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ILLUSTRATION BY KATY WIEDEMANN. SOURCE: KENNETH R. WOOD, NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

This plant no longer exists. But you can still smell it.

Telephones were a new invention and the Model T Ford was selling briskly the last time anyone might have smelled a Hibiscadelphus wilderianus tree blooming in the wild. More than a century later, scientists thought: "What if we could do Jurassic Park?"

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PHOTOGRAPH VIA BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

The new year once started in March—here's why

For starters, January didn't exist for the ancient Romans. Here's how their calendar evolved into our modern system of marking time.

THE DAWN OF CALENDARS

ILLUSTRATION BY YU CHEN

This is one of the biggest animals that ever walked the Earth

The extinct cousin of today's rhinoceros would have weighed up to 24 tons—four times heavier than today's African elephants.

TALLER THAN A GIRAFFE

MUSEUM OF SOUTHWEST JUTLAND, CC-BY-SA

Viking 'amulet factory' discovery forces rethink of enigmatic artifacts

Archaeologists long assumed Valkyrie figurines represented Norse mythical beings. A new study of how and where they were made challenges that.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HARTMUT KRINITZ, LAIF/REDUX

These are some of Europe's most sacred sites

This isolated castle in the south of France is known as the last stronghold of the Cathars, the heretical Christian sect active in the 12th-13th centuries in western Europe. See other sites, from Neolithic stone circles to monasteries clinging to cliffs, that stand the test of time.

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FERNANDO G. BAPTISTA/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

This wonder of the ancient world shone brightly for more than a thousand years

The Lighthouse of Alexandria towered over the port city founded by Alexander the Great. Guiding sailors for centuries, it stood from the third century B.C. until the Middle Ages.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY LAGAIN ET AL. (2021), NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Where did these strange Martian meteorites come from?

A team of researchers studying the rocks known as depleted shergottites may have finally cracked the case: They concluded that these geologic projectiles came from a single crater atop Tharsis, the largest volcanic feature in the solar system.

MORE GREAT READS

The most lavish Mesopotamian tomb ever found belongs to a woman (Atlas Obscura) ››

The far-reaching benefits of tiger sharks for climate (BBC) ››

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