Modigliani's 'Reclining Nude' Sells For $ 170 Million
A painting by Amedeo Modigliani fetched $170.4 million at an auction Monday, setting a world record for the artist and achieving the second highest price ever garnered for a work of art at auction.
"Reclining Nude" was sold at Christie's in Manhattan after a protracted bidding battle. Considered one of his best known works, the 1917-1918 painting nearly created a scandal when it was first exhibited in Paris. It depicts an unknown nude model reclining on a crimson couch and blue cushion.
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Megastructures: seven wonders of the modern world near completion
Beijing airport
In the 1980s, British architect Norman Foster revolutionised the airport terminal with Stansted airport. His innovations involved streamlining the systems and machines that make up this most complex of buildings. Now, Zaha Hadid has been brought in to add her magic to Beijing’s Daxing airport, set to be the world’s largest.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge
The Chinese have been planning to bring Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai closer together ever since they took back Hong Kong island in 1999. A new road link under construction combines long bridged sections with cable-stayed spans and an immersed tunnel, the mouths of which are housed on new artificial islands. At 50km long, it’ll take the title of the longest water span in the world.
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'UFO Clouds' Are Real. Here's How They Happen
Technically called “lenticular clouds,” the weird phenomenon seen over Cape Town has a simple explanation.
Meteorologists call them lenticular clouds, which form when strong, moist winds blow over rough terrain, such as mountains or valleys. Picturesque Cape Town is framed by such features, including the 3,500-foot (1,066-meter) Table Mountain.
As the wind flows over large features it may cool, causing it to condense into disk-shaped clouds that develop perpendicular to the direction of the air flow.
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What Does Herpes Do To Your Brain?
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How to: frozen bubbles
frozen bubble are very fragile creatures, so I’ve (not me) experimented with different recipes to create a durable bubble wall that won’t pop in the slightest breeze; dish soap for the bubbling, corn syrup to thicken the wall and sugar to help crystallization. I let the mixture chill in the freezer to help speed up the freezing once outside:
- 200ml warm water
- 35ml corn syrup
- 35ml dish soap
- 2tbs sugar
- chill in the freezer
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Get rid of cataracts with eye drops, thanks to new research
Cataract eye surgery may soon become a thing of the past, thanks to new eye drops that promise to “shrink down and dissolve” the protein build-ups that affect around 22 million Americans over the age of 40. The drops are being heralded as a potential game changer for those who live in areas where surgery may not be an option, saving untold numbers from blindness and other cataract-related complications.
The magic lies with a particular molecule (lanosterol, a naturally-occurring steroid), which when applied in eyedrop form was able to “partially reverse cataracts in mice and restore some transparency in isolated human lenses,” according to Scientific American. Because cataracts are the result of damaged crystallin proteins that misfold and harden into cloudy clumps within the lens of the eye, researchers believe that molecules capable of binding to these proteins will effectively reverse the damaging process.
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In November 2012, Salvador Alvarenga went fishing off the coast of Mexico. Two days later, a storm hit and he made a desperate SOS. It was the last anyone heard from him – for 438 days. This is his story,…….
It wasn’t until a year later, when the fog of confusion subsided and he scanned the maps of his drift across the Pacific Ocean, that Alvarenga began to fathom his extraordinary journey. For 438 days, he lived on the edge of sanity. “I suffered hunger, thirst and an extreme loneliness, and didn’t take my life,” Alvarenga says. “You only get one chance to live – so appreciate it.”