The warrior woman of the Renaissance

July 27, 2022
by RJ Hamster

Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY DEA/ALBUM

The Renaissance warrior woman who defied powerful popes—and the Borgias

It was 1499. The troops of the Borgias were holding her children hostage and threatening to kill them if she did not yield her lands to them. But she refused, raised her skirts, and cried: “Kill them if you will. I have the means to make many more! You will never make me surrender.” The tale may be apocryphal but, given what is known about the extraordinary Caterina Sforza, it has a ring of truth.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CLARK

Why pterosaurs were the weirdest wonders on wings

Popular notions about these winged dragons that ruled Mesozoic skies for 162 million years have long remained stuck. We invariably imagine them as pointy-headed, leather-winged, clumsily aerial reptilians, with murderous proclivities. But a rush of fossil discoveries is changing long-held beliefs about the animals.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY EARTH GALLERY PHOTOGRAPH, ALAMY

A huge chunk of Earth’s crust is missing. Now we may know why.

The image above shows what’s known as the Great Unconformity: In one layer, you have rocks from the Cambrian period, which started roughly 540 million years ago. Directly below, you have fossil-free crystalline basement rock, which formed about a billion or more years ago. So where did all the rock that belongs in between these time periods go?

THE ALLEGED THIEF

NAT GEO WILD

The true story of Machli, the world’s most famous tiger

In 2016, Machli, the Tiger Queen of Ranthambore, died at the ripe old age of 19. The Bengal tigress, who may have been the most photographed tiger on Earth, was known for her tenacity in the face of incredible odds: She killed a 14-foot crocodile, defended her territory against much larger male tigers, and raised cubs even after she’d lost her canine teeth and the use of one eye.

A REMARKABLE LIFE

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY LAUREN A. BADAMS

The super-ancient origins of your blue jeans

Until recently, researchers believed the earliest-known indigo-dyed textiles were from Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, dated to approximately 2400 B.C. It turns out distinctive indigo-blue cotton fabrics were being created long before the pyramids were built.

A SURPRISING ‘JEANAEOLOGY’

The Grand Canyon is a gigantic geological library, with rocky layers that tell much of the story of Earth’s history. Curiously though, a sizable layer representing anywhere from 250 million years to 1.2 billion years is missing.

READ ON: A huge chunk of Earth’s crust is missing. Now we may know why.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ARTHUR MEBIUS

See the golden age of Soviet aviation, frozen in time in North Korea

North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world—international travel is highly regulated and freedom of movement within its own borders scarce. The lack of demand for air travel combined with global sanctions has had an unintended effect.

SEE THE PHOTOS

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

Are dogs smarter than cats? Science has an answer

One of our most contentious debates may now have an answer: A team of researchers counted the number of neurons in dog and cat brains and found one had twice as many as the other.

READ ON

OTHER GREAT READS

Has DNA solved the riddle of the Somerton Man, Australia’s 70-year-old cold case? ››

The mysterious inner life of the octopus (BBC) ››

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The Verse of the Day

RJ Hamster

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The warrior woman of the Renaissance

The warrior woman of the Renaissance

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