A marble bust on a cushion beside a reconstructed head held by hands in blue gloves.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Science · People

Leiden Museum of Antiquities Reconstructs Julius Caesar's Face from a Bust Found in Turin

The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden has made a 3D model of Julius Caesar's head from the bust found in Turin. The deformed right side of the skull supports the hypothesis of a birth injury

London · Science · People · Humour

The distinguished English surgeon John Hunter, the prototype of Doctor Dolittle, made a considerable contribution to the development of medicine, but also committed several errors that misled physicians of several subsequent generations, who did not…

The distinguished English surgeon John Hunter, the prototype of Doctor Dolittle, made a considerable contribution to the development of medicine, but also committed several errors that misled physicians of several subsequent generations, who did not dare to argue with so authoritative a researcher. For example, he believed that gonorrhoea and

NB! · Archive · Science · Mores

How Was a Solar Eclipse Observed in the Seventeenth Century?

How was a solar eclipse observed in the seventeenth century? On 12 August 1654, people looked at the sun through smoked glass; the more resourceful used a mirror, and the very cunning a dish or a bucket of water

Science · Paris · People

In 1908 Ilya Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize for his work on immunisation: in his time he had discovered, in the larva of a starfish, mobile cells that destroy foreign bodies

In 1908 Ilya Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize for his work on immunisation: in his time he had discovered, in the larva of a starfish, mobile cells that destroy foreign bodies. The discovery of phagocytes made no proper impression on the scientific world, either in Russia or in the West.

Archaeology · Moscow · Heritage · Science

After the opening of the tomb of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, expert analysis showed that the remains of the "murdered" son contain 32 times the normal level of mercury

After the opening of the tomb of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, expert analysis showed that the remains of the "murdered" son contain 32 times the normal level of mercury. As for fractures of the bones, no conclusions were drawn owing to

NB! · Science · Mores · Humour

If you have listened to too many tales about Gogol and fear being buried alive, this invention of 1843 is for you!

If you have listened to too many tales about Gogol and fear being buried alive, this invention of 1843 is for you! A splendid coffin with air holes and a door that opens from the inside

Archaeology · Museums · Science

Mummy of a 2.54-metre Native American found near San Diego in 1895 proved to be a fake

In 1895 the mummified body of an Indian 2.54 metres long was discovered near San Diego. The mummy was declared to be the remains of the tallest man who had ever lived. By the scientists' estimate, in life the man found might have stood taller than 274 centimetres.

Coloured chalk drawing of a stout man in an armchair with a bare foot on a stool, an angry woman in a bonnet and a man in boots bending toward them.

NB! · Archive · Science · Mores

Gout remedies advertised in the 19th century were almost useless, as the causes were unknown

Interestingly, the gout remedies so widely advertised in the 19th century were almost useless, since the causes of the disease had not yet been established. And the advertising mostly described the shape of the little bottles

Hand-coloured engraving of a smiling man in an armchair with a swollen leg on a stool, surrounded by small black demons.

NB! · Science · Mores · Humour

Gout in caricature: a disease that betrayed a prosperous way of life

No one will laugh at the touch of gout. Still, people felt no embarrassment in speaking of this malady, which betrayed their prosperous and leisurely way of life

Engraving of a woman in a lace and ribbon-trimmed dress holding a squirrel with a bushy tail on her arm.

NB! · Art · London · Science · Mores · Nature · Humour

The squirrel in women's portraits of early modern England and the spread of leprosy by rodents

In Early Modern England the squirrel symbolised prostitution, so this rodent in a woman's portrait augurs nothing good. Though it has recently been proved that squirrels also spread leprosy

NB! · Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

The first complete mammoth skeleton ever displayed in a museum belongs to the Lena mammoth; in this photograph its tusks are fitted wrongly: in reality they curved inwards, not outwards

Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature · Saint Petersburg

Adams's mammoth from the Lena valley stood with wrongly set tusks until 1899

A little about the errors of scholars. In 1806 a frozen mammoth was found in the valley of the River Lena. Apart from the missing internal organs, part of the muscle mass and the front right leg, it was a whole carcass, badly mauled by the wild beasts that had