About four hundred million years ago earthquake activity and possibly major storms caused sudden movements of large quantities of muddy sentiment along the seafloor. Animal communities in the path of these sediment-laden flows were instantly engulfed...

In 1732, a group of elite young men, calling themselves the Society of Dilettanti, held their first meeting in London. The qualification for membership was travel to Italy where the original members had met each other on the grand tour. These nobleme...