Iceland to Harvard: Give us our skulls back.

‘MASTER RACE’ EXPERIMENTS LED TO THEFT

Friday, August 4, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we learn why Iceland wants its skulls back, figure out why heart attack rates are rising in young adults … and discover a giant prehistoric manatee? Plus, how ancients imagined elephants.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ÍVAR BRYNJÓLFSSON, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND

The country has a national parliament dating back nearly 1,100 years. It is asking one of the world’s most distinguished universities to return 50-plus skulls of Icelanders spirited away for now-disgraced experiments on a supposed master race.

In short, what is Harvard University doing with these skulls in a basement of a Massachusetts museum? Shouldn’t these skulls be reunited in their homeland with their other remains (one pictured above)? What’s the holdup?

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

ILLUSTRATION BY ALBERTO GENNARI

A giant prehistoric manatee? When first discovered, this whale’s 37-million-year-old fossil bones were so large, experts thought they were boulders. They came from what may have been the heaviest animal that ever lived (depicted above).

HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

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Can you spot it? There’s a camouflaged creature hiding among the coral above. Can you find it, and do you know what it is?

A. Bargibant’s pygmy seahorse
B. Red-spotted coral crab
C. Spotted moray

CLICK HERE FOR THE ANSWER

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ONE GREAT STORY

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GRIT, PERSONIFIED

Today’s soundtrack: Warren Harding, Al Stewart

Happy Friday! This newsletter has been curated and edited by Jen Tse, Hannah Farrow, Nancy San Martín, and David Beard. Feeling friendly? Say hey: hannah.farrow@natgeo.com

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Iceland to Harvard: Give us our skulls back.

Iceland to Harvard: Give us our skulls back.

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