French author Arsène Houssaye wrote the book in 1879, then gave a copy to French physician Ludovic Bouland. (Harvard Library)

A Book Bound With Human Skin Spent 90 Years in Harvard's Library. Now, the Binding Has Been Removed

In the late 19th century, a French physician took the skin, without consent, from a female psychiatric patient who had died

Sarah Kuta

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How King's College Added 438 Solar Panels to a 500-Year-Old Chapel

Peek Inside a California Condor Egg Just Before It Hatched, With This CT Scan of the Baby Bird

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A Fresh Understanding of the World We All Inhabit

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Zigzags on a Shell From Java Are the Oldest Human Engravings

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mercury

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To Help the Allied War Effort, These Scientists Got Drunk on Nitrogen

The English Farmers Who Harvest Rhubarb by Candlelight

SMITHSONIAN VOICES

Marking Asian American and Jewish American Heritage Months and EMS Day

Chechnya Bans Music That Isn't Between 80 and 116 Beats Per Minute

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How Museums Are Preserving and Celebrating Selena's Legacy

The Town That Kept Its Nuclear Bunker a Secret for Three Decades

On this day in 2018, musician Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN., becoming the first rapper (and first non-classical or jazz artist) to win the prestigious award.

See photos from the National Museum of African American History and Culture's collection that document hip-hop's early years.

The Baths

© Karissa Rosen