Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium. Photo by Alvaro Keding. All images AMNH, shared with permission

A sculptural addition to the American Museum of Natural History encases the New York institution within a cavernous structure that captures the immensity of deep, geological time. The project of Chicago-based Studio Gang, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is a massive, dramatic space spanning 230,000 square feet with sweeping exhibition halls, a research library with a ceiling evocative of a gilled mushroom, a theater, and a five-story atrium filled with natural light.

Similar to the museums Central Park West entrance, Milford pink granite cloaks the exterior, and the undulating cliff-like facade features windows of fritted glass, a porous material that reduces glare, energy costs, and most importantly, the risk of bird collisions. The interior of the center mimics a hidden cave with walls that appear eroded by wind and water to reveal round, asymmetric openings, all of which are made with textured shotcrete, concrete thats sprayed on an armature of rebar and metal mesh and then shaped. Designed as a system of loops to connect parts of the new wing with the existing building, the centers structure allows visitors to seamlessly flow from one space to the next.

Learn to Stitch Spring Florals When You Attend Our Live Virtual Embroidery Workshop

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Learning to embroider is at the top of many peoples craft lists. It comes as no surprise; the time-honored art is simple in concept. But, it can be intimidating to try. What supplies do you need? How do you create a stitch? You're in luck; both of these burning questions are covered in our very first live virtual workshop event Stitching Spring hosted by My Modern Met on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT).

My Modern Met Staff Editor Sara Barnes, who is also an embroidery artist, will show you how to stitch a spring-inspired pattern. Sign up for the workshop now for just $10, which includes the pattern. And if you cant make the live eventthats okay. So long as you have your virtual ticket, youll be able to watch a recording when the workshop is over.

The great thing about embroidery is that there is a low barrier to entrythere arent a lot of supplies youll need for it. To participate in the workshop, youll want to have an embroidery hoop (a four-inch hoop is recommended, as that is what Sara will be stitching on), an embroidery needle (size 5 is a standard size), and woven fabric. Natural fibers are bestthink cotton, linen, or a cotton linen blend. You can also stitch on felt.

Once you sign up for the event, youll receive the pattern for the workshop. Its best if you place the pattern onto the fabric bef...

What is a starseed, you ask?

Dont worry, because I am definitely going to tell you and along the day, well meet the people who very badly want to believe thats exactly what they are.

There are a group of people online who refer to themselves as Starseeds, which means they believe they are reincarnated aliens who first arrived on Earth from varying planets and stars.

One Youtuber, known as The Alchemist, attempts to explain.

Starseed is the modern name for what was known in antiquity as angels. They are residents of a higher dimensions that specifically incarnated into a human physical experience with the intention to help raise the collective consciousness of humanity.

This concept has been around since the original New Age push in the 70s and has been revived with the recent rise of the wellness industry.

If you think this sounds a little bit out there, youre not alone. That said, psychology professors Ken Drinkwater and Neil Dagnall think they can help explain why so many people are anxious to believe.

...

Celebrate Photography Month by Saving 10% On Our Online Pet Photography Course

If youre a pet parent, chances are that you have a lot of photos of your furry friend. Whether taken with your phone or another camera, you always aim to photograph incredible portraits of your pet. But what if your pictures could be even better? Renowned pet photographer Belinda Richards of Frog Dog Studios will show you how in her comprehensive online course titled Introduction to Pet Photography: Capture the Spirit of Your Furry Friend.

Exclusively available on My Modern Met Academy, our e-learning platform, were offering 10% off the course to celebrate National Photography Month happening May 1 to May 31, 2023. Just use the code petphotos10 at checkout to save.

Over the course of about two and a half hours, Richards will show you how to take a soulful portrait of your dog in a studio setting. She demonstrates how to safely and effectively work with a pup while showing you how to set up your studio lighting. Once the photographing portion is complete, Richards takes the image into editing software and prepares it to be a high-quality fine art print.

Although this class is an introduction to pet photography, some knowledge of the fieldparticularly using your camera in manual modeis required.

Enroll in Introduction to Pet Photography: Capture the Spirit of Your Furry Friend only on My Modern Met Academy. And rememberdont delay. Save 10% on the course when you use petphotos10 at checkout.

If youre a...

Before the internet, it would have been hard to imagine that people around the world would one day be unable to get enough of traditional Japanese carpentry, and specifically traditional Japanese joinery. And before Youtube, who could have predicted that videos showing each and every step of a woodworking project without narration, or indeed explanation of any kind would find an enthusiastic viewership? At the intersection of these two surprising phenomena stands that channel H Carpenter, whose unadorned, methodical, and detailed portrayals of wooden joint-making have racked up millions upon millions of views.

In traditional Japanese joinery, which weve featured many times before here on Open Culture, the carpenter uses no nails, screws, or adhesives. Rather, he carves the ends of the pieces of wood to be joined into interlocking three-dimensional shapes that can hold solid for decades, or even centuries.

In March, a Florida school principal lost her job when 6th graders encountered Michelangelos David during an art history lessoneven though the school ostensibly specializes in offering students a content-rich classical education in the liberal arts and sciences. Parents apparently found the Renaissance sculpture, um, pornographic.

Fast forward two months, and the former principal Hope Carrasquilla has now traveled to Florence and visited Michelangelos David in person. This came at the invitation of the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, and the director of the Galleria dellAccademia, Cecilie Hollberg. Above you can see Hollberg on the left, and Carrasquilla on the right.

On Instagram, Carrasquilla commented:

Im very impressed. The thing that strikes me the most, and that I didnt know, is that this whole gallery was built for him [Michelangelos David]. I think its beautiful, it looks like a church. And to me, that just represents really the purity of this figure and you see his humanity.  There is nothing wrong with the human body. Michelangelo did nothing wrong. He could only sculpt it like this. It couldnt be otherwise. Hes wonderful and Im really happy to be here.

In her own statement, Hollberg said:

I am delighted to welcome her and show her the magnificence of our museum, as well as personally introduce her to David, a sculpture that I reiterate has nothing to do with pornography. It is a masterpiece representing a religious symbol of purity and innocence, the triumph of good over evil. His nudity is an outward manifestation of Renaissance thought, which considered man the centre of the universe. People from all over the world, including many Americans, make the pilgrimage to admire him every year. Currently, more than 50% of visitors are from the Un...

Inflation is no joke these days and a lot of folks are struggling to keep up with bills and everyday expenses.

So its only natural that workers are expecting a little more change in their pockets from their employers.

And I think we can all sympathize with a woman who decided to tell her bosses to shove it after she was offered a raise that she considered to be offensive.

The amount of the raise?

A measly 13 cents

Check out her TikTok video about her situation.

@keels.in.heels It was an inflation raise that totaled about $20/month #fyp #corporateamerica #foryoupage #naplesflorida #naplesfl #costofliving #inflation...

It might go against your inclination to agree that lazy people are the ones to trust with the toughest job, but some people say theyre the ones who will find the easiest road to accomplishing them.

And then the rest of us can follow suit.

These people must agree, because theyve got some real-life examples that just might convince you, too.

Theyre always shocked.

I used to have to make two contracts for every person I brought on a traveling training team. I said 2 contracts was stupid and made them into 1, sent it to our lawyers, and they approved it. Still took me too goddamn long to update each contract with different names, pay rates, and dates. Went on r/excel and found out how to make a mailer list and hours of work takes me 10 minutes. I didnt tell anyone this though so I just take my time.

Then I had to make floor maps for restaurants to send to the company that puts them into our scheduling program. Well all of our restaurants are cookie cutter so I just use paint to piece them together rather than make all of them each time. Im fucken picasso with Microsoft paint.

Then they wanted me to use excel to keep track of training teams. One of my coworkers used Smartsheet and loves to teach people things. So I jump on Smartsheet with her and she shows me around. Way easier and easier publishing it so that people can see the teams but not mess up any info.

Using forms to not have to ask them 30 questions that auto-populate my Smartsheet, sharing it with payroll so they never have to reach out to me, templates on outlook, tons of stuff. I basically took a lot of my job, said Fuuuck that there has to be an easier way, asked on reddit or just googled things, and spend maybe an hour le...

Listen, no one can be kind every single day of their lives. We all get into moods, or have things come up that we cant control.

That said, plenty of people do their best to face each day with a good, kind attitude regardless of how others respond to them and if youre curious how they can manage it, heres how some folks make it happen!

Its what they have to give.

Im not especially strong or educated, Im not particularly well off and I know I can get carried away and come off as annoying sometimes.

So if I cant be strong or smart, socially adept or successful I can definitely be kind.

Any given day.

Because i could be the other person.

wherever people make a big deal out of help, I always say Well, I trust youd do the same for me.

I had someone reply with No I wouldnt, Im a d*%k and just said Well, maybe this was meant to let you reevaluate that. I kinda wonder if they did, we didnt know each other very well.

Its just easier.

Tbh for me it takes a lot of effort to be an a$$.

No like its so tiring to be a d*%k, like Ill get angry at something for a moment and before I know whats happening the wind has already left my sails and I cant be f**ked anymore.

Because why not?

I just do it cause why not? Let me tell you of a story: there once was a king who wanted a pond of milk. He told every single resident MUST give one cup of milk in the hole.

Back then there werent streetlights or anything so one person decided ill get a glass of water instead. Nobody wi...

We all like to think that were up on the easiest, fastest, newest ways to get things done, or that weve got heads full of useless knowledge that only really comes in handy when playing Trivial Pursuit.

The truth is, though, that everyone has those aha moments that come wayyyyy too late and these folks are no exception!

That one stings.

That calling someone simple is just a nice way of calling someone stupid.

Wife informed me of this, after 28 years of my grandma calling me simple.

Its actually good you didnt realize it then.

That when I was a kid and my dad would take me to the video store on Friday nights and he would go into the back room where only adults were allowed, that he was looking at p**n.

The octonauts.

i realized at the age of 26 that narwhals are real because they were on an octonauts episode

i walked into the room and was like, i thought they only do real animals on this show then the kids dad said, youre joking right?

I mean, that makes sense too.

That the phrase mint condition means like new because its the condition coins leave the mint in

i always thought it meant mint condition because mint makes u feel fresh.

That checks out.

I kept seeing the same Chinese characters on restaurants signs and I always wanted to know what it meant. A week ago I found out: they mean restaurant.

This one cracked me up.

I mustve been around 11-12 years old, when I realized that in order...

Did you know that the German nature painter Maria Sibylla Merian (16471717), who was an insect fanatic, laid the foundations of modern zoology with fantastic illustrations of more than 200 insect species? Have you heard of the English paper collagist Mary Delany (17001788), postwar Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako (b. 1947), and Venezuelan Minimalist Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt, 19121994)?

After reading Katy Hessels The Story of Art Without Men (W. W. Norton & Company, 2023, US edition), several educators may aspire to redesign their art history surveys and syllabi and perhaps trade some Picassos or Pollocks for Merians and Gegos...

Are you ready to hear some true stories about hero pets that went above and beyond the call of duty for their owners?

Then youre going to love what these folks had to say about their furry friends can definitely be categorized as heroes.

Check out these great tales!

Good job, Sally!

One morning, my daughters fianc, Jeremy, grabbed breakfast from the freezer. Soon after, our dog, Sally, came to his side, whimpering and pacing until he followed her to the kitchen. She pawed and yelped at the freezer doorbut she wasnt begging for food.

Jeremy opened the freezer door and found our kitten, Punsey, lying cold and limp on the low metal shelf. Punsey mustve gotten curious and snuck in while Jeremys back was turned. Jeremy wrapped Punsey in a thick towel and held him against his chest until he warmed up and began moving.

Good thing Sally was looking out for her little buddy.

A total diva.

Our beloved heifer Lulu was a total diva. She was a food hog and a troublemaker, but also a great asset because she was the lead cow when the herd moved pastures. Cows like to follow a leader, and Lulu liked to lead!

One summer, a wildfire broke out. While evacuating, we could barely see through the smoke or hear over the roar of the flames, but we knew that if Lulu could hear us, shed come. My husband could see Lulu looking around bewildered but trying to prevent a stampede. He ventured into the smoke to get her attention.

A few minutes later, Lulu and my husband emerged, leading our bull and 25 heifers to a safe pasture. If she hadnt been there to calm and lead the others, they wouldve panicked and scattered. Our sassy little heifer kept the herd together and likely saved many of their lives.

Fire!

I used to work the graveyard shift at a hotel, and a stray cat would wander into the lobb...

Im not a fashion girlie by any means and Ive never tuned in live for the Met Galas red carpet, but I always look forward to the memes and tea the next day. The annual event, held the first Monday in May, is a fundraiser for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Last years bash brought in over $17M; this years total has not been released yet.)

Every edition has a theme, and this years was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty in anticipation of the Costume Institutes upcoming namesake exhibition examining the work of the late fashion designer and creative director of Fendi and Chanel, who died in 2019. Lagerfeld is credited with reviving Chanels reputation and pushing the envelope; however, he has also been criticized over the years for his notoriously bigoted attitudes toward migrants, plus-sized people, and many other subgroups.

Unfortunately, none of this was mitigated by the celebrity red-carpet rollout, a highly anticipated part of the night that typically yields a generous bounty of memes the next day. This years gala was stoppered by one of the dries...

Editors Note: The following story contains material related to sexual assault. If you or someone you know is struggling, call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org to reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

In September 2022, 31-year-old artist Mirela Cabral along with two other women filed a complaint against the Brazilian artist Rubens Espirito Santo, 53, who created the Conglomerado Atelier do Centro (CAC) over 20 years ago. What started as an informal school ostensibly founded to offer teaching and advising for young artists is now being described by some of its alumni as a cult.

The so-called art school functioned right in the city center of So Paulo, Brazil, enrolling dozens of students until it was forced to shut its doors following accusations aired on the podcast O Ateli, presented this January by journalists Chico Felitti and Beatriz Trevisan. In theory, anyone could attend the Atelier, but it was mostly frequented by young people of the upper class. They were charmed by the middle-aged man who convinced them that he was an intellectual and the Marcel Duchamp of...

On April 13, 2019, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in Iowa was set to open a temporary exhibition titled Written in Stone: The Rosetta Stone Exhibit. Traveling from the Origins Museum Institute in El Paso, Texas, the show was slated to run at the Presidential Library through October, featuring an exact replica made from a cast of the original Rosetta Stone alongside other rare and authentic objects from the ancient Near East. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that the exhibition was to feature a timeline of authentic artifacts including some of the oldest idols and sacred representations of deities ever found. Previewing the exhibition on April 8, however, I noticed that something was off. The imagery carved onto the stamp and cylinder seals was strang...

For the exhibition...

Amidst art galleries and bustling brunch spots near the Spring Street station in Manhattans trendy Nolita neighborhood, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is showcasing the bloated budget of the New York Police Department (NYPD) $11 billion per year, or $29 million per day.

Its the second time the advocacy organization has presented an exhibition in its pop-up Museum of Broken Windows; the first was in 2018. The current show, titled Twenty-Nine Million Dreams, runs through May 6.

The museum name references the broken windows theory, a policing strategy developed in the 1970s. The concept hinges on the idea that pett...

In 1981, Ronald Reagan deadpanned to a convention of carpenters, Status quo, you know, is Latin for the mess were in. Technically, status quo means state in which, but the joke is resonant because of the toxic stagnancy of 2022 and 2023, when these Pratt MFA students were developing their work. It may seem bizarre to open a review of Pratts MFA Fine Arts thesis show, Part 2, with a bad joke by a man who declared ketchup a vegetable, refused to say AIDS, and widened the gap between rich and poor. But this show is all about depicting the mess were in as the toxic capitalist, racist, misogynistic, transphobic status quo drags on in the United States and world is caught in such a precarious and discombobulated place. Why arent we changing it?

Like many in the show, Niousha Kiarashi is trying to work through the post-pandemic challenges and PTSD that formed the backdrop of the 202223 incubation period. As the artist explained to Hyperallegic, My work is all about invasion, and the messiness of emotions, and how they become part of us at the moment when we start experiencing them, and they invade us in my work I want to visualize the complexity of emotion as creatures like species, the way they grow spikes and different patterns influenced by nature.

Kiarashi transformed a closet into an exhibition niche, layering mulch on the floor and enhancing the atmosphere with an eerie soundtrack. A tiny video is visible in the mouth of an unidentifiable ceramic creature with many tentacles. The video reveals another monster within the larger monster, while the tentacles are a metaphor for the complexity of dealin...

BERLIN  Gallery Weekend Berlin 2023 came and went fringed with various joys. There is, of course, a glittering official success story: The 19th edition of the initiative was the biggest ever, with 55 galleries (big, small, institutional) from across the city showing more than 80 artists, including both celebrities and veterans. All this basking in the sweet glow of corporate sponsorship (Gucci, BMW) promising lavish dinners and thumping techno parties.

Gallery Weekend is not a Wagnerian endurance test. Since its impossible to see everything, especially for its fretful Wacky Races: glorious prepared chaos. Theres no grand curatorial theme dictated to galleries from above. This is surely an act of generosity, allowing different exhibitions to contradict each other, inviting excited chatter among visitors. Curators, collectors, and critics all hop froggishly in and out of sleek-interiored shuttle buses, gossiping deliriously at brunches, huddled in smoking areas; ordinary folk listen politely to gallerists spiels, mostly in smiling silence, with the bravest as...

13-Year-Old Heroically Stops School Bus After Driver Passes Out, Saves Classmates Lives

At a moment's notice, quick thinking can save lives. Nothing illustrates this better than the story of 13-year-old hero named Dillon Reeves. The teen was riding a school bus full of students in Michigan when he noticed something was off. The driver felt lightheaded and said on the intercom that she was going to pull over for a moment. However, the bus never made it to the pull-off area, and began to drift onto oncoming traffic.

Security camera footage shows the driver losing consciousness and going limp. Noticing the danger of the situation, Reeves sprang from five rows back. Without hesitation, the 7th grader grabbed the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes carefully and slowly to prevent any injuries among his classmates. Immediately after, Reeves shouted at his fellow students for someone to call 911.

No students were hurt, and emergency services arrived at the scene in no time. The Warren Police and Fire Departments responded very quickly, tended to the driver, and the students were safely loaded onto a different bus to make their way home, Superintendent Robert D. Livernois wrote on Facebook.

Once everyone was accounted for, people praised Reeves' quick thinking, which averted a catastrophe. The actions of the student who helped stop the bus made all the difference today, and I could not be prouder of his efforts, said Livernois, who described this as an extraordinary act of courage and maturity. He had the wherewithal to push it [the brake] slowly, likely in anticipation that the bus was full of passengers.

Reeves' parents expressed their pride at his actions. Its an honor, exclaimed his dad Steve. Weve got a little hero. He could probably drive one of the cars out of here and be OK. I promise you that. The proud dad added that the boy has also practiced pulling cars into driveways and is a proficient and careful driver of golf carts. His stepmom, Ireta, also wrote a post on Facebook in which she called Reeves a local hero.

The story has made waves across the community. Not only did the Mayor of Warren Jim Fouts...

There are all kinds of scams out there these days that involve people getting overcharged for products or even charged for things that they never even bought in the first place.

And a customer at a Burger King in Chattanooga, Tennessee shared a video on TikTok where he outlined how he was allegedly scammed out of $25 after he eat at the fast food chain.

Photo Credit: TikTok

The man checked his bank account later in the same day he visited Burger King and realized there was no charge from the restaurant but there was a charge for $25 for a tea company that he had never heard of.

He thinks he might have been scammed by a BK employee who used his card on a Square device for their own purposes.

...

Met Gala 2023: The Meowvelous Looks That Dazzled During Fashions Night Out

 

View this post on Instagram

...

Portrait, October (2022), oil on canvas, 41 x 54 inches. All images Xiao Wang, shared with permission

Gingko leaves laced with violet, eucalyptus sprigs in blue, and ferns glowing with bright orange veil Xiao Wangs portraits with a sense of subtle unreality. As if illuminated by fluorescent light, the oil paintings depict quiet, introspective, and intimate moments between the artist and subjects, who rest among lush plant life.

In a note to Colossal, Wang shares that he continually strives for both contrast and balance. He has relationships with each person he paints, whether it be friends, his partner, or himself, and their real-life bonds emerge through the unearthly palettes. I want to create an uncanny feeling through distorting natural colors and creating sharp contrast, he shares. Thats why there are so many dark tones against light tones, violet and red against green and blue.

The use of vivid color also energizes the works and adds to the underlying unease and anxiety of the otherwise languid subjects, who appear suspended in daydreams and transitory states. I think Im trying to walk between realism and expressionism, meaning that my work is deeply based on naturalistic observations and oftentimes maximalist technique, but also heightened by expressive colors and surreal settings, he says.

Wang, who was born in China and is currently based in New York, has a solo show slated for July at PM/AM in London, and you can find more of his work and glimpses into his studio on Instagram.

 ...

On the eve of COP28 in the UAE, NYU Abu Dhabis art gallery considers the intersection of human-planet interactions in art. the only constant brings together major projects ranging from poignant large-scale landscapes to sprawling installations considering our impact on the planet. Curated by Maya Allison (Executive Director of The NYUAD Art Gallery), this exhibition is part of her ongoing study of landscape in contemporary art.

The artists here confront contemporary landscape as a site of profound tension: we change the landscape, and it changes us. Even as we might long for an untouched paradise, humans build futuristic utopias. Utopia and paradise arrive, and then depart (change is the only constant). This tension is fundamental to questions we face as humans on this planet.

These arti...

Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life, a newly opened exhibition at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, is a timely examination of the Bay Area arts ecosystem. It showcases 23 local artists who have stuck it out during the crises of our times: a pandemic, gentrification, high cost of living, limited access to resources, insurrection, and racist, xenophobic, and transphobic violence. Their responses are evident in their artworks. From them,...

<figure><img alt="" class= "attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" height="333" src= "https://i0.wp.com/hyperallergic-newspack.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2023/04/EuropeanGraduateSchool_alenka_achille_zizek.jpg?fit=720%2C333&quality=100&ssl=1" width="720"></figure> <p>The Philosophy, Art & Critical Thought (PACT) Division of the European Graduate School is pleased to announce our 2023 program.

From June 22 to July 25, we are holding our Silver Anniversary session in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. We are calling this our <a href="https://bit.ly/41Zf9oO" rel= "noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow" target="_blank">Last Dance in Saas-Fee</a>, since we are planning to move to a new venue in the coming year. We want to make this a special meeting, so we are inviting alumni and guests to join our MA and PhD students for what we think will be an <a href= "https://bit.ly/3V79M4B" rel= "noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow" target= "_blank">outstanding session featuring eight seminars</a> with distinguished professors such as Alenka Zupani, Slavoj iek, and Achille Mbembe. We also look forward to a special visit by Sergei Loznitsa.</p> <p>Students and guests also h...</p>

People have many opinions about what cut of chicken is the best, which ones theyd prefer to avoid, and the ones in the middle but for my money, theres nothing better than a chicken thigh.

Theyre the perfect size, the meat is tender and juicy, and I mean, theres a reason theyre so popular.

That said, you might still be missing out on the perfect chicken if youre not employing this hack.

 

View this post on Instagram

...

Student Eats Maurizio Cattelans $120,000 Banana for Breakfast

 

View this post on Instagram

...

We read excitedly of the latest chemical, computational, or quantum theory of mind, and then ask, Is that all there is to it?'

The mind is its own place, wrote Milton, and in it self can make a Heavn of Hell, a Hell of Heavn. But in an age when machines can simulate, with the sheer force of computation, mind-things like poems, is the mind still a sovereign place? What heavenly and hellish creations can it alone make that no algorithm can reproduce or mimic?

I read in Miltons words the intimation that the mind makes meaning, and meaning which is different from information, different even from knowledge is uncomputable. Meaning might be the last stalwart of human consciousness in the age of AI the supreme existential yearning irreducible to computation, the great creative restlessness that foments all our poems and our passions.

The poetic neurologist Oliver Sacks (July 9, 1933August 30, 2015) takes up these questions in a prescient April 1993 New York Review of Books essay occasioned by the Nobel-winning neuroscientist Gerald Edelmans book Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On The Matter Of The Mind but, like every great book review, soaring far beyond the book itself and into the broader questions of consciousness, the nature of the mind, and what it means to be human.

Today we think of the Renaissance as one of those periods when everything changed, and if the best-known artifacts of the time are anything to go by, nothing changed quite so much as art. This is reflected in obvious aesthetic differences between the works of the Renaissance and those created before, as well as in less obvious technical ones. Egg yolk-based tempera paints, for example, had been in use since the time of the ancient Egyptians, but in the fifteenth century they were replaced by oil paints. When chemical analysis of the work of certain Renaissance masters revealed traces of egg, they were assumed to be the result of chance contamination.

Now, thanks to a recent study led by chemical engineer Ophlie Ranquet of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, we have reason to believe that painters like Botticelli and Leonardo kept eggs in the mix deliberately. Oil replaced tempera because it creates more vivid colors and smoother color transitions, writes Smithsonian.coms Teresa Nowakowski.

Artistic Swimmer Recreates Wednesdays Iconic Dance Routine Underwater

Photo: Screenshot from Instagram

Netflixs Wednesday became an instant hit when it dropped back in November 2022. While it captured the public's attention as a whole, a particular moment was so memorable that it took on a life of its own: the iconic Wednesday dance from the fourth episode. The quirky choreography went to inspire thousands of tributes and versions across multiple mediums, from a cosplayer nailing the dance to a figure skater presenting a Wednesday-inspired routine on ice. Now, an even more impressive recreation has caught our eye. Unlike the rest we've seen, this one takes place underwater.

Kristina Makushenko is a Miami-based freediver and underwater dancer. While most people associate these talents with synchronized swimming, Makushenko goes beyond, pushing the creative possibilities of choreography below the surface. After posting some seriously impressive routines, her fans called for her to recreate the Wednesday dance. The talented dancer went along with it, displaying her creativity and making the most out of this unique environment in a mesmerizing video. To make it easier for her followers to compare the results, the dancer posted her performance right under a clip of the original.

Since dancing underwater makes movements more fluid than they are on land, Makushenko's choreography looks even more dramatic and volatile than the original. Moreover, the gravity-defying quality of her setting allows the dancer to go deeper and bigger in the parts in which the character's knees are locked. The original dance was already quite theatrical, yet the underw...

Tom Cannon, Playtime (2019), Jurien Bay, Australia. All images the photographers, courtesy of 100 For the Ocean, shared with permission

Bringing together 100 wildlife photographers from around the world, 100 For the Ocean is a month-long fundraiser to empower those on the frontlines of ocean conservation and to create a powerful, collective voice to impact policy and drive change. During May, prints featuring Andr Musgroves underwater dives, Dmitry Kokhs atmospheric documentation of polar bears, and Caine Delacys encounters with curious whales are available for purchase, with all proceeds going to research charities.

100 For the Ocean was established by photographers and marine biologists Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, founders of SeaLegacy, a visual storytelling and advocacy platform with a mission to restore ocean habitats and reduce pollution in response to the climate crisis. For this special project, the duo collaborated with ...

TikTok Star Finds $5,000 Designer Dress for $50, Offers To Give It Away to a Bride in Need

Photo: Screenshots from Instagram

You never know what youll find in an antique store. For many, its the thrill of the hunt that entices them; perhaps, in a magical moment, you'll find something thats worth much more than its price tag. This exact thing happened to TikTok star Ophelia Nichols. The 41-year-old influencer shared that she found a wedding dress for $50 when its original tag read $4,819.

In a video posted on TikTok and Instagram, Nicholswho also goes by the name Mama Totheld up a wedding dress and explained its significance. The gown is by designer Romona Kevea, whose current bridal collection starts at over $3,000 per gown. Nichols was incredulous that the designers dress was selling for only $50 and let the store clerk know. Still, the employee let the $50 steal stay and Nichols purchased it.

Nichols is already married, however, and stated that shed like to give the dress to one of her 12 million social media followers who needs it.

I cried when I put this dress in my truck because I would have given anything to have this years ago when I got married, she explained in the video, and I know that it would mean something to one of you. Sure, I could get it cleaned and sell it on eBay for whatever, but no, I want somebody else to have this experience that I didn't get a chance to have.

Nichols then tried on the dress, which is a strapless mermaid-style gown sans any embellishments like beading or lace. Instead, its focus is on high-quality fabri...

Dating is a minefield of opportunities that can go wrong any number of ways. I feel like meeting your partners family is definitely a big one, with multiple ways to screw it up.

This guy is crazy about his girlfriend, and thought he knew what to expect from meeting her family after she warned them the guys were into macho displays that they claim came from their Italian ancestry.

Recently I started dating a girl. Shes great and I love her so much. I met her family a few nights ago for dinner. She warned me that the male side of her family is very big into being macho, into testing the boys the women date and are VERY big on taking pride in their Italian ancestry.

OP spent 3 years in Italy as a child and still speaks semi-fluently, but the girlfriends family are all from the States, excepting one grandfather.

Backstory: due to my dads job we lived in Italy for 3 years when I was younger, so I speak Italian almost fluently (its been awhile, so Ive lost some of it).

I think besides the grandfather, however, they were almost all born in Bergen County, NJ but whatever, its nice to take pride in ones heritage.

Well, the meal went about as hed expected only worse, with one brother in particular going on and on without stopping, because hes Italian.

Long story short at dinner they kept making jokes at my expense (I honestly would not call it bullying, just things about my height, beard, shaved head). They tried making fun of my IT job too but stopped once I told them my income. It was overall not a bad experience, but a not so pleasant one.

Anyways, her older brother kept pushing things, giving me exceptional amounts of shit for playing Lacrosse in HS (apparently its a sport for prissy rich kids and not m...