Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 11, 2019

The First Cave Art from the Balkans May Date Back 30,000 Years

Inside of a cave overlooking the blue-green waters of Croatia's northern coast, archaeologists have found wall paintings that date back to the Upper Paleolithic period. While prehistoric cave art is plentiful in western Europe, the discovery marks the first time cave art of this age has been documented in the...

Apr 15, 2019

Leonardo Da Vinci Was Ambidextrous, Handwriting Analysis Shows

Leonardo da Vinci was left-handed, but he was equally adept at writing and painting with his right hand, new evidence from one his earliest known works has revealed. Experts with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OPD), an art conservation and research institution in Florence, Italy, conducted diagnostic surveys of a...

May 22, 2019

Hereditary Rule Wreaked Havoc in 'Game of Thrones' — and in Medieval Europe

(Spoiler Alert! This article contains information about the last episode of Game of Thrones.) After eight seasons, the epic Game of Thrones TV series finally resolved the question of who will reign — with an unexpected twist. Bran the Broken Stark rolled into position as the new monarch of the...

May 26, 2019

Why does the letter 'S' look like an 'F' in old manuscripts?

If you've ever had the pleasure of looking at a centuries-old manuscript, like an original handwritten copy of the U.S. Bill of Rights or a first-edition printing of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, you may have stumbled over an unfamiliar letter: the long s. To modern readers, the long...

Jun 4, 2019

Godzilla Grew 30 Times Faster Than Any Organism on Earth. Here's Why.

If Godzilla were a real creature, his incredibly rapid growth spurt on the big screen would be off the charts, even setting evolutionary records, a new report finds. When the dinosaur-like monster debuted on the silver screen in 1954, he stood a towering 164 feet (50 meters) tall. Now, 35...

Jun 17, 2019

Did Van Gogh Shoot Himself? Auction of Pistol Reignites Debate.

The auction of a pistol said to have been used by the painter Vincent van Gogh to shoot himself has reignited a debate about who actually pulled the trigger: Did Van Gogh commit suicide, or was he shot by someone else? The gun will be auctioned in France on Wednesday...

Jun 26, 2019

'Lost' Caravaggio Painting Worth $170 Million Bought Before Auction — But Is It Authentic?

A previously unknown Caravaggio painting that was found just a few years ago was expected to fetch up to $170 million at auction this week — but it never made it to the auction block. Instead, an unnamed buyer quietly purchased the painting yesterday (June 25) before the June 27...

Aug 15, 2019

Hidden Painting Under da Vinci Masterpiece Revealed with New Imaging

Researchers have uncovered new details of a hidden image buried within Leonardo da Vinci's painting The Virgin of the Rocks. Back in 2005, imaging revealed the painting — which shows the virgin Mary, baby Jesus and baby Saint John the Baptist — nearly had a different composition, according to The...

Sep 12, 2019

What Was the Enlightenment?

While the Enlightenment of the late 17th and 18th centuries was a time when science blossomed and revolutions in the United States and France occurred, it was also a time when millions of people were enslaved and transported from Africa to the Western Hemisphere. It can be helpful to think...

Oct 1, 2019

From Brain Control to Multiverses, 'Rick and Morty' Gets Some Science Right

Hyperintelligent cyborg dogs. Parasitic alien shape-shifters. Portal guns that open gateways between dimensions. A nanoscale amusement park in a living human body, with a pirate-themed ride through the pancreas. The sci-fi world of the popular animated series Rick and Morty is bizarre and fantastic. In episode after episode, rogue scientist...

Oct 10, 2019

Da Vinci's Forgotten Design for the Longest Bridge in the World Proves What a Genius He Was

Leonardo da Vinci was truly a Renaissance man, impressing both his contemporaries and modern observers with his intricate designs that spanned many disciplines. But although he's best known for iconic works such as Mona Lisa and Last Supper, in the early 16th century, da Vinci designed a lesser-known structure: a...

Nov 27, 2019

Did Da Vinci and Rembrandt's Creative Genius Lie in The Way They Saw Themselves?

Famous painters da Vinci and Rembrandt, though from different centuries, had one oddity in common: The way the artists saw themselves in the mirror was likely a bit different than how others saw them, according to new findings. The Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci and the 17th-century Dutch painter Rembrandt...

Dec 6, 2019

Why Baby Yoda Won't Be Coming Home for Christmas

One Star Wars item folks exchanging holiday gifts this year won't find under the wrapping paper is any Baby Yoda merchandise (at least, not officially released Baby Yoda merchandise). And as it turns out, despite the obvious appeal of having Baby Yoda toys on shelves for the holiday shopping season,...

Dec 20, 2019

The Force of 'Star Wars': The Staying Power of a Sci-Fi Icon Explained

Movie-goers didn't know what was waiting for them when Star Wars first opened in theaters on May 25, 1977. This Western in space showed dogfighting spacecraft, vehicles traveling at hyperspeed, and an array of colorful characters — even aliens — all locked in the classic battle of good and evil....

Feb 7, 2020

Stolen painting reappears after 23 years, in the same gallery where it was taken

A famous painting by Austrian Gustav Klimt had been missing for 23 years. Now, it turns out, the painting was hidden in the walls of the gallery from which it was stolen. The 1917 Klimt, known as Portrait of a Lady, was found missing from the Ricci Oddi modern art...