Your Weekly Escape: The sinister plot to bring camels to America

Plus: Lucrezia Borgia, an ocean leviathan, a forgotten genius  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌    ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  

 

A FORGOTTEN GENIUS VIEW ONLINE

A FORGOTTEN GENIUS

Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY AKG/ALBUM Lucrezia Borgia, predator or pawn? The illegitimate daughter of a pope and his mistress, she was a famous beauty, notorious for the suspicious deaths and political intrigue that swirled around her and her family. But how much of the scandalous reputation was true, and how much was sheer invention? SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

VIA MPI/GETTY The sinister reason why camels were brought to the American West The idea was proposed in the 1850s by Jefferson Davis, a U.S. senator and the future president of the Confederacy. At first he was met with only derision. But as whimsical as his pet project may appear today, camels in fact belong to a dark chapter in American history. READ ON

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAN VAJDIC, MUSEUM OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS This museum memorializes failed love Stories of love and heartache from around the world fill the Museum of Broken Relationships. "It’s a metaphorical space to put things behind you but still leave a trace this relationship existed," says its co-founder. "That it mattered to me." A PLACE TO HEAL?

PHOTOGRAPH BY THE PICTURE ART COLLECTION, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO The amazing tale of the genius who was forgotten by history Naturalist Francis Willughby was the first to do things we now take for granted in science, like measuring bird beaks and fish fins. A SCIENTIFIC PIONEER

[He] embraced this new way of thinking about the natural world. That new way was to not trust the ancients, like Aristotle … but to find evidence and see things with your own eyes. Tim Birkhead, author of The Wonderful Mr Willughby From: The amazing tale of the genius who was forgotten by history

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYOTARO HORIUCHI These samurai devotees bring a cherished culture back to life After years of photographing outside his country, photographer Ryotaro Horiuchi's search for his Japanese identity led him to rediscover the past in the present. SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY PROFESSOR ALVARO ANDRADE This man drowned 5,000 years ago. How do we know that? It's the life-and-death story of an individual who lived millennia ago, and one that researchers are now able to tell, thanks to a twist on a modern forensic technique. MODERN FORENSICS

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANGLIAN WATER This giant 'sea monster' fossil is one of the largest of its kind Ichthyosaurs coexisted with dinosaurs, but these seagoing reptiles were entirely different creatures. They evolved from land reptiles over 246 million years ago, becoming more streamlined and fish-like over time. And this particular specimen offers a new window into the evolutionary history of these aquatic reptiles. AN 'AMAZING' FIND

MORE GREAT READS An Amelia Earhart mystery solved (not that mystery) (New York Times)  ›› Why soil is a surprisingly noisy place (BBC)  ››

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