June 19, 2020, marks the 155th anniversary of
Juneteenth — a mashup of June and nineteenth —
the oldest-known celebration commemorating the
end of slavery in the United States. It was on this
day in 1865 when the last American slaves — a
group of people in Texas — finally learned that
slavery had been abolished and that they were free.
Identifying the chemical makeup of pigments used
in ancient documents, paintings, and watercolors is
critical to restoring and conserving the precious
artworks. However, despite numerous efforts,
scientists had been unable to determine the source
of folium, a popular blue dye used to color
manuscripts in Europe during the middle ages — f...
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station
(ISS) are always thrilled to welcome new crew
members to the orbiting laboratory. However, the
May 31, 2020, arrival of NASA astronauts Robert
Behnken and Douglas Hurley on SpaceX's Endeavour
was particularly exciting. It was the first piloted
launch from American soil since the US Space Shut...
If you are looking for an excuse to indulge in a donut
or two, here is a perfect one. Friday, June 5, 2020, is
National Donut Day, which means it is your civic
duty to devour one — or even a dozen — of the fried
treats. Observed annually on the first Friday of June,
the yummy holiday was not established by donut
manufacturers to boost sales but by Salvation Arm...
The Sahara Desert, which encompasses over 3.6
million square miles of Northern Africa, is one of the
harshest and most inhospitable places on the planet
today. However, new research conducted by a team
of international paleontologists has found that
millions of years ago, the area was a lush green
oasis filled with a frightening line-up of ferocious c...
The negative health impacts of plastic on both
wildlife and humans have been well-documented.
However, the versatile material, which is used for
everything from grocery bags to drink bottles to
food packaging, is hard to avoid. Experts estimate
that of the 359 million tons of plastics produced
annually worldwide, about 150–200 million tons e...
Though considered a waste of time by some, sleep is
essential for the health and wellbeing of humans.
Over the years, researchers have found sleeping
allows the body to repair and restore cells, get rid of
irrelevant memories, and even help kids grow taller
and obtain better grades. Now, it appears that
snoozing for an average of 8 hours daily enables t...
When Robert Sullivan, a research associate at the
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
in Albuquerque, found some dinosaur bones in
67-million year-old Cretaceous rocks in New Mexico's
San Juan Basin, in 2008, he had little idea they
belonged to a new raptor species. More significantly,
the feathered dinosaur roamed southern North Am...
Earth Day, which is celebrated annually on April 22,
is usually commemorated with outdoor activities
demonstrating support for environmental protection.
These include planting trees, collecting roadside or
beach trash, and conducting, or participating in,
recycling and conservation programs.
