Free Republic

In an innovative endeavor to create a sensory bridge to the ancient past, a team of researchers led by Barbara Huber of the MPI of Geoanthropology has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3,500 years ago...The team's research centered on the mummification substances used to embalm the noble lady Senetnay in the 18th dynasty, circa 1450 BCE. The researchers utilized advanced analytical techniques—including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, high-temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry—to reconstruct the substances that helped to preserve and scent Senetnay for eternity. Their research has...

Three hives containing more than 180,000 bees in total were found intact on the cathedral’s roof despite the devastating blaze Following the tragedy of Monday’s fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, news came on Friday of a miracle as sweet as honey. The hundreds of thousands of bees that lived in hives inside Notre Dame’s roof are alive and well, according to the beekeeper, or apiculteur, that oversees them.... ...Three hives that are home to an estimated 60,000 bees each – 180,000 bees in total – are located on a lower roof atop the cathedral’s first floor.

University of Miami basketball coach Jim Larranaga took the opportunity after Saturday's 62-55 loss to Syracuse to let the world know his views on gun control in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High massacre. "I think we have to do something about our gun laws," Larranaga said. "We're not the Wild, Wild West where everybody should carry a gun. There needs to be accountability and responsibility for people in charge of selling guns and buying guns."