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DNA analysis reveals likely pathogens that killed Napoleon’s army

Microbial DNA suggests troops suffered from paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever, among other diseases. In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte led a disastrous military campaign into Moscow. The death toll was devastating: Out of some 615,000 men, only about 110,000 survivors returned. (Napoleon abandoned his army in early December to return…

The first people to set foot in Australia were fossil hunters

Europeans weren’t the first people to collect fossils in Australia. Australia’s First Peoples may or may not have hunted the continent’s megafauna to extinction, but they definitely collected fossils. A team of archaeologists examined the fossilized leg bone of an extinct kangaroo and realized that instead of evidence of…

Great hybrid V6, lousy HMI: Three days with a Ferrari 296 GTB

​Three days with a car revealed its character in more ways than one.  Ferrari provided flights from Washington, DC, to Austin, Texas, and accommodation so Ars could attend the Lone Star Le Mans. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. The first time I drove this generation of mid-engined…