Pompeii’s Unearthed Stash of Ancient Charms and Amulets

When Pompeii met its sudden end more than 2,000 years ago, the city was buried with many treasures intact. With every archaeological dig there, remarkable insight into Roman life is revealed. A recent dig inside the House of the Garden unearthed the remains of 10 people and a collection of gems, beads, shells and amulets—once housed in a wooden box. There are phallic charms oftentimes …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Algorithm-assisted art, a serendipitous travel guide, barrel-aged beer and more from the web this week

Astronomers Detect an Unprecedented Glow from the Center of Our Galaxy At the center of our galaxy is the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Though it has a history of flickering, it has never glowed like it did in April and May, new research tells us. Twice, both times over the course of four nights, the light around its core glowed at “unprecedented” levels—so much …

Spend the Night in an Edward Hopper Painting

Coinciding with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’s Edward Hopper and the American Hotel exhibition, the institution will allows guests to walk through—and even spend the night—in a three-dimensional recreation of the artist’s painting, “Western Motel.” An exemplary study on isolation (a persistent theme in Hoppers work), the “Western Motel” experience will happen on the museum grounds. The exhibition will also feature more than 60 …