The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.
Standing in the middle of a field, we can easily forget that we live on a round planet. We’re so small in comparison to the Earth that from our point of view, it looks flat.
The…
The Bayeux Tapestry, an enormous length of embroidered cloth depicting events culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, has long been a mystery, but the once-forgotten artwork might have finally found its place.
While it’s almost…
Generations of ancient, solitary bees made a home within the tooth holes of a fossilized jawbone, which was recently uncovered in a cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
It’s the first time we’ve ever seen ancient bees taking up…
Every fall, squirrels stash thousands of nuts and other snacks in preparation…
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s U.S. embassy, rejected the notion that Chinese investments were violating people’s rights. In an email, Liu said the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, the umbrella for its overseas infrastructure…
In the mid-1950s, scientist Winston Price identified a virus responsible for the common cold.
Price dubbed his discovery the ‘JH virus’ in honor of his employer (Johns Hopkins University), and set out to find a vaccine that would protect…
In 1914, former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt was traveling in Brazil when locals set up a demonstration of sorts. They had barricaded a shoal of piranhas in part of a river and then starved the fish for days. While Roosevelt watched from the…
Throughout the last century, the Vikings have been depicted in so many inaccurate ways. They were male-dominated, brutal, homogenous, and, of course, they wore the infamous horned helmet. In reality, things were much less dramatic and, well,…
