For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife—also called Duat, among other names—was a mystical realm overseen by the god Osiris, who personified rebirth and life after death. But entry to Duat was anything but guaranteed; when a person died, their spirit traveled across vast, challenging terrain and deposited them at the Hall of Final Judgment, where their heart was weighed against a feather from Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth.

In preparation for the afterlife, royals, dignitaries, and the wealthy elite constructed great tombs. The most elaborate among them were painted with ornamental murals that shared one’s accomplishments, packed with artwork and riches to demonstrate each individual’s status and accompany them to Duat.

Expansive ancient necropolises complemented large cities, where society’s upper crust commissioned tombs, temples, and pyramids. For the capital of Memphis, the final resting place was typically Saqqara, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest monuments, some of which date back to the First Dynasty around 5,000 years ago.

Scholars continue to unfurl millennia-old mysteries as archaeological excavations carry on in Saqqara. And sometimes, as researchers from the Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) recently found out, marvelous and unexpected discoveries still emerge from the sand.

During the 2024 season, as the team excavated near a mastaba—a large-scale, rectangular, flat-roofed tomb—they discovered a number of smaller burials, including a “kiln” tomb. Also known as “oven” tombs, these burials are “made of raw bricks that are characterized by their vaulted ceiling,” says a statement from MAFS. “They are built several meters below the ground, and the only way to access them is through the burial shaft, always placed to the north of the entrance.”

Typically, kiln tombs are “fairly simple mud brick monuments, sometimes with limestone walls, and even less often decorations,” MAFS says. Today, they are also often empty as a result of looting throughout the centuries. But instead of a basic, unadorned room, the team found vibrant wall paintings commemorating a doctor who died around 4,000 years ago.

Archaeologists uncovered a stone tablet bearing the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, near the entrance. A stele is a stone slab featuring text, imagery, or both, and in ancient Egypt, a false door stele represented a portal for the deceased’s spirit pass through into the afterlife. As researchers explored farther, the physician’s name was represented in other locations, confirming it to be his tomb.

As reported in Live Science, Tetinebefou was known as a “dean of the palace physicians,” with inscriptions referring to him also as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet,” who was associated with protection from scorpion stings. He was also prescribed the titles of “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” both of which are unusual designations in ancient Egypt. It’s unclear which pharaoh he may have served, but MAFS’s lead Egyptologist Philippe Collombert suggests Tetinebefou may have worked under Pepi II, who reigned between approximately 2246 and 2152 B.C.E.

Inside the tomb, relief carvings of urns, furniture, hieroglyphs, and garments are complemented by colorful patterns and richly textured ceiling. At some point in the past, the doctor’s tomb had indeed been looted, and only tiny fragments of objects remained. The decorations, however, mark an exceptional discovery.

A documentary slated for 2026, directed by Frédéric Wilner, will take a deeper dive into the details of this excavation. In the meantime, explore more on the MAFS website.

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“We might call that a cold case, right? There’s no evidence, there’s no murder weapon… It’s a crime scene, but the culprit—the criminal—has left.” Biologist Karen Lips’s opening words in the 2023 animated short film, “The Waiting,” portend a mystery with far-reaching implications.

Directed by Volker Schlecht and written by Alexander Lahl and Max Mönch, the award-winning film traces the mysterious disappearance of tree frogs in Costa Rica. Through a hand-drawn, mostly black-and-white style, rainforest creatures transform from plants, and tiny tadpoles metamorphose into full-grown amphibians.

In the 1990s, Lips undertook research in the Costa Rican rainforest, stationed in a small shack its resident scientists called “la casita,” where she monitored a group of fluorescent green tree frogs, Isthmohyla calypsa. The species possessed unique spikes on their hands that were used as weapons to physically fight for dominance within the habitat.

For nearly two years, she studied the Isthmohyla calypsa’s growth patterns, behavior, and habitat, before returning to the University of Miami to write up her research. When one final experiment prompted her to return to the forest, she arrived only to find that the frogs had vanished. “All of them,” she says.

At first, Lips wondered if the disappearance was the result of something she had done. Had they gotten scared? Had she bothered them too much? Perhaps there hadn’t been enough rain? “I thought… maybe I just need to wait long enough, and they’ll come back,” she says.

After waiting an entire summer, the frogs never reappeared. She was determined to solve the mystery, but no evidence remained to study. “There was no smoking gun,” Lips says. Eventually, she moved to another site to study a new set of frogs. But after a few days, her team began noticing unusual skin problems.

The malefactor turned out to be microscopic fungi known as chytrids, and it wasn’t limited to the mountainous cloud forests of Costa Rica. Researchers in countries across the globe reported similar findings when Lips shared her concerns.

Although it’s impossible to tell how the frogs initially came into contact with the fungus, humans bear the responsibility for their fate, and ultimately, that of many other creatures. The more we import and export food and other organic goods, the more likely invasive—and sometimes dangerous—organisms will spread. “We have made it super easy for infectious diseases of all sorts to leave the jungle and get to a major city in a couple of hours,” she says.

For frogs alone, the effects are considerable: “The estimate is somewhere between 150 and maybe 200 species have gone extinct in the past two or three decades,” Lips says. “Forty-one percent of all amphibians are in decline. And that’s worse than any other group of animals on the planet.”

Find out more about the film on Instagram.

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Flocks of starlings share risk as hundreds—even thousands—of eyes are on the lookout for predators. “Remarkably, the group achieves this without any leadership structure, the simple interactions between individuals creating outcomes greater than the sum of their parts,” says scientist and photographer Dr. Kathryn Cooper.

Cooper’s professional background in physics and bioinformatics—a data science applied to biological systems—led her to study of the dynamics of networks. She uses a 19th-century photographic technique called chronophotography to reveal what she describes as “the robustness of self-organised systems in nature.”

Some of the earliest motion studies during the Victorian era employed chronophotography. Cooper’s remarkable panoramas of starling murmurations contain numerous individual photos that, when superimposed into a single image, display the incredible flight paths and coordination of the group.

Just before dusk, smaller groups from the same area gather together above a communal roosting site. As the flock grows larger, they cast about the sky in an undulating murmuration.

A few basic principles govern the group’s rhythmic complexity, namely that each bird responds only to those closest to it. “This means that when one bird turns to avoid attack from a falcon, the birds around it also turn,” Cooper says. The neighboring birds turn a split second later, then their neighbors turn, and so on, which sends “a wave of information through the flock,” she adds.

This year, Cooper’s views of starlings were recognized by the Sony World Photography Awards and the Royal Photographic Society. Find more on her website and Instagram.

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From seeds to slime molds to spider eyes, the foremost entries in Nikon’s Small World 2024 Photomicrography Competition (previously) illuminate details invisible to the naked eye. This year, jurors sifted through more than 2,000 entries from 80 countries.

First place was awarded to Dr. Bruno Cisterna and Dr. Eric Vitriol of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, who detailed the delicate and oddly beautiful tendrils and crystal-like edges of the cells comprising a mouse’s brain tumor.

2024 marks Nikon’s 50th annual Small World showcase—which also launched the Small World in Motion contest in 2011—highlighting the art and proficiency required to capture minuscule phenomena.

In addition to revealing incredible, almost magical portrayals of organisms and objects, the images illustrate the essential role photomicrography plays in furthering our understanding of health, nature, and ourselves.

Amateur enthusiasts and scientists alike share astonishing views of their research, including the magnified, toy-like shapes of common beach sand, a cross section of grass, and a speckled cluster of octopus eggs.

Peruse all of the top entries in the contest’s online gallery, and keep an eye out for the calendar featuring this year’s winners. Follow updates on Instagram.

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More than a decade before humans launched themselves into outer space, a tiny species made the journey first.

NASA first sent fruit flies on a mission in 1947 to see whether the intrepid insects would return to Earth in one piece, indicating the groundbreaking trek was presumably safe for people, too. If flies seem like an odd choice for such a dangerous test, know that they share about 60 percent of our genetic code, making our species relatively similar for research.

Fruit flies, for example, age like us, get a little tipsy or hyper from beverages with alcohol or caffeine, and even serenade potential mates (hopefully this move is less cringy in insect romance).

Because our makeups have so many parallels, a new study released this week exploring how 140,000 neurons connect in the fruit fly brain could have wide-reaching implications.

Hundreds of scientists have been working since 2013 to map the intricacies of the neural networks in an adult female Drosophila melanogaster, which connect through 490 feet of wiring. The research, published in Nature, is accompanied by incredible reconstructions of the brain that illustrate how its myriad cells connect. The study is the most detailed map of an animal’s brain in existence.

“The potential benefits of such a resource are immense,” researchers say. “We can now make significant advances in our understanding of how the brain works by ultimately linking neuronal wiring with brain function.”

Scientists published many of the diagrams and interactive 3D models through FlyWire, the first-ever complete connectome of the adult fly brain in its entirety. They identified and annotated more than 8,000 cell types, 4,581 of which are new to researchers. In comparison, 3,300 cell types have been identified in humans, although what each does is still a mystery.

Included in the study are insights into how sensory signals communicate, prompting flies to walk, stop, or stick out their proboscises to eat. Although humans are 500 times larger than a fruit fly with a million times as many neurons, this research is an extraordinary leap forward in understanding how our brains function.

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The cape penduline tit, found in the sub-tropical shrublands of southern Africa, builds an innovative nest that includes a false chamber to trick predators. And the brown noddy, a tropical seabird, constructs a small platform from its own guano upon which to lay a single egg.

Dozens more species feature in the new Smithsonian Handbook of Interesting Bird Nests and Eggs, which showcases a wide array of these beguiling natural constructions. From mud and wool to feathers and twigs, the volume highlights more than 100 examples collected between 1768 and 2000.

Author Douglas G. D. Russell knows a thing or two about caring for avian egg and nest collections in his role as Senior Curator of Birds at London’s Natural History Museum. In this new pocket-size guide, he reveals how much the wide array of nests and eggs can teach us about bird behavior, habitats, and evolutionary and ecological phenomena.

Find your copy in the Colossal Shop.

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Between about 350 and 850 C.E., a society known as the Moche thrived in the coastal valleys of northern Peru. Pañamarca, in the Nepeña Valley, is the southernmost center of the Moche culture and the site of a remarkable series of recent archaeological discoveries, including the latest: a monumental pillared hall with vibrantly painted walls.

The Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca, founded in 2018, is a collaboration between Peruvian and U.S. archaeologists, art historians, and conservators. Its research and digs are supported by the National Geographic Society, the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University, and the Avenir Conservation Center at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

This year, archaeologists uncovered a pillared room containing evidence of its use by a high-status female leader. Scenes depict the powerful woman receiving visitors in procession or seated upon a throne.

“Scholars will debate whether the woman painted on the walls of the throne room is human or mythical (a priestess, goddess, or queen),” researchers say. “But the physical evidence of the throne, including the erosion to its back support and the recovery of greenstone beads, fine threads, and even human hair, make clear that it was occupied by a real living person—and the evidence all points to a seventh-century woman leader of Pañamarca.”

The figure portrayed on the walls is associated with the crescent moon, the sea and its creatures, and the fiber arts. Additional murals uncovered this past July reveal a scene of an entire workshop of women spinning and weaving, along with a retinue of men carrying textiles and the leader’s crown—which includes her braids.

Lisa Trever, professor of art history at Columbia University, says, “Pañamarca continues to surprise us, not only for the ceaseless creativity of its painters but also because their works are overturning our expectations of gender roles in the ancient Moche world.”

The colorful wall paintings of Pañamarca were first recorded in the 1950s, depicting battles between supernatural beings, priests, warriors in procession, a unique two-faced man, and ceremonial activities.

“Moche archaeology is well known for its rich, elite tombs, impressive architecture and artworks, and elaborate religious artifacts and imagery,” says a project statement. Atop a granite hill, the site consists of a stepped adobe platform, two lower platforms, a walled plaza, and a number of other structures.

Dig deeper on the Pañamarca project’s website and Instagram.

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“There are many ways to tell a story or to document and share research and discoveries,” says artist Ellie Hannon, one of 54 artists who have embarked on a unique residency organized by the Schmidt Ocean Institute (previously). From slip-cast porcelain and painting to 3D printing and virtual reality, the storytelling possibilities are endless in the Artist-at-Sea program, which invites artists to work alongside scientists on weeks-long expeditions into some of the least-explored areas of our oceans.

Conceived by the organization’s co-founder and president Wendy Schmidt and launched in 2015, the residency was fueled by suggestions from some of the crew onboard its first vessel, Falkor—named after the beloved luck dragon in The NeverEnding Story. “The idea behind the program was to provide an avenue for artists to experience the scientific process at sea and experience first-hand new ocean ecosystems,” says Dr. Carlie Wiener, the institute’s director of communications.

Aboard the research vessel Falkor (too), one artist is provided with a berth—an alotted space—on each expedition, exploring a wide range of biological and geological phenomena. From volcanic activity to coral reefs to glacial interactions, researchers often document new species, map uncharted terrain, and examine the implications of the climate crisis seen in receding ice sheets and rising sea levels.

Designers Shan Hua and Pei-Win Jin joined a six-day journey in August 2023 dedicated to studying the dynamics of sinking microplastics. The residency was an opportunity to experiment with new technology, while observing how tests were carried out and learning about the physical characteristics of the ocean. Hua says, “It was my first time collaborating with scientists, and it was incredibly memorable to observe their sampling processes over an extended period.”

For her work on Falkor (too), Hua was deeply moved by the reality of vast quantities of plastics in our oceans and the capacity for the material to last an incredibly long time without breaking down, unlike organic material. A single-use plastic bottle can take hundreds of years to disintegrate. But in the ocean, the most worrisome culprits are the tiny particles that can starve and suffocate marine life, while also possibly hindering the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink.

“Something as simple as laundering synthetic fabrics can introduce microplastic fibers into the environment,” says a statement about the last August’s expedition. Hua looked further into the longevity of microplastics and its effects on life, landing on the theme of marine fossils. She worked with an onboard 3D printer, along with VR technology, to create what she calls “future fossils”—relics portending what might happen if we don’t act now to prevent further pollution.

For the artists aboard Falkor (too), working alongside scientists fosters a deeper appreciation for the enormity of our oceans and the life they contain. Costa Rica-based Carlos Hiller, who specializes in underwater landscape painting, was constantly awed by the sights and discoveries during the nearly three-week “Octopus Odyssey” expedition around the west coast of his home island.

Hiller expected to have long periods to paint, and he imagined that the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that scanned the sea floor would be slow and monotonous. But there wasn’t a dull moment: “Every few meters on the sedimentary floor, a new creature appeared, and the rock formations revealed underwater landscapes that evoked vivid descriptions of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” he says.

The human relationship to the sea struck a chord with Hiller, who was intrigued by parallel yet disparate experiences. “I was fascinated by placing myself imaginarily at a certain distance from the ROV to observe the scene from two angles: that of the observed and that of the observer,” he says. “I became an invisible witness to the encounter between technology—our underwater eyes—and organisms or landscapes that had never seen the light before.”

Hiller created 13 paintings onboard the vessel, and the experience inspired a further series of paintings, murals, and small, mobile sculptures informed by the deep environment. “Often, we imagine the sea as a vast, undulating surface, an infinite mirror,” he says. “We venture only a few meters underwater, and beyond that, in our minds, there is only darkness, emptiness, and mystery.” He is thrilled by the apprehension of so much more.

Hannon also took advantage of the ROV’s capabilities during a 2021 residency focused on paintings and a slip-cast porcelain installation. She collaborated with researcher Ian Parnum and ROV technician Jason Rodriguez as the team explored Ashmore Reef Marine Park, a sanctuary for birds, turtles, and many other marine species off Australia’s northwest coast.

Using digital imaging—and the ROV’s robot arms—to capture the visual characteristics of a sea sponge, Hannon was able to digitally stitch together a 3D image, which was then printed into a slip-cast mold. The process reinvigorated an aspect of her practice she had previously put to the side. She also produced a series of five vibrant paintings illustrating a wide range of creatures inhabiting the reef.

Wowed by the clarity of the ROV’s film footage and the work of its operators, Hannon disembarked with a lasting impression of inventiveness and creativity demonstrated by the entire team. “A moment that stuck out for me relating to this was, when a part of the ROV broke, the team used the 3D printer to replicate this part, as they noted: you can’t just run down to the tool shop when you are 400 kilometers from land.”

Interacting with researchers from around the world provides artists the opportunity to reimagine scientific inquiry as a range of art forms and share discoveries and technologies through an approachable medium. Schmidt Ocean Institute then adds one piece from each artist to its collection, exhibiting the work globally in a continued effort to advance knowledge about the marine world.

“One of the most surprising things that has come out of the program is not just how the science has influenced the artist but how the art has influenced the science,” Dr. Wiener says. “Many of our Artist-at-Sea participants have developed long-term relationships with scientists that come aboard and continue to work together on projects after their time in the residency.”

Another recent expedition invited Max Hooper Schneider onboard, and Jill Pelto is working on the current trip off the coast of Chile, which concludes on September 23. Learn more about the Artist-at-Sea program and take a deep dive into each expedition on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s website.

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Microscopic wave-like patterns rippling across the surface of a fruit fly embryo have taken the top spot in Nikon’s 2024 Small World in Motion competition. In biology, the phenomenon is known as mitotic waves, which synchronize cell division across the entire embryo.

The process was captured at 20x magnification by Dr. Bruno Vellutini of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden—one of a slew of mind-boggling images to win accolades in the contest’s 14th year.

Small World in Motion (previously) invites entries in video or digital timelapse photography that have been captured through a microscope, revealing processes invisible to the naked eye and shedding light on the world around us.

Vellutini, a zoologist with a background in evolutionary and developmental biology, is dedicated to advancing our understanding of how embryos develop from a single cell—a process fundamental to all animal life. Like Richard J. Albrecht’s timelapse of a molting mayfly, Cora A. Harris’s prismatic documentation of crystallizing magnesium sulfate, or Dr. Luis Carlos Cesteros’s blooming algae, Vellutini highlights a different view of something we actually interact with surprisingly often.

“Fruit fly embryos in our homes, developing in our kitchens and our trash bins, are undergoing the same processes as shown in the video,” Vellutini says. “I believe the video is particularly impactful because it shows us how these fascinating cellular and tissue dynamics are happening every day, all around us—even in the most mundane living beings.”

Browse a few of our favorite entries here, and explore all of the winning images on the competition’s website.

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About 900 miles off the coast of Chile along the Nazca Ridge, a slew of new discoveries have thrilled marine scientists. During a 28-day expedition, researchers aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s vessel Falkor (too) mapped a previously unknown seamount along the ridge’s mountain chain, along with nine others. These included a pristine 800-square-meter coral garden.

The underwater peaks and coral beds provide homes for rockfish, king crabs, brittle stars, and myriad other creatures. Scientists discovered twenty possibly new species across the ten seamounts they surveyed, in addition to capturing rare species on camera for the first time.

The team documented a live Promachoteuthis squid, “a genus that is so rare that only three species have been described based on only a few collected specimens, several of which are from the late 1800s,” a statement about the findings says. “Until now, the squid genus has only been characterized from dead samples found in nets.”

Scientists also recorded the adorable Casper octopus, marking the first time the species has been spotted in the Southern Pacific, and two rare Bathyphysa siphonophores, commonly known as flying spaghetti monsters.

Schmidt Ocean Institute (previously) was established to advance oceanographic research, discovery, and knowledge, and through its efforts—including a residency program—share information about our planet’s oceans to better protect and preserve the delicate ecosystems.

Find more on the organization’s website.

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