A racist scientist built a collection of human skulls Should we still study them? sciencemag.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sciencemag.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Magicicada cassinii. Credit: Alamy
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This spring, the 17-year cicadas of Brood X will emerge from underground, climb tree trunks and molt, leaving their crunchy shells behind. Soon after, the males will join together in a droning chorus to the delight (or consternation) of their human neighbors.
Those with a keen ear might detect that there are several buzzy songs occurring at once. This is not because the cicadas have a large repertoire. Rather, there are few different cicada species, including the
Magicicada septendecim and the
In the early 19th century this was still a mystery,
but the entomologist Margaretta Hare Morris had suspicions. Ever since she had been a teenager, she had carefully observed the emergence of cicadas. She had heard the different cicada songs in 1817 and again 1834. It was in 1846, though, when she was 49, that Morris felt confident enough to announce that she had discovered a new species.
What Should Museums Do With the Bones of the Enslaved?
As one museum has pledged to return skulls held in an infamous collection, others, including the Smithsonian, are reckoning with their own holdings of African-American remains.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has announced that it will open a notorious collection of 1,300 human skulls, including some from enslaved people, to repatriation claims.Credit.Universal Images Group/Getty Images
April 20, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
The Morton Cranial Collection, assembled by the 19th-century physician and anatomist Samuel George Morton, is one of the more complicated holdings of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
How A Museum s Human Skull Collection Sparked A Racial Reckoning forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.