Five Things to Know About French Enlightenment Genius Émilie du Châtelet
She was brilliant and unconventional, but her life had a tragic end
Iconic Portrait of French Chemist and His Wife Once Looked Entirely Different
Jacques-Louis David’s 1789 painting originally depicted Antoine and Marie Anne Lavoisier as wealthy elites, not modern scientists
Letter From ‘Father of Vaccination’ Edward Jenner Sold at Auction
Jenner wrote that new research ‘put a stop to the sneers’ of ‘little minded persons’
How Mrs. Edge Saved the Birds
Meet a forgotten hero of our natural world whose brave campaign to protect birds charted a new course for the environmental movement
An Unexploded WWII Bomb Was (Safely) Detonated in England
Routine construction work near the University of Exeter unearthed the 2,204-pound device in late February
The Great Canadian Polio Vaccine Heist of 1959
A theft more than 60 years ago shows how sought-after scarce vaccine doses have been in past epidemics
Rare Doctor’s Note Offers Glimpse Into Napoleon’s Agonized Final Years
The 1818 missive, which describes the French statesman’s failing health, recently sold at auction for $2,000
Ukraine Seeks to Designate Chernobyl as a Unesco World Heritage Site
“People should leave with an awareness of the historic significance of the place,” says the country’s culture minister
Hidden Microbes and Fungi Found on the Surface of Leonardo da Vinci Drawings
Researchers used new DNA sequencing technology to examine the “bio-archives” of seven of the Renaissance master’s sketches
The Ten Best Science Books of 2020
New titles explore the mysterious lives of eels, the science of fear and our connections to the stars
Two Darwin Notebooks Quietly Went Missing 20 Years Ago. Were They Stolen?
Staff at Cambridge University Libraries previously assumed that the papers had simply been misplaced in the vast collections
Even in the Bolivian Amazon, Average Human Body Temperature Is Getting Cooler
A new study finds the average body temperature among Bolivia’s Tsimane people dropped by nearly a full degree in just 16 years
How a Public Health Campaign in the Warsaw Ghetto Stemmed the Spread of Typhus
A new study shows how life-saving efforts by Jewish doctors helped curb an epidemic during World War II
A Bird Named for a Confederate General Sparks Calls for Change
McCown’s longspur has launched a renewed reckoning over the troubling histories reflected in taxonomy
Tesla’s Patents, Einstein’s Letters and an Enigma Machine Are Up for Auction
Christie’s Eureka! sale features personal and academic objects owned by 20th-century scientists
Graduate Student Untangles Decades-Old Math Problem in Less Than a Week
Lisa Piccirillo recently published her proof of Conway’s knot problem, a well-known quandry that stumped mathematicians for more than 50 years
Building a Mouse Squad Against COVID-19
A Maine laboratory is on the verge of supplying a much-needed animal for SARS-CoV-2 research
Poo-Sniffing Peeps, Miss Ameripeep and More Emerge Victorious in #PeepYourScience 2020 Competition
Blending marshmallows with scientific rigor, the contest offers levity during a difficult time
A Dead Cat’s Brain Revives Discussion of 1960s Mercury Poisoning Disaster in Japan
The exact molecule behind the Minamata mercury disaster, caused by a chemical plant’s wastewater, remains a point of disagreement
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