legal claim to ownership, Barbara de Dozsa has decided to return an artwork by Italian artist Antonio Solario that vanished more than 50 years ago

A screenshot from the CCTV footage reveals the moment when the ground moved.

CCTV Footage Captures the First-Ever Video of an Earthquake Fault in Motion, Shining a Rare Light on Seismic Dynamics

A clip recorded in Myanmar in March reveals a curved path of the fault slip, which can help scientists better understand the physics of such events

A Late Neolithic skull. For the recent study, scientists extracted DNA from skulls and teeth to look for traces of diseases.

With Ancient DNA, Scientists Have Mapped 37,000 Years of Disease Across Europe and Asia

Zoonoses—diseases that spread from animals to humans—began to gain prevalence some 6,500 years ago with the rise of animal husbandry, a new study suggests

Artist Franck Duval, known as FKDL, works on a mural Josephine Baker in Paris.

Women Who Shaped History

A Vibrant Mural Celebrating Josephine Baker’s ‘Two Loves’—‘My Country and Paris’—Has Been Unveiled in France

The colorful street art, which features a quote from one of her songs, honors the iconic singer, dancer and civil rights activist’s enduring legacy

This flint arrowhead was found embedded in a human rib at the Roc de les Orenetes site in northeastern Spain.

An Archer Shot This Bronze Age Human in the Back. 4,000 Years Later, the Arrow Is Still Embedded in the Victim’s Rib Bone

The attack took place during a period of conflict between groups living in the Pyrenees mountains in modern-day Spain

For the experiments, the scientists worked with plain-body octopuses (Callistoctopus aspilosomatis).

Octopuses Fall for the Rubber Hand Illusion, Just Like Humans, Pointing to a Sense of Body Ownership

The trick that plays with awareness of one’s own limb appeared to fool all six of the cephalopods tested in a series of experiments

The destroyer was commissioned in 1942 and used in the Guadalcanal campaign.

Underwater Archaeologists Capture Photos of Japanese Warship That Hasn’t Been Seen Since It Sank During World War II

The “Teruzuki” was a Japanese Navy destroyer that sank near the Solomon Islands on December 12, 1942. Eight decades later, researchers have identified the wreckage in the Pacific

The ice cores were collected from East Antarctica's Dome C and are now being held in a freezer room at the British Antarctic Survey.

Scientists Will Melt the World’s ‘Oldest Ice’ to Reveal Its Secrets and Uncover a Climate Record of 1.5 Million Years

The ice cores could offer clues about a period known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition that has long puzzled scientists

Scientists observed the faint companion star, shown in blue, by using a speckle imager mounted on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to capture several short exposures.

Astronomers Say They’ve Finally Spotted Betelgeuse’s Companion Star, Long Predicted to Exist but Never Seen

The discovery, if confirmed, could explain Betelgeuse’s mysterious six-year oscillations in brightness

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