Death

The Drobitsky Yar menorah commemorates the genocide that happened in Kharkov, and across Ukraine.

The WWII Massacres at Drobitsky Yar Were the Result of Years of Scapegoating Jews

Silence obscured the truth in Ukraine for decades, but 75 years later the details of the genocide have emerged

John Glenn (1921-2016) by Henry C. Casselli, Jr., 1998

A Smithsonian Curator Remembers Astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn

The American hero died at the age of 95

As if you needed another reason to sleep in.

Sleep-Deprived Drivers Can Be as Dangerous as Drunk Ones

Getting by on even slightly less sleep could put you at risk

Lethal injection as a means to execute condemned prisoners was first used thirty-four years ago.

Thirty-four Years Ago, the First Person Died by Lethal Injection. It Was Controversial Then, Too

It was seen as more humane and relatively painless, but that's not certain

The Beckery monastery as it would have looked in the fifith century

Oldest Community of Monks in U.K. Discovered

The find was thanks to a community training dig

A California Startup Is Using Ashes to Protect Forests

Better Place Forests is accepting reservations from those who wish to have their remains scattered in a redwood forest in northern California

As much as possible of the ad-hoc memorial that arose outside the headquarters of the Dallas Police after the shootings of five officers this year will be preserved in the city's public library.

Library Launches Campaign to Preserve Shrines to Slain Dallas Police Officers

A fundraising effort looks to make remnants of the city's tragic shootings available for future generations

The Ilban people of East Borneo captured these six warrior skulls in a single battle. They tossed the heads into a fire pit to cure and then wrapped them in vines to suspend their prize from the rafters of the community longhouse.

Explore Haunting Relics of Death With New Photography Book

Placenta-wiping fetuses are only the tip of the frightberg

Are You Descended From Witches? New Digital Document Could Help You Find Out

The Wellcome Library manuscript lists people accused of witchcraft during the Scottish witch panic of 1658-1662

A Pearl Harbor Survivor Liaison scatters the ashes of Ed Chappell, who requested that his remains be scattered where his fallen shipmates died in 1941.

The Vatican Just Banned Scattering Ashes

A new doctrinal rule requires Roman Catholics to store cremains at cemeteries

The Swedish count Philip Königsmarck, left, and his lover Sophia Dorothea, right. A skeleton possibly belonging to Königsmarck was recently uncovered in the German castle where he disappeared.

A Skeleton Found in a Castle Could Be the Key to Cracking a 17th-Century Cold Case

A murder mystery complete with royal intrigue

When the Inventor of the Diesel Engine Disappeared

Rudolf Diesel’s fate is still intriguing to this day

A new WHO report reveals that China has the most air pollution deaths per year.

Nine in Ten People Worldwide Breathe Dangerous Air Every Day

The WHO just released the most detailed air pollution report ever—and the results are sobering

Dwight Eisenhower and Arnold Palmer smile before a round of golf at the Gettysburg Country Club in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1960.

How Arnold Palmer and President Eisenhower Made Golf the Post-War Pastime

The charismatic, working-class golfer and beloved president made golf the sport of elites and middle-class duffers for a generation

The male brown widow spider may not be as unlucky in love as we once thought.

Male Widow Spiders Prefer Younger Ladies—So They Don’t Get Eaten

This strategy means they live to mate again, upending assumptions about these arachnids

Do outdoor cats need to die?

The Moral Cost of Cats

A bird-loving scientist calls for an end to outdoor cats "once and for all"

Benjamin photographed at Beaumaris Zoo in 1933.

Remembering the Tasmanian Tiger, 80 Years After It Became Extinct

Today, the animal’s memory is alive and well in Australia

The plot thickens...

Could You Solve the Case of the Missing Mystery Heirs?

Are you related to Clifton Robbins? You could receive royalties from his 21st-century publisher

Reconstruction of Lucy’s vertical deceleration event, by the authors of the new study.

Did Anthropologists Just Solve the 3-Million-Year-Old Mystery of Lucy’s Death?

Researchers think they've reconstructed the fatal plunge and last terrifying seconds of the hominin's life

Is it disrespectful to sell a literary great’s remains—or is the stunt worthy of Capote himself?

Love Truman Capote? Buy His Ashes

Is the sale of Capote’s earthy remains a gauche publicity stunt or an act worthy of the audacious author?

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