Notices by Global Museum (globalmuseum@mastodon.online)

A nearly 2,000-year-old #Roman gold ring was discovered in the tomb of Aebutia Quarta, located near Rome.

This exquisite artifact features a rock crystal intricately carved to depict her son, Titus Carvilius Gemello. The engraving on the back of the crystal skillfully manipulates light, creating a holographic effect that makes the image appear remarkably lifelike.

Now housed at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Palestrina

The bookmobile went from a simple horse-drawn cart in the 19th century to large customized vehicles that became part of American culture and reached their height of popularity in the mid-twentieth century.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-earliest-libraries-on-wheels-looked-way-cooler-than-todays-bookmobiles-1418682/?utm_source=Globalmuseum #libraries #history
Smithsonian Magazine
@SmithsonianMag

Come for the fluff, stay for the wing stretch.

A red-tailed tropicbird chick begins adjusting to life on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge recently. The refuge is home to the largest nesting colony in the Hawaiian archipelago for the seabirds, called koa‘e‘ula in Hawaiian.

@USFWSPacific #birds

Reasons you should think twice before accepting gifts 🎁 🤔.

In 1945, a group of Soviet children visited the US Embassy in Moscow and gave the Ambassador a hand-carved Great Seal of the US. It stayed in his office until 1952... when technicians discovered a remarkable listening device inside. US technicians dubbed the Great Seal’s listening device “The Thing.” With no battery or circuits, how did it transmit? After two months, British Tech Ops finally figured it out.

With the help of a DuPont engineer, the plan was to obtain DuPont's proprietary methods and sell them to Chinese government-owned firms, undercutting DuPont's product. The businessman received 15 years in prison for the theft attempt.

Oreo cookies are linked to a high-stakes case of corporate espionage valued in the billions. 🍪

The additive in Oreo's cream filling is titanium dioxide (TiO2) - a white pigment used in countless products from paint to plastics. In the early 2000s, a Chinese businessman was convicted of economic espionage for trying to steal DuPont's valuable trade secrets about their top-quality "titanium white" manufacturing process.

@IntlSpyMuseum

The dagger buried with Tutankhamun is not of this world.
Its blade is made from meteorite iron.
@Rainmaker1973 #dagger #Egyptology #meteorites

Japan’s service robot market projected to triple in five years.

Faced with an aging population and labor shortages, Japanese businesses are increasingly relying on service robots to supplement their workforce, according to Bloomberg.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/09/japans-service-robot-market-projected-to-triple-in-five-years/?utm_source=globalmuseum #robots #Japan

Rare reddish-orange snowy owl in Huron County, Michigan, captivates birdwatchers.

@Rainmaker1973 #birds #owls #birdwatching

The Roman watermills of Barbegal, dating back to the IV century CE and located in southern France

#Roman #Milling #grain #water

Scientists found an ancient kauri tree that captured the last collapse of Earth's magnetic field and it will happen again.
A kauri tree buried for thousands of years in New Zealand has provided scientists with an unprecedented record of Earth's magnetic field during a near-reversal event.
The ancient tree, unearthed during geothermal plant expansion in Ngāwhā, measures 65 feet long and eight feet in diameter.

A Keel-Billed Toucan's impressive bill is made up of the same material as human hair and fingernails—keratin! The bill is hollow on the inside and reinforced by bone, making it quite light. It can account for about one third of the toucan’s total length!

American Museum of Natural History
@AMNH #bird #birds #birding #Toucan

What 5 Megabytes of Computer Data Looked Like in 1966.
In 1966, computing was in its infancy, and the concept of data storage and processing looked drastically different from today’s instant access to vast amounts of information. At that time, five megabytes of data—a relatively small amount by today's standards—required an astounding 62,500 punched cards
https://www.vintag.es/2025/02/5-megabytes-of-computer-data.html #computing #data #history

British Library acquires torn-out drafts of Edward Elgar masterpiece.

Sketches for Introduction and Allegro for Strings had been removed from sketchbook by composer in 1930 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/22/british-library-acquires-torn-out-drafts-of-edward-elgar-masterpiece #music #BritishLibrary

Hummingbirds Living in a Hive Found for the First Time.
In a remote mountain cave in #Ecuador, hummingbirds were discovered sleeping and nesting together. Usually, their territorial fury is especially aimed at other hummingbirds but not here. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/science/hummingbirds-living-in-a-hive-found-for-the-first-time.html #birds

National Geographic Award Winning photograph of the year🏆📸#Bats #animlas #photography #NationalGeographic

A 15 year old ended up creating the longest grand piano in the world after asking a simple question.
Inside a piano, the bass strings are wrapped with copper wire to deepen the sound without needing more length. He asked his piano teacher, "without using copper wire, how long would the bass strings need to be to hit the right notes?" His teacher had no idea, so Adrian decided to figure it. The Alexander Piano is 18ft 9 inches, weighing over a metric ton

Water damaged copy of “Alice's Adventures In Wonderland” which grew fungi.⁠

⁠(Photo by Igor Siwanowicz).⁠

The Museum of Curiosities @CuriosMuseum #AliceInWonderland #books

Korean scientists have introduced a groundbreaking innovation—transparent solar panels—that can transform windows into power-generating surfaces without compromising their transparency. In today’s densely populated urban landscapes, where space is a premium, this technology offers a solution to the spatial limitations of traditional solar panels, seamlessly integrating renewable energy generation into modern cityscapes.

https://scienceadvance.com/korean-scientists-create-invisible-solar-panels/ #solarpanels #Korea #science

On this day in 1890, this monster haggis was shot near the village of Dalwhinnie. Local schoolchildren were forced to eat haggis for their school dinners for the next 10 months!

Source: Scotland's Wild Haggis Animal Discovery Group #Haggis #Scotland #humour #humor