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

The well-preserved ring was found by a retired firefighter. Noonans MayfairSeveral years ago, metal detectorist Mark Sell was searching for treasure at a field in Norfolk, England. He had scanned this particular area before, though he hadnt found anything. But just before dusk, his detector emitted a faint signal.About nine inches below the surface, he found a gold ring with five gemstones. Dating to the late 12th or early 13th century, the jewelry likely belonged to a medievalbishop.When it went to auction, officials expected it to fetch between roughly $19,000 and $23,000, according to a statement from Noonans Mayfair, the London-based auction house. It sold for about $24,000 on Wednesday. The auction house says it's "extremely rare" to find a ring of this kind in such good condition. Noonans MayfairSell, a retired firefighter, found the ring in the village of Shipdham. The town had been well established by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, whenWilliam the Conqueror took the throne, as Laura Smith, a jewelry expert at Noonans, says in the statement.In 1086, William commissioned theDomesday Book, which recorded all of Britains lands and property ownersnow the oldest government record in the United KingdomsNational Archives. Shipdham was among Englands largest settlements at the time, and it was extensively detailed in the Domesday Book, Smith adds.The village has a rich religious history. The Domesday Book states that Shipdham had a church and plentiful woodlands in the 11th century. During the reign ofHenry III in the 13th century, theBishop of Ely built a mansion in Shipdham, complete with a moat. The bishop, namedHugh de Northwold, served between 1229 and 1254. According to the lot listing, experts think he was the owner of the ring. Experts think the ring belonged toHugh de Northwold, a 13th-century bishop. Noonans MayfairThe ring features a principal cabochon stone, or a rounded, polished center gem. In this case, the center stone is a sapphire, and its surrounded by two emeralds and two stones that are either garnets or rubies.I was amazed to see a thin line of gold in the clod of mud that I had dug up, and as I wiped away the mud, I could see the bezel of a medieval gold jeweled ring, says Sell in the statement. I could also see that the ring was complete with all of the original jewels still in place and was in pristine condition.According to the lot listing, its extremely rare to find a ring of this kind with all of its original gemstones in such good condition. The item resembles similar pieces belonging to other medieval religious leaders, such as a large sapphire, ruby and emerald ring owned by the 13th-century archbishopWalter de Gray.After unearthing the artifact, Sell shared it with the owner of the Norfolk field. He then reported it to thelocal finds liaison officer, who is part of the U.K.sPortable Antiquities Scheme, as NPRs Manuela Lpez Restrepo reports. Run by the British Museum andAmgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales, the program documents items found by members of the public in a database.The ring was sold on March 26 as part of Noonans Mayfairs Jewellery, Silver and Objects of Vertu auction. Sell and the landowner will share the profits. Other items in the sale include a gold ring from the 15th century and a gold and garnet ring from the 13th century.In recent months, several other notable rings have been unearthed in the U.K., including a 1,000-year-old kite-shaped ring found in Scotland and a 17th-century gold ring discovered in Lancashire.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Artifacts, Auctions, British History, Cool Finds, England, History, Jewelry, Religion, Religious History

Portrait of a Gentleman, His Daughter and a Servantat the Musede la Chartreuse in Douai, France Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP via Getty ImagesImagine walking down a street and running into a childhood friend you havent seen in decades. Despite the years and the changes that come with them, you know just who youre looking at.Thats what happened withPhilippe Costamagna, whose eye is so well trained that he can recognize an artists signature style, saysPierre Bonnaure, director of the Muse de la Chartreuse in Douai, France, perIcis Sophie Morlans.Last year, Bonnaures museum called on experts like Costamagna, who specializes in Florentine and Roman art, as part of an effort to study and restore its collection of Italian paintings.As Costamagna perused the museums storage rooms, a dark piece calledPortrait of a Gentleman, His Daughter and a Servant caught his expert eye. It gave him that feeling of recognizing an old friend.Originally attributed toPieter Pourbus, aFlemish Renaissance artist who worked in Bruges during the 16th century, the painting depicts an austere man and his young daughter in matching ruffs. The girl passes flowers to her father, who is sitting in a chair. In the background, a servant peels back a curtain to deliver a basket of fruit.Costamagna thought he saw something elsesomething strangely familiarin the 16th-century painting, which had been bequeathed to the museum in the 1850s.People told me, Its a northern painting, says Costamagna to Agence France-Presse (AFP). He disagreed. Its an Italian painting, Bolognese in spirit from A to Z. Everything is reminiscent of it: the little girl with the little flowers, the strokes on the collar and on the sleeve.Portrait of a Gentleman, His Daughter and a Servantis now attributed to Lavinia Fontana, one of the first professional female artists. Claude Thriez / Muse de la Chartreuse de DouaiOver several months, Costamagna worked quietly to confirm his hunch. Finally, he delivered his verdict to the museum: Portrait of a Gentleman, His Daughter and a Servant was not the work of Pourbus. Instead, it belongs to the oeuvre ofLavinia Fontana, a Renaissance painter widely considered to be one of thefirst professional female artists.Born in Bologna in 1552, Fontana learned to paint under the guidance of her father,Prospero Fontana, aMannerist with a prominent reputation in the citys art scene.At age 25, she married Gian Paolo Zappi, an artist who gave up his own career to work as her agent, helping her secure major commissions from the popesGregory XIII andClement VIII.Though she was a mother of 11 children, she found time to paint portraits, mythological scenes, some femalenudes and major altar pieces for churches across Italy. She also earned a living from her work, which was an incredibly uncommon feat for women at the time. Before her death in 1614, she became the first woman accepted to the elite ranks of RomesAccademia di San Luca.Despite these accolades, Fontana isnt as well-known as some of her male Renaissance counterparts. In France, her work rarely shows up in public collections. FontanasPortrait of a Pregnant Woman, Possibly a Self-Portraitmay depict the artist herself, who gave birth to 11 children. Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsIts obviously a major discovery, like finding a treasure in your attic, Bonnaure tells Ici.Bonnaure hopes it wont be the last treasure to come out of his museums archives. The Muse de la Chartreuse displays around 750 artworks, but it has almost 70,000 in storage.While Portrait of a Gentleman, His Daughter and a Servant was briefly on view at the museum in Douai, it will undergo a complete restoration before entering the permanent collections.The painting is in excellent condition, Costamagna tells AFP. It hasnt been badly restored in the past, so it hasnt been distorted. The restoration will enhance it.The remarkable discovery will also help enhance Fontanas reputation, in Douai and beyond.Were hearing more and more about her, Auriane Delbarre, Douais deputy mayor for culture, tellsBFM Lilles Franois Wasson and Juliette Moreau Alvarez. Shell help attract a new audience that will be curious to come discover her work.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archives, Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Cool Finds, France, Italy, Museums, Renaissance, Renovation and Restoration, Visual Arts, Women's History

In 2013, the Curiosity rover drilled this hole, which measures about 0.6 inches wide and 2.6 inches deep, into martian rock. The sample is now thought to contain long-chain organic molecules. NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSSWhen scientists revisited an old Martian rock sample collected by NASAs Curiosity rover, they were initially hunting for evidence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. But they ended up discovering something else entirely: the largest organic compounds ever documented on Mars. The compounds date to 3.7 billion years agoaround the same time that life first emerged on Earth.Although they could have been formed by either biological or non-biological activity, these compounds join a host of other tantalizing clues to the potential existence of ancient Martian life. The discovery is detailed in a study published Monday in the journal Curiosity collected the sample in 2013 from a rock dubbed Cumberland, at the site of a bygone lake now known as Yellowknife Bay. By re-examining this pulverized rock, the researchers were surprised to discover the hydrocarbon molecules decane, undecane and dodecanewhich contain chains of carbon atoms in groups of 10, 11 and 12, respectively.The rovers on-board mini lab had burnt the molecules down while processing the rock sample, but the team suspects they may have originally been parts of carboxylic acids, or fatty acids. On Earth, fatty acids perform various functions in living organisms, including the formation of cell membranes.This is an amazing result, Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Open University in England who didnt participate in the study, tells Sciences Paul Voosen. If the molecules truly are the broken-down leftovers of fatty acids, then we are seeing something very exciting indeed, she adds.Largest Organics Yet Discovered on MarsWatch on To test the feasibility of this hypothesis, the researchers mixed a fatty acid into Mars-like clay and processed it in a lab back on Earth. They used an approach thats akin to how Curiositys mini-lab processes rock on Marsand as theyd suspected, it yielded the molecule decane. Previous studies also show that undecane and dodecane could have been produced in a similar manner. This adds strength to the idea that these molecules came from fatty acids.While the existence of fatty acids does not necessarily point to life, it remains a real possibility. If we have long-chain fatty acids on Mars, those could comeand its only one hypothesisfrom membrane degradation of cells present 3.7 billion years ago, lead author Caroline Freissinet, an analytical chemist at the Atmospheres and Space Observations Laboratory in France, tells the Guardians Ian Sample.However, the fatty acids also could have either been formed by geological processes on Mars (non-biological chemical reactions such as from hydrothermal activity) [ or] delivered to the surface of Mars from meteorites, Daniel Glavin, a senior scientist for sample return at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the study, explains to Gizmodos Isaac Shultz. Or they are the organic remnants of an ancient Martian biology.The molecules do appear to show some promising patterns. Most fatty acids in Earths organisms have an even number of carbon atoms, so finding this feature on Mars could point to the potential existence of life. Undecane would have come from an even-numbered fatty acidand intriguingly, the team documented a slightly higher presence of undecane compared to the other two molecules. Additionally, chemical (and hence non-biological) processes usually produce shorter fatty acids, with less than 12 carbons. A graphic of the discovered organic molecules and a selfie from the Curiosity rover NASA / Dan GallagherEven if the molecules didnt originate from cells, the discovery remains important, because the large compounds suggest organic chemistry on Mars achieved higher complexity than what scientists had previously observed. It also confirms that potential evidence of life can survive on Mars for billions of yearslong enough for scientists to discover it.Our study proves that, even today, by analyzing Mars samples, we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed on Mars, Freissinet says in a statement.The findings reported in this paper present the best chance we have seen for identifying the remains of life on Mars, explains John Eiler, a geochemist at the California Institute of Technology who was not involved in the research, to the Guardian.Still, scientists cant make a conclusion from merely three molecules. And the kind of analyses that could reveal the origin of the fatty acids noted in the study require advanced instruments that Curiosity doesnt have. Thus sealing the deal absolutely requires return of such samples to Earth, Eiler adds.Luckily, NASA and the European Space Agency are currently working on a Mars Sample Return project, though its timeline is undetermined.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Aliens, Chemistry, Cool Finds, Geology, Mars, NASA, New Research, Outer Space, Planets, Solar System

A digitization of a draft from the Wren Library (above) and amultispectral image processed by Michael Sullivan from raw imaging by Andrew Beeby (below) Master and Fellows of Trinity College, CambridgeLike most writers handwritten drafts, the papers of Alfred Tennysonthe 19th-century English poet known for nuggets such as, Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at allare littered with inkblots, crossed-out words and other markings.Researchers at the University of Oxford recently set out to read some of Tennysons indecipherable scribbles using advanced imaging techniques. According to a paper published in theReview of English Studies, their research has recovered previously unreadable variants in Tennysons work.Whether from environmental damage, redaction or authorial revision, many factors affect how much of modern literature survives for us to read today, lead authorMichael Sullivan, a literary scholar at Oxford, says in astatement from the university. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) Julia Margaret Cameron via Wikimedia Commons under CC0 1.0In 2021, Sullivan founded Recovery of Literary Manuscripts in collaboration with chemistAndrew Beeby of Durham University. The project merges English literature withmultispectral imaging, a technology that analyzes an image at specific wavelengths.Our project is developing new digital techniques to restore lost literature that has remained beyond the reach of readers, Sullivan says.Tennyson served as the United Kingdoms poet laureate from 1850 to 1892, making him the official poetic spokesman for the reign of Victoria, according to thePoetry Foundation. He was also a prolific reviser, who frequently blotted out his words with ink, per the study. By digitally stripping away inkblots, his lost literary draft text may therefore be recovered, retrieving traces of the authors creative process.In addition to multispectral imaging, the researchers also used X-ray fluorescence, which surveys elemental composition, andfiber-optic reflectance spectroscopy, which analyzes pigments. They then digitally processed the imaging results, revealing words that had been lost. A processed multispectral image of a Tennyson notebook from the Wren Library, imaged by Andrew Beeby and processed by Roger Easton Jr. Master and Fellows of Trinity College, CambridgeOne of the manuscripts they studied contains Tennysons 1847 poem The Princess. A line from the published version reads, She said you had a heartI heard her say it / Our Ida has a heartjust ere she died. But in the newly imaged manuscript, the researchers saw the line, She said you had a heart , then, crossed out, Just ere she died. / Our Ida has a heartan hour before.Though he crossed it out in this manuscript, Just ere she died, was brought back before publication. According to the study, Tennysons deletion of the other words removed a heavier characterization of a mother judging her daughter.The notebook containing The Princess was also water damaged, reportsArtnets Min Chen. Through imaging, researchers were able to decipher parts of pages once made unreadable, discovering that Tennyson had changed us to me and our to my.Another notable revision was found in Tennysons 1859 poem Lancelot and Elaine, published inIdylls of the King, a 12-poem series inspired by the legend ofKing Arthur. According to the study, Tennyson originally wrote Till Arthur came before replacing the line with the King / Came girt with knights. Processed multispectral image of lines from "The Princess" Syndics of Cambridge University LibraryThe imaging also revealed several non-literary details, including ink bleeding through from the opposite side of a page, the indentation left by a pens tip and simple sketches. The drawings are material traces of [Tennysons] visual imagination, write the researchers.Tennysons revisions show recurrent patterns of thought that are important to modern scholars study of his work, per the study. As Sullivan says in the statement, Reading this recovered text helps us to illuminate the creative process behind works of art, but also to restore valuable parts of the worlds cultural heritage.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art Meets Science, Arts, British Writers, Cool Finds, Literature, New Research, Poetry, Queen Victoria, Technology, Writers

Stephen Tabor with the Huntington Library's copy of the Gutenberg Bible The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical GardensWhen railroad magnateHenry E. Huntington bought arare edition of theGutenberg Bible in 1911, he paid $55,000the equivalent of around $1.8 million today.But despite the high price, Huntingtons 15th-century Bible was incomplete. In 1825, an auctioneer had removed three devotional prints contained within the Bibles pages since the 1450s to sell separately.For two centuries, the Bible and its prints remained separated. Last spring, Stephen Tabor, theHuntington Librarys curator of rare books, heard about an upcoming sale of one of the prints, Christ on the Mount of Olives, according toArtnets Richard Whiddington. The Huntington jumped at the prospect of finally getting its Bible one page closer to completion.After months of research, paperwork, licensing and fundraising, the print arrived at the library in San Marino, California, in September in a wooden casket befitting a lost ark, as Tabor says, per the librarys website. They will be on public display together at the library until May 26.Christ on the Mount of Oliveswas likely added to the Gutenberg Bible by its first owner in the 1450s or 1460s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical GardensReuniting the print with the Huntingtons Bible deepens our understanding of this landmark of printinghow it was used and valuedenriching both scholarship and public appreciation, Sandra Brooke Gordon, the director of the Huntington Library, says in astatement.In the 1450s,Johannes Gutenberg created about 180 copies of the Bible using movable type. He printed roughly 145 copies on paper and 35 on vellum, parchment made from calfskin.Gutenbergs innovationsrevolutionized the way our ancestors made books and accessed information. Hundreds of years later, however, only about 50 copies are known to exist.Eric White, a Gutenberg scholar and rare books curator at Princeton University, says the vellum copy that Huntington bought in 1911 is the most beautiful copy in the world, according to the statement. It is one of only three vellum editions in the United States, including one at theLibrary of Congress in Washington, D.C. and one at theMorgan Library and Museum in New York. Henry E. Huntington bought the Bible for $55,000 in 1911. The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical GardensThe print is perhaps even rarer. It depicts Christ in prayer on the night before his crucifixion. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, Christ says in a Latin inscription. His disciples are asleep next to him, but betrayal is at hand. In the upper right corner, Judas leads Roman soldiers to Christ, saying, He whom I shall kiss, He is the one, seize him.Originally affixed within the covers of the Bible, the print exemplifies the dotted metal cut technique. To create the print, tiny holes were punched into a thin metal plate, leaving a highly detailed and stylized black-and-white ink image that was later colored by hand.Its an example of a very specialized style from a limited area of Europe, Tabor tells Erik Pedersen of theSan Gabriel Valley Tribune, adding that the technique was practiced near the Rhine river in Germany.Tabor suspects that the first owner of the Bible added the three printsincluding another scene of Christ on the Mount of Olives (owned by the University of Manchester) and one depicting the crucifixion (owned by the British Museum)in the 1450s or 1460s. Eric White says the Huntington's Bible is "the most beautiful copy in the world." The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical GardensWhy these private devotional prints were put inside indicates to me that it was probably a private buyer who got the Bible originally and not an institution like a monastery or a church, Tabor tells the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Either way, it would have to be a wealthy buyer.However, why a private citizen would have bought a two-volume copy of the Gutenberg Bible in the 1450s is unclear, Tabor adds.There are two volumes. Each ones 25 pounds. Youre not going to curl up in bed with it, Tabor tells theSan Gabriel Valley Tribune. It was really designed as a lectern Bible, or something you stand to read from, a formal sort of Bible.By the time of the 1825 auction, the Bible and its prints had stayed together for nearly four centuries. After another two centuries apart, Christ on the Mount of Olives and the Gutenberg Bible have finally been reunited.The Bible is not a dead museum piece; it still holds surprises for those who look closely enough, Tabor says in the statement. Thats exactly what weve been doing in recent monthsinspired by the return of the Christ on the Mount of Olives. Our discoveries about our Gutenberg Bibles history and unique features have been accelerating ever since.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Artifacts, Bible, Books, California, Christianity, European History, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Germany, Historical Documents, History, Library of Congress, Religion, Religious History

A granite statue located in Tombos, an ancient Egyptian outpost in present-day Sudan Sue Fleckney via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0Historians have long assumed that ancient Egyptian pyramids were constructed primarily for royals and high-status individualsthose with the money and power required to build such grand structures.But new research at the archaeological site ofTombos in present-day Sudan is complicating that narrative. According to a recent study published in theJournal of Anthropological Archaeology, Tombos pyramids may have served as the final resting place for low-status workers alongside elites.We can no longer assume that individuals buried in grandiose [pyramid] tombs are the elite, write the researchers. Indeed, the hardest working members of the communities are associated with the most visible monuments.Situated along the Nile River, Tombos lies in the ancient region ofNubia. In around 1400 B.C.E., Egypt conquered the area and established Tombos to facilitate colonial control, according to the study. Workers built pyramids in the area, though they were modest in comparison to famous examples like the pyramids ofGiza.Researchers recently reanalyzed 110 human skeletons from Tombos that had originally been studied in 2012. They examined the skeletonsenthesesthe places where tendons and ligaments connect to boneswhich can hint at how much physical labor an individual has performed. A map and details of two tombs in Tombos' northern cemetery Stuart Tyson Smith / Journal of Anthropological ArchaeologyWhen someone performs intensive labor, their tendons and ligaments require a stronger mode of attachment, per the study. Their bones may develop distinct crests and ridges at the point of attachment.Entheseal changes cant tell us exactly what these people were doing, but they can tell us if they were more physically active or more like couch potatoes, lead authorSarah Schrader, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, tellsBBC Science Focus Hatty Willmoth.Some of the bones exhibited little entheseal change, indicating that they had belonged to the members of the upper classes. But the team found more extensive entheseal changes on others, suggesting that they once belonged to lower-class workers.This could potentially shake up what we know about the pyramids, Schrader tells BBC Science Focus. In the past, weve just assumed that the people who were buried in there were the elite, because we know that the pyramids were designed for elite people. That still holds true, but maybe there were others being buried in the pyramids as well.From past excavations, researchers know the names and roles of many individuals buried in Tombos. Roland Enmarch, an Egyptologist at theUniversity of Liverpool who wasnt involved in the study, says that many Egyptian pyramids from this period were built for high-status individuals who werent royalty. A map of the Tombos cemetery Journal of Anthropological ArchaeologyWere very much looking at the later half of Egyptian history, when more impressive non-royal tombs would often have a pyramid as part of the mud-brick superstructure of the tomb, he tells BBC Science Focus.Who, then, are the lower-class individuals buried with them? Researchers think they may have worked for the elites as servants. As Schrader tellsLive Sciences Owen Jarus, there are several possible explanations for why people in these groups were buried together.One theory is that Tombos elites wished to enforce class structures even in death. To this end, they may have imposed a hierarchical social order on the sacred landscape of the cemetery, per the study.Our thinking is that elites surrounded themselves with the non-elites who worked in some capacity for them, effectively replicating the social order with burials in and around their funerary monuments, co-authorStuart Tyson Smith, an anthropologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, tells Live Science.Smith adds that lower-class individuals may have favored these burial practices, too, hoping to benefit from associations with their employers in terms of status, magical protections and the funerary cult.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Africa, African History, Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Bones, Death, Egypt, History, New Research, Rituals and Traditions, Sudan, Wealth

Murphy, the Beloved Bald Eagle Foster Dad Who Went Viral for Incubating a Rock, Has Died Following Storms in MissouriThe 33-year-old raptor had parented two orphaned chicks since gaining international attention for sitting on a rock in 2023 In 2023, Murphy was incubating a rock when an orphaned eaglet arrived at the sanctuary in need of some fatherly love and care. World Bird SanctuaryFans are mourning the death of Murphy, the internet-famous bald eagle who became a foster dad in 2023 after trying to incubate a rock.Murphy was found dead in his enclosure at the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri, where he had lived for most of his life. A necropsy revealed the beloved bird had suffered a head injury, though veterinarians are not exactly sure what happened.They suspect his death may be related to the intense tornadoes and thunderstorms that swept through the area on March 14, killing at least 12 people in Missouri and causing widespread property damage. Keepers discovered Murphys body in his aviary the next morning, March 15.We are unable to determine if Murphy was spooked by something and hit his head while jumping off a perch or if wind and precipitation played a part in the injury, according to a statement the sanctuary posted on social media.Another possibility is that Murphy was hit in the head by a piece of hail, reports the New York Times Livia Albeck-Ripka.Murphy had lived through countless storms in the past, and he had access to shelter during the recent severe weather event, according to the sanctuarys post. Adding to the mystery is the fact that his three aviary mates are alive and in good health, and the aviary itself did not sustain any damage during the storms.Officials with the sanctuary said they did not evacuate any birds, because the facility was not in the path of any tornadoes.While we do everything that we can to keep our birds safe, accidents outside of our control can happen, according to the statement.Murphy lived to be 33, which surpassed the 15- to 25-year lifespan of wild bald eagles. He first came to the sanctuary in the mid-1990s with a broken leg and was released after receiving medical care. He later returned with a broken wing that rendered him incapable of flying.Since this injury meant he could not be returned to the wild, Murphy spent the rest of his life at the sanctuary, which is located about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis. Across 305 acres of forested land, the facilitys hospital cares for more than 650 injured raptors each year and provides a home for more than 200 animals.In March 2023, Murphys behavior started attracting some attention. The eagle carefully constructed a nest on the ground in his enclosurethen began diligently incubating a rock, since he did not have an egg. To alert visitors that Murphy was OK, the sanctuary posted a sign that read: Murphy is not hurt, sick or otherwise in distress. He has built a nest on the ground and is very carefully incubating a rock. We wish him the best of luck!The sign went viral, making Murphy an international bird celebrity. Then, the sanctuarys keepers heard about a young eaglet that had fallen from its nest. Given Murphys earnest dedication to the rock, they gave him the chance to become a foster dadthey replaced the rock with the baby bird.He was sitting on a rock and everybody told him, Its a rock, its not going to hatch, Dawn Griffard, former CEO of World Bird Sanctuary, told theWashington Posts Praveena Somasundaram at the time. And all of a sudden, in his mind, it hatched, and he has a chick.After a slow and careful introduction process, Murphy and the eaglet, named Rocky, began to bond. Thanks in part to Murphys fatherly love and care, Rocky was successfully released into the wild on July 7, 2023.In April 2024, caretakers gave Murphy a second foster eaglet, which he parented with the same gusto. That young bird is expected to be released sometime this summer, according to the sanctuary.Murphy is the only bald eagle that has ever fostered a chick at the sanctuary, which does not often receive eaglets. But staffers learned so much from watching Murphy care for the two chicks that theyve designed an aviary specifically for the needs of eaglets. They plan to name it Murphys Manor in his honor.In the social media statement, the sanctuary thanked Murphy for his resilience, spirit and dedication. By caring for Rocky, the bird touched the hearts of millions of people throughout the world and brought daily joy to thousands of fans.In recent days, the sanctuary has received hundreds of emails, letters, cards and social media tributes to Murphy, per the Washington Posts Jonathan Edwards.We could not have asked for a better ambassador and role model, according to the statement. We are devastated by this loss and know that the community mourns with us.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Baby Animals, Birds, Death, Internet, Land Birds, Wildlife, Zoology

A wax writing tablet with a stylus London MuseumLondon is a city of layers, where shining skyscrapers are built atop some of the citys oldest ancient sites. Recent excavations, such as aRoman basilica unearthed in Londons financial district, exemplify the citys rich history.For many years, however, there were few protocols for the preservation or proper excavation of artifacts. We used to have to beg to get on site,Sophie Jackson, an archaeologist at theMuseum of London Archaeology (MOLA), tells theGuardians Zoe Williams.But things have changed, as companies that once saw archaeological sites as hindrances have begun to embrace discoveries beneath the footprints of their soaring office towers.One of those companies is Bloomberg, a financial media firm that commissioned archaeologists from MOLA to excavate beneath the site of its new European headquarters in London between 2012 and 2014. They found tens of thousands of well-reserved Roman artifacts.Now, 14,000 of those findsalong with a roughly $26 million donationare heading to theLondon Museum, a revitalized collection of the citys rich past poised to open a new flagship location in 2026, according to astatement. Many of them will be on public view for the first time ever.Sharon Ament, the museums director, calls Bloombergs donation a momentous gift that ties the past to the future and which will be a lasting legacy for London, per the statement.Aside from the money, which is set to help the London Museum transform aVictorian-era meat market into its new exhibition space, the collection of Roman artifacts is the largest donation of archaeological material the museum has ever received.The site where the artifacts were discovered was a third-centuryC.E. temple dedicated toMithras, a deity who gained cult-like worship in the Roman Empire. The London Museum's sweeping collections will soon occupy a renovated Victorian-era meat market in central London. London MuseumIn the 1950s, when the temple in central London was first unearthed, it garnered widespread attention, with curious onlookers lining up for blocks to see the ancient history beneath their feet.However, the archaeological methods at the time were pretty haphazard, per the Guardian. Workers would simply take artifacts out of the ground and hand them over to their superiors with little regard for provenance or preservation.For decades, the site was only partially excavated, for fear that further digging would disturb anearby church built by famed architectChristopher Wren.We knew that in the layer underneath, that they hadnt dug into, a lot of material would have survived, Jackson tells the Guardian. The site was especially fortunate to be near the waterlogged course of theWalbrook, a lost underground river whose muddy conditions helped protect organic materials from decay. Archaeologists with the Museum of London Archaeology unearth a Roman woven basket. Museum of London ArchaeologyWhen Bloomberg took over the site in the 2010s, archaeologists finally had a chance to tap into that layer with modern excavation methods. The results were stunning.Among the well-preserved finds now heading to the London Museum are leather goods, jewelry, ceramics, pottery, animal bones and around 750 pairs of shoes from the first century C.E.The collection also features 400 writing tabletswooden frames surrounding black wax that carried messages, notes and business transactions. Dated to between 50 and 80 C.E., the tablets are among the earliest examples ofRoman cursive, a style of handwriting, discovered in Britain, perArtnets Richard Whiddington.One tablet, for instance, dated to 57 C.E., was a financial document. They were amazing bureaucrats, the Romans, Jackson tells the Guardian. And its nice for Bloomberg, isnt it? A Roman pottery vessel unearthed at the site London MuseumOther tablets contained key information about citizens of Roman London, including previously unknown names and social gossip.The archaeologists also recovered about 70,000 pieces of Roman pottery, including imports from Gaul that hint at Londons role as a business hub. Other pieces are decorated with cult symbols for the worship of Mithras, who was known for hisritual slaying of a bull.Animal bones, which bear the trace of every tool mark, every nick made by a butchers knife, also provide new insights into the agricultural and culinary practices of ancient London,Alan Pipe, an archaeologist at MOLA, tells the Guardian.When the London Museum opens next year, it will have more than seven million objects in its collections, according to theArt Newspapers Gareth Harris, making it one of the largest archaeological archives on the planet.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Artifacts, British History, Cool Finds, Cultural Preservation, England, History, London, Museums

These Are the 20 Happiest Countries in the WorldFinland took the top spot in this years World Happiness Report, while the United States dropped to its lowest ranking yet A busy street inHelsinki, Finland peeterv via Getty ImagesWant to know the secret to happiness? Just ask the residents of Finland, which has been crowned the worlds happiest country for the eighth straight year.Finland once again took the top spot on theWorld Happiness Report, an annual ranking based on survey responses from the residents of more than 140 countries.Now in its 13th year, the report is created in partnership between Gallup, the University of Oxfords Wellbeing Research Center, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.It uses data from Gallup World Poll surveys, which ask individuals to rate their lives from zero to ten, with zero being the worst possible life and ten being the best. This scale is known as a Cantril ladder.The report also uses six key variables to try to explain the global variations in happiness: gross domestic product (GDP), life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption.In Finland, people are not happy, joyful, dancing in the streets type people, but they are very content with their lives, saysJan-Emmanuel De Neve, an economist at the University of Oxford and the director of its Wellbeing Research Center, toFortunes Alexa Mikhail.Theyre wealthy, theyre healthy, have social connections, social support [and] a connection with nature, he adds.All four of the top spots went to Nordic countries: Behind Finland, the report lists Denmark, Iceland and Sweden as the next happiest countries. A little lower on the list, Norway ranks seventh.These Nordic nations continue to benefit from universally available and high-quality health, education and social support systems, says Ilana Ron-Levey, managing director at Gallup, to CNNs Marnie Hunter. Inequality of wellbeing is also low.Beyond institutional social support systems, experts say residents of these countries care about one another. Studies have found that individuals living in Nordic nations are more likely to return lost wallets to their owners.People trust each other in Finland and on many levels in the society, we try to support each other, Alexandra Peth, a resident of Helsinki, tells Kirsten Grieshaber and Kostya Manenkov of theAssociated Press. The system makes it kind of that you can trust it somehow.Meanwhile, the United States dropped to its lowest ranking yet in the annual report. This year, America came in 24th, down from its peak at 11th on the 2012 list.One reason? Loneliness. In 2023, roughly a quarter of Americans reported eating alone during all meals on the previous day, which represents a 53 percent increase from 2003. Young people, in particular, are dining alone more often, according to the report.Overall, Americans under the age of 30 are feeling less supported by friends and family, less free to make life choices and less optimistic about their living standards, Ron-Levey tellsCNBCs Celia Fernandez.So-called deaths of despair (due to suicide or substance abuse) are also rising in America, though theyre declining in most other countries, the report finds.Costa Rica and Mexico, meanwhile, both made it into the top ten for the first time. Residents of those countries have strong social bonds, which is also reflected in the high number of meals they eat together.It is not because of high GDP and the highest life expectancy, De Neve tells Fortune. They do spend time dining and lunching with others, having friends, and [their time is] not all cannibalized by social media, and so we picked this up in the data.Though each country is different, everyone can help improve the worlds collective happiness by putting on a rosier set of glasses when interacting with others, John Helliwell, a founding editor of the World Happiness Report, tells CNN.Negativity is poisonous to happiness, he adds.The happiest countries in the world1. Finland2. Denmark3. Iceland4. Sweden5. Netherlands6. Costa Rica7. Norway8. Israel9. Luxembourg10. Mexico11. Australia12. New Zealand13. Switzerland14. Belgium15. Ireland16. Lithuania17. Austria18. Canada19. Slovenia20. Czech RepublicGet the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Emotions, New Research, Psychology

Getting Annoyed at Your Noisy Neighbor? Spiders Are, Too. New Research Finds Theyll Build Webs Differently in Loud ConditionsIn lab experiments, spiders changed how they constructed their webs in noisy environments, and rural and urban spiders responded differentlyRudy MolinekReporterMarch 25, 2025 1:56 p.m. A funnel-web spider patrols its web, waiting to detect the vibration of unsuspecting prey. Rolf Nussbaumer via Getty ImagesLiving in a city can be a noisy existence. Long-time residents grow used to the cacophony,but the buzz of traffic, wail of sirens, hum of air conditioners and bustle of people at all hours could be enough to drive a newcomer up the wall. That experience, a new study finds, is also true for some spiders.Researchers compared spiders from rural and urban environments and found they change how they build their webs when exposed to noisy conditionsbut a spiders coping strategy varied based on its past sound exposure, according to their paper published this month in Current Biology.Urban and rural spiders are reacting differently when theyre put into a noisy environment, Brandi Pessman, a biologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and lead author of the study, says in astatement. This means that spiders with different experiences with noisewhether they themselves experienced it or their mothers passed it down to them across generationsrespond differently.The team focused on the Pennsylvania grass spider(Agelenopsis pennsylvanica), a quarter-sized arachnid thats widespread across North America. Also known as funnel-weaving spiders, these creatures build tapered, tube-shaped webs that arent sticky. They wait until unsuspecting prey enters the funnel before quickly moving to bite and immobilize their meal.This technique depends on the spider being able to instantaneously detect the vibration when an insect has bumped into its web. Any outside noise could make that harder.They really rely on those accurate vibrations to determine where the prey is, what the prey is and whether to attack, Pessman tells the New York TimesSpider Webs Transmit Vibrations Like Guitar StringsWatch on The researchers collected spiders from both urban and rural settings, then brought them back to the lab. There, they placed the spiders in containers outfitted with speakers that played either loud or quiet sounds for four days. At the end of the experiment, they analyzed the webs by applying vibrations and seeing how the spider silk responded.Under loud conditions, the spiders from urban areas had woven webs that dampened the applied vibrations, while rural spiders amplified them instead.Essentially, city spiders responded to noise by soundproofingtheir webs seemingly muffled the sounds of the environment. Those webs, overall, sent fewer vibrations to the spider. While this adaptation might also block out the sounds of potential mates or some prey, per the New York Times, it also could allow the city spiders to pick up on nearby prey without becoming overstimulated.Meanwhile, rural spiders that werent used to the din reacted by making their webs more sensitive to try to detect prey amid the constant noise. For the spiders from out of town, it was like turning the volume up to better hear the radio while running a blender.Rural spiders are not used to as much noise in their environment, Pessman says in the statement. When they suddenly get a lot of noise, they might try to turn up the volume in their webs or amplify whats coming in to better hear certain signals above the noise.The researchers still arent sure how exactly the spiders make these changes in their webs, and they plan to explore the mechanisms in future studies using videos and tracking software. For now, they suspect it could have something to do with placement of anchor points, tension on the silk or the overall structure of the web.This isnt the first time scientists have investigated how spiders respond to noise or tested the sensitivity of their webs to vibrations. In 2017, a study foundpopulations of spiders and other insects drop around noisy natural gas compressors, and last year, researchers turned to spider webs to try to create a more sensitive microphone.As Beth Mortimer, a biologist at the University of Oxford in England who was not involved in the new study, tells the New York Times, the vibration sense tends to be the forgotten sense in the natural world.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, arachnids, Biology, Conservation, Discoveries, Insects, Nature, New Research, spiders

Carlyn KrankingAssistant Editor, Science and InnovationFrom a clever fox to a roaring deer, the images honored in this years British Wildlife Photography Awards contest capture the beauty in the natural worldeven amid the hustle and bustle of city streets.The competition offers a crucial reminder of what value our woodlands, wetlands and other ecosystems still hold, according to a statement about the 2025 winners, announced last week.This year, the competition received more than 13,000 images, which were judged in ten categories in the adult contest and three age groups for youth photographers. Amateur and professional photographers alike vied for a 3,500 (about $4,500) prize.The British Wildlife Photography Awards continues to showcase the extraordinary beauty and diversity of Britains natural world, says Will Nicholls, director of the contest. We hope this collection inspires others to appreciate, respect and safeguard the wildlife that makes Britain so unique.All winners are published on the contests website and in a coffee table book. Heres a selection of 15 stunning images commended by the judges.Urban Explorer by Simon Withyman A female fox wanders through the urban landscape of Bristol, England. This image earned the grand prize and won the urban wildlife category. Simon Withyman / British Wildlife Photography AwardsPhotographer Simon Withyman tracked this female fox across Bristol, England, for more than three years, and over that time, he came to know her behavior. She was a successful mother, adept at snatching rodents and birds as well as scavenging leftovers in the city to feed her young. The vixen moved around a lot, which meant she could survive the urban hazards, including roads and the domains of other foxes.Withyman lost track of her for about 18 months, he writes on Instagram, but relocated her far from her original territory. After capturing this picture in 2023, he stopped seeing this fox. I hope shes still out there somewhere, maybe raising another set of cubs, he adds on Instagram.The photograph earned him the contests grand prize and the title of British Wildlife Photographer of the Year.Bus Pass by Paul Goldstein A swan sitting in front of a passing bus in Mitcham, England, earned second place in the urban wildlife category. Paul Goldstein / British Wildlife Photography AwardsHere, for a moment, a swan rests against a busy road, with a bus passing by. But this bird is a vigilant dad, keeping watch over his family in a nearby South London pond. Photographer Paul Goldstein had watched the mated pair for years as they raised baby cygnets each spring, and he knew this dad to be aggressivedriving away all other birds except for ducks as he looked out for his young.To capture this photo, Goldstein got up early and waded into the thick mud of the pond, with the water up to his knees. Getting into position was difficult enough, he writes on Instagram, but combining it with a London bus and employing a slow shutter speed made it even more tricky, but also strangely satisfying.Butterfly Face-off by John Waters A pair of speckled wood butterflies spars for territory. This photograph won the animal behavior category. John Waters / British Wildlife Photography AwardsCome springtime, male speckled wood butterflies will look for a patch of sunlight in their forest and defend it from any intruders. These face-offs usually result in a pair of males spiraling high into the treetops during their chase.Wildlife photographer and videographer John Waters saw a pair of butterflies chasing each other just about five feet off the groundclose enough for him to get some tight action shots. In capturing this image, Waters got extremely lucky, he says in a statementit shows the instant one of the butterflies has spun around to face its pursuer.The Rain-Deer by Paul Browning Appearing in a landscape that looks as though it were painted in watercolor, a male red deer roars in the rain. This photograph was the runner-up in the animal behavior category. Paul Browning / British Wildlife Photography AwardsRain could easily spoil a planned day of photography, but when the sky opened up on Paul Browning and his friends as they were deer-watching in a park in South England, he didnt cover up his camera.Instead I saw the perfect opportunity to capture the pouring rain using a slower shutter speed than usual, hoping one of the stags would put on a show with a roar, he says in a statement. And this was that moment.Browning had spent a lot of time with the red deer that fall, as it was the animals breeding season known as the rut. During this period, males compete for desirable territory, which will attract females. This often results in a showdown of bellowing and roaring.Hare in Motion by David Tipling Artfully blurred, this photograph of a running hare in Norfolk, England, won the animal portraits category. David Tipling / British Wildlife Photography AwardsAs it bounds across a field, a hares legs and body blur against the green backdrop, its head in crisp focus. Photographer David Tipling slowed down his cameras shutter speed and panned along with the running hare to create this effect of movement.His shot was inspired by a linocut print of a running hare by the late artist Robert Gillmor. I thought it would be interesting to recreate this piece of art in a photograph, he says in a statement. It took many attempts, photographing hares as they moved up and down a field of winter wheat, but I finally achieved this image of a hare in motion.Red Grouse Coming in to Land by Ben Hall A red grouse flies in for a landing at Yorkshire Dales National Park in England. This was the runner-up in the animal portraits category. Ben Hall / British Wildlife Photography AwardsBen Hall had focused his camera on a male red grouse feeding on heather in the uplands of Yorkshire, England. That moment was one among several that he had spent photographing these rotund, chicken-like creatures. But suddenly, movement caught his attention, and he noticed another bird flying in for a landing.With just enough time to reposition myself, I managed to capture the moment it landed on the heather with its wings outstretched, says the photographer in a statement.Streetlit Snowdrop by Jacob J. Watson-Howland A single snowdrop flower is lit by a city streetlight in Canterbury, England. It took first place in the botanical Britain category. Jacob J. Watson-Howland / British Wildlife Photography AwardsThe snowdrop flower may look fragile, but its built to withstand the harsh temperatures of winter. These blossoms are among the first to appear, sometimes when snow still blankets the earth. Their leaves have tough, hard tips that can break through frozen ground, and their cells contain proteins that act as a natural antifreeze to weather the cold.This image, taken under a city streetlight with a slow shutter speed, highlights the snowdrops resilience and unique adaptations to Britains unpredictable and changing climate, photographer Jacob J. Watson-Howland says in a statement.Guillemot Kingdom by Mark Kirkland Sea birds called guillemots dive into the water off the coast of St. Abbs, Scotland. This shot won the black and white category. Mark Kirkland / British Wildlife Photography AwardsIn an Instagram post last year, photographer Mark Kirkland described the guillemot (also known as the common murre) as an interesting wee bird that is quite happy to plunge into the depths to inspect divers. For that reason, the species is a favorite among underwater photographers.Kirkland traveled by boat to the cliffs of the Berwickshire coast in Scotland, where these roughly duck-sized birds gather seasonally. The guillemots are often drawn to divers, he says in a statement. It is believed they mistake the rising bubbles for their primary food sourceshoals of tiny sand eels, which also glitter in the sun.Blue Shark by Nicholas More This image of a blue shark took first place in the coast and marine category. Nicholas More / British Wildlife Photography AwardsSome 10 to 15 miles off the coast of Penzance in southern England, Nicholas More came face-to-face with this blue shark, a summer visitor to the United Kingdom. Using a slow shutter speed, he captured the bold and curious species.As apex predators, [blue sharks] are highly vulnerable to long-line fishing and, with no catch limits or quotas, are overexploited for their finds in the production of shark fin soup, More says in a statement. These beautiful oceanic animals deserve our protection.Kingdom of the Hare by Drew Buckley In the highlands of Scotland, a mountain hare shelters from the wind. This image won the habitat category. Drew Buckley / British Wildlife Photography AwardsA single mountain hare sits in a snowy landscape, hunkering down amid the cold wind. Photographer Drew Buckley hiked through deep snow in Scotlands Monadhliath Mountains to reach this viewpoint.Mountain hares dont live in burrows, but they take shelter in depressions in the ground called forms. This one stayed still in its form, the photographer says in a statement, perfectly adapted to its winter landscape.Roosting Dragons by Daniel Trim Dragonflies climb up a plant in preparation to be warmed by the first rays of morning sun. This photo won the hidden Britain category. Daniel Trim / British Wildlife Photography AwardsWhen dragonflies gather in Englands Ham Wall Nature Reserve, the morning hours offer a unique glimpse into their behavior. If you arrive early enough, you can witness them roosting in the reeds in impressive groups, photographer Daniel Trim says in a statement. As the sun rises, they climb higher to be warmed by its rays, which bathe this scene in an orange glow.To capture this image, Trim used an in-camera double exposure, with one frame focused sharply on the insects and another frame blurring the scene with a soft focus. He snagged this shot during the panic of not knowing where to point my lens, he writes on Instagram.Storm Light Over the Caledonian Forest by James Roddie The sun casts a natural spotlight on a small grove of trees amid the darkness of a storm in the Scottish highlands. This image won the wild woods category. James Roddie / British Wildlife Photography AwardsJames Roddie had never photographed at this site before, but he knew stormy weather often created gorgeous scenes in the Scottish highlands. Here, in Glen Strathfarrar, he felt drawn to the old Scots pine trees.Braving heavy rain, I waited patiently, hoping for the right moment. My patience was rewarded when a sudden burst of light illuminated the trees perfectly, with a rainbow forming behind thema fleeting but magical scene, Roddie says in a statement.Curlew OClock! by Jamie Smart A Eurasian curlew stands among dandelions in the morning light. This photograph won the Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year award and the category for photographers ages 11 and under. Jamie Smart / British Wildlife Photography AwardsThe Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year is just 9 years oldJamie Smart earned the title for her image of a Eurasian curlew among dandelions. She woke up at 1 a.m. and rode four hours to get to this site in Wiltshire, England, in the early morning. She was positioned with her camera out a car window when she heard the birds call.I scanned the area to try to find where they were and found this one wading through the dandelions just in front of me, Smart says in a statement. It was just after sunrise, and the morning light caught the dandelion clocks and lit them up like little fuzzy lamps everywhere.And Take OffGannets at Bass Rock by Kiran Simpson A northern gannet flies at Bass Rock, Scotland. The image won the category for 12- to 14-year-old photographers. Kiran Simpson / British Wildlife Photography AwardsOn his 13th birthday, Kiran Simpson traveled to Bass Rock, Scotland, where thousands of northern gannets had gathered.I was fortunate enough to capture a particularly special moment: A shard of light pierced through the cliffs just as a gannet was flying off to fish, the young photographer says in a statement. It made for a magical scene.Street Cleaners by Ben Lucas Opportunistic pigeons approach a bag of fries left on a street in Essex, England. This image won the category for 15- to 17-year-old photographers. Ben Lucas / British Wildlife Photography AwardsPhotographer Ben Lucas, 17 years old, noticed a bag of French fries abandoned on the street in his local shopping area. He knew it wouldnt be long before some pigeons started poking around it for a snack. Grabbing the small GoPro he had on hand, Lucas situated the camera within the bag, then moved a short distance away, remaining close enough to be able to trigger the shutter with a voice command.I was sitting there with cold, greasy chip fingers behind a bench shouting at a camera inside a chip packet to take photos in the middle of the street, the photographer wrote on Instagram last year. Possibly the most embarrassing time of my life, but I think it was worth it.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Birds, Cities, Conservation, England, Insects, Mammals, Nature Photography, Photographers, Photography, Scotland, Sharks, teens

Early avocado farmers left a lasting mark on the development of agriculture. Safaritravelplus via Wikimedia Commons under CC0 1.0Thousands of years before avocados graced supermarket shelves or were spread across sourdough toast, they were once astaple in the diets ofground sloths,gomphotheres andtoxodons that roamed across Central America during the latePleistocene.These megafauna ate prehistoric avocados whole, spreading the pitsand, as a consequence, the fruitsacross the region. But then, some 12,000 years ago, these massive mammals wentextinct, leaving avocados with an uncertain future.Thats where humans come in. According to a new study published in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, humans in Central America were consuming wild avocados roughly 11,000 years ago.To discover how avocado farmers left a lasting mark on the development of early agriculture, archaeologists studied preserved pits and rinds, charting subtle changes in the size and shape of the fruit over thousands of years.Our work shows that Indigenous farmers selected bigger and thicker-skinned avocados through time that made these nutritious fruits more productive and easier to transport, co-author Doug Kennett, an environmental archaeologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, says in astatement.These intentionally selected characteristics promoted their widespread use in Central and South America that set the stage for their global economic importance today, he adds. Researchers excavate the El Gigante Rockshelter in Honduras. Ken Hirth / UC Santa BarbaraThe researchers case study centered aroundEl Gigante Rockshelter, a cave site in western Honduras thats known for its immaculately preserved plant remains, accumulated over thousands of years of human use.For decades, archaeologists have sifted through this long-term trash pile to get a better sense of how and when humans switched from foraging to farming, co-author Amber VanDerwarker, an anthropologist at the university, tells theNew York Times Cara Giaimo.VanDerwarker and her fellow researchers used radiocarbon dating to arrange discarded avocado pits and rinds into chronological order to see if any cultivation patterns emerged.They found that the oldest pits from El Gigante were small, and the rinds were just scraps. At first, humans were just picking wild fruits from their trees as they need[ed] to, VanDerwarker tells the Times.But avocado remains from around 7,500 years ago tell a different story. Pits became consistently larger, and skins became thicker. Humans, it appears, began intentionally cultivating avocados by pruning trees to encourage larger fruits to grow.Around 4,500 years ago, rind thickness surpassed the natural variations found in the avocado remains, an indicator that people had started saving seeds and planting their own trees, VanDerwarker adds. The growing size of pits shows how humans cultivated larger avocados over time. Thomas Harper / UC Santa BarbaraFull-blown avocado farming had begun. These people literally domesticated their forests, VanDerwarker tells a Forbes contributor who goes by Grrl Scientist.The consequences of this discovery are widespread, not only for the history of avocados but also for understanding which crops played a significant role in the development of early agriculture.According to a 2017study of El Gigante, maize was domesticated in Honduras 4,300 years ago. As VanDerwarker says in the statement, that means that El Gigante residents had already domesticated avocados by the time maize arrived in the region, complicating the narrative that grains and animals were some of the first food sources domesticated by prehistoric Mesoamericans.This completely alters our understanding of Mesoamerican agriculturetraditionally seen as maize transforming foragers into farmers upon its arrival to a new location, she adds.Instead, by the time maize arrived in this part ofMesoamerica, Indigenous farmers already understood the whole notion of planting seeds and managing growth, VanDerwarker tells Forbes. Scientists are worried about the lack of genetic diversity among modern avocado crops. Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsThis research may help scientists learn to manage crop cultivation more sustainably. Ninety percent of the modern avocado industry is dominated by theHass avocado, a variety primarily grown through cloned populations. Thats a risky endeavor in an era of unprecedented climate unpredictability, VanDerwarker says in the statement.In contrast, the seedling cultivation methods used at El Gigante helped preserve genetic diversity and allowed avocado trees to adapt to changing landscapes and climatic conditions.As VanDerwarker tells the Times, I think people have probably been eating guacamole now for a good 10,000 years. To keep eating guacamole for the next 10,000, it might be time to learn from the avocados past.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Agriculture, Archaeology, Central America, Farming, Food, Food History, Food Science, History, New Research