Thinking about death can cause us to feel a sort of existential angst that isn’t attributable to a specific source. Now, new research suggests that the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen may help to reduce this existential pain. Scientists say that BOTH physical and social pain–like bumping your head or being ostracized from friends–can be alleviated with acetaminophen.
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A team of archaeologists from the University of Southampton have used the latest in digital imaging technology to record and analyze carvings on an Easter Island statue. And those body scanners the TSA uses at the airport are having a major impact in the art world too: they are revealing what may lie underneath the surface of great works of art. For instance, researchers have used them to detect the face of an ancient Roman man hidden below the surface of a wall painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Scientists and art historians think he image say may be thousands of years old.
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It’s been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases, in order to alleviate their pain (NOTE: Subscribers can till listen to this story, as well as Whitley’s commentary on it). Moths, ants and fruit flies are now known to self-medicate. Dogs and cats lick their wounds because their saliva has antibiotic properties.
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I read a lot of fiction, and I can tell you this: Truth is stranger than any plot I’ve ever come across.
I recently read two novels that centered around art theft, and learned that famous artworks aren’t stolen for collectors, they’re used as collateral by (mainly Russian and Eastern European) criminals.
Then I read in the New York Times about an FBI raid on an art gallery located in a fancy Upper East Side Hotel. The agents were looking for artworks that had been stolen from collectors and museums.
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