Free Republic

Last month, archaeologists cracked open a tomb excavated in Alexandria, Egypt, revealing three skeletons bathing in an crimson pool of sludgy sewage. In response, tens of thousands around the world immediately petitioned for the right to sip from the freshly uncorked casket of amontillado. (Spoiler: It hasn't worked out.) But fear not, coffin connoisseurs: There's a new artisanal artifact in town -- the world's oldest solid cheese, over 3,000 years in the making. The tomb of Ptahmes, mayor of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt during the 13th century BC, contains quite the trove of treasures. First uncovered in 1885,...

Thousands of residents of the northwest Chinese city of Lanzhou have been diagnosed with brucellosis, a highly infectious bacterial disease after they were exposed to polluted air from a state pharmaceutical company late last year. According to health authorities on Tuesday, 3,245 people have tested positive for Brucella bacteria antibodies out of 21,847 people tested so far in Lanzhou, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. Local health authorities announced on December 26 that the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant, a unit of the state-run China Animal Husbandry Industry, “used expired sanitizers while producing Brucella vaccines between July 24 and August 20”...