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☆ Missing Henry VIII portrait spotted on X by eagle-eyed historian
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —An art historian has identified a missing portrait of King Henry VIII after spotting it on social media. It showed a gathering at a reception in Warwick’s Shire Hall, where Warwickshire County Council is based. The distinctive frame was one of the features that helped identify the painting as the missing portrait of Henry VIII. His focus was on the background where, hanging on a wall, was what he suspected was a missing portrait of the Tudor monarch Henry VIII. In a telephone call with CNN, Busiakiewicz revealed that this was not the first discovery he had made thanks to social media.

Persons: King Henry VIII, Adam Busiakiewicz, Tim Cox, Warwickshire –, Henry VIII, Busiakiewicz wasn’t, Busiakiewicz, Aaron Manning, Ralph Sheldon, ”, ” Busiakiewicz, Sheldon, Henry Shaw, Joan Carlile, Manning, “ Adam, Aaron, Ralph Sheldon’s Organizations: London CNN, British, Weston, CNN, “, Warwickshire County Council, Hall, Museum Collections Locations: British, Warwickshire, English, Warwick’s Shire, Warwick's, Weston, Warwick’s

☆ Komodo dragons have iron-tipped teeth, new study shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Komodo dragons, the world’s largest species of lizard, have iron-tipped teeth that help them to rip their prey apart, according to new research. Komodo dragons are native to Indonesia and weigh around 80 kilograms (176 pounds) on average. LeBlanc analyzed teeth from museum collections as well as from a Komodo dragon named Ganus, which lived at London Zoo until it was euthanized last year. Analysis showed that iron was already present when the teeth erupted from the gum tissue, and was also present despite Ganus having a very different diet to wild Komodo dragons, he added. The findings may help us understand how carnivorous dinosaurs, which had curved, serrated teeth similar to Komodo dragons, would have killed and eaten their prey, LeBlanc said.

Persons: Charlotte Ellis, Aaron LeBlanc, LeBlanc, ” LeBlanc, ”, “, Ganus, Benjamin Tapley Organizations: London CNN, Zoological Society of London, King’s College London, CNN, King’s College London “, London Zoo Locations: London, Indonesia

☆ Fossils of ancient chromosomes found for the first time in 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth skin
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —A piece of woolly mammoth skin excavated from the Siberian permafrost has been found to contain fossil chromosomes in a first-of-its-kind discovery, according to a new study. The new study revealed that fossils of ancient chromosomes survive in this skin sample. But the DNA from elephants was also needed to assemble the mammoth genome. The researchers hope to use the findings to assemble the woolly mammoth genome completely. “This structural information provides insights into functions of the woolly mammoth genome that were invisible using previous genomic methods,” Heintzman said in an email.

Persons: ”, Erez Lieberman Aiden, Lieberman Aiden, Olga Dudchenko, Dudchenko, Elena Kizilova, Kevin Campbell, ” Campbell, ” Dudchenko, ” Aiden, “, Cynthia Pérez Estrada, ” Pérez Estrada, there’s, Adam Fotos “, Marcela Sandoval, Velasco, Pérez Estrada, Peter Heintzman, ” Heintzman, Dmitry Filatov, ” Filatov, ” Hendrik Poinar, Poinar Organizations: CNN, Baylor College of Medicine, Center, Theoretical, Rice University, of Cytology, University of Manitoba, Stockholm University, Houston Astros, Center for Genome Architecture, Baylor, Rice’s, University of Copenhagen, University of Oxford, McMaster University Locations: Belaya Gora, Siberia, Canada, Stockholm, Denmark, “, Sweden, paleogenomics, United Kingdom, Ontario

☆ 18 ancient Egyptian human skulls are being auctioned for $250 each, in a grim sale of colonial spoils
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewA British auction house has been criticized after listing 18 human skulls from ancient Egypt. But experts have raised objections, and have asked for a review of laws around the sale of human remains. This latest episode offers a window into the strange trade in human remains, which is legal in many places worldwide. The shrunken head problemVan Broekhoven has had to grapple with the issue of handling human remains in museum collections. The Pitt Rivers Museum has a collection of shrunken heads — some human — along with other human remains, which were taken off display in 2020.

Persons: —, Dan Hicks, Hicks, Augustus Henry Lane Fox, Pitt Rivers, Semley Auctioneers, Laura Van Broekhoven, Van Broekhoven, there's Organizations: Service, Business, Pitt Rivers Museum, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, Oxford University Locations: Egypt, Thebes, Benin, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt, Indonesian

☆ Why the pioneering abstract painter Janet Sobel disappeared from the art world at the height of her fame
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Helen Stoilas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Edward C. Robison III/Courtesy The Menil CollectionSobel’s rise in the New York art scene was speedy — and short-lived. An untitled Sobel work, featuring totemic figured rendered in crayon and gouache on drawing pad paper. There’s a lot to still learn.”An untitled Sobel work, circa 1946. Courtesy the Museum of Modern Art/The Menil CollectionAn untitled Sobel work, circa 1946-1948. James Craven/Courtesy The Menil CollectionWhat the exhibition demonstrates above all is how innovative Sobel was, in both her media and methods of application.

Persons: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Janet Sobel, you’ve, Sobel, Edward C, Robison III, Sol Sobel, Sidney Janis, Janis, “ Janet Sobel, Clement Greenberg, Pollock, ” Greenberg, —, totemic, Paul Hester, Len Sobel —, — Sobel, Baruch, ” Len Sobel, Peggy Guggenheim, Guggenheim, Louise Bourgeois, Lee Krasner, Leonora Carrington, New Jersey —, Natalie Dupêcher, ” Dupêcher, Len Sobel, William Rubin, Rubin, Sobel —, Len Sobel’s, I’m, James Craven, …, ”, Dupêcher, “ Organizations: CNN, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Art Students League, Arts Club of Chicago, Brooklyn Daily, New, Puma, ”, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Art, Menil, Brooklyn, Pennsylvania Academy, Fine Arts, Guggenheim, EPA, of Modern Art, MoMA, San Diego Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Locations: New York, Paris, Brighton Beach , Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Washington ,, Houston —, Ukrainian, New Jersey, York, Manhattan, Venice, Perth Amboy, Plainfield , New Jersey, Ukraine, Bentonville , Arkansas, America

(AP) — Harvard University said it has removed human skin from the binding of a 19th century book about the afterlife that has been in its collections since the 1930s. Scientific analysis done in 2014 confirmed the binding was made of human skin, the university said. In its statement, Harvard said the library noted several ways in which its stewardship practices failed to meet its ethical standards. The removed skin is now in “secure storage at Harvard Library,” Anne-Marie Eze, Houghton Library associate librarian, said in the question-and-answer session. Harvard said the skin removal was prompted by a library review following a Harvard University report on human remains in its museum collections, released in 2022.

Persons: Des, ”, Arsène Houssaye, Ludovic Bouland, Harvard, Bouland, Thomas Hyry, ” Harvard, ” Anne, Marie Eze Organizations: — Harvard University, Houghton Library, Houghton, Harvard Library, Harvard University, “ Harvard Library, Harvard Museum Locations: CAMBRIDGE, French

☆ Harvard Removes Binding of Human Skin From Book in Its Library
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Jennifer Schuessler | Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of the roughly 20 million books in Harvard University’s libraries, one has long exerted a unique dark fascination, not for its contents, but for the material it was reputedly bound in: human skin. For years, the volume — a 19th-century French treatise on the human soul — was brought out for show and tell, and sometimes, according to library lore, used to haze new employees. In 2014, the university drew jokey news coverage around the world with the announcement that it had used new technology to confirm that the binding was in fact human skin. But on Wednesday, after years of criticism and debate, the university announced that it had removed the binding and would be exploring options for “a final respectful disposition of these human remains.”“After careful study, stakeholder engagement, and consideration, Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee concluded that the human remains used in the book’s binding no longer belong in the Harvard Library collections, due to the ethically fraught nature of the book’s origins and subsequent history,” the university said in a statement.

Persons: —, ” “ Organizations: “, Harvard Library, Harvard Museum Locations: Harvard

☆ Ancient reptile fossil revealed as a forgery
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A 280 million-year-old fossil thought to be a well-preserved specimen of an ancient reptile is largely a forgery, according to new research. The fossil appeared in book and article citations over the decades, but no one ever studied it in detail. A new, detailed analysis has revealed that the dark color of the fossil isn’t preserved genetic material — it’s just black paint covering a couple of bones and carved rock. When the specimen was discovered, researchers thought the fossil might provide a rare glimpse into reptilian evolution. It’s not the first time a fossil forgery has been uncovered, but Rossi said this particular style of forgery is unusual.

Persons: antiquus, ”, Valentina Rossi, ” Rossi, Rossi, Mariagabriella Fornasiero, Evelyn Kustatscher, It’s, Fabrizio Nestola, ” Nestola Organizations: CNN, University of Padua’s Museum of Nature, University College Cork, Museum of Nature, Tyrol Nature Museum, University Center, Museums, University of Padua Locations: Italian, Italy, Ireland, Tyrol, Bolzano

☆ Ancient DNA reveals genetic roots of multiple sclerosis and other diseases
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-11 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

These genetic variants may have subsequently proved beneficial to European populations in making the shift from hunting and gathering to farming. “DNA from hunter-gatherers is present at higher levels in Northeastern Europe, which means the region has an elevated genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” Barrie said. Similarly, the ancient genetic information shed light on the evolutionary history of traits such as height and lactose tolerance. And for most traits, MS included, the genetic effects are the result of multiple genetic variants,” he said. “Ultimately, we can’t say that MS came from Bronze Age populations, but these populations’ movements and environments contribute to differences in MS risk today.”

Persons: “, ”, Rasmus Nielsen, It’s, William Barrie, Astrid Iversen, ” Iversen, ε4, ” Barrie, Samira, Asgari, Tony Capra, Capra, wasn’t Organizations: CNN —, University of California, Danish National, University of Cambridge’s, University of Oxford, Icahn School of Medicine, Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute Locations: Western Europe, Central Asia, Europe, Berkeley, Kazakhstan, Northeastern Europe, Mount Sinai, New York, Bakar, San Francisco

☆ Researchers were surprised to discover a second fetus inside a 2,000-year-old mummy over 100 years after archeologists found it
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-10 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"This is the first mummy of its kind discovered," Francine Margolis, who led a study on the mummified remains, told LiveScience . She performed a CT scan on the mummified woman's remains to obtain pelvic measurements to confirm the cause of death. Margolis and George Washington University anthropologist David Hunt then examined X-rays of the remains and were surprised to see a second fetus, Margolis said. The second fetus' position inside the woman's chest cavity is also a mystery. The X-ray images showed researchers the second fetus more clearly than the CT scans.

Persons: —, Francine Margolis, LiveScience, Embalmers, Margolis, David Hunt, Hunt Organizations: Service, Business, Smithsonian Museum, George Washington University, of Osteoarchaeology, Osteoarchaeology, Smithsonian

☆ Swiss Museum in Financial Straits Sells Three Cézannes for $53 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Catherine Hickley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Three paintings by Paul Cézanne that a Swiss museum foundation said it had to sell to ward off insolvency fetched $52.5 million, with buyer’s fees, at a Christie’s auction in New York last night. Markus Stegmann, the director of the Museum Langmatt in Baden, said that after subtracting buyer’s fees, its parent foundation will reap 42.3 million Swiss francs from the sale of the three paintings, enough to keep the museum operating. The money will be used to create an endowment that will secure the museum’s future. It’s a relief.”The Foundation Langmatt’s decision to sell the Cézannes earned wide criticism before the auction. The Swiss branch of the International Council of Museums, which said the sale was a clear breach of its guidelines for de-accessioning from museum collections, called for the paintings to be withdrawn.

Persons: Paul Cézanne, Markus Stegmann, ” Stegmann, “ Organizations: International Council of Museums Locations: Swiss, New York, Baden

The museum this fall acquired tens of thousands of reptile and amphibian specimens from Oregon State University, many of which are snakes. The development places the university in a unique position, according to Schneider, the research museum collections manager for the museum's division of reptiles and amphibians. “I’m fairly confident we’ll have the largest snake collection in the world,” he said. The extensive new additions also will allow scientists to conduct new snake and amphibian research, perhaps looking at trait evolution in mothers and their offspring. The "largest snake collection" title would be nice, but Schneider said the true promise of a big collection is new research opportunities.

Persons: — Greg Schneider, Schneider, ”, Lynne Houck, Stevan Arnold, ” Schneider, “, Hernán, Dan Rabosky Organizations: University of Michigan Museum, Oregon State University, Oregon State, Michigan, Smithsonian, American Museum of, University of Kansas, Michigan's, Michigan's Department of Ecology, Museums Center Locations: Mich, U.S, Michigan, Washington, New York, Oregon, Michigan's Department

CHICAGO (AP) — After a stopover in the U.S. that lasted the better part of a century, a baroque landscape painting that went missing during World War II was returned to Germany on Thursday. Art Recovery International, a company focused on locating and recovering stolen and looted art, tracked down the elusive painting after a person in Chicago reached out last year claiming to possess a “stolen or looted painting” that their uncle brought back to the U.S. after serving in World War II. The painting has been missing since 1945 and was first reported stolen from the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich, Germany. It was added to the database of the German Lost Art Foundation in 2012, according to a statement from the art recovery company. “The crux of our work at Art Recovery International is the research and restitution of artworks looted by Nazis and discovered in public or private collections.

Persons: Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer, Christopher Marinello, Marinello, “, ” Marinello, ”, Bernd Ebert, ” Ebert, Lauterer, Ebert, ___ Savage Organizations: CHICAGO, FBI, Consulate, Recovery, Bavarian, Painting, Lost Art Foundation, Art Recovery, Chicago, Team, Alte, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: U.S, Germany, Chicago, Munich, Vienna, Bavarian

☆ The celestial phenomenon of October’s solar eclipse
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

A "ring of fire" can be seen around the moon during an annular eclipse visible from Chiayi in southern Taiwan on June 21, 2020. Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket/Getty ImagesSaturday’s annular solar eclipse will create a dazzling “ring of fire” across the Americas. Make sure you have certified eclipse glasses or solar viewers, and check out our tips to safely take in every aspect of the annular or partial eclipse, depending on where you are. Clouds may spoil the view for some, and the eclipse may even affect the weather, but never fear: NASA will share live streams from multiple locations within the path of the annular eclipse. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: it’s, Alberto Buzzola, Thyra, ”, Lisbeth, Erika Blumenfeld, Joseph Aebersold, REx, Dante Lauretta, Sriram Murali, Laurent Ballesta, Luke Skywalker, Jimmy Buffett, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, NASA, Viking, National Museum of Denmark, University of Arizona, London’s, Museum, Tiger, Wildlife, “ Star, Florida, CNN Space, Science Locations: Taiwan, United States, Oregon, Texas, Gulf, Nevada , Utah, New Mexico, California , Idaho , Colorado, Arizona, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Natal, Brazil, Denmark, Viking, Copenhagen, Norway, Tamil, California

☆ This rare female painter in Edo Japan was ‘coveted’ for her exquisite ink paintings
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But he laments the fact that Yukinobu — and other women artists from Japan — are not given more prominence beyond occasional inclusion in broad group shows. But she never signed her paintings, according to Kanō tradition, as Kanō Yukinobu. The Denver Art Museum alone has 13 imitations of Yukinobu paintings, and only one authentic work. A peony in the collection of MFA Boston (not on view), which holds several Yukinobu paintings. “There’s a core group of female scholars who are pursuing this (the study of Japanese women artists),” he explained.

Persons: Kiyohara Yukinobu, —, ”, Einor Cervone, Yukinobu, Benzaiten, Paul Berry, “, ” Berry, Kanō Tan’yū, Kusumi Morikage, Berry, Cervone, Yang Guifei, Tang, Xuanzong, it’s, Kiyohara, consort Yang Guifei, ” Cervone, Boston Berry, he’s, don’t, Picasso, I’m, It’s Organizations: CNN, Denver Art Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Miho Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Suntory Museum of Art, Women’s University Locations: Japan, Kyoto, New York, “, Tokyo, Shibuya, East Asia

☆ Abortion is ancient history and that matters today
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

This long view of abortion matters, according to Mary Fissell, a professor of the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. That’s because assumptions about how abortion was viewed in the past color present-day arguments about abortion rights. Abortion opponents portray the rights granted by Roe v. Wade and legal access to abortion as an historical aberration, according to Fissell, which is not accurate, historians say. Earliest references to abortionThe first written references to abortion are contained in an ancient Egyptian papyrus written about 3,500 years ago. For most of history, abortion has not been an issue about the fetus, like it is today, but rather about women’s behavior.

Persons: Mary Fissell, Roe, Wade, ”, Fissell, “, Dobbs, it’s, Lysistrata, Aristophanes, —, Lisa Briggs, Briggs, Pliny the Elder, ” Briggs, It’s, Maeve Callan, Callan, ’, Saint Brigid, Patrick, Brigid, Peter Morrison, God, ” Callan, “ quickening, Pope Sixtus V, Pope Gregory XIV Organizations: CNN, Johns Hopkins University, US, Jackson, Health Organization, Cranfield University, British Museum, “, Simpson College, AP, quicken Locations: United States, Dobbs v, Rome, Cyrene, Libya, Iowa, Medieval Ireland, Ireland, Leixlip, Kildare

☆ Quite a Tail: A Mouse Has Been Hiding Its Armor All This Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Asher Elbein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the spiny mouse’s body is full of secrets. Now, researchers have revealed another surprise in the journal iScience on Wednesday: Their tails are lined with osteoderms, or bony plates, making them only the second group of living mammals known to be equipped with underskin armor like an armadillo. X-rays of the mouse’s tail gave him pause: They reminded him of the lizards he had worked on for his Ph.D. But the only living mammals with known osteoderms were armadillos. “I know enough about osteoderms that it’s a fairly unknown thing for rodents to have them,” Dr. Stanley said.

☆ Fossils reveal butterfly 'tree of life' and origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The world’s largest butterfly tree of life is helping researchers determine where the winged insects originated when they first appeared on Earth about 100 million years ago. Scientists first uncovered in 2019 how this single shift to daytime activity served as the evolutionary turning point for all butterfly species. Together, the researchers collected DNA from nearly 2,300 species from 90 countries that represent all butterfly families. “We used multiple fossils for the study in order to calibrate particular parts of the tree,” Kawahara said. “Europe doesn’t have many butterfly species compared to other parts of the world, and the ones it does have can often be found elsewhere,” Kawahara said.

☆ Vivienne Westwood, influential fashion maverick, dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON— Vivienne Westwood, an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement, died Thursday at 81. Westwood’s eponymous fashion house announced her death on social media platforms, saying she died peacefully. Westwood’s fashion career began in the 1970s with the punk explosion, when her radical approach to urban street style took the world by storm. The name Westwood became synonymous with style and attitude even as she shifted focus from year to year. As her stature grew, she seemed to transcend fashion, with her designs shown in museum collections throughout the world.

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