In medieval and Renaissance society and culture, celestial events were not mere spectacles in the sky. Rather, they were omens, predictors of the future, and windows into the workings of the universe.
Astronomy
Apr 2, 2024
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Throughout the thousand-year reign of the Roman Empire, disparate populations began to connect in new ways—through trade routes, economic and political collaboration, and joint military endeavors. Now, an international ...
Archaeology
Jan 31, 2024
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Increasingly, more people worldwide are living in cities. By the year 2050, it is projected that two-thirds of the global population will reside in urban areas. Living closely together in relatively small spaces offers advantages ...
Environment
Nov 30, 2023
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Demons today are characterized in horror movies like "The Ring," "The Conjuring," and "The Exorcist" as paranormal entities—supernaturally powerful beings, with little relevance in reality. But in the medieval period, demons ...
Social Sciences
Nov 1, 2023
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Underwater forests known as kelp have been sustaining people and cultures for millennia. However, most of us are only vaguely aware of the vibrant masses of seaweed hugging the ocean shores around Earth. Furthermore, we don't ...
Ecology
Apr 22, 2023
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The COVID "lab leak" story clearly isn't going away soon. The theory that the pandemic began with an accidental release of the virus from a lab in Wuhan recurs like clockwork—most recently in a report from Senate Republicans ...
Social Sciences
Apr 21, 2023
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In medieval Europe, before the rise of oil paintings, fresco was a popular religious painting technique. Many artworks across Europe, hundreds of years old, utilize this method and constitute an important part of cultural ...
Analytical Chemistry
Jan 31, 2023
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Whatever disease killed Edward the Black Prince—heir apparent to the English throne in the mid 1300s, and heralded as the greatest English soldier ever to have lived—is unlikely to have been chronic dysentery, as is commonly ...
Archaeology
Dec 20, 2022
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In the middle ages, monks, nuns, and friars had it relatively easy. They lived quiet lives within friaries and monastic complexes, reading manuscripts, praying, and tending to gardens in which they grew their own food. They ...
Archaeology
Aug 21, 2022
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New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe—revealing that the rodent colonized the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods.
Paleontology & Fossils
May 3, 2022
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