Within the heart of Tenochtitlán, which served as the capital city of the Aztec Empire, lies Templo Mayor. Excavations across decades at this temple, in what’s now Mexico City, unearthed hundreds of obsidian artifacts that reveal intriguing details of the Mesoamerican civilization’s economy.
Craftspeople expertly shaped the volcanic glass into sharp tools and highly polished ritual objects.
Now, researchers have analyzed more than 700 recovered pieces to learn more about the greenish-gold glass the Aztecs prized.
The obsidian shows how the empire builders established trade networks that even included rival societies — and how those in both rural and urban markets had easy access to the refined tools before the empire fell in 1521.
Tracing where the obsidian came from is just one example of how objects can relay the stories of the past.
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Excavations in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have uncovered evidence of how four people sought shelter from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 — only to inadvertently seal their own fates.
Three adults and a child hid in the bedroom of a house, pushing a bed against the door to shield themselves from falling volcanic ash and rock. But they became trapped when rapidly moving debris blanketed the building.
Archaeologists found a bronze bulla, an amulet worn by boys for protection until they reached adulthood. And on the wall of the house’s banquet hall (above) is an eerie fresco depicting a myth that mirrors the tragedy faced by its inhabitants.
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With age, some of the historic Voyager 1 probe’s thrusters, necessary to keep it properly oriented and communicating with Earth, have become clogged with oily residue and could break down by early fall. The potentially critical failure could endanger the long-lived mission.
While Voyager’s parts can’t be replaced, the spacecraft comes equipped with backups. NASA engineers took a creative step to reactivate a set of Voyager’s thrusters, considered dead for the past two decades, from more than 15 billion miles away — avoiding the possibility of a small explosion just in time.
The main Earth-based antenna responsible for sending commands to Voyager 1, such as switching from one set of thrusters to another to keep the mission flying, is shutting down for months for necessary upgrades.
Here’s to the Voyager mission team for pulling off a risky maneuver to make the fix.
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Would you eat a “robocake”? A collaboration between researchers and chefs with the RoboFood project, this wedding cake features edible batteries made of dark chocolate that light up the candles. The dancing bears topping the confection are also edible. Watch how they’re powered.
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Marine archaeologists have located a lost Dutch merchant vessel that sank 168 years ago off South Australia’s coast.
The Koning Willem de Tweede was embarking on a return journey to the Netherlands when it was caught in a storm, drowning two-thirds of the crew.
Days before the sinking, the ship’s final voyage involved a questionably legal practice common during Australia’s 19th century gold rushes.
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Protect your back and knees the next time you’re working in the garden. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, like the multipurpose Aimerla Foldable Garden Kneeler Seat, which functions as a kneeling pad or bench. It provides the proper support while you’re planting, pulling weeds or deadheading flowers.
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Dozens of fossils from British Columbia’s Burgess Shale have revealed that a predator nicknamed the “sea moth” swam in Earth’s oceans 506 million years ago — and it had three eyes and a mouth like a pencil sharpener.
The radiodont, a type of primitive arthropod distantly related to insects, was about the size of an adult human index finger, and it didn’t resemble anything alive today.
Multiple swimming flaps helped it undulate underwater, while spiny claws could grasp prey, as seen in the illustration above. But the fossils have also shed light on an unusual abdomen-like feature that paleontologists have never seen in any other radiodont before.
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Take a deep dive into these fascinating stories:
— The Harvard Law School Library paid $27.50 at auction for what was thought to be a copy of Magna Carta, considered the earliest declaration of human rights. But the document is actually an incredibly rare original from 1300, according to new research.
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