African penguins in captivity are living longer than their wild counterparts, prompting caretakers to reconsider their habitat as they age. New England AquariumLike humans, African penguins tend to slow down as they age. They might suffer from arthritis and other age-related conditions, and theyll spend more of their time resting.Now, the geriatric birds at the New England Aquarium can live out their golden years in peace and comfort on a new, secluded island created specifically for their unique needs.The nonprofit aquarium in Boston unveiled its new penguin retirement retreat in mid-March. So far, eight of the aquariums dapper black-and-white seabirds are settling into the new habitat.We think of this island like assisted living, where were helping the birds be more comfortable in a calmer environment, says Diana Major, penguin manager for the New England Aquarium, in a statement. Being relaxed is key, and we think the new retirement home will ultimately lead to happier and healthier penguins.In the wild, African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) typically live to be between 10 and 15 years oldif they make it that far. The seabirds are critically endangered, grappling with issues like pollution and climate change in the coastal waters of South Africa and Namibia.Predatory gulls and ibises eat up to 40 percent of the birds eggs, and they continue to prey on chicks after they hatch. Adults are also hunted by caracals, leopards, mongooses, fur seals and sharks. As the penguins age, they do a lot more resting. New England AquariumOverfishing presents another problem. As humans harvest more fish, there is less fish for them to eat, which means theyre having to swim farther and farther out to find food, says Jen Kottyan, bird curator at the Maryland Zoo, which has an African penguin program, to the Daily Free Press Lauren Albano. They have less food to feed their young, because theyre burning off all those calories that they need swimming back and forth.Scientists say the birds could become extinct in the wild by 2035. But the New England Aquarium and other zoos are trying to help restore the wild population under efforts coordinated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.In captivity, African penguins dont have to deal with the same challenges as their wild peers, and they benefit from around-the-clock care from a dedicated team of keepers and veterinarians. The New England Aquarium offers them amenities, including physical therapy, eye drops, foot ointment, acupuncture and special fish that have been injected with extra water to promote kidney functioning. The birds are also regularly screened for conditions like arthritis and cataracts. The senior birds can still see and hear their younger peers, they just get to enjoy a calmer, more peaceful environment. New England AquariumAs a result, several of the African penguins at the New England Aquarium are now in their 30s, and more than half of the colony has met or surpassed the wild birds life expectancy.In the wild, they would never reach this age, says Major in another statement. A lot of the time, we see physical issues that we normally wouldnt see in the wild, because in the wild, if you slow down, you get eaten by a shark.Caretakers decided to create a separate area for them to relax and co-exist in peace, without having to compete with younger birds for food or deal with as much territorial behavior. The smaller number of residents means caretakers can keep a closer eye on the aging penguins via in-person monitoring and a video feed. Moving forward, caretakers also hope to add additional accessibility features, like sloping ramps and more flat areas with mats. The geriatric island is separated from the other three African penguin islands by a mesh gate in the water. New England AquariumThe geriatric birds can still see and hear their younger counterpartsthe retirement island is cordoned off from the aquariums three other islands by a mesh gate in the water. But they have a space to spread out and call their own.They all get a good opportunity to eat and take their time and not feel rushed, not get pushed off the island by another animal thats anxious to eat, says Kristen McMahon, the aquariums curator of pinnipeds and penguins, to the New York Times Amanda Holpuch. The birds are definitely quieter, theres less territoriality Theres a little bit more laying down and resting.The residents of what McMahon describes as a country club for older animals include 32-year-old Harlequin and 31-year-old Durban, a mated pair of penguins who have been together since 2000 and raised eight chicks. Then theres Lambert, a 32-year-old male, with a 14-year-old mate named Dyer. Boulders, 34, and Isis, 29, are two females without mates.After the initial six birds got settled in, the aquarium added its oldest African penguin, 35-year-old Good Hope, and his 23-year-old mate, St. Croix, to the mix, per Axios Mike Deehan and Steph Solis.Each bird has its own distinct personality. Some, for example, really like to have their neck scratched or their back scratched, says Melissa Joblon, the aquariums director of animal health, to Nil Kksal of CBC Radios As It Happens.Its very cute, she adds. They are quite intelligent and theyre very personable.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Aging, Animals, Biology, Birds, Penguins, Sea Birds, Wildlife, Zoology

Researchers found grave goods while excavating theLiternum necropolis. Naples Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and LandscapeOver 2,200 years ago, the Republic of Rome founded a colony called Liternum on Italys west coast, just north of present-day Naples. Once home to Cornelius Scipio Africanus, a famed Roman general who defeated Hannibal, the former port city is now an archaeological park, and its ruins include a forum, temple, amphitheater and various burials, including those of Scipio Africanus andas researchers recently discoveredat least one gladiator.According to a translated statement by Naples Superintendent of Archaeology, Fine arts and Landscape, an excavation led by archaeologist Simona Formola recently unearthed two embellished tombs in Liternums necropolis, as well as many smaller burials.The two decorated funerary enclosures were once covered in white plaster and painted red. Theyre separated by a very deep stone well, which may have served a ritualistic purpose, per the statement. One of the enclosures contains a square mausoleum measuring almost 100 square feet. The structure is made of opus reticulatumbricks laid in a diamond patternand contains a volcanic rock called tuff: details suggesting high status individuals were buried here, as Artnet News Richard Whiddington reports. Inside the mausoleum, niches were cut into the plaster, likely to hold funerary urns spanning generations. An aerial view of the excavated cemetery Naples Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape One decorated tomb was plastered and painted red. Naples Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and LandscapeSurrounding the enclosures in the Liternum necropolis are some 20 other burials, including cappuccina tombssimple burials reserved for lower-class ancient Romans. Cappuccina tombs were typically made of clay roof tiles, arranged to form a peaked enclosure over the deceased. The necropolis also contains enchytrismos burials, in which a body is buried inside a large ceramic jug, and some well-crafted, rectangular tombs made of bricks.One of the Liternum necropolis graves is marked by a slab of engraved marble: It indicates the deceased was a gladiator, one of the many slaves or criminals forced to fight and die for the entertainment of ancient Romans in amphitheaters like the Colosseum. A few gladiators rose to prominencelike Spartacus, who led a slave rebellion against the republicbut most of these men were simply expendable pieces of entertainment for Rome. As the local official writes on Facebook, the recently discovered epitaph is a rare and touching testimony to the memory of these fighters in Roman society.Based on the burial structures and artifacts found in the Liternum graveslike coins, lamps and small vasesresearchers believe the cemetery was used between the latter first century B.C.E. and the third century C.E. This era aligns with the onset of Romes Imperial period, which began with the rise of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, around 27 B.C.E. Within the next few centuries, the Roman Empire reached peak power and expansiveness. Researchers found cappuccina tombs, simple burials made of clay roof tiles. Naples Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape The cemetery contained upper-class mausoleums and lower-class individual burials. Naples Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and LandscapeAnother significant discovery in the Liternum graveyard came last year, when Formolas team opened its Tomb of Cerberus and discovered frescoes depicting not only the eponymous Hound of Hades, but also marine centaurs. The necropolis has illuminated ancient Roman funerary practices, according to the superintendent.Mariano Nuzzo in the statement. This necropolis, thanks to its excellently preserved wall structures and tombs, adds an important piece to our knowledge regarding the history of the colony of Liternum. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Artifacts, Cool Finds, Death, History, Italy, Roman Empire, Warfare

Peter Pentz, a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, sees many similarites between the stamp and the Sutton Hoo helmet. John Fhr Engedal Nissen / The National Museum of DenmarkTwo years ago, Jan Hjort was using a metal detector to scan a field on the Danish island of Tsinge when he discovered a small piece of metal covered in engravings. At first, Hjort didnt think much of his find. But when he took a closer look, he realized hed likely stumbled upon something remarkable.Now, researchers say Hjorts find has the potential to rewrite the history of one of Britains most famous artifacts. The images on the small metal stamp are similar to those found on the Sutton Hoo helmet, which was unearthed from an Anglo-Saxon ship burial site in Britain in 1939.Archaeologists have long theorized the helmet originated in Sweden. But Hjorts discovery suggests it may have come from Denmark instead. Discovered in pieces, the Sutton Hoo helmet has been carefully pieced back together. It's now on display at the British Museum. The Trustees of the British MuseumThe helmet was among more than 260 items discovered at an estate in Suffolk, England, in the late 1930s. Self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown and landowner Edith Pretty unearthed elaborately decorated weapons, armor, military equipment, gold coins, horse bridles and an 88-foot-long burial ship that once held human remains. The treasures date to the sixth or seventh century C.E.Scholars believe Sutton Hoo may have been the final resting place of Raedwald, a king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia who died around 624 C.E. The site drew comparisons to Egypts Valley of the Kings, and the hoard became known as Britains Tutankhamun.The helmet was found in pieces, which researchers painstakingly pieced back together. The restored helmetwhich is made of iron and tinned copper alloyis now on display at the British Museum and often appears on guidebooks and posters, per the London Times Kaya Burgess.Functional and beautiful, the helmet is covered in intricate imagery, including bears, warriors on horseback and a dragon. Because of similarities to motifs found on helmets in eastern Sweden, archaeologists long assumed the Sutton Hoo helmet originated there, too. They suspected it might have been an heirloom or a diplomatic gift to Raedwald.But the newly discovered metal stamp, which is known as a patrice, suggests the helmet could have come from Denmark, according to a translatedstatementfrom the National Museum of Denmark. Researchers discovered many similarities between the two artifacts, including the shape of the horses harness, the cuff on the warriors wrist and the warriors hair. The horses also appear to be almost identical. The small metal stamp was discovered on the Danish island of Tsinge. Mads Lou Bendtsen / The National Museum of DenmarkThe stylistic similarities are so significant, says Peter Pentz, a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, to BBC News Adrienne Murray and James Brooks. This is the closest link we've ever seen.The motifs are so similar that Pentz believes they were not only made in the same place, but were also made by the same craftsmen, according to the statement.If the Suttoo Hoo helmet did come from Denmark, that revelation could significantly alter our understanding of the power dynamics in Northern Europe during the 7th century, Pentz tells Arkeonews. It suggests Denmark played a more influential role in Northern Europe than historians previously thought. Denmark may even have been one of the regions leading central powers, with England and Sweden as peripheral outposts.But not everyone is convinced the stamp proves a link between the Sutton Hoo helmet and Denmark, per BBC News. Its possible the stamp originated somewhere else and then was transported to Denmark, for example. And similar motifs have also been found in Germany, which suggests they may not be unique to Denmark.Researchers hope to perform 3D scans of the helmet and the stamp so they can make a more detailed comparison. In the meantime, the metal stamp will be displayed at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen starting in April.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Denmark, England, European History, History, Sweden

A depas goblet excavated from the ruins of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s University of TbingenIn the first book of the Iliad, the god Hephaestus passes a double goblet around at a banquet on Mount Olympus. He poured the drink, going from right to left, for all the other gods, drawing off sweet nectar from the mixing bowl, the epic poem states.For those who enjoy libations from goblets or glasses, the rowdy evening that ensues should sound familiar. Their laughter broke out irrepressibly, Homer writes. No ones heart went unsatisfied.The Iliadis, of course, a work of mythology. But that doesnt mean all the practices, people and places depicted in the poem are fully fictive.The drinking vessel that Hephaestus passes around, for instance, is often identified as the depas amphikypellon, or depas goblet, a well-known relic among archaeologists that features a slender neck and two large handles. Schliemann's haul from Troy, on view at the Neues Museum in Berlin Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsBut whether the ancient residents of Troy truly sipped wine out of these goblets has long been consigned to the realm of speculation.Now, for the first time, researchers have identified chemical residues associated with wine in goblets unearthed at Hisarlik, the Turkish name for a site believed to be the ancient city immortalized in Homers epic, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Archaeology. Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman and amateur archaeologist with a penchant for embellishment, discovered and haphazardly excavated the site in the 1870s, wrote Smithsonian magazines Meilan Solly in 2022.Schliemann already conjectured that the depas goblet was passed around at celebrationsjust as described in the Iliad, says Stephan Blum, an archaeologist at Germanys University of Tbingen and a co-author of the study, in a statement. But, characteristic of Schliemanns assertions, there was little hard evidence to back up his sweeping claims.Archaeologists at Troy have unearthed more than 100 depas goblets dated to between 2500 and 2000 B.C.E. They tend to measure between 5 and 15 inches tall and can contain up to a liter of liquid, according to the statement. A depas goblet in situ at Troy University of TbingenFor the study, the researchers drilled two-gram samples out of the inner walls of two vessel fragments excavated by Schliemann. Then, they heated the samples to more than 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to isolate compounds in the mixture, the researchers identified the presence of succinic and pyruvic acids. Both are associated with alcoholic fermentation.The evidence of succinic and pyruvic acids was conclusive: They only occur when grape juice ferments, says Maxime Rageot, a biomolecular archaeologist at Germanys University of Bonn, in the statement. So now we can state with confidence that wine was actually drunk from the depas goblets and not just grape juice.As Popular Sciences Andrew Paul points out, however, these goblets werent everyday items.Schliemann discovered his astonishing cache of goblets among a cache of hundreds of objects made of gold, silver, copper and electrum, a mixture of precious metals, wrote Joshua Hammer for Smithsonian in 2022. He called the hoard Priams Treasure after the mythical Trojan king Priam. Although the treasure was later dated to about 1,000 years before the Trojan War took place in the 12th or 13th century B.C.E., it offered evidence of the stratification of social classes in Troy, raising questions about who had access to wine in ancient times.Did ancient Troy really exist? - Einav Zamir DembinWatch on To determine if wine was only the drink of Troys elitesand its godsthe researchers conducted similar chemical tests with ordinary cups that were found in the outer settlement of Troy and therefore outside the citadel, Blum explains in the statement.Common vessels, the team discovered, contained the same chemical signatures of wine. It is clear that wine was an everyday drink for the common people, too, Blum adds.These results upend longstanding assumptions that wine was an elite beverage during the third millennium B.C.E. Like grapes on the vine, further research into the practices of wine drinking at other sites across the ancient world promises to be fruitful.Schliemann was right: The depas amphikypellon was certainly used for wine consumption, writes Blum for the Conversation. Whether this was tied to religious practices, rituals and public banqueting, or simply drinking wine as part of everyday life remains uncertain.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Alcohol, Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Chemistry, Cool Finds, Legend, Myth, Turkey, Wine

This Eight-Pound Miniature Dachshund Survived 16 Months on a Rugged Australian Island. But Shes Still Evading RescuersValerie the wiener dog is still on the loose, more than a year after she escaped during her parents vacation on Kangaroo Island Valerie was just a year old when she went missing on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. Kangala Wildlife Rescue via FacebookA tiny, eight-pound dog has defied the odds by surviving in the wild on a rugged Australian island for more than a year. But even as rescuers have tried to bring her to safety, so far, the scrappy pooch has eluded capture.Volunteers and wildlife experts are trying to lure in a miniature dachshund named Valerie on Kangaroo Island, a 1,700-square-mile outpost off the coast of South Australia.Valerie has been on the run for the last 16 months. In November 2023, the then-1-year-old wiener dog came to the island on a camping vacation with her human parents, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock. On the second day of their trip, the couple decided to go fishing at a nearby beach, so they placed Valerie in a playpen with food and toys.But while her owners were away, Valerie broke out of the pen and hid under a parked car. Vacationers who were camping nearby tried to capture the dog, but she got spooked and darted off into the wilderness.The couple spent the rest of their vacation searching for Valerie, with help from some of the islands 5,000 residents. Eventually, though, they had to return to their jobs in Broken Hill, New South Wales, without their beloved pup.Gardner and Fishlock were heartbroken. They assumed Valerie would not survive in the bushland, which is home to several potentially fatal hazardsincluding at least two venomous snake species and wedge-tailed eagles that are known to hunt wallabies, possums and lambs.Even if she did dodge the islands many threats, Valerie was not accustomed to a life of hardship. She slept in bed with her parents each night, wore sweaters when the weather turned cold and got upset if she was left outside for too long. Valerie, who had been a college graduation gift from Gardners family, also loved accompanying her parents to cafes and shops.She was an absolute princess, Gardner tells the Washington Posts Victoria Craw, adding that Valerie was anxiously attached to her parents.She was not a very outside, rough-and-tough dog, Gardner says to the Guardians Daisy Dumas. To think that she even went one night outside in the rain, oh my gosh.But roughly a year after Valerie went missing, reports started coming in of a small dachshund on Kangaroo Island, wearing a pink collar. The sightings occurred roughly nine miles from Stokes Bay, the area where Valerie had escaped.Now, volunteers with Kangala Wildlife Rescue, a local nonprofit, are doing everything in their power to capture Valerie and reunite her with her parents. Theyre using several trapping and luring methodsincluding aromatic foods like roast chicken and tunato try to catch the dog. Theyre also using video surveillance to keep tabs on her movements.We now know that Valerie is alive, the rescue organization wrote on social media on March 21. She runs at the first sign of humans or vehicles, and despite the best efforts of dedicated island locals, Valerie has been impossible to catch.The island is roughly 75 times the size of Manhattan, so rescuers are hoping they can catch a break in their quest to corral Valerie.This is a tiny dog in a huge area, and we will need help from the public to report any sightings and a lot of luck, according to the social media post.How has a small, domesticated dog managed to survive for so long in the wild? Rescuers believe Valerie is likely subsisting on roadkill and dam water.Its also possible shes receiving help from the islands residents. But, more than likely, shes been making it on her own, because if someone had seen her, they probably would have noticed her collar and reported her.Plus, dogs are extremely resourceful, says Paul McGreevy, a veterinarian at the University of Sydney, to the Guardian. They are the greatest opportunists in the animal kingdom: Thats one of their core skills.Dachshunds, in particular, were bred to be tireless hounds and independent hunter[s] of dangerous prey, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC). These short-legged dogs are known for their bold, vivacious personality, and they can be brave to the point of rashness, per the AKC.Debbie Farnden, a 50-year-old nurse who volunteered to search for Valerie on Kangaroo Island, is not at all surprised the sausage dog has lived this long. Farnden has two dachshunds of her own, so she knows firsthand how quick and agile these dogs can be.Theyre sneaky little buggers and smart enough to stay away from snakes, Farnden tells the London Times James Salmon. They are fast and cunning and will play the waiting game.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Australia, Dogs, Mammals, Pets, Wildlife

Glenn Hodak, a corporal in the U.S. Army Air Forces, has been accounted for nearly 80 years after he died in a fire at the Tokyo Military Prison in 1945. Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyAn American soldier who was killed during World War II has been accounted for nearly 80 years after his death.Last week, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that it had identified the remains of Glenn H. Hodak, a 23-year-old corporal in the United States Army Air Forces from Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. Hodak was accounted for on September 25, 2024.During World War II, Hodak was a gunner with the 93rd Bombardment Squadrons 19th Bombardment Group. He was on a bombing mission to Tokyo when his B-29 Superfortress plane was shot down in March 1945.At first, Hodak was reported as missing in action. But investigators later realized that Japanese forces had captured Hodak as a prisoner of war. He was taken to Tokyo Military Prison, where he was killed in a fire on May 26, 1945.The blaze was the result of heavy U.S. aircraft bombing of the Japanese capital, reported Military.coms Richard Sisk in 2024. On the evening of May 23, 1945, more than 500 American B-29 Superfortress bombers took off from the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. When they reached Tokyo, they firebombed the city with highly flammable explosives under a strategic shift that was intended to force a Japanese surrender.The May 1945 bombing came on the heels of another intense U.S. firebombing campaign known as Operation Meetinghouse. Two months earlier, Operation Meetinghouse had killed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people in Tokyo, many of them civilians.After the war, members of the American Graves Registration Service searched for the remains of American soldiers throughout the Pacific region. In early 1946, they visited the Tokyo Military Prison, where the Japanese government indicated they would find the remains of 62 U.S. service members. In the end, they recovered 65 sets of remains and were able to identify 25 of them, including one set that belonged to a repatriated Japanese unknown.The services staff could not identify the remaining 39 bodies, so they buried the servicemen as unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.Decades passed without any answers for surviving relatives of the unidentified service members. Meanwhile, the American Battle Monuments Commission meticulously cared for the unknown service members graves at the cemetery, according to the agency statement.In March and April 2022, the remains were disinterred and sent to the agencys laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. In 2024, the agency launched its Tokyo Prison Fire Project, with a goal of identifying the American service members who perished in the 1945 blaze.The project faces considerable forensic challenges due to the condition of the remains, which were burned, damaged and commingled, the agency wrote in a social media post. Within one casket, for example, the agency found at least four sets of DNA.Eventually, forensic anthropologists Aelwen Wetherby and Kristen Grow were able to use dental and anthropological techniques, as well as circumstantial evidence, to identify Hodaks remains. They also used mitochondrial DNA, drawing on a sample provided by Hodaks great-nephew Benjamin Hodak.The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has had recent success accounting for Americans from the Tokyo Prison Fire, the agency says in a statement shared with CBS News Kerry Breen. We have accounted for two service members thus far for this project.Now that his family has been notified, Hodak will be laid to rest in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, in May. He will be buried next to his mother and two of his brothers, reports Erie News Nows Mike Ruzzi.I was happy that a match was able to be made, Benjamin tells WENYs Jackie Palmer. It's amazing that they were able to find his remains, that we matched, and now they are bringing him home. I just want him back home; the whole family wants him home.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: American History, Bones, DNA, Fire, Genetics, History, Japan, Military, Prisons, Teeth, US Government, US Military, Warfare, World War II

During her clandestine efforts for the Italian Resistance, Anita Malavasi used these forged papers to travel under the identity of Marta de Robertis. European Resistance ArchiveAnita Malavasis first delivery was salt. In the fall of 1943, she brought a packet of it into the mountains outside the city of Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy, to supply a growing group of soldiers lacking food staples. These fighters were the anti-fascist Resistancemen whod deserted the armies of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and were preparing to fight for freedom.Though Mussolini had been voted out of power that July, Italy was still firmly under German control, and Nazis were killing or deporting any dissident they came upon. Once 22-year-old Malavasi was comfortable sneaking salt past German checkpoints on her bicycle, she started ferrying illicit publications to the mountains, as well as clothes and food. She wore low-cut, fitted dresses and flirted to disarm Axis officers. She smuggled guns by strapping them to her body, beneath her clothes. One day, she biked through a checkpoint with two heavy bags hanging from her handlebarseach containing concealed bombs.Malavasis earlier involvement in the Italian Resistancehelping Axis soldiers desert their postshad been motivated only by humanitarian principles, she said: As a woman, you saved another womans son. But as a clandestine courier, Malavasi came to see her efforts as something conscious, part of a loftier goalan Italy free of fascism. Anita Malavasi in the downtown of Reggio Emilia, right after the Nazis began their occupation of the city in the autumn of 1943. European Resistance ArchiveMalavasi, whose story is little known outside Reggio Emilia, is one of four brave heroines featured in historian Suzanne Copes new book, Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis. Cope zooms in on the lives of Malavasi and three other Italian women who contributed significantly to Italys resistance against fascism. Theres Bianca Guidetti Serra, who dodged bullets while delivering newspapers to anti-fascists in the Alps. Carla Capponi, who bombed German vehicles outside Romes opera house and got away with shooting a German colonel on a busy street. And Teresa Mattei, who delivered secret messages for the Resistance and later wrote Italys Constitution.While these women were essential to the Italian Resistance, they also found new frontiers of personal freedom, as their responsibilities exposed them to possibilities of gender equality theyd never known. As Malavasi said after the war, I didnt want to listen to my brothers or father telling me what to do. The Italian people had thrown off fascism, and she had broken free of convention: I did not intend to rebuild it. Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis The gripping, true, and untold history of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during World War II, told through the stories of four spectacularly courageous women fightersSubscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGet the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.A Note to our Readers Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission.Filed Under: Books, Fascism, Italy, Movement Leaders, Nazis, Protest, World War II

The excavations that uncovered the British fortifications took place at the site of a proposed single-family home in St. Augustine, Florida. City of St. Augustine Archaeology ProgramWhen a house is slated to be built in the historic districts of St. Augustine, Florida, the city requires that archaeologists conduct a surveyand, if need be, an excavationof the site prior to construction.The aim of this rule, unusual in a state undergoing a population and development boom, is to salvage and document whatever remnants of the past might lie beneath the topsoil of the city that bills itself as the nations oldest.Last month, city archaeologists were called in to examine the proposed site of a single-family home in Lincolnville, a neighborhood that was once home to a Native American village, an orange grove plantation and a prominent historically Black community.As part of initial testing, the archaeologists dug 1-foot-by-1-foot holes across the vacant lot. Immediately, the site showed signs of intrigue.The soil just looked odd, recalls city archaeologist Andrea White on the Break Room, a podcast run by the city. It was mottled kind of like rye bread. It had different colors mixed in all together. So that tells us someone has dug this soil up before.Using ground-penetrating radar from the Florida Public Archaeology Network and a backhoe from the citys Department of Public Works, the researchers stripped back the soil from the site and discovered a long, 15-foot-wide ditch that extended across the property line.What they had unearthed was the first archaeological evidence of British fortifications built during the 20-year interlude when Britain controlled Florida in the mid-18th century.Britain took over St. Augustine in 1763, after the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years War and two centuries of Spanish rule over Florida. Founded by Spanish conquistadors under Pedro Menndez de Avils in 1565, St. Augustine served as the capital of British East Florida until the Spanish regained control of the peninsula after the American Revolution in 1783. Archaeologists excavate the site in St. Augustine's historic Lincolnville neighborhood. City of St. Augustine Archaeology ProgramDuring that 20-year period, the British inherited Spanish forts and added a network of seven redoubtslong, earthen moundsto beef up defenses.Thats whats interesting about these British redoubts, theyre the only defenses that the British built themselves, White tells the Associated Press David Fischer.This specific redoubt was built in 1781 as part of a secondary ring of defenses to protect the city from attacks from the west and the San Sebastian River, White says on the Break Room.Speaking with First Coast News Jessica Clark, White compares the redoubt to a gun platform or someplace [that] people could have used to shoot at their enemy.Unlike a garrison station or a full-fledged fort, the redoubt didnt house soldiers, so there was no refuse to discover, White tells the St. Augustine Records Lucia Viti. At best, maybe one or two soldiers were stationed at that location. Aerial view of the redoubt, marked by a darker color soil City of St. Augustine Archaeology ProgramFor this reason, artifacts discovered at the site have been sparse. But seeds found at the bottom of the ditch, including tobacco, okra and muscadine, could be evidence of historical agriculture or plants grown to reinforce the earthworks with their roots, according to the Break Room.When the British left St. Augustine two years after the redoubt was built, its likely that they razed the earthworks into ditches or let the once-grandiose defenses naturally deteriorate, White tells the Record.Despite the crucial role that the redoubts played in St. Augustines history, archaeologists have long struggled to pinpoint the exact location of the defenses.Part of the confusion arose from discrepancies between historical maps of British St. Augustine. Although several maps depict the redoubts, they all have slightly different sizes and dimensions, White tells the Break Room.Comparing historical maps bearing little resemblance to modern-day St. Augustine with very small house lots where archaeologists are allowed to dig is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, the citys archaeology program explains in a Facebook post. A general location plus or minus one [or] two city blocks leaves an awful lot of ground to cover.This time, the archaeologists got lucky. They hope that this first redoubt site can serve as an anchor to reference against the historical maps and locate the other six locations of the British defense network.Its a testament that even though weve been doing archaeology for over 30 years in St. Augustine, theres still more to find, Katherine Sims, an archaeologist for the city, tells First Coast News. You never really know until you put a shovel in the ground.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

The Myanmar Fire Services Department conducts emergency search and rescue operations after the March 28 earthquake. Myanmar Fire Services Department's Facebook Account / handout / Anadolu via Getty ImagesA devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake, followed by powerful aftershocks, struck war-torn Myanmar on Fridaymarking one of the countrys strongest quakes in more than a century. Its epicenter was near Myanmars second largest city of Mandalay and the neighboring Sagaing in the central part of the country. Residents felt the shaking severely even in Thailands capital city, Bangkok, located hundreds of miles away.According to Myanmars military leaders, more than 2,000 deaths, 3,900 injured and 270 missing people were confirmed by Monday, as reported by the Associated Press David Rising. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), however, estimates the deaths could ultimately surpass 10,000. In Bangkok, the earthquake caused a skyscraper under construction to collapse, with 17 reported dead and 76 missing, per the United Nations (U.N.).The earthquake struck around 12:50 p.m. local time and occurred as the result of strike slip faulting between the India and Eurasia plates, the USGS tectonic summary reads. This type of earthquake results from a sideways motion along a fault line. What made this one especially deadly was its strength, location near populated areas and shallow depth of just about six miles, writes Science News Carolyn Gramling. Merely ten minutes later, the region was struck by a magnitude 6.4 aftershock.The shaking damaged public infrastructure, including buildings and roads, and it destroyed the bridge that connects Mandalay to Sagaing, said Marie Manrique, program coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross, to reporters, per Reuters Olivia Le Poidevin. Additionally, Manrique expressed concerns for large-scale dams.A situation report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also outlines severe damage at hotels, universities, historical and religious sites, electricity and water infrastructure, communication towers and the Mandalay International Airport.I couldnt process what was happening. I just ran. I barely escaped. The moment I stepped outside, bricks started falling from the ceiling. We all ran to the open field near our house, recounts a 16-year-old student who was in Mandalay during the earthquake, in a Save the Children statement. This was the first earthquake I had ever experienced. It was terrifying.Since 1900, the region has experienced similarly powerful earthquakes six times, not including the most recent one, according to the USGS. In 1990, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake brought down 32 buildings.The New York Times Adam Satariano and Paul Mozur reported Friday that Myanmars military government is censoring some online information regarding the disaster. But the countrys hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed by patients necessitating medical care. Myanmar is currently in a civil war that followed a military coup in February 2021 and has displaced more than three million people.The situation is very complicated, because there are significant communication blackouts in some of the hardest hit areas, and this is due to the ongoing conflict, Federica Franco, the leader of Doctors Without Borders work in Myanmar, says in a voice note sent from Yangon and published by the humanitarian organization.The leader of the military government has announced an open invitation to any organizations and nations willing to come and help the people in need within our country, in what CNNs Ross Adkin, Alex Stambaugh and Kocha Olarn have described as a rare plea from a regime that had largely isolated itself from the world for years. Countries including China, India, Malaysia, Russia and Thailand have sent rescue teams to look for survivors among the rubble.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Death, Earthquakes, Natural Disasters

Newbury is the birthplace of Michael Bond, the British author who wrote the Paddington series. Newbury Business Improvement DistrictDuring a night in the English town of Newbury, two men approached a statue of the beloved British childrens book character Paddington Bear. The installation depicted the fuzzy bear sitting on a park bench while wearing his signature outfita red bucket hat and a blue coatand eating his favorite food, a marmalade sandwich.Security camera footage showed the two men kicking, yanking and prying the statue on March 2. Eventually, they ripped the bear from the park bench, hailed a cab and left, reports the London Times Ali Mitib.Police later identified the culprits as Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, a pair of 22-year-old engineers with the British Royal Air Force. They found the statue in Lawrences car at their base, RAF Odiham. Police recovered the statue and returned it to theNewbury Business Improvement District for repairs. Thames Valley PoliceBoth men pleaded guilty to criminal damage this week and have apologized for their actions. But that didnt stop judge Sam Gooze from reprimanding the men at their sentencing hearing.Paddington Bear is a beloved cultural icon with children and adults alike, said Gooze, a judge in the Reading Magistrates Court, according to a copy of his comments released by the court. He represents kindness, tolerance and promotes integration and acceptance in our society. His famous label attached to his duffle coat [says] Please look after this bear. ... Your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for.The judge sentenced the men to 150 hours of community service for their act of wanton vandalism, reports the Guardians Amelia Hill. Theyll also each be required to pay 2,725 (over $3,500) for the statues restoration. The bear enjoyed a brief stay at Newbury's police station. Thames Valley PoliceYour actions lacked respect and integrity, two values you should uphold as members of the armed forces, the judge added.The statue was one of nearly two-dozen placed throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland last year to help drum up interest for the new movie Paddington in Peru. The live-action animated film stars Ben Whishaw as the voice of the title character.The new movielike the other Paddington flicksis based on the childrens series by the late British author Michael Bond about a polite Peruvian bear who is adopted by a London family. Bond died in 2017 at the age of 91.Bond was born in Newbury, so the Paddington statue heist caused a great deal of upset within the community and local businesses, according to a statement from Trish Willetts, the chief executive officer of the Newbury Business Improvement District, which was read aloud in court, per Newbury Today.The Paddington Bear statue is a beloved part of Newbury so we did everything we could to locate it and bring the offenders to justice, said Alan Hawkett, an inspector with the Newbury Neighborhood Policing Team, in a statement.The broken statue enjoyed a brief stay at Newburys police station before investigators handed it back to the Newbury Business Improvement District for repairs.The district plans to fully restore the statue and place it back on the park bench, located outside the Camp Hopson department store on Northbrook Street. But, in the meantime, crews have placed a gazebo tent over the bench to not only protect visitors from the jagged edges but also to prevent children from seeing the damage, per the New York Times Michael Levenson.Heath and Lawrence, meanwhile, have also written an apology letter to the Newbury Business Improvement District and the mayor of Newbury.Theres no excuse or justificationthey hold their hands up to their actions on that day, their attorney Tom Brymer said in court, as reported by Newbury Today.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art Crimes, Books, British History, British Writers, children , Crime, Statues

Spectrum launched from theAndya Space Center in Norway before plumetting into the icy sea. Isar AerospaceA test rocket developed by a German start-up crashed into the sea about half a minute after taking off from Norway on March 30. Though the rocket, called Spectrum, did not reach space, the test marks the first orbital flight outside of Russia launched from continental Europe.The start-up that built Spectrum, Isar Aerospace, still hailed Sundays launch as a win, stating that it allowed the company to gather important flight data to improve future missions.Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success, says Daniel Metzler, Isars CEO and co-founder, in a statement. We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System, a safety measure that shuts down the rockets engines in the event of a malfunction. The launch had been delayed several times due to weather.Theres about a million things that can go wrong and only one way things actually go right, Metzler said in a video interview ahead of the launch, per the New York TimesIsabella Kwai. Frankly, Id be happy if we just fly 30 seconds.The rocket made it 25 seconds before it appeared to lose attitude control, or the ability to regulate its orientation, reports Space News Jeff Foust. Spectrum tipped over in mid-air, then plummeted downward. It exploded about ten seconds later. The rocket fell into the Norwegian Sea in a controlled manner, per the statement, and the launch pad remained intact.First commercial rocket from western Europe explodes shortly after launchWatch on Orbital rockets like this one are meant to place payloads such as satellites into or outside of the Earths orbit. Spectrum, which stretches more than 90 feet long, is intended to carry up to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds).But for this flight, as Metzler said on a call with reporters roughly four hours after the launch attempt, the company never expected that we would get to orbit, per Space News. We set out to gather data primarily, and that is something that we have successfully achieved.We gathered tons of data.The launch is part of a push from European companies to get ahead in the space race, reports Rob Picheta for CNN. Europe has long depended on Russia for space launches, but it hasnt had access to Russian space stations or launch pads since the countrys 2022 invasion of Ukraine, reports Le Monde. Now, European nations are hoping to foster a new era of independence, with private companies at the helm.As a company with European roots, we are proud to have shown that Europe has an enduring capacity for bold thinking and grand achievements, Metzler adds in the statement. We will be able to serve customers from around the world to bring their satellites into space and to help Europe solve a major blind spot in its security architecture: access to space.Isar isnt the first company to attempt a European orbital flight. In 2023, British millionaire Richard Bransons Virgin Orbit launched a flight over the Atlantic Ocean that reached space but failed to attain orbit, and the company folded a few months later.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Germany, Innovations, Outer Space, Russia , Satellites, Space Travel, Technology

A technician climbs a tower to locate lightning strikes in the study area on Panama's Barro Colorado Island. Evan Gora / Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesGetting struck by lightning might not sound like a very wise idea to us, but for one tropical tree species, an occasional zap is a good thing. The almendro trees found in Panamas forests can get a boost from this electrical jolt and have perhaps even evolved to act like lightning rods, according to a new study published last week in the journal New Phytologist. Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, became interested in the impact of lightning on the trees after noticing they seemed to survive being hitand sustained little damage. Seeing that there are trees that get struck by lightning and theyre fine was just mind-blowing, Gora recalls in a statement.So, Gora and his colleagues tracked 93 trees that were struck by lightning at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. They used a system of lightning strike-locating instruments to pinpoint which trees had likely been hit by bolts. Between 2014 and 2019, the researchers would check in on the trees to assess their condition, two to six years after the strike. Nine of the trees were from the almendro species (Dipteryx oleifera)and they all seemed to be doing much better than their lightning-struck peers.How some trees benefit from being struck by lightningWatch on Within two years of being hit, 64 percent of the other trees died. Meanwhile, the almendro trees thrived. They gained space as the electricity traveled through their branches, their leaves or the air into nearby trees, killing them. In fact, the study found that trees living near a large almendro tree are 48 percent more likely to be killed by lightning than those living near another species. Any tree that gets close essentially gets electrocuted, says Gora to Erik Stokstad at Science.Lightning strikes also reduced the number of parasitic vines, called lianas, on the almendros by 78 percent. These vines would ordinarily grow on top of the tree and steal light from its leaves, but they died back after lightning. Without these benefits, Gora says to Gennaro Tomma at Scientific American, the almendro trees would not live as long.All of this, the researchers suggest, points to the trees having adapted to attract lightning. The trees unusual heightthey can grow roughly 165 feet talland wide crown make them up to 68 percent more likely to be struck by lightning relative to other similar trees, according to the paper. The almendro tree's fruits and the almond-flavored seeds within them are a crucial food source for animals. Evan Gora / Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesAlmendro trees are considered a keystone species in Central Americas tropical forests. Their fruit supports more than 100 animal species during the areas dry season. Some of the trees electrical resistance might come from moisture in their wood.The new study challenges our idea of lightning as simply a force of destruction. Its a really creative piece of work that changes our perspective of how we think about lightning as an agent of disturbance, Tommaso Jucker, a forest ecologist at the University of Bristol in England who was not involved with the research, says to Science.The findings of the study are quite novel and make a significant contribution to our knowledge of plant evolution, says Allan Carroll, an ecologist at the University of British Columbia in Canada who was not involved in the research, to Scientific American.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Biology, Central America, Ecology, Evolution, Forests, New Research, Panama, Plants, Rainforest, Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Trees, Weather

For the first time, the "Mission MushVroom" experiment on SpaceX's Fram2 mission will attempt to grow mushrooms in space. Left: Zinnmann via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0. Right: Norman Kuring, NASA / GSFC / Suomi NPPWith NASA aiming to send humans to Mars as soon as the 2030s and SpaceXs Elon Musk aiming for as early as 2029, we are the closest weve ever been to achieving interplanetary crewed spaceflight. In addition to the technological advances required to put a human on Mars, however, is the very practical necessity of developing sustainable food sources in space.Who can eat thermostabilized, dehydrated food for five years? space nutritionist Flvia Fayet-Moore says to Sky News.Fayet-Moore is the founder and chief executive of FOODiQ Global, an Australian company aiming to be the first to grow mushrooms in microgravity. And the firm is about to get its chance: When SpaceXs Fram2 mission launches four private astronauts to space no sooner than March 31, FOODiQs Mission MushVroom experiment will also be on board.Fram2 will be the first crewed mission to orbit over Earths polar regionsand Mission MushVroom will be the first study to grow mushrooms in space, reads a Fram2 statement from Monday. Oyster mushrooms are the perfect space crop, helping astronauts meet their nutritional needs on long-duration space missions like those to Mars, while closing the loop in plant agriculture and helping to minimize inputs and waste. The four private astronauts of the SpaceX Fram2 mission crew pose for a photo. From the left:Eric Philips (Australia), Chun Wang (Malta), Rabea Rogge (Germany) and Jannicke Mikkelsen (Norway). SpaceXThe experiment consists of a small box of substrate (the equivalent of plant soil for growing mushrooms) and mycelium (the root-like structure of the fungus), which scientists hope will fruit into oyster mushrooms while traveling hundreds of miles above Earths surface. The crew member responsible for checking on the experiment is the Australian polar explorer Eric Philips.I will monitor how the fruiting bodies grow, documenting development rate, signs of contamination and various other properties, Philips explains to Jano Gibson of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). This is an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries and play a role in creating sustainable food solutions for spacesomething I never imagined I would explore.Over their three- to five-day mission, the Fram2 crew will carry out 22 science experiments. Another research project, called SpaceXray, intends to take the first X-ray image of a human in space. This achievement will open the door to a vast array of clinical, research and engineering applications, according to the statement.Once back on Earth, any successful mushroom growth will be analyzed in a lab. The team will compare those fungi to control mushroom kits that have been stored in Florida.The researchers consider mushrooms the perfect space crop, because they grow fast, dont need a lot of water and are nutritionalcontaining vitamin D, potassium, selenium and copper, as Fayet-Moore tells the Guardians Donna Lu. Oyster mushrooms can also be eaten raw, which is an important feature. In space, NASA is only prioritizing crops that you can literally pick and eat, because we dont have the capabilities to process food in microgravity yet, Fayet-Moore adds to the ABC.The potential applications of mushrooms in space, however, could transcend the kitchenfor example, NASA is researching the use of mushrooms as architectural material to grow human habitats in space. So, if the MushVroom experiment is successful, it might open the door to making mushrooms something like a Swiss Army knife of multiplanetary existence.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronauts, Food, Food Science, Fungus, Mars, New Research, Outer Space, Polar Exploration, Space Travel, SpaceX, Transportation

"Changing Times: Egon Schiele's Last Years, 1914-1918"contains some 130 works from the Austrian artist. Leni Deinhardstein / Leopold MuseumWe are living in the most violent time that the world has ever seen, Egon Schiele wrote in a letter to his sister a few months into World War I. Everything before 1914 belongs to another world, thus, we will always be looking to the future.For Schieles art, once marked by a wild, sexual expressionism, 1914 was indeed a landmark year. The trauma of war, as well as newfound duties of marriage and family, turned the young Austrian artists gaze away from human bodies and external eroticism and towards the human psyche, as Jane Kallir, an art dealer and scholar who focuses on Austrian and German Expressionism, tells the New York Times Nina Siegal.Schieles new artistic era didnt reign for long, however. His future was cut short when he died of the Spanish influenza in October 1918 at the young age of 28.Those four important years are the subject of Changing Times: Egon Schiele's Last Years, 19141918, a new exhibition of some 130 works at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. Curated by Kallir and Kerstin Jesse, it runs from March 28 until July 13.EGON SCHIELE. Last Years | Leopold Museum | TeaserWatch on Even in the relative stability of the pre-war era, Schiele always showed a propensity for artistic reinvention. He dropped out of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1909, spenttime in jail for indecent drawings and conducted a wild affair with Walburga Neuzil, who was only 16 when he immortalized her in his Portrait of Wally Neuzil in 1912, per theTimes.After his sister married an old art school pal of Schieles in the fall of 1914, he broke off his romance with Neuzil and married Edith Harms, demure middle-class woman closer to his age, the next summer, per the Times.Life, it seemed, had begun to settle for Schiele. But just three days after his wedding, war called him to leave his new bride in their honeymoon suite in Prague, per thedigital exhibition guide.Edith Schiele in a Striped Dress, Seated, 1915 Leopold Museum, ViennaThrough his connections among the Viennese elite, Schiele managed, in 1917, to transfer back to a cushy military post at a supply depot in Vienna where he could continue painting and see his wife. Edith's emotional needs forced Schiele to deal with interpersonal intimacy in a way that was entirely new to him, Kallir explains in a statement.His depictions of Edith from 1914 onwards contain more maturity and depthan understanding of her distress and interest in her humanity.His art became more empathetic as he tried to capture his wife's changing moods, Kallir says in the statement, presenting her as an elegant, thoughtful, reserved or unforgiving individual.Decaying Mill (Mountain Mill), 1916 State Collections of Lower AustriaThe war, no doubt, was also responsible for the gravitational and emotional pulls on the young artist. Carrying out various military duties, he grew a lot on an interpersonal level. In conversations with soldiers, his superiors and prisoners of war, he learnedabout people's different fates and hopes, Jesse says in the statement.He began to depict his fellow soldiers, like the striking 1916 sketch Russian Soldier, which shows a sallow face with red lips, big brown eyes and a green military hat staring back at the vieweras human, despite the war.In landscapes, too, Schiele found ways to reflect his worlds wider turmoil, as the Art Newspapers J.S. Marcus puts it. Decaying Mill (Mountain Mill) captures a wooden mill crumbling inwards as the white waters of the Erlauf River beat past it.Schiele was an artist whose mission was to reconcile contradictions of realism and expressionism, psychological insight and spirituality, Kallir tells the Times. A painting like Decaying Mill balances these contradictions deftly. He later called it probably my best landscape.Seated Woman with Bent Knee, 1917 National Gallery PragueBesides his new devotion to the war and his wife, Schiele also refined his technical skills and style during his late era.Two works in the exhibition exemplify this aesthetic evolution. Modeled on Edith, Seated Woman with Bent Kneefrom 1917 shows his mastery of sharp lines and striking colors. With a sea green top and tousled, fire-red head of hair, she is as dynamic as any battlefield, with a whole lot more humanity.Schieles final oil painting, Portrait of the Painter Albert Paris von Gutersloh from 1918, is as good a sign as any of where Schiele might have gone, had he lived, Kallir tells the Art Newspaper.But Schiele never remained static. He may have found a new style, a new sensibility, but that didnt mean he was wedded to it.Portrait of the Painter Albert Paris von Gtersloh, 1918 The Minneapolis Institute of ArtWhen he returned to his Vienna studio in 1917, Schiele took up work with professional models again. He produced several nude portraits that showed women in distinct positions from innovative perspectives. Whether these artworks show female figures in possession of their sexuality, as Kallir tells theArt Newspaper, or still echo his earlier work and erotic obsessions, is a matter of debate.In Schiele's last year, 1918, his mentor and patron Gustav Klimt died in February. As Viennas new reigning artist, as the Times puts it, Schiele took on new responsibilities. He organized a wildly successful 49th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession and started work on an ambitious cycle of allegorical nudes for a grand mausoleum.Schiele didnt live to see these plans realized. He died on October 31, just three days after Edith, age 25, died of the flu. But in just 28 years, Schiele had created some 3,000 drawings and 400 paintings. Even in his later years, he was still in constant evolution.Some artists made the same number of works in careers that lasted 50 or 60 years, Jesse tells the Times. He died suddenly, so we dont know which way he was going.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Austria, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Museums, Painting, World War I

A record number of sandhill cranes gathered in Nebraska in mid-March during their annual spring migration. Matt Urbanski / Crane TrustHundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes are once again flocking to central Nebraska during their annual migrationand so far, the leggy birds appear to be unaffected by the highly contagious bird flu strain H5N1.Wildlife biologists in Nebraska remain concerned about the possibility of the deadly virus spreading through the huge numbers of the gray birds with red caps thatcongregate on the Platte River every spring.But, as they reach the likely peak of their migration this year, the birds seem to be happy and healthy. No crane deaths have been reported in Nebraska so far, reports NTV News Jack Bartlett.Bird flu aside, Nebraska biologists have another reason to celebrate: During their weekly aerial crane survey on March 17, the fifth week of the migration, they counted roughly 736,000 sandhill cranes between the towns of Chapman and Overton, Nebraska, which are roughly 80 miles apart. Thats an all-time, record-high number of cranes counted in the region at onceand its probably an underestimate. The lanky birds, which stand betwen roughly three and four feet tall, are known for their loud, rattling bugle calls. Kylee Warren / Crane TrustSandhill cranes have shown us that theyve been super resilient to lots of different things that weve thrown at them, says Bethany Ostrom, a wildlife biologist with the nonprofit Crane Trust who conducts the aerial counts, to Nebraska Public Medias Arthur Jones and Macy Byars.The number dropped to 705,000 on March 25, during the sixth week of migration, but thats to be expected as the birds start to head north for breeding. Biologists expect the numbers to continue decreasing as the cranes take advantage of favorable wind conditions.5 Record-Breaking Bird MigrationsWatch on Earlier this year, at least 1,500 sandhill cranes were found dead in Indiana from H5N1, raising concerns about the health of migrating flocks. But those birds were part of the eastern population of sandhill cranes, which is separate from the mid-continental group that migrates through Nebraska every year, according to Nebraska Public Media. Experts say the two groups rarely cross paths.Still, the bird deaths in Indiana had Nebraska biologists on high alert. The virus can be spread by migrating waterfowl, and sandhill cranes passing through central Nebraska often share their Platte River habitat with geese, swans, ducks and more than 20 other bird species.In addition, since so many sandhill cranes gather in Nebraska, the highly contagious virus could quickly and easily affect large numbers of the birds. An estimated 80 percent of all sandhill cranes in North America flock to a 75-mile stretch of the Platte River during their annual journey to their northern breeding grounds, according to the Nature Conservancy. Sandhill cranes spend their days eating leftover field corn before retreating to the safety of the braided Platte River at night. Kylee Warren / Crane TrustThe migration takes place from February through April, with individual birds staggering their arrivals and departures. Each bird typically spends about a month in central Nebraska, fattening up on kernels of corn left behind during the last falls harvest. Then, they take to the skies and continue north to Alaska, Canada and eastern Siberia.There is nothing else like it in the world, says Marcos Stoltzfus, director of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon, Nebraska, to News Channel Nebraskas Peter Rice.The birds have been flying through central Nebraska for at least nine million yearslong before the Platte River formed some 10,000 years ago, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. But, today, the cranes relish the relative safety of the braided river, which helps protect them from predators when they roost each evening. Individual sandhill cranes spend roughly a month fueling up in central Nebraska. Kylee Warren / Crane TrustWhat makes the central Platte River valley attractive to sandhill cranes is the river that we help manage, says Matt Urbanski, a spokesman for the Crane Trust, to KSNBs Madison Smith. We will make sure that theres not a ton of vegetation choking the river out. Well make sure that it can widen, so the sandhill cranes have six to eight inches of water to sit in during the nighttime.With their lanky legs and slender necks, sandhill cranes stand roughly three to four feet tall. Their bodies are covered in grayish-brown feathers, except for a patch of crimson on their heads. Sandhill cranes make a distinctive call that ornithologists describe as a loud, rattling bugle. Sandhill cranes have been flying through Nebraska for at least nine million yearslong before the formation of the Platte River roughly 10,000 years ago. Kylee Warren / Crane TrustYou have the roar of thousands and thousands of them all taking off or coming in to land, says Dusty Barner, who offers sandhill crane viewing tours through his company Dusty Trails, to KNOPs Tristen Winder.Endangered whooping cranes also migrate through central Nebraska, and an H5N1 outbreak could be potentially devastating to the species. Only an estimated 800 whooping cranes remain in existence, a number that includes birds living in the wild and those in captivity.So far this spring, at least two whooping cranes have been spotted among their sandhill cousins in central Nebraska, reports the Omaha World-Heralds Marjie Ducey.Its always a special moment to catch them along with the beautiful skies of Nebraska in spring, Brice Krohn, CEO and president of the Crane Trust, tells the publication.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Biology, Birds, Disease, Disease and Illnesses, Endangered Species, Land Birds, Microbes, Bacteria, Viruses, Nature, Outdoor Travel, Tourism, Travel, Viruses, Water, Wildlife, Zoology

An unidentified man found the armlet in a wetland last fall. Kalmar County Administrative BoardLast fall, a Swedish man spotted something in a marsh on Oland, Swedens second-largest island. At first, he thought the circular objectfound lying on the ground near a construction pitmight be a tool. But it turned out to be a Viking Age iron arm bracelet that could be more than 1,000 years old.After the anonymous man discovered the artifact, he contacted a local archaeologist, who advised him to bring it to the government of Kalmar, the southeastern county where Oland is located. He did so earlier this month. Experts analyzed the ring, comparing it to similar objects from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.The C-shaped artifact is decorated ornately. Rows of raised dots grace its length, and its ends are shaped into animal heads, according to a statement posted on Facebook. From the ornamentation, we were able to date it to the Swedish Viking Age, somewhere between 800 and 1050 C.E., Karl-Oskar Erlandsson, an archaeologist at the Kalmar County Administrative Board, tells the Viking Heralds Jonathan Bennett. The iron arm jewelry is decorated with dots and animal heads. Kalmar County Administrative BoardThe Vikings were a group of Scandinavian warriors who violently colonized coastal Europe between the 9th and 11th centuries. Viking men and women of all classes wore jewelry, including necklaces, brooches and arm rings (also known as armlets). Powerful men commonly gave armlets to their followers to both secure loyalty and demonstrate wealth. According to the statement, most surviving Viking armlets are crafted out of silver or bronze.What is unusual is that this one is made of iron, Erlandsson tells radio station P4 Kalmar, per a translation by Sweden Herald. Of the more than 1,000 arm rings in the Swedish History Museums collection, only three are made of iron.This doesnt mean that iron jewelry was uncommon during the Viking Age. Iron accessories may just be more difficult to find today, as the metal is particularly susceptible to corrosion. When its exposed to water and oxygen, iron rusts and degrades. Luckily, the soils and sediments of wetlands lack oxygen. The newly discovered rings marsh burial may therefore have helped preserve it through the centuries, per the statement.Swedish laws may also account for the lack of rediscovered iron Viking jewelry. Unlike with artifacts made of silver or gold, Swedes are under no obligation to contact authorities when [they] find an object made of iron, Erlandsson tells the Viking Herald.The island of Oland has a long anthropological history. Hunter-gatherers first settled there more than 6,000 years ago. The area is home to at least 15 Iron Age ring fortscircular, fortified settlements built up from the fourth century onward. Several Viking graves have been found on Oland.As for how the iron armlet got into the marsh, Erlandsson tells P4 Kalmar that it probably wasnt part of a grave, as the Vikings wouldnt have buried someone in a wetland. The marsh also rules out a Viking settlement as a source.It could be a sacrificial bog, that they have sacrificed to the gods or higher powers, Erlandsson says. So then there may be more objects in this wetland.If the armlets finder chooses to donate the artifact to the county, it will be preserved and further studied, according to the statement. Hoping the marsh is hiding more Viking objects, experts will soon search the area with metal detectors.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Artifacts, Cool Finds, European History, Jewelry, Sweden, Vikings

A partial solar eclipse on June 10, 2021, rises at Lewes Beach in Delaware. NASA / Aubrey GemignaniIf youre in the right place at the right time, the sunrise will look extra spectacular on Saturday, as a partially eclipsed sun peeks over the horizon. Across parts of northeastern North America, the sun and moon will rise together, with the moon obscuring some of the star.This eclipse will have no period of darkness, known as totality. But for those who dont sleep through it, the event offers the chance for a truly rare sighting that may look like devil horns on the horizon.Heres what to know about the sunrise eclipse and how to catch a view of it, both in-person and online.What is a partial solar eclipse?What Is a Solar Eclipse?Watch on When the Earth, moon and sun come into close enough alignment for the moon to block out some of the suns light, sky watchers are treated to a solar eclipse. On Saturday, that alignment wont be perfectso the stars surface wont be fully covered. Instead, the new moon will appear to take a bite out of the sun in a partial eclipse, and the size of that bite will depend on your location.Since this eclipse has no phase of totality, there will be no safe moment to take off your eclipse glasses. Wear them at all times when viewing the sunregular sunglasses are not enough, NASA notes. And dont try to look at the eclipse through an unprotected camera, binoculars or telescope, even while wearing the solar glassesthose lenses will concentrate the suns rays and can cause eye damage through the glasses.Dont have eclipse glasses on hand? You can construct your own pinhole projector to indirectly view the event.Saturdays eclipse comes shortly after the total lunar eclipse that bathed the moon in a blood-red glow over North America on March 14. Thats because solar and lunar eclipses show up in pairstwo weeks apart. They also occur in seasons about every six months. Later this year, another duet of eclipses will grace the skies in September. But the solar eclipse this weekend will have a larger portion of the sun obscured.Where can you see the partial solar eclipse? The eclipse will move from west to east across parts of several continents and the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. NASA offers details on when each location will see the spectacle. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. Ernie Wright (USRA), Abbey A. Interrante (ADNET Systems, Inc.)From the United States, several areas of the northeast and mid-Atlantic will have some view of the spectacle. But the level of coverage varies dramatically: Sky watchers in Portland, Maine, will see 64 percent coverage, while those in Washington, D.C., will see 1 percent of the suns surface obscured, per NPRs Chandelis Duster. (Search for your city here.)Western Europe will glimpse a partial eclipse during mid-morning, local time, and parts of the Caribbean and West Africa will also fall in the moons outer shadow. After four hours of sweeping across the planet, the eclipses path will end over northern Siberia.For the best view, however, eclipse chasers will be heading to Canada. There, the eclipse will reach its maximum coveragea 93 percent eclipse in Nunavik, northern Quebec, on the eastern side of Hudson Bay. Halifax (83 percent), St. Johns (83 percent) and Montreal (47 percent) might also offer good views in eastern Canada, per NASA.Spots along the coast are a good bet, since the ocean offers a clean horizon to the east, where the sun will be rising. In general, the best views will be from a coastal location as far north as possible, as Jamie Carter writes for Live Science.What is a rare double sunrise, also known as solar horns?In a few locations along the eclipses path, viewers will get a rare glimpse of a phenomenon known as a double sunrise. This happens when the moon blocks part of the sun as it comes up, leaving an illuminated crescent at the bottom of the star, like a smile. The two points on each end of the grin will emerge over the horizon first, giving the appearance of devil horns.Though such a sight is uncommon, it also happened during a partial solar eclipse in Qatar in 2019, when a photographer captured the stunning moment on camera. Another appeared over North America in June 2021.This time, areas of Maine as well as parts of New Brunswick and Quebec, Canada, will have a chance to see the devil hornsgiven the right timing, an unobstructed view of the horizon and clear skies. From the U.S., viewers at Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine, could observe the double sunrise, and that site will see an 83 percent eclipse.How to watch an eclipse live streamIf you dont have any travel plans in place and wont be in the path of the moons shadow, you can watch the spectacle online from the comfort of your home.Saturday morning, Time and Date is offering a live stream beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time. It will jump around, geographically, showing views from sites across North America and Europe.LIVE: Partial Solar Eclipse - March 29, 2025Watch on The Royal Observatory Greenwich will also run a streamand this one is from London, where astronomer Greg Brown will share the science behind the event. You can tune into that feed beginning at 6 a.m. Eastern.Another perk of a live stream? The video should be available later, allowing sleepy sky watchers to tune in for spectacle at a more reasonable time of day.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomers, Astronomy, Canada, Moon, Outer Space, Sky Watching Guide, solar eclipse, Solar System, Sun

Grizzlies are starting to emerge in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. They're looking for the carcasses of animals that died over the winter. NPS / Neal HerbertIts officially grizzly bear season.The first bears of 2025 have been spotted in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Adult males, called boars, are emerging from their dens this month, with females and juvenile bears expected to follow in April and early May.The first grizzly of spring is as much of a tradition as the groundhog in February, writes Andrew Rossi for Cowboy State Daily.On March 9, the National Park Service (NPS) reported fresh grizzly paw prints in the snow in the northern section of Yellowstone National Park. Then, on March 13, a trail camera set up by photographer Trent Sizemore in nearby West Yellowstone, Montana, captured a grizzly lumbering across the snow, reports PetaPixels Pesala Bandara.On March 19, an employee at Grand Teton National Park spotted a grizzly north of the parks boundary. Since then, other reports of bear sightings have been trickling in, including the first black bear sighting of the season in Grand Teton.Its definitely an exciting time, says Justin Schwabedissen, a bear biologist for Grand Teton National Park, to the Jackson Hole News & Guides Christina MacIntosh.The bears emergence from their winter hibernation is a sure sign that spring is here. But officials are also using the opportunity to raise awareness about the potential for human-bear conflictsand how to prevent them.Theyre reminding members of the public to properly store food and garbage, respect wildlife closures and carry bear spray while adventuring in the backcountry. And, if a grizzly or black bear does cross their path, to give the creature plenty of spaceat least 100 yards.The period immediately after hibernation can be especially dangerous, as the bears are hungry and looking for food. Most will refuel by feasting on the carcasses of animals that died over the winter. Theyll be heading to lower-elevation areas and south-facing slopes, in search of spots where snow has melted enough to reveal previously hidden remains.Its pretty challenging with all the snow we have around, Schwabedissen tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide. Bears are relying on knowledge of where food sources have been in the past.Last year was a particularly bad year for human-bear conflict in northwest Wyoming. Authorities responded to at least 168 incidents in Teton County and the Town of Jackson, which is twice the long-term average. Officials killed nine bears; they relocated and hazed many others.Unsecured garbage in residential areas and unattended backpacks in the park remain the overwhelming cause of these conflicts, according to the NPS statement.Wildlife lovers are still mourning the death of Grizzly 399, a well-known adult female who lived in northwest Wyoming and was accidentally struck and killed by a car driverlast October. At the time of her death, Grizzly 399 had a cub with herbut the cub, nicknamed Spirit, fled after the accident.Fans of Grizzly 399 are eager for the chance to see Spirit, though its possible the cub did not survive the winter.I am holding my breath for that cub, Isabella Smedley, a local wildlife photographer, tells Cowboy State Daily.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Bears, Mammals, National Parks, Wildlife, Wyoming, Zoology

A newly described wasp species,Sirenobethylus charybdis, had a tail with paddles and trigger hairs that scientists say was used to catch and parasitize insects. The scale bar is 0.5 millimeters. Wu, Qiong et al., BMC Biology, 2025An ancient wasp may have used an odd structure at its rear end to capture insects and lay its eggs on or inside of them, according to a new study published Thursday in BMC Biology.Researchers named the parasitic creature Sirenobethylus charybdisboth after the sirens of Greek mythology that lured in sailors to their doom and after Charybdis, a mythical sea monster that created large whirlpools to drag its unsuspecting victims underwater.The wasps, which lived almost 99 million years ago, might have launched backward at their insect targets, then grasped them within their Venus flytrap-like abdomens.Its unlike anything Ive ever seen before, says Lars Vilhelmsen, a study co-author and researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, to Chris Simms at New Scientist. It was very exciting, but it was also a challenge, because how can you explain how this animal worked when you have nothing like it today? Scientists looked at 16 amber-preserved specimens of the extinct wasp, which revealed the abdomen flaps, trigger hairs (black arrows) and needle-like device for depositing eggs (orange arrows). The scale bar is 0.5 millimeters in the top row and 0.2 millimeters in the bottom row. Wu, Qiong et al., BMC Biology, 2025For the study, scientists examined 16 female specimens of the wasp, which had been found encased in amber in northern Myanmar. The wasps strange abdomens each had three flaps with small spikes and trigger hairs, similar to the motion-detecting hairs on a Venus flytrap. Three-dimensional X-rays show that the flaps could open and close, likely to trap other insects.Perhaps most disturbingly, the researchers detected a needle-like structure that the parasitic wasps might have used to deposit their eggs in or on their prey. The baby wasps would then feed on their new host as they grew.Ive seen a lot of strange insects, but this has to be one of the most peculiar-looking ones Ive seen in a while, Lynn Kimsey, an entomologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved with the research, tells Adithi Ramakrishnan of the Associated Press.This is a truly unique discovery, Manuel Brazidec, an arthropod researcher at Frances University of Rennes who was not involved in the study, says to New Scientist. What I find extraordinary is that the abdomen of Sirenobethylus charybdis is a brand-new solution to a problem that all parasitoid insects have: How do you get your host to stop moving while you lay your eggs on or in it?Among modern insects, cuckoo wasps might offer the closest comparison to these odd creatures. Like the bird of the same name, cuckoo wasps lay their eggs in the nests of other animals, specifically bees. The wasp larvae will hatch, then devour either all the young bees or all their food. But these brood parasites of today dont have anything resembling the paddle-like flaps seen on the back end of Sirenobethylus charybdis.Its unclear how or when the wasp went extinct. But the discovery shows us how wonderful and weirdand even gruesomethe world of insects can be.We tend to think that the cool things are only found today, says Gabriel Mel, a wasp expert at the Federal University of Paran in Brazil who was not involved in the study, to the Associated Press. But when we have this opportunity, we see that many really exceptional, odd things already happened.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Discoveries, Ecology, Fossils, Insects, New Research, Plants, Reproduction, Wasps, Weird Animals

Jay Cheshes Photographs by sa SjstrmIn February 2013, the Moderna Museet, Stockholms national museum of modern art, opened a blockbuster show, Hilma af Klint: A Pioneer of Abstraction, heralding a then-obscure Swedish artista woman, a mysticwho painted at the turn of the 20th century. Believing her art carried spiritual messages that would benefit humankind, af Klint worked with non-figurative forms years before her male peers Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich were credited with inventing abstract art. In Stockholm, the show shattered the museums attendance records, and it eventually attracted more than a million visitors as it toured museums across Europe. Now, 81 years after her death, this once overlooked Swedish artist, her work barely shown in her lifetime, has become a posthumous global sensation and her countrys biggest art export. One should not overestimate how unbelievably unknown she was, Daniel Birnbaum, the former director of the Moderna Museet, who helped organize the show, told me in Stockholm recently.In the years since the Moderna Museet show, the booming interest in af Klints life and work has been dizzying: a feature film, Hilma, by acclaimed director Lasse Hallstrm; a comprehensive biography by the German art historian Julia Voss; a couple of operas; a childrens picture book; a historical novel, The Friday Night Club; even a comic book, The Five Lives of Hilma af Klint. An immersive af Klint virtual reality experience debuted in London three years ago, followed by a sale of unique digital reproductions known as NFTs that were backed by pop star Pharrell Williams. Cheap posters of her most recognizable works have become big sellers online. In addition to challenging the long-established story of the birth of abstract art, af Klint has become a cultural force, touted as an early feminist, a queer icon, a prophet, a witchwhatever your worldview wishes for her to be. There are millions of younger artists who adore her, Birnbaum says. You can almost say theres a Hilma af Klint school now. Johan af Klint, Hilmas great-nephew, points to Adelso, an island near Stockholm, where the artist spent parts of her childhood and grew to love the natural world. sa SjstrmAnd since 2013 her work has been perpetually on tour. The Moderna Museet show traveled to Denmark, Norway, Germany, Estonia and Spain. In 2018, af Klints work reached New York, with a large survey, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, filling the rotunda at the Guggenheim Museum, once again breaking attendance records and further cementing her status as an international art star. I very much felt that our ideas about abstraction needed to be more expansive than they were, Tracey Bashkoff, the shows lead curator, told me. Last fall, a sequel, even more comprehensive, with 220 artworks, opened at the Guggenheims outpost in Bilbao, Spain. Much of that work traveled to Japan this spring for af Klints first major show in Asia, on view at Tokyos National Museum of Modern Art through mid-June.This spring she also makes her solo debut at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers. The title is taken from a line in her notebooks, and the exhibition showcases a portfolio of 46 botanical drawings completed between 1919 and 1920, close studies of plant life mixed with diagrammatic abstractionsnever shown publiclythat were purchased from a private collection three years ago. We realized her story is an interesting one, says Jodi Hauptman, the shows chief curator, of MoMAs decision to spotlight her work. She brings up all sorts of other narratives of abstraction that have to do with interest in alternative spiritualities and the intersection of spirit and science.But af Klint might have just as easily faded into obscurity, her work forgotten, her spiritual messages dismissed as a cranks. For decades after her death, in 1944, some in the art world certainly viewed her that way. In 1986, a few of her pieces found their way into a group show called The Spiritual in ArtSubscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineInfinite Change, a sculpture by Oleg Nourpeissov, in Angelsberg, Sweden. The pyramid recalls af Klints monumental Altarpiece paintings. sa SjstrmNow her posthumous fame has unleashed a tangled knot of conflicting artistic, financial, cultural and personal interests that threatens to overshadow the work itself. A bitter battle is underway for control of the Hilma af Klint Foundation, which was founded 53 years ago to safeguard her legacy and possesses nearly her entire esoteric output, opening a litigious rift over who has the right to show her work, who should see it and who should benefit from what she left behind. And new materials unearthed recently about af Klints wider spiritual circle, as well as new information found sifting through her own prodigious writings, have begun to challenge established narratives about who made the work. Was Hilma af Klint a singular visionary, alone with her thoughts, as early biographers wrote? Or has she been mistakenly credited with the achievements of a collective of women, sharing ideas and creative output in search of enlightenment?Af Klint was born in 1862 into an affluent, noble Swedish family with a nautical lineageboth her father and grandfather were high-ranking officers in the Swedish Navy. Af Klint and her three siblings (a fourth had died in infancy before Hilma was born) were raised in Stockholm, and they spent their summers on the familys pastoral estate on the island of Adelso, west of the city. As a young woman she showed a natural affinity for art. After taking classes at Stockholms Technical School, at 19 she secured a spot at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, among the first art schools in Europe to admit women full time.It was a period of cultural, scientific and political upheaval as the turn of the 20th century approached. Across Sweden women were starting to chart their own path in life. And a fascination with the occult was brewing in the upper echelons of Swedish society. Af Klint began dabbling in sances even before art school, communing with the spirit world while grappling with the devastating loss of her younger sister, Hermina, who died suddenly, at 10 years old, in 1880. A 1919 nature study by af Klint showing European larch, blackthorn, Norway maple, English oak, a rivulet moth and a red-tailed bumblebee. The watercolor was part of an uncompleted project focusing on the natural world The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by Art Resource, NYAfter graduation from art school, af Klint found work painting conventional portraits and landscapes. And with her classmate Anna Cassel, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, in 1896 she joined the Edelweiss Society, a womens spiritualist group that gathered regularly to conduct sances. Af Klint, Cassel and three other membersan experienced medium, Sigrid Hedman, and sisters Mathilda Nilsson and Cornelia Cederbergsoon broke off to form their own splinter group, the Five, as they called themselves. Meeting weekly in each others homes, af Klint and her friends used a psychograph, a strange new device said to enhance psychic powers, to help them communicate with spirits. Messages arrived in words, written in collective notebooks, and in images delivered as automatic drawingstheir hands, guided by the spirits, they believed, creating jerky, jagged, non-representational forms that they all signed as a group.They heard from a regular collection of voices. The High Ones, as Voss describes them in Hilma af Klint: A Biography, first published in German five years ago, were spirits from distant times and exotic places, including Ananda, who shared the name of the Buddhas closest disciple, and a medieval priest, Gregor, who seemed locked in an eternal battle against heresy in the Catholic Church.New esoteric spiritual movements had begun sweeping across Europe. Af Klint and Cassel found their way to Theosophy, which mixed Eastern and Western spiritual thought, and later followed Austrian guru Rudolf Steiner to its more Christian offshoot, Anthroposophy, which he founded in 1912. Af Klint kept a meticulous record of her spiritual journey, in what would grow to thousands of pages of handwritten notebooks. Though the Five continued to meet as a group, af Klint also heard voices on her own. The spirits, she believed, had been reaching out to her directly since the 1890s. And they told her to paint. She recorded one such message in 1907: Take your palette and begin. Expect a surprise! Strange forms poured out of herbig looping flowers, organic spirals, cubes of contrasting primary colors. Af Klint as a student at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1885. Courtesy of Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints VerkBy 1915 she had completed a whole body of work, 193 otherworldly paintings in a mix of abstract, symbolistic and figurative forms, all done in series: Primordial Chaos, Eros, Evolution, among other cycles exploring metaphysical themes. The most monumental pieces, simply called the Ten Largest, were dramatic tempera pigment works on paper more than ten feet tall and had been completed in a frenzied nine-week period in 1907. Altogether the collection formed what came to be known as the Paintings for the Temple. She dreamed of a physical space, a temple, that would one day house her art, and she sketched plans in her notebooks, even pinpointing potential locations. In her mind the paintings were more religious icons than classic artworks, carrying sacred messages, and were commissions, she wrote, from the astral plane. Ulf Wagner, an artist and art historian who oversees the Hilma af Klint Foundations archive, told me, Not one of these paintings is signed, because from her point of view it was not art. It was something else.Every shape, every color seemed to have a secret meaning. But in her notebooks, her writing often as portentous as scripture, even af Klint didnt seem to fully understand what story they told. By the time she completed the Paintings for the Temple, she had developed a fixation with Steiner, seeking his spiritual guidance and constant approval. She hoped he might eventually help her decipher the work. And, increasingly convinced of her prophetic gifts, she eventually widened the circle of women around her to 13. The number had significance. The collective soul is a conglomeration of several souls, she wrote in her notebooks. When such a conglomeration has reached a certain stage, its task is to send the strongest of the group to Earth, the one we call the Thirteenth. Many of the women played a role in her artistic creations. They prayed, they had sances, they had love affairs, they did many things together, Birnbaum said. But she was the motor behind the painterly project. Thats what I believe. Johan af Klint, 85, inspecting a portrait of a child painted by his great-aunt that now decorates his apartment in Stockholm sa SjstrmBut operating outside the art world, af Klint struggled to find a wider audience for her work among either art lovers or spiritual believers. Upon her death in 1944, childless and never married, she left behind some 1,300 works of art and a mountain of writing26,000 notebook pages. These were bequeathed to her nephew Erik af Klint, a vice admiral in the Swedish Navy. She came to believe that future generations might one day grasp the work, and, according to Voss, she indicated in her notebooks that many of her most cherished works should be locked away until 20 years after her death.True to her wishes, this remarkable trove remained hidden for decades. The art had been collected from her last studio, on the island of Munso, just across a narrow strait from Adelso, then rolled up in crates and stored in an attic atop the apartment building in central Stockholm where Erik moved with his family after the war. One day in 1966, accompanied by his youngest son, Johan, he finally began to unspool and photograph his Aunt Hilmas work. He hoped hed find a permanent home for it in a Swedish museum. But at every institution he visited, beginning with the Moderna Museet, he was roundly dismissed.In those days it was taboo to talk about the spiritual and painting, Johan, now 85 and retired from a career in finance, told me one morning last fall, at the dining room table of his antiques-filled Stockholm apartment. Johan honed his sharp English diction living abroad in New York, California, London and Southeast Asia, where he picked up an abiding interest in Buddhism. On the walls of his apartment hung paintings of old sailing ships along with some of af Klints more conventional art: coastal landscapes, a portrait of a young boy, each painted in oils before her psychic visions began to radically reshape her work. The 1915 painting Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece, one of 193 monumental works af Klint hoped would one day decorate a temple dedicated to her esoteric faith. incamerastock / AlamyIn 1972, frustrated by museum rejections, Johans father, Erik, launched the Hilma af Klint Foundation, donating her entire oeuvre to the organization, hoping it would help keep the work safe. Johan took over as chair in 2011, when preparations for the Moderna Museet show, which would audaciously reframe af Klint as an artist of world-historical importance, were just beginning.The museum had earlier snubbed an offer of a huge af Klint bequest, but it had begun to see her work in a new light, responding to broad cultural shifts in the historically male-centered art world. Even before planning the show, the institution had been maneuvering for more gender parity in its permanent collection. In retrospect, Birnbaum told me, the af Klint shows subtitle (A Pioneer of Abstraction) was always intended to provoke. Shes not only abstract, he said. There are moments when theres no other word for it, but it was never the endgame. I mean, she invented, or at least she discovered, abstraction as a possibility in a more complex way to work.As a painter, af Klint came of age just as a rush of new artistic movements were emerging in Europe, as Post-Impressionism mixed with Art Nouveau, and Cubism and Fauvism were producing avant-garde art stars. Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch showed his work in Stockholm, rising to prominence just as af Klint began finding her own artistic voice. She was surely aware of the broader cultural context, according to Voss, her biographer, but she kept the art world at arms length, focusing her efforts on reaching a spiritual audience. (When some of the Paintings for the Temple traveled to London in 1928, it wasnt for a gallery or museum show but for the World Conference on Spiritual Science, organized by the English Anthroposophical Society.)Working in relative isolation, she produced an often-bewildering body of work, laden with symbolism, endlessly open to interpretation. Af Klints real intentions remain elusive, buried in the labyrinth of her elliptical writing. Its very hard reading, says Johan, of her notebooks. Its not a straight line, where you come to a conclusion. She writes in circles. And theres little personal context to frame her spiritual writing. Af Klint edited her own notebooks later in life, rewriting or destroying entire passages and exorcising biographical details. In 1930, she took away everything that has to do with her in the notebooks, Johan says. So, we in the later generations have a hard time finding out who she was. Anna Cassel, af Klints art school classmate, fellow spiritualist devotee and lifelong friend. Recent findings suggest she played a large role in creating af Klints celebrated art. G. HertzbergJohan said he remembers meeting his great-aunt a few times as a child. She left him a mission, he claims, two years before her death, when he was just 3 years old. She gave us a task, my brother and me, that when you grow up you should protect my work and you should also disclose unreliability around the works, people you cant rely on, he said. Hes been doing his best to honor that commitment, by working with other family members to unleash a flood of litigationand wage a public relations campaignagainst other members of the Hilma af Klint Foundation board who he feels seek to profit from his great-aunts intellectual property. For example, the af Klints allege that NFTs released by a London-based company, Acute Art, under the creative direction of Birnbaum, were commissioned without the familys consent, and, in their commercial nature, ran counter to both Hilma af Klints spiritual intent and the interests of the foundation. (The works theyre based on have been in the public domain since 2014, when copyright protections ran out.) Birnbaum, who was on the foundations board, has stepped down. They now claim that everyone else is taking advantage, he told me.Johan and his allies have also fended off attempts to sell or disperse af Klints work, now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to private buyers or museums. All of a sudden, people want to come in and grab them, Johan says. And a few years ago, he helped derail plans for a Hilma af Klint museum on the Anthroposophical Society compound outside Stockholm, where the Hilma af Klint Foundation once stored her art, objecting to the design, location and mission, and alleging that the museums main champion, Anders Kumlander, the Swedish Anthroposophical Societys former secretary general, had personally profited from buying and selling af Klint works. Kumlander, who is also a member of the af Klint Foundation board, denies any wrongdoing. Its enough with fighting, Kumlander told me.And the battles continue under Johans 58-year-old nephew Erik af Klintnamed after his grandfathera medical doctor and Christian preacher who heads the board today. Johan and Erik have been allies on the legal front, but they have different views of af Klints art. Johan picks up on Buddhist symbolism in the work, as filtered through theosophys Eastern influences, while Erik sees biblical themes. (Af Klints notebooks cover a broad spectrum of spiritual thought.) If you know the Bible, you can understand her art, Erik insisted when I met him one morning, over coffee and cardamom cake in his spare, almost monastic apartment in Stockholm. A notebook page dated July 1919, when af Klint, living on the island of Munso, was engaged in her close study of the natural world. Volgi archive / AlamyErik believes af Klint never intended for her Paintings for the Temple to reach a broad audience. He says his grandfather wrote the foundation statutes to make that clear. The board shall keep the work accessible to those who seek spiritual knowledge, the provision begins. Erik argues that the many museum exhibitions in recent years all violate that intent, and he is working to block future shows. He hopes af Klints work will eventually inhabit the temple she dreamed of, open only to true believers. The foundation board should make an effort to show it to the right type of people, he said, of af Klints esoteric work. It has to be a spiritual seeker who wants to support what Hilmas spiritual guides were trying to tell her.But Erik is alone on the board in pushing to retroactively lock af Klints work down. He seems to recognize this is one battle hes not likely to win. Not even Johan supports the idea. If you dont show the paintings to everyone, how can you influence them? Johan asked me, rhetorically.The foundations legal infighting provides a sensationalist art-world dimension to af Klints sudden posthumous fame. But art historians and biographers are at least as swept up in the revelations emerging from what is essentially the brand-new field of Hilma af Klint studies, as scholars get to work digging through a mountain of previously neglected historical materials. Four years ago, for instance, Kurt Almqvist, an independent scholar and book publisher, found Anna Cassels journalssome 60 notebooksin a storage cubby on the Swedish Anthroposophical Society compound. The discovery has opened a dramatic new chapter in the hunt for insights into af Klint and her universe. Biographers have often portrayed af Klint as the lone artistic force behind her work, but Almqvist, who found Cassels notebooks in an unmarked box, has another perspective. The difference here is its a spiritual group, and its very explicit that this is a common work, he says. Almqvist heads the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit, having married into the industrial dynasty behind it. The private think tank has a broad purview and deep pockets, organizing conferences on art, culture, history and political thought. His first brush with af Klint came 12 years ago, when Birnbaum invited him to organize a series of academic seminars tied to the Moderna Museet show. He found himself drawn into the mystique surrounding af Klint and her work. The pictures are enigmatic, he says. You dont know what they mean. They contain a riddle you have to figure out. Marie Cassel, Annas great-niece, seated, with Birgit Lamke, left, and Kerstin Friberger, relatives of Mathilda Nilsson and Cornelia Cederberg, members of af Klints circle. sa SjstrmSince then, through his familys publishing house, Stolpe, Almqvist has overseen an array of books on af Klint, including a monumental seven-volume catalogue raisonn, published three years ago. And in 2023, he published Anna Cassel: The Saga of the Rose, a book, co-edited with Birnbaum, that focuses on Cassel as an independent artist and showcases her own esoteric paintings. Provocatively, the book included an essay, Who Created The Paintings for the Temple? by Hedvig Martin, a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam who is completing a thesis on af Klint and the women around her. Martin argues that Cassel played a much larger role in the creation of af Klints sprawling masterpiece than previously acknowledged. Among other things, she has identified stylistic differences in some paintings attributed to af Klint that indicate they were in fact painted by Cassel. Af Klints brushstrokes tended to be more expressive and free-form, for example, while Cassels were more careful, even meticulous. And af Klint herself wrote about Cassels role in the work. The two of us will work out a full series; our efforts will complement each other, she wrote in 1914.Its not only that Anna Cassel painted some of the Paintings for the Temple, Martin told me. But in almost every series there are several women working with Hilma. We dont know if they were assistants or were working independently, because the notebooks dont reveal that much. But the narrative used to be that Hilma worked alone, against all odds. The manor house owned by Cassels family. Scion of a wealthy industrialist, Cassel helped finance af Klints career; in time, financial tensions simmered between them. sa SjstrmThe material has raised new questions about attribution in museum circles, though af Klint is still widely credited as sole author of the works. Hauptman, the curator of MoMAs upcoming show, told me, To me, it only makes it more interesting that these women were working together. It doesnt lessen the work. Of course, many celebrated artists across history, from Rembrandt to Warhol, worked collaboratively while retaining the spotlight. It doesnt feel like a conflict, really, Bashkoff, of the Guggenheim, says. It also feels a little likeif this were a man, we wouldnt really be talking about this. The lone creator is a myth that goes back a long time in art history. It doesnt shake me to the core.For his part, Johan af Klint agrees that Cassel may have played a role in creating af Klints work, but he believes Almqvists book goes too far. He argues that Cassel was not with af Klint during most of the period when the Paintings for the Temple were made. She was with Hilma the first year, Johan said. Then she came back in 1912 or 1913five or so years laterand started to try painting as Hilma did. Of course, Anna Cassel should be recognized for what she was. I have no problem with that.Almqvist is now completing a new book, based on a close reading of af Klints writing and Cassels, exploring themes found in both womens notebooks, including discussions of sexuality that were progressive for the time. (For example, af Klint wrote about gender duality, the twin soul, and feeling like a man in a womans body.) You can start to compare, he says. What is the difference in their perspectives on the same time period? A 1908 automatic drawing signed collectively by the Five, af Klints spiritual group. The women believed that spirits controlled their hands to impart messages from another realm. Drawing: The Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SwedenAf Klint and Cassel seem to have had a complicated relationship. The best of friends in their 20sperhaps more than thatthey remained close throughout their lifetimes, even after tensions and disappointments, including a dispute about financing for af Klints studio. In her notebooks, af Klint recorded conversations with Cassel and other women in her spiritual orbit that she said took place after their deaths. She refused to let them go because they are karmically tied to one another, Almqvist said.One frosty fall afternoon, I visited Marie Cassel, Annas 72-year-old great-niece, a retired teacher and social worker who is now working with two friends on researching a book about her great-aunt. Marie laid out a generous spread of pork sausages and warm potato salad in her apartment in a Stockholm suburb. Anna Cassel was my grandfathers sister, she said. She died in 1937. I was born in 1952.Marie grew up hearing little about her great-aunt, picking up only a few fragments over the years. We knew she went to a royal academy, she said over lunch. And my aunts told me she had financed Hilmas work. And maybe they were lovers.She long wondered about Cassels life as an artist, and after seeing af Klints breakout show at the Moderna Museet, Marie said, she became convinced Cassel had played a role in the work. How likely was it that Hilma painted 1,000-something paintings and Anna stood and stared? she said. As af Klints fame grew, uncovering Cassels story became an obsession. And the more Marie learned, the more she wondered about other members of their spiritual group. Their stories had vanished, too. Im not angry with Hilma af Klint, she told me. I want the truth. And isnt it more interesting if we say the work was a group work? Kurt Almqvist, an independent scholar and book publisher, who discovered Cassels journals four years ago. Hes now working on a book about af Klint and Cassel. sa SjstrmMarie enlisted her ex-husband, an especially resourceful librarian, to help track down living relatives of the other women in the Five. They reached a descendant of Hedman, the medium. She inherited a stash of journals, she said, but is too spooked to share them. We understood she was afraid of the spirits, Marie said. They also found great-nieces of the sisters Mathilda Nilsson and Cornelia CederbergKerstin Friberger, 91, and Birgit Lamke, 85, who are also sisters.After lunch at Maries place, we drove a short distance to meet the sisters at Fribergers home. When Marie first reached out to them, she hoped theyd have more details, maybe even letters or journals, to share, but Friberger and Lamke had nothing. They hadnt even known of their relatives connection to af Klint. It was you who made us aware, Friberger said, a glass of white wine in her hand, looking over at her sister. Now, in old age, theyve started reading up on their ancestors. In the central library in Stockholm, they found copies of an esoteric magazine, Afterwards: Journal of Spiritism and Related Topics, which Nilsson had run, as editor and contributor, more than 100 years ago.By 1909, the Five had dissolved. The first 111 Paintings for the Temple, including the Ten Largest, were finished by then. Of the original group, only Cassel remained. Af Klint was collecting new disciples as she dove into Steiners writing and lectures. She took a four-year break from the Paintings for the Temple before completing the cycle in 1915. A few years later, she left Stockholm for Munso.I drove west to Munso on a rain-soaked Sunday morning with Johan af Klint and his niece Hedvig Ersman. To reach the island, a sprawling expanse of horse and cattle farms, we passed the Swedish royal residence at Drottningholm Palace, but I was most interested to see the lonely spot on the waterfront where af Klint built a studio in 1917, on a patch of wooded land owned by the family of a wealthy friend named Emilia Giertta, another member of her circle. Af Klint envisioned a residential community there, a sort of commune where she and her friends might live and work. The second in af Klints 14-painting Dove series, from 1915, which explored themes of divinity and cosmic harmony. Other Dove works include planets and astrological symbols. IanDagnall Computing / AlamyOn Munso af Klint began a new project, a close study of the natural world. First I will attempt to understand the flowers of the earth, she wrote in her notebooks. Finally, I will penetrate the forest, exploring the silent mosses, the trees and the many animals that inhabit the cool, dark undergrowth.The botanical drawings purchased by MoMA in 2022 appear to be part of that project, a botanical atlas, as Hauptman, the MoMA curator, describes it, that af Klint never completed. She had planned to build on ideas from Steiner, who devised the principles of biodynamic farming, a holistic system of crop production tied to the phases of the moon. In New York, Hauptman told me that for af Klint this study was tied to her larger spiritual project. This idea that the close observation of the natural world will yield information on the human condition, that you can look at that birch tree and if you really observe it, you can learn something about your own selfSteiner talks about some of that.Beginning in 1919, drawing in the blooming months, af Klint completed a cycle of work focused on the plant life around her. But the project never went beyond that, and in 1922, when af Klint turned 60, she moved in a new artistic direction, embracing a wet-on-wet style of watercolor painting she would continue to practice through the end of her life. She also devoted considerable time and energy to finding a home for her 193 Paintings for the Temple. She began spending extended periods of time in Switzerland, visiting the Anthroposophical Society headquarters in Dornach, hoping to convince Steiner to take them. In 1924, she wrote him a curt letter. Should the paintings executed by me between 1906 and 1920, of which you, Doctor, once saw several, be destroyed, or can they be used somewhere? Hedvig Martin, an art historian at the University of Amsterdam, argues that a number of women joined af Klint in painting works attributed to her, including some of the best-known. sa SjstrmSteiner advised her to hold on to the works. She spent the next 20 years working, in vain, to find a permanent home for them, and eventually came to believe the world was not quite ready for them. (In her notebooks, she called them paintings for the future.) Finally, in 1943, she received an offer from the Sigtuna Foundation, a Protestant organization, to build her a museum. She declined. Putting the work one day in the hands of people who do not have an Anthroposophical outlook might be problematic, she wrote.The following year, in October 1944, af Klint stepped off a streetcar in Stockholm. She tried to steady herself but faltered and fell, banging her head and bruising her arm. Weeks later, just shy of her 82nd birthday, she succumbed to her injuries. Much of her art was stashed in the studio on Munso, on property now owned by Gierttas son. He gave the elder Erik af Klint three months to clear everything out before he leveled the building.This was a new generation, with new ideas, Johan said, as we drove out toward the forest clearing where af Klints wood-framed studio had stood. The building was gone, but the stone villa where af Klint slept remained. Ersman, an architect, dreams of rebuilding the studio. It looked like an American barn, she said. The site is already a stop on an af Klint-themed tour shes led through the region.Below us, the road dead-ended at the waters edge, and we joined a line of cars awaiting the ferry across the strait to neighboring Adelso, where the af Klint family once owned vast stretches of pastoral farmland. After spending childhood summers there, af Klint returned later in life with her pencils and brushes. In her naturalistic paintings you can see where she was, Johan said as we drove off the ferry and passed under a tunnel of pine trees. You recognize the views. Ersman said, Hilma was living in a city always, but she was, all her life from childhood until the last year of her life, coming out here. On these lands she developed her sensibility to life, to botany, to birds. In her art, she was carrying these places with her always and coming back to them. A cultural center in Jarna, Sweden, where for years the Anthroposophical Society stored af Klints works in the basement. Cassels journals were found there in a storage cubby. sa SjstrmFour years ago, Ersman helped a friend, Anna Maria Bernitz, an art historian, organize the first af Klint tour herea Hilma af Klint Safari, they called it. They led a caravan of cars filled with af Klint groupies from the studio site on Munso onto the ring road around Adelso, past the former af Klint family estates at Hanmora and Tofta (sold off long ago), the Viking burial mounds, and the 12th-century church with the af Klint family plot.Hilma af Klint herself is buried elsewhere, interred with her parents in a small naval graveyard behind the maritime-themed Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The modest gravestone bears not Hilmas name but her fathers: Commander Victor af Klint Family Grave, it reads. There are no markings at all to indicate that Hilma af Klint lies there. In fact, youll find no public memorials anywhere in Sweden to her life and work, no commemorative statue or plaque, neither in Stockholm nor on the islands where she found inspiration.Last spring, Ersmans tours got a permanent home, taking over a historic rectory. She plans to open the building this summer as the Hilma af Klint Center Adelsopart cultural center, part artist residency. It wont be the temple af Klint dreamed of for her art, but it will be something. A lot of people come to Stockholm and wonder, Where do I go to see Hilma af Klint? Ersman said. At the moment there is no place.Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Painters, Painting,

In the Gobi Desert, scientists discovered two fossilized claws of a large, feathered dinosaur now calledDuonychus tsogtbaatari. Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu et al., iScience, 2025. Life reconstruction of dinosaur by Masato Hattori.Paleontologists have discovered a strange new dinosaur species that may have looked like a giant, feathered mix of a sloth and giraffe. It had only two raptor-like clawed fingers per hand, which the creature used not to maul other prey, but to snack on vegetation.Two fossilized claws, as well as parts of the dinosaurs tail, arms, ribs, hips, legs and backbone were uncovered in Mongolias Gobi Desert in 2012. Now, in a study published Tuesday in the journal iScience, paleontologists describe the new species based on these 90-million-year-old remains. They called it Duonychus tsogtbaatari in honor of Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar and because Duonychus means two claws in Greek.Surprisingly, the team discovered that one of the two giant bony claws has its keratin sheathcomparable to a human nailstill preserved. Normally, keratin doesnt fossilize, study lead author Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, a paleontologist at Hokkaido University in Japan, tells New Scientists James Woodford.This is by far the biggest claw preserved for a dinosaur that has that keratinous sheath on it, Darla Zelenitsky, a paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Canada and co-author of a study, tells CNNs Katie Hunt. Its close to a foot in size. The fossil also shows the claw was much longer than the internal bone beneath it.Duonychus tsogtbaatari stood around ten feet tall and weighed approximately 573 pounds. It was a member of the Therizinosaurs, a group of dinosaurs that existed in Asia and North America between 66 million and 100 million years ago. They aretypically known for their small heads, long necks, feathered bodies and bipedalism, as well as three long claws on each handa trend that Duonychus breaks. While they belong to the theropods, a subgroup of dinosaurs that includes all meat-eaters, therizinosaurs were likely herbivores.Therizinosaurs are already some of the most unusual dinosaurs out there, but Duonychus tsogtbaatari takes it to another level, Kobayashi tells Live Sciences Jess Thomson. This newly discovered species from Mongolia breaks the mold with just two fingers instead of the typical three, offering a rare glimpse into how theropod hands evolved and adapted.Its like evolution said, Lets try something totally new. And it worked, Kobayashi adds to Reuters Will Dunham. A comparison of the range of motion of the forelimb and fingers in therizinosaurs. Figure A representsSegnosaurus, D representsTherizinosaurusand the rest areDuonychus tsogtbaatari. Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu et al., iScience, 2025Duonychus tsogtbaatari is the only known therizinosaur with two claws, but other theropod dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus rex, also evolved to have two fingers instead of three. Kobayashi and his colleagues suggest that the Duonychus tsogtbaatari would have used these claws and flexible wrists to pull plant and tree branches closer to munch on their vegetation, similarly to todays two-toed sloths.Three fingers might have just gotten in the way, Kobayashi explains toNew Scientist,while two provided a more precise and efficient grasp. The claws may have also helped defend the dinosaurs or provide powerful weapons in intraspecific competition, Zichuan Qin, a paleontologist at the University of Birmingham in England who was not involved in the study, tells National Geographics Riley Black.Ultimately, this is yet another example of a wonderful new dinosaur that we couldnt have dreamed ever existed if we didnt find its fossils, Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who did not participate in the study, tells CNN.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Cool Finds, Dinosaurs, Discoveries, Fossils, Mongolia, Paleontologists, Paleontology

Volunteers with the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute in Santa Barbara, California, rescue a sick sea lion that's likely suffering fromdomoic acid poisoning. David Swanson / AFP via Getty ImagesIt started as a normal surf session for RJ LaMendola. He was roughly 150 yards from the beach in Southern California, riding the waves and enjoying the peaceful solitude.But the situation quickly turned violent when a sea lion emerged from the water and charged at LaMendola. The 20-year surfing veteran tried to remain calm as he frantically paddled back to shore, but the sea lion was behaving unusuallylike some deranged predator, LaMendola wrote in a widely shared post on Facebook. The sea lion made contact, delivering a hard bite on LaMendolas left buttock that pierced through his wetsuit.Never have I had one charge me, especially at that ferocity, mouth open, LaMendola tells the Ventura County Stars Stacie N. Galang and Cheri Carlson. It really was out of, like, a horror movie.Eventually, LaMendola made it back to the sand and drove himself to a nearby emergency room. After being treated, he contacted local wildlife authorities.The most likely explanation for the sea lions abnormally aggressive behavior? The creature was probably suffering from domoic acid poisoning, which results from toxic algae blooms.Across Southern California, authorities are grappling with one of the worst outbreaks of domoic acid poisoning theyve ever seen. Dozens of sea lions and dolphins have been affected by the condition in recent weeks, reports the Los Angeles Times Summer Lin. Birds are also turning up dead, according to the Los Angeles Daily News Erika I. Ritchie.At least 140 sick sea lions are being cared for at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, per the Los Angeles Times, because they have a 50 to 65 percent chance of surviving if they receive treatment. Roughly another 45 are being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, reports the Los Angeles Daily News. SeaWorld San Diego has rescued another 15 this year, reports KGTVs Jane Kim. Other sea lions have been found dead on area beaches.This morning, we had three calls within 30 minutes of daylight breaking, Glenn Gray, CEO of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, told the Los Angeles Daily News on March 18. Thats the magnitude of it. Members of the public are being urged to report any sick, distressed or dead animals they find on the beach. Beachgoers should also stay away from the animals and give them space. David Swanson / AFP via Getty ImagesDozens of dolphins, meanwhile, are washing up dead or close to death on beaches. Veterinarians are euthanizing the dolphins, because they rarely survive domoic acid poisoning, per the Los Angeles Times.Its the only humane option, says John Warner, CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center, to the Westside Currents Jamie Paige. Its an awful situation.A similar outbreak occurred in 2023, killing more than 1,000 sea lions. But officials say this year is shaping up to be worse.The harmful algae bloom started roughly five weeks ago. During a bloom, environmental conditions cause microscopic phytoplankton to proliferate. Some species of phytoplankton produce domoic acid, which then accumulates in filter-feeding fish and shellfish. Marine mammals become sickened when they eat the affected fish and shellfish. (Humans can also get sick from eating contaminated fish, shellfish and crustaceans.)In marine mammals, symptoms of domoic acid poisoning include seizures, lethargy, foaming at the mouth and a neck-craning behavior known as stargazing. Biting incidentslike the one LaMendola enduredare rare, but sickened animals have been known to behave aggressively.The neurotoxin is crippling and killing sea lions and dolphins, says Ruth Dover, managing director of the nonprofit Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute, to the Ventura County Star.The bloom likely started when cold water from deep in the Pacific Ocean rose to the surface in February. Now, it also appears to be spreading closer to the shore. Researchers are monitoring the bloom, but so far, they have no indication of how long it will last.Authorities say toxic algae blooms are getting worse and happening more frequently because of climate change, agricultural runoff and other human-caused factors. This is the fourth straight year a domoic acid-producing bloom has developed off Southern California, as Dave Bader, chief operating officer of the Marine Mammal Care Center, tells KNX News Karen Adams.We dont know what the long-term impacts will be for having so many consecutive years of this toxic bloom, Bader adds. But [dolphins are] a sentinel species. Theyre telling us about the health of the ocean, and when we see marine life dying, and were seeing it in increasing levels with more frequency, the oceans telling us somethings off.The ongoing outbreak is taking its toll on Southern California veterinarians, volunteers and beachgoers. The incidents are particularly heartbreaking for lifeguards, who typically comfort dying dolphinsand keep beachgoers awayuntil authorities can arrive.Members of the public are encouraged to report any distressed, sick or dead animals they find on the beach. And, more importantly, they should leave the animals alone. Authorities say pushing a sick creature back into the ocean will likely cause it to drown. Dolphins also become especially agitated when theyre out of the water and people are aroundto the point that they can die from fear.People need to leave them alone and not crowd around them, Warner tells the Los Angeles Times. Selfies kill animals, so use your zoom, and stay away.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Beaches, Biology, Birds, California, Conservation, Disease and Illnesses, Dolphins, Mammals, Oceans, Pacific Ocean, Recreation, Sea Lions, Wildlife

Almost all the buildings at the Buddhist Gounsa Temple complex were destroyed in the fires Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP via Getty ImagesThe largest wildfires in South Koreas history have blazed for seven days, leaving dozens dead and destroying or severely damaging several of the countrys most revered historical sites.As of Thursday, 27 people have died and at least 37,000 have been evacuated from their homes, the New York Times Jin Yu Young reports. The fires have ravaged 88,000 acres in the countrys southeast and are showing few signs of slowing.Damages are snowballing, South Koreas prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo said in a televised address yesterday, according to Kim Tong-Hyung and Hyung-Jin Kim of the Associated Press.There are concerns that well have wildfire damages that weve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week, the president added.The fires have not spared Koreas sacred cultural heritage sites, destroying at least 18 designated heritage sites,Reuters Nicoco Chan and Hongji Kim report.One of the most staggering losses is the 1,300-year-old Gounsa temple complex in Uiseong County, around 90 miles southeast of Seoul. Monks started the temple in 681, as the Silla dynasty promoted Buddhism across the unified Korean Peninsula.[] ", , " / KBS 2025.03.24.Watch on While no Silla-era structures lasted to the present day, Gounsa is still an active Buddhist site, filled with buildings, statues and artifacts from the intervening centuries. As witnesses recall, however, the fire swiftly consumed this history.There was a wind stronger than a typhoon, and flames whipped through the air like a tornado, burning the whole area in an instant, Gounsa temple chief Deungwoon tells Reuters. The buildings and remains of what Buddhist monks have left over 1,300 years are now all gone.Parts of Gounsa have burned before, but never to this extent. The Korea Heritage Service reports that the fire completely destroyed 20 of the 30 buildings at the complex, per the APs Hyung-Jin Kim. Two national treasure sitesGaunru, a revered stream-side pavilion from 1668, and Yeonsujeon Hall, built to store genealogical records of the royal familysuccumbed to the blaze.I went there this morning and found theyve been reduced to heaps of ashes, Doryun, a senior monk who used to live at the temple, tells the AP. I feel really empty. Life is transient. Emergency workers saved precious artifacts, including a golden Buddha statue, from the Gounsa Temple site. Korea Heritage ServiceDoryun explains that 20 monks and workers based at the temple have been evacuated without injury. Miraculously, the main temple building survived. Many buildings were burned down, but we moved and protected other sacred assets so that we can maintain the temple. We feel its very fortunate, Doryun tells the AP.The fires have also menaced the Hahoe Folk Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Andong. Located along the banks of the Nakdong River, Hahoe is one of the most representative historic clan villages in the country, according to the UNESCO website. The Ryu family traces its origins in Hahoe back six centuries to the time of the Joseon dynasty. Its mud-walled houses with thatched roofs face out onto the river and open fields, a distinctive architectural style that takes inspiration from aristocratic Confucian culture. At the highest point in the village is Samsindang, a giant zelkova tree that villagers believe is the residence of the goddess Samsin. Residents of Hahoe have evacuated and authorities have taken preventative measures to insulate the village from the encroaching fires. Another UNESCO site, the Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy, also from the Joseon dynasty, is under threat, per the Times. Fire-retardant cloths wrapped around Buddhist monuments Korea Heritage ServiceAt historic sites across the region, the government has coordinated major efforts to remove more than 1,500 relics from threatened sites and historic houses, according to Reuters.Earlier this year, wildfires in Southern California burned through Los Angeles historic landmarksa gloomy parallel to this weeks tragedies in South Korea.So far in 2025, South Korea has reported 244 wildfires, over twice as many as during the same period last year, according to CNNs Gawon Bae and Kathleen Magramo. Firefighters have not yet contained some of the strongest blazes, although officials hoped that a sprinkling of rain on Thursday would aid their emergency efforts, the Times reports. The sadness is indescribable, Kim Young-hoo, a 70-year-old devotee of Gounsa, tells Reuters. As a follower who cherishes this place, it pains my heart to see it destroyed so horribly.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Civilizations, Asian History, Buddhism, Climate Change, evolving climate, Fire, History, Korea, Religion, Religious History, Wildfire

At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data from NASAs James Webb Space Telescope to show auroras, represented by cyan coloring. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Heidi Hammel (AURA), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC)Earths beautiful northern and southern lights are the result of auroras: when high-energy charged particles from the sunhit gases in our upper atmosphere, making them glow in brilliant colors as they release energy from the collision. Auroras occur where Earths magnetic field crosses our planets atmosphere near the north and south poles.While scientists have previously observed auroras on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally spotted them on Neptune for the first time. The announcement is detailed in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Astronomy.If JWST was powerful enough to see the earliest galaxies in the universe, itd better be powerful enough to see things like aurorae on Neptune, study co-author Heidi Hammel, an astronomer at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, tells the New York Times Robin George Andrews. And by golly, it was.Astronomers have been searching for auroral activity on Neptune, the most distant planet from the sun, since NASAs Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by it in 1989 and picked up tantalizing hints of the phenomenon, per a NASA statement.Neptune has always been elusive, James ODonoghue, a planetary scientist at the University of Reading in England and a co-author of the new study, tells the Associated Press Christina Larson. Weve been trying to see it again ever since [Voyager].In a newly released image featuring data from the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, cyan splotches represent Neptunes auroral activity. Unlike on Earth, the giant planets auroras occur at its geographic mid-latitudesthe equivalent auroras lighting up over South America. This is because Neptunes magnetic field has an odd orientation, which Voyager 2 revealed is tilted by 47 degrees relative to the planets axis of rotation.The detection offers a long-anticipated conclusion to astronomers search for auroral activity on the ice giant planet. Everyone is very excited to prove that its there, just like we thought, says Rosie Johnson, a space physics researcher at Aberystwyth University in Wales who wasnt involved in the study, to the New York Times.JWST collected the exciting data in June 2023 with its Near-Infrared Spectrographan instrument that can detect near-infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye. The researchers analyzed the makeup and temperature of Neptunes upper atmosphere, detecting the presence of the trihydrogen cation (H3+), a molecule that can result from auroras.H3+ has a been a clear signifier on all the gas giantsJupiter, Saturn and Uranusof auroral activity, and we expected to see the same on Neptune as we investigated the planet over the years with the best ground-based facilities available, Hammel says in the statement. Only with a machine like Webb have we finally gotten that confirmation.The telescopes data on Neptune also revealed a new mystery: Since Voyager 2s flyby more than three decades ago, the temperature of the planets upper atmosphere has dropped by hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit. Since colder temperatures lead to fainter auroral activity, that likely explains why its been so difficult to spot Neptunes aurorasbut it doesnt explain why the ice giant cooled so dramatically.The answer to that might emerge with further research. Moving forward, astronomers aim to use JSWT to continue investigating Neptunes magnetic field over a full solar cycle of 11 years.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Discoveries, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, Neptune, New Research, Outer Space, Planets, Solar System, Sun, telescope

Tracy Scott ForsonSenior EditorIf you didnt know better, you might think that photographer Takuya Ishiguro was in imminent danger as he snapped his shot of one seemingly gigantic creature decapitating another. Its like a horror scene out of some crazy science fiction movie, says Quentin Nardi, Smithsonian magazines chief photography editor and a judge of this years contest. In reality, Ishiguro spotted these regular-size praying mantises along a roadside in his Japanese hometownalbeit in a macabre embrace. He credits the low angle of the shot and the grounds rough texture with supersizing the drama. It adds dimension, making the subject seem more real and tangible, he says.The Grand Prize-winning image, one of nearly 30,000 entries submitted from more than 150 countries, was one of several category winners to play on our sense of scale and perspective: the grandeur of Utahs Monument Valley contained inside a room. A bicyclist appearing to ride from our dimension toward another. A desert landscape dissolving into abstraction, all swirling lines and color. Each photograph, Nardi says, reframes the familiar: An everyday occurrence meets an otherworldly treatment.(You can view all 60 finalists from the competition here.)Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGrand PrizeTakuya IshiguroTakuya IshiguroOsaki, JapanPhotographed: October 2021Ishiguro, 44, who works as a production engineer, was in his car on the lookout for praying mantises to photograph. I was driving slowly, he recalls. He pulled over and approached the insects on foot, only to realize hed happened upon one of the insect worlds most taboo occurrences, at least from a human perspectivea praying mantis snacking on another. That this image was caught in such an urban settingnot in a tree, or a bush, or on any type of plant, but on the ground, on what looks like asphalt, says Maria Keehan, Smithsonian magazines creative director and a contest judge. Amazing.ArtisticAnna WackerAnna WackerBerlinPhotographed: April 2022A fan of architecture, Wacker was drawn to the Marie-Elisabeth-Lders-Haus, a government building opened in 2003. She repeatedly circled the iconic structure with her Nikon digital camera in hand, searching for the perfect angle. When a cyclist dressed in black rode by, perfectly aligning with the large circular backdrop of the building, I knew I had captured something special, she says. A self-taught photographer who picked up the hobby in 2012, Wacker blended two still imagesone a straight-on view of the cyclist in front of the circular opening of the geometric facade, the other obliquely angled to capture the facade and its upward-sweeping triangular overhangand converted the resulting image to black and white. The architectural form of the building and the wheels of the bicycle both embody cycles, says Wacker, a business administrator in the tourism industry. The image invites the viewer to contemplate the loops we find ourselves in both physically and metaphorically.American ExperienceKaustav SarkarKaustav SarkarMonument Valley NavajoTribal Park, UtahPhotographed: September 2024On a family vacation to tour Utahs iconic parks, New Jersey resident Sarkar, 24, a professional real estate photographer, grew tired of the standard gift shop farekeychains, mugs, magnets and T-shirts. But at the Monument Valley visitor center, he stumbled on something distinct: a corner stuffed with handcrafts by the people from the place, he remembershandmade pottery, textiles, boots and figurines made by local peoples who have lived near the valleys giant buttes. It spoke a lot about the character and the history of the place. Sarkar took out his Google Pixel camera and positioned himself with his back to the checkout counter, snapping a photograph of the famous Mittens and Merrick Butte, each framed by a giant picture window. He says the image combines natural and human history in one shot. The outside and the inside, the people and the place, all came together.TravelMichelle LauMichelle LauSydney, AustraliaPhotographed: April 2022Since taking up photography 12 years ago, Lau has visited more than 30 countries, usually by herself. Traveling alone allowed me to deeply understand local cultures and discover their unique beauty. It broadened my horizons, redirecting my life toward independent photography, says the former graphic designer, whose photography has led to collaborations with Vogue and other internationally renowned brands. While visiting Sydney, Lau, 35, who lives in Hong Kong, spent time at Bondi Beach. Perched three stories above crystal blue waters, she found a stellar view of the legendary Bondi Icebergs Club pools, leading out to the Pacific Ocean. Lau spent two hours taking about 20 photographs of the waters. I preferred to take photos rather than swim, she says.AerialMarek BiegalskiMarek BiegalskiHanksville, UtahPhotographed: October 2024While visiting the mineral-rich Bentonite Hills, formed from Jurassic-era volcanic clay, Biegalski mounted his Canon onto an aerial drone to capture this colorful geological formation from nearly 290 feet above it. The self-taught photographer took multiple exposures at different settings, he says, later blending them together to achieve the perfect balance of light, detail and depth. A marketing professional back home in Ireland, Biegalski, 52, cherishes photographing natures wonders. My goal is to capture the raw, untouched beauty of the natural world, he says, allowing its pure essence to shine through.Natural WorldThorben DankeThorben DankeBesigheim, GermanyPhotographed: March 2022Some photographers travel far and wide for the perfect subject. Danke, 42, an industrial electronics engineer, had the star of this close-up presented to him at home. Thats where his children found a brown marmorated stink bug lifeless on a windowsill. Danke attached a microscope lens at 20 times magnification to a Sony digital camera to zoom in on the insects compound eye, at the left of the photo. The distinctive metallic-colored patches belie the bugs brown moniker. If you look closely, you will find all the colors of the rainbow. PeopleMichael AcheampongMichael AcheampongAtlantaPhotographed: June 2024Their attire may suggest that theyre focused on what separates themthe various countries from which the parents of these first-generation Americans emigrated to the United States. But their intent is to present One Africa, as Acheampong titled this photograph. Acheampong, 30, a Savannah College of Art and Design graduate student whose parents are from Ghana, wanted to create an image that represented unity among those of African heritage in his community. Even though we may have differences, were alike more than we think, he says. Staging the photograph at an Atlanta farmers market, Acheampong says the locations ambiguity was intentional. We wanted it to have the feel of Africa.Readers' ChoiceErhan CoralErhan CoralMekong Delta, VietnamPhotographed: October 1, 2024Believe it or not, professional photographer Erhan Coral is not standing waist-deep in Vietnamese waters alongside the women who are hard at work gathering lilies in his winning image. I was actually shooting from a small hilltop next to the water, overlooking the scene, he says. When he immortalized this moment, Coral, 58, who started taking photographs in his teens, was in the Mekong Delta on assignment, capturing the daily lives of people and the cultural richness of the country. That includes the vibrant red, pink and purple waterlilies that draw visitors from around the world, especially from August to November when the flowers are most abundant. Coral, who lives in Turkey, took several dozen shots of the farmers, experimenting with his drone and camera from different angles. For this image, Coral says, the lighting was entirely natural. Early morning sunlight provided a warm glow that enhanced the colors and textures, he says. I aimed to create an image that felt immersive, as if the viewer were floating alongside the women.Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.

Researchers found evidence of a ceremonial platform next to theFarley Moor standing stone, which measures roughly 6.5 feet tall. Time TeamAmateur archaeologist George Bird had long been fascinated with an ancient stone standing upright in the woods near his home in England. However, the 24-year-old student had recently started to wonder what other historic treasures the forest might be hiding.His curiosity paid off. Archaeologists have discovered that the stone is part of a larger Bronze Age ceremonial complex that dates back to around 1700 B.C.E.The site, which is located near the town of Matlock in the county of Derbyshire, is more than 3,700 years old.The discovery was featured on a recent episode of Time Team, a popular British archaeology series.New Episode! | The Mystery of the Standing Stone | Time Team X CrewWatch on Its just fantastic now finding out that this has all been confirmed, [that] those peculiar rocks are in fact a larger monument, Bird tellsBBC News Heidi Booth.Measuring roughly 6.5 feet tall, the Farley Moor standing stone was long thought to be an isolated monument. But at Birds insistence, researchers recently explored the area surrounding the stone.They discovered that the stone had been intentionally placed atop a natural spring. Water from the site feeds into Bentley Brook, which flows into the Derwent River. Five other nearby stones were once standing and formed an oval. Time TeamIn addition, they found evidence of a ceremonial platform next to the stone. The platform predates the stone, which suggests continuous ritual use of this site over hundreds of years, strongly linked to the water and the importance it held for Bronze Age communities, says Lawrence Shaw, the lead historic environment advisor for Forestry England, the government agency that manages Englands public forests, in astatement.They also investigated five nearby stones and determined that they, too, used to be standing upright. Together, the stones had once formed an oval measuring roughly 82 feet by 75 feet.We knew that this stone was here, but we had absolutely no idea of the potential for the bigger monument that we ended up discovering, Shaw tells BBC News. As he says in the Time Team episode, Its just a perfect example of what a small, discrete team of experts can do with a specific question. Amateur archaeologist George Bird had a hunch about the site inDerbyshire. Time TeamForestry England protects 1,500 public forests and woods across England, which are home to more than 100,000 archaeological sites and monuments. Now, land managers can add the newly discovered stone circle to that list.The Derbyshire ceremonial site also joins the growing list ofBronze Age stone circles spread across the Peak District in central-northern England. So far, archaeologists have documented 25 stone circles in that part of the country, which highlights the impact of Bronze Age ritual life far beyond headline sites likeStonehenge, saysDerek Pitman, an archaeologist and anthropologist at Englands Bournemouth University, in the statement.Next summer, archaeologists hope to return to study the site in greater detail.Its a dream come true to get to work on such a significant prehistoric monument, Pitman adds.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, British History, Cool Finds, Discoveries, England, European History, History, Stonehenge

The Salty, Sweet and Irresistible History of Baseballs Most Famous SnackCandy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize? That, and so much more, is what you get with a Cracker JackTeddy BrokawApril/May 2025 A reproduction of a World War II-era package, featuring Sailor Jack and loyal Bingo. AlamyThe questionof Cracker Jacks origin is a sticky one. Some attribute its invention to Frederick Rueckheim, others to Charles Gunther, both German immigrants who migrated to the Midwest and built candy empires from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire. Whoever first hawked the product on the streets of the Windy City, only Rueckheim was able to turn it into an American institution. He began selling molasses-coated popcorn and peanuts to members of the fire relief effort in the early 1870s. Over the next few decades, he capitalized on several innovations to set the treat apart, innovating a unique means of rotating the barrels in which the snack was made, to keep it from clumping together, and using wax-sealed packaging to keep the product fresh. The purchasing public gave their enthusiastic endorsement. One oft-repeated story claims the name originated when an enthusiastic buyer exclaimed, using period slang for something great, Thats a crackerjack! By the early 20th century, demand was so high that the company reportedly required a quarter of the worlds total popcorn supply in order to keep up.Having gotten the snack down to a science, Rueckheim turned his attention to marketing. He trademarked the slogan The More You Eat, the More You Want and introduced mascots Sailor Jack and his dog, Bingo. But nothing compared to the windfall of free publicity provided by the 1908 smash hit Take Me Out to the Ball Game. The song forged a permanent connection between Cracker Jack and baseball, and when prizes began to appear in every box a few years later, they sent Cracker Jacks popularity into the stratosphere.The prizes tell the story of the American century: 1940s prizes were made of paper to conserve metal for the war effort; postwar prizes looked to the skies and the future with jet age and space race themes; and prizes from the 1960s and 70s embraced the counterculture, offering Flower Power pins. But as the century wound down, Cracker Jacks relevance waned, and the company began to phase out physical prizes. By the time it eliminated them altogether in 2016, Cracker Jack had delivered more than 23 billion trinkets around the world.Of course, Cracker Jack remains a ballpark staple, and, in a way, prizes have returned to their roots. While physical goodies are gone, each box still offers a treat in the form of a QR codeone of which whisks users away to a virtual ballfield for an arcade-style home run game. The tech may have changed, but a century later, Cracker Jack is still putting baseball excitement into the hands of young fans.Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGet the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.Filed Under: Americana, Baseball, Food, Food History

Saturn's iconic rings are not always clearly visible from Earth. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science InstituteOn Sunday afternoon, Saturns iconic rings vanished from our skies.Dont worrythe planets rings are still intact. But from Earths vantage point, a temporary phenomenon called a ring plane crossing is causing them to appear nearly invisible to our eyes.Saturn completes an orbit around the sun every 29.4 years. Because the planet rotates on an axis of 26.7 degrees, our view of its rings changes depending on where the Earth and Saturn are in their orbits. Sometimes, we have a great view of the rings broad surface. In this case, were seeing just their narrow edgeand they reflect so little light that its as though they arent there.They literally almost disappear, says Sean Walker, an associate editor at Sky & Telescope, to Denise Chow at NBC News. Normally you see the rings around Saturn, but when you have an edge-on view, it looks like a hair-thin line of light just cutting across.Need a visual guide? The best way to illustrate this is to get your sheet of paper, and hold it horizontallyparallel to the groundat eye level, astrophysicist Jonti Horner wrote in an article for the Conversation in 2023. Now, move the paper down towards the ground a few inches. What do you see? The upper side of the paper comes into view. Move the paper back up, through your eye line, to hold it above you and you can see the underside of the paper. But as it passes through eye level, the paper will all but disappear. The Hubble Space Telescope captured these two distinct views of Saturn, with a ring plane crossing depicted on the right. Reta Beebe (New Mexico State University), D. Gilmore, L. Bergeron (STScI), NASA/ESA, Amanda S. Bosh (Lowell Observatory), Andrew S. Rivkin (Univ. of Arizona/LPL), the HST High Speed Photometer Instrument Team (R.C. Bless, PI), and NASA/ESAWhen this happens in the solar system, giving Earth the narrowest glimpse of the rings, its known as a ring plane crossing. The phenomenon also offers skywatchers and scientists an opportunity to get a better view of Saturns moons. Many of Saturns moons were actually discovered during ring plane crossings, including its largest, Titan.When we have these ring plane crossings, the light that normally reflects off Saturns rings is no longer glaring back toward Earth, adds Walker to NBC News. That means you can detect a lot more of the smaller moons.Right now, Saturn is near the sun from our perspective, making it tough for astronomers to see it at all. But in September, the planet will reach oppositionan alignment opposite the sun that offers the best time for viewing. The rings will gradually come back into full view, though theyre expected to appear narrow for another short period in November.Ring plane crossings with Saturn happen every 13 to 15 years, so youll have a chance at seeing another one in 2038. At that time, the planet will be much more visible during the phenomenon.After each of these crossings, Saturns disappeared rings will come back. But in millions of years, its rings will be gone forever. The chunks of rock and ice that make up the rings are being pulled into the planet by its gravityscientists call this ring rain.Saturn's Rings Are DisappearingWatch on We estimate that this ring rain drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool from Saturns rings in half an hour, said James ODonoghue, a planetary scientist previously at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, in a 2018 statement.In 2023, researchers estimated Saturns rings have somewhere between 15 million to 400 million years leftbefore they disappear for goodand a second study found they might be much younger than astronomers thought.Considering the planets vast age of roughly four billion years, were quite lucky to see a ring in the first place, Sascha Kempf, aphysicistat the University of Colorado Boulder who led the second study, told Science News Nikk Ogasa at the time.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomers, Astronomy, NASA, Outer Space, Planets, Saturn, Sky Watching Guide, Solar System, Sun

Cool FindsTreasure Trove of 800 Exceptional Iron Age Artifacts Discovered in EnglandThe collection, which dates to the first century C.E., includes items ranging from elaborately decorated horse harnesses to ornate cauldrons Researchers spent three months excavating the site. Durham UniversityElaborately decorated horse harnesses, ceremonial spears, ornate cauldrons, bridle bits and hundreds of other 2,000-year-old artifacts have been unearthed in England.Experts say the hoard is one of the largest and most significant Iron Age finds in all of the United Kingdomand it has the potential to reshape historians understanding of wealth, travel, status and trade among Britains tribes during that period.The discovery wasannounced Tuesday by Historic England, Durham University and the British Museum.It has been a once-in-a-lifetime find for everyone involved, says Keith Emerick, an inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England, the British government agency that funded the excavations, to theGuardians Mark Brown. A copper alloy harness fitting found in the cache Durham UniversityA metal detectorist named Peter Heads stumbled upon the hoard in December 2021. He was using the device to scan the ground in a field near Melsonby, a village in North Yorkshire in northeast England.When Heads started digging, he realized hed discovered something importantand he decided to get in touch withTom Moore, an archaeologist at Durham University.When Moore arrived at the site, he also immediately realized the significance of the find. He approached Historic England and secured 120,000 (roughly $155,000) to excavate the area. That work took place in 2022, and researchers have been analyzing the more than 800 items in the cache ever since.The artifacts likely date back to the period when the Roman emperorClaudius was invading Britain. Experts think the items belonged to theBrigantes, a tribe that controlled much of northern England during the Iron Age.Researchers found at least 14 horse harnesses, which were likely used to pull ancient chariots or wagons. The harnesses were decorated with colorful glass and Mediterranean coral, which suggests their owner was a wealthy, high-status individual with connections throughout Europe and the Roman world. Many items had corroded together into a tangled mass over the years. Durham UniversityThey also unearthed iron tires and other vehicle parts, as well as a cauldron that was likely used as a wine mixing bowl. The cache includes the first evidence of four-wheeled wagons in Iron Age Britain, which raises new questions.Were going to have to spend years thinking, what did these vehicles look like, where did they come from? Moore tells the Guardian.Over time, some of the artifacts had corroded together to form a tangled mass, which researchers had to carefully extract. They suspect these items may have been placed in a bag together.Many of the artifacts had been burned or deliberately broken, which adds to the theory that they belonged to an elite person. They may have been included in a funerary pyre, though researchers didnt find any human remains.This is symbolicit is not just throwing something away, Moore tells the LondonTimes Jack Blackburn. It is something were familiar with from the Iron Age where people ritually destroyed things. What weve got here is it on a grand scale.Help Us Save The Melsonby HoardWatch on The discovery of such obvious symbols of wealth and power is significant for another reason: It complicates the long-held assumption that northern England was poorer than the southern part of the country during the Iron Age.They challenge our way of thinking and show the north is definitely not a backwater in the Iron Age, Moore tells the Guardian. It is just as interconnected, powerful and wealthy as Iron Age communities in the south.Together, the artifacts are worth 254,000 (about $330,000). The Yorkshire Museum is launchingfundraising efforts to keep the items in England. In the meantime, some of them will be displayed at the museum starting this week.By acquiring the hoard, we will be able to make it accessible to everyone, says Andrew Woods, senior curator at the museum, toBBC News Jessica Bradley. Working in partnership with others, we can learn more about this fascinating period, why the hoard was buried, how the objects may have been used, as well as the identity of their owners.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Artifacts, British History, Cool Finds, England, European History, History, Roman Empire

Scientists recorded rig sharks producing soundspotentially with their teeth. The clip is thought to be the first documentation of its kind. Paul Caiger / University of AucklandScientists have long thought that sharks roam the ocean in silence. But now, a new recording is challenging that assumption.A team of researchers captured strange clicking noises from the rig shark, a small species that lives off the coast of New Zealand. To the best of our knowledge, this study would be the first to show that sharks can produce sounds, they write in their paper, published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.The findings suggest audible noises play a bigger role in sharks experience than scientists had previously imagined. Sharks have sensory systems that are more refined than their hearing, like their electroreceptors, their smell and the way they propel themselves through the water, says lead author Carolin Nieder, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to Live Sciences Jacklin Kwan. But I think the original notion that we had that sound isnt important at all is also likely not true.Nieder first heard the sounds by accident in 2021, while she was conducting her PhD research at New Zealands University of Auckland. She noticed that the rig sharks she was studying would start to make a chirping noise when she handled them in between tests in the lab. When I first heard the sound, I thought they sound like electric sparks, Nieder says to the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Peter de Kruijff.At first we had no idea what it was, because sharks were not supposed to make any sounds, says Nieder to Jack Tamisiea at Scientific American. I remember coming home and just thinking more and more about how weird those sounds were.Nieder couldnt investigate the sounds further at the time, but she remained curious. In the new research, she studied ten juvenile rig sharks kept in the lab between May 2021 and April 2022 to better understand the mysterious crackling noises.The researchers individually transferred each shark into a tank equipped with recording devices. One at a time, a scientist held the animals for 20 seconds.As the sharks were moved, they began to make short clicking soundseach lasted only around 48 milliseconds. But the noises were loud: Their volume reached above 155 decibels, which is comparable to a shotgun. The clicks were mostly single pulses, but roughly a quarter happened in pairs. About 70 percent of the sounds were accompanied by a calm, swaying body movement, while 25 percent came with vigorous thrashing of the head or body. The other 5 percent occurred while the shark was still.The researchers also noted that the sounds were more frequent in the first ten seconds of the handling sessions. As the animals got used to the daily experimental protocol, they then stopped making the clicks altogether, as if they got used to being in captivity and the experimental routine, Nieder says in an email to CNN. This led us to consider that maybe we are observing a sound-making behavior rather than a strange artifact.Notably, the frequencies of the sounds were too high for the rig sharks hearing range. This suggests the animals arent emitting the noise to communicate with each other. The scientists arent entirely sure what the purpose of the sound is yet, they write in the study, but it could perhaps serve as a defense against predators. Several species of toothed whales, which hunt rig sharks, would be able to hear the sounds.Its too early to tell whether its a response, kind of saying, go away, or if [its] just their nervous system is firing off, which just happens to make their teeth and jaws click, Adrian Gutteridge, a shark biologist with the International Union for Conservation of Nature who was not involved in the study, says to Live Science.Many fish use their swim bladder to make noisea gas-filled organ that helps with buoyancy and allows the animals to communicate. But sharks dont have this organ, and scans of the rig sharks found no other possible sound-producing body parts. The study suggests the sound is coming from the sharks teeth instead, but only direct, up-close observation of the jaws would definitively prove or disprove that hypothesis.The researchers also note that more research will be needed to determine whether the sharks would behave the same way in the wild. The open question is, Would the sharks make the noises in more natural circumstances? says marine biologist Dennis Higgs of the University of Windsor in Canada, who was not involved in the research, to Scientific American.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Biology, Communication, Fish, New Research, Oceans, Sharks, Sound Recordings