That's Interesting
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An Animated Introduction to the Rosetta Stone, and How It Unlocked Our Understanding of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
28th March, 2024This 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
11th October, 2022When 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
14th September, 2022This 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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Sacred Trees in Japan
07th July, 2022Trees 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?
20th February, 2022Is 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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A History of Punk from 1976-78: A Free Online Course from the University of Reading
17th June, 2021From 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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