That's Interesting

  • An Animated Introduction to the Rosetta Stone, and How It Unlocked Our Understanding of Egyptian Hieroglyphs

    This animated video, created by Egyptologist Franziska Naether, explains “how scholars decoded the ancient message of the Rosetta Stone,” a painstaking process that took decades to complete. By the 1850s, philologists had unlocked the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs and, with them, the secrets of ancient Egyptian civilization.

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  • Found: a controversial painting hidden inside a painting by Vermeer

    When restoring a painting by Vermeer, conservators discovered an image of Cupid covered up by an additional layer of paint. The paint was removed, revealing the painting as the Dutch master had originally intended it. While this discovery settles old debates about the work, it also raises some new questions — like: who covered it up?

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  • The Midlife Crisis

    This paper documents a longitudinal crisis of midlife among the inhabitants of rich nations. Yet middle-aged citizens in our data sets are close to their peak earnings, have typically experienced little or no illness, reside in some of the safest countries in the world, and live in the most prosperous era in human history. This is paradoxical and troubling.

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  • What is Dance Activism?

    An aesthetic of resistance and a form of protest against racist ideologies, dance activism has become a meaningful part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

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  • Sacred Trees in Japan

    Trees provide many benefits, from clean air to carbon absorption. Some benefits are less measurable, however. In Japan, ancient trees and forests have long been valued for their cultural and spiritual significance.

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  • Is This $88 Portrait the Work of a 17th-Century Flemish Master?

    Is a portrait of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, ruler of 17th-century Antwerp – found inside a small London antique shop more than half a century ago – the work of the Flemish master Anthony van Dyck?

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  • The Most Lavish Mesopotamian Tomb Ever Found Belongs to a Woman

    Queen Pu-abi was buried in a vaulted stone burial chamber, her body adorned with an elaborate golden headdress, a beaded top, and a belt made of gold and precious stones.

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  • Museums of Beijing: Visiting every Museum in Beijing

    A collection of the best (and worst) museums in Beijing

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  • A Gallery of 1,800 Gigapixel Images of Classic Paintings

    See Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, Van Gogh’s Starry Night & Other Masterpieces in Close Detail

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  • A History of Punk from 1976-78: A Free Online Course from the University of Reading

    From Matthew Worley, professor of modern history at the University of Reading, comes the free online course Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-78. Worley is also the author of the book, No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture.

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