Death

Artist's rendering of John Canoe (Jan Kwaw), the Ahanta king who likely inspired the Bahamas' Junkanoo festival

The Gold Coast King Who Fought the Might of Europe's Slave Traders

New research reveals links between the 18th-century Ahanta leader John Canoe and the Caribbean festival Junkanoo

A close-up of Stonehenge in Salisbury, England

What Do Stonehenge and Japanese Stone Circles Have in Common?

A new exhibition explores the surprising parallels between British and Japanese traditions

Forest Lawn Memorial-Park doubled as a spectacle of art, Christianity, architecture and patriotism.

Inside the Disneyland of Graveyards

How Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, a star-studded cemetery in Los Angeles, corporatized mourning in America

The pink granite sarcophagus of Ptah-M-Wia, an important official during the reign of Ramses II

Cool Finds

Sarcophagus of Ramses II's Chief Treasurer Discovered at Saqqara

Egyptian archaeologists unearthed the empty, 3,200-year-old coffin of Ptah-M-Wia, a high-ranking New Kingdom official

Ernest Hemingway and his middle son, Patrick, pose with a record 119.5-pound Atlantic sailfish caught off Key West, Florida, in May 1934.

Archive of Ernest Hemingway Writings, Photos Opens to the Public for the First Time

Privately owned for decades, the materials include a short story featuring F. Scott Fitzgerald, personal effects and rough drafts

Andrew Dominik's Blonde doesn't purport to be historically accurate. Instead, like the Joyce Carol Oates novel it's based on, the film seeks to be spiritually faithful to the image Monroe embodied.

Women Who Shaped History

Who Was the Real Marilyn Monroe?

"Blonde," a heavily fictionalized film by Andrew Dominik, explores the star's life and legend in a narrative that's equal parts glamorous and disturbing

About 230 pilot whales were stranded on an Australian beach. 

About 200 Stranded Whales Die on Australian Beach

Rescue operations saved around 30 of the animals

Betty White in 2015

Betty White's Belongings Are Up for Auction

The items tell the story of the beloved comedic actress' life—and her groundbreaking eight-decade career

Some of the 14th-century B.C.E. vessels found at the Tel Yehud burial site

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Earliest Known Opium Use

At a burial site in Israel, pottery from the 14th century B.C.E. contained traces of the drug

Human composting transforms corpses into nutrient-rich soil.

California Has Legalized Human Composting

By 2027, Golden State residents will have the choice to turn their bodies into nutrient-rich compost

Calli moves around on land.

Beloved Sea Lion at National Zoo Dies Unexpectedly

Calli, a 17-year-old California sea lion, is remembered by zoo staff as a good mother and ambassador for her species

Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard, an Icon of the French New Wave, Has Died at 91

The groundbreaking filmmaker helped set the stage for modern cinema

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Whose Database Identified Thousands of Enslaved Laborers, Has Died at 93

Searching through forgotten records, she collected data on more than 100,000 individuals

Elizabeth remained staunchly tight-lipped, rarely commenting publicly on current events.

Elizabeth II Was an Enduring Emblem of the Waning British Empire

The British queen died on Thursday at age 96

Aerial view of the usually submerged ruins of the village of Aceredo in northwestern Spain on February 15, 2022

This Summer’s Drought Is Europe's Worst in 500 Years. What Happened Last Time?

The 1540 megadrought brought mass suffering to the continent, but European society quickly bounced back

The one-minute clip shows the Titanic's bow, portside anchor, hull and massive anchor chain

See the Highest-Resolution Footage of the Titanic Ever Captured

Commercial exploration company OceanGate Expeditions recorded the 8K clip during its 2022 expedition to the wreck of the ill-fated luxury liner

Tens of thousands of dead fish, including sharks, sturgeon and large striped bass, are washing up dead on the shores of the San Francisco Bay and its waterways as a widespread algal bloom continues more than a month after first being detected. 

Dead Fish Are Washing Ashore in the Bay Area

A ‘red tide’ algal bloom is likely at fault, spurred by excess nutrients and warmer waters

Digital facial reconstructions of two of the individuals found in the well, based on skeletal remains and DNA

Bones Found in Medieval Well Likely Belong to Victims of Anti-Semitic Massacre

A new DNA analysis suggests the 17 individuals were Ashkenazi Jews murdered in Norwich, England, in 1190

An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region of California on October 9, 2017.

Untold Stories of American History

The History of California's Inmate Firefighter Program

The initiative, which finds prisoners working as first responders and rescuers, dates back to the 1940s

Mikhail Gorbachev died on August 30, 2022, at age 91.

The Contradictory Legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev

The Soviet leader, who died on August 30 at age 91, attempted to enact "revolution from above"

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