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History

Illustration from Merchant of Venice

Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Is Anti-Semitic

Deconstructing what makes the Bard’s play so problematic

The women "computers" pose for a group photo in 1953.

Women in Science

NASA’s ‘Rocket Girls’ Are No Longer Forgotten History

Thanks to a new book, these female pioneers who helped the U.S. win the space race are finally getting their due

A recipe for an ingredient to make a Philosopher's Stone handwritten by Isaac Newton.

Cool Finds

Isaac Newton Used This Recipe in His Hunt to Make a Philosopher’s Stone

The recently publicized document was kept in a private collection for many years

Chester Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow) and his grandfather Joe Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke, Crow)

Remembering Dr. Joe Medicine Crow

He showed us we are capable of great things when we look within ourselves, says scholar Nina Sanders

Cool Finds

Researchers Crack Open the Mysterious Plain of Jars

After 80 years, archeologists get the chance to explore the Laotian plateau dotted with giant stone jars

The HMNZS Bellona in April 1947, just before the crew mutinied.

Cool Finds

Following WWII, New Zealand’s Navy Was Rocked With Peaceful Mutinies

More than 20 percent of the Royal New Zealand Navy was discharged for protesting low pay

The interior of an ancient Egyptian tomb.

New Research

3,400-Year-Old Necropolis Hints at Ancient Egyptian Life

Dozens of tombs and a temple were uncovered in an ancient quarry

Ramesses III and his son in the afterlife

New Research

CT Scan Shows Pharoah Ramesses III Was Murdered by Multiple Assassins

A missing toe reveals that the god-king was killed by more than one plotter

A charred fragment of one of the Herculaneum Scrolls.

New Research

Metallic Ink Discovered in Ancient Scrolls Buried by Mount Vesuvius

New discovery may help researchers read ancient scrolls

This 12,000-year-old city could soon be inundated thanks to a hydroelectric dam.

Trending Today

These Are Europe’s Eight Most Endangered Cultural Landmarks

Unless things change, these historic sites could disappear from the map forever

Much of the bunker looks the same as it did when it was fully functional.

Switzerland

Switzerland’s Historic Bunkers Get a New Lease on Life

As the shadow of war fades, the country’s former fallout shelters now house everything from museums to cheese factories

Detail from King Tut's throne

New Research

New Evidence Shows King Tut’s Tomb May Have Its Own Chamber of Secrets

Scans in the boy-king’s tomb reveal there may be two rooms beyond its walls that contain metal and organic objects

Measuring human skulls in physical anthropology

When Museums Rushed to Fill Their Rooms With Bones

In part fed by discredited and racist theories about race, scientists and amateurs alike looked to human remains to learn more about themselves

Cool Finds

Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates Electronic Music Pioneer Clara Rockmore

The theremin virtuosa would have been 105 years old today

Velvalee Dickinson, suspected spy.

The Spy in the Doll Shop

The FBI was confounded by mysterious letters sent to South America, until they came across New York City proprieter Velvalee Dickinson

The FIFA World Football Museum opened in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday.

Switzerland

These Five Objects Tell the Story of Soccer

Take an exclusive look inside the new FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin Was One-Fifth Revolutionary, Four-Fifths London Intellectual

The enterprising Philadelphian was late to adopt the revolutionary cause, but infused America with English ideals

The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Riverside Park, New York, was dedicated at 72nd Street on October 5, 1996.

Cool Finds

It’s Way Too Hard to Find Statues of Notable Women in the U.S.

Only a handful of the country’s sculptures honor women

One hundred and eleven new buildings were constructed in the downtown area between 1931 and 1933. The vast majority took their cues from Art Deco, the era’s cutting-edge architectural trend.

How an Earthquake Turned This New Zealand Town into the Art Deco Capital of the World

Napier turned its tragic past into an architectural wonder

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

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