Theresa Machemer

Theresa Machemer is a freelance writer based in Washington DC. Her work has also appeared in National Geographic and SciShow. Website: tkmach.com

A wildlife camera trap caught five shots of this bobcat walking by the C&O Canal in Washington, D.C.

Unusual Urban Bobcat Spotted in Washington, D.C.

The closest verified bobcat sighting was 25 miles away, so how this one reached the city remains a mystery

This 404-year-old Geneva Bible was one of more than 300 artifacts stolen from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library over a two-decade period.

Ex-Librarian and Bookseller Plead Guilty to Stealing Rare Texts Worth $8 Million From Pennsylvania Library

Greg Priore and John Schulman stole and resold hundreds of rare texts over a 25-year period

Pierre de Coubertin first publicly proposed reviving the Olympic Games in 1892.

Speech That Inspired the Modern Olympics Is Now the Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia Ever Sold

An anonymous buyer purchased the manuscript, penned by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin in 1892, for $8.8 million

Brush-tailed rock-wallabies are endangered in New South Wales.

Australia’s National Park Staff Is Now Air-Dropping Food to Wallabies

Wallabies often survive the bushfires, but their natural food sources do not

Española tortoises are reared for five years before being released on the Galápagos' Española Island.

Diego, the 100-Year-Old Tortoise Who Fathered 900 Babies, Returns to the Wild

The breeding program brought the Española tortoise population back from the brink

Hernán Cortés had Aztec treasures melted into gold bars for easier transport back to Europe.

Spanish Conquistadors Stole This Gold Bar From Aztec Emperor Moctezuma's Trove

Forces led by Hernán Cortés dropped the looted treasure during a hasty retreat from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in June 1520

This illustration of Venice accompanied a manuscript of one friar's journey from Venice to Egypt and Jerusalem.

14th-Century Illustration of Venice Is the Oldest Found Yet

The drawing accompanied one friar's first-person account of a trip from Venice to Jerusalem and Egypt

The Taliabu Grasshopper-Warbler is one of ten new bird species and subspecies described by ornithologist Frank Rheindt.

Ten New Bird Species and Subspecies Found in Indonesia

Previous bird-collecting expeditions never trekked inland, leaving a treasure trove of undiscovered warblers and leaftoilers

A large meteorite can launch bits of molten rock into the atmosphere when it impacts Earth. When that molten rock cools, it forms tektites, shown here.

Crater From Giant Meteorite Strike Might Be Hidden Under Volcanic Plateau

Debris from the strike scattered across Earth, but the exact point of impact has been a mystery

“Their bone size indicates that they were probably militiamen,” says archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni. "Their femur bones show that they clearly walked a lot and carried a lot of weight back in their day.”

Skeletons Unearthed in Connecticut May Belong to Revolutionary War Soldiers

If confirmed, the bones would be the first remains recovered from Revolutionary War soldiers in the Constitution State

MIT researchers develop a mathematical model to predict a knot’s stability with the help of color-changing fibers.

The Mathematics of a Well-Tied Knot

Fibers that change color under pressure helped researchers predict knot performance

Most of the graves were lined with stone curbs and closed with slabs.

High-Status Roman Burials Found in Britain

The discovery provides insight on how Iron Age Britons adopted the Roman lifestyle

A yellow box indicates where an AI system found cancer hiding inside breast tissue.

What Does Google’s Breast Cancer Screening A.I. Actually Do?

The program was slightly better than human radiologists at spotting abnormalities in mammograms

The inspector of measurements and weights, called the agoranomos, was a common job throughout the Roman Empire.

2,000-Year-Old Measuring Table Points to Location of Ancient Jerusalem Market

The table ensured standard measurements for buying and selling in the first century A.D.

A scholar spotted the long-overlooked image (its horns and face are at left, its legs on the right) while conducting research at a Berlin museum.

This Demon, Immortalized in 2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Tablet, Was Thought to Cause Epilepsy

The damaged drawing was hidden on the back of a clay cuneiform tablet

Otzi carried 14 arrows in his quiver, but only two had arrowheads and feather fletching.

What We Can Learn From Ötzi the Iceman's Hunting Pack

The famed Copper Age mummy's bowstring is the world's oldest known specimen

Iridescent spots found on the dot-underwing moth suggest that even nocturnal insects might rely on visual cues

How These Nocturnal Moths Sparkle at Night

The nocturnal insect might flash its reflective spots at a potential mate

The October 31 fire destroyed seven buildings and was probably started by an electrical fault.

Volunteers Digitally Revive Japan's Shuri Castle Following October Fire

The group is seeking one million images in order to create a high-quality reconstruction

On December 28, 2019, Christina Koch broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, according to NASA.

Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks Record for Longest Spaceflight by a Woman

By the end of her mission in February, Koch will have spent 328 days in space

Chinese authorities found that He's team falsified regulatory paperwork.

Scientist Behind First CRISPR-Modified Babies Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

He Jiankui faced backlash immediately after announcing the twins’ birth late last year

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