When the spiraled white shell of a precious wentletrap was sold at auction in 1750, the highest bidder was none other than the Holy Roman Emperor, who shelled out no less than 4,000 guilders for the ...

You may have a vague understanding that cowries were once used as currency in ancient times. You might even associate cowrie shells with the Western culture in Nigeria, particularly among the Yorubas.

Whilst the summer is coming to an end soon, one throwback jewelry trend that appears to be sticking with us into the fall is the shell necklace. Not all one and the same, there are options that ...

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, amid the pomp of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stood out from the crowd. Seated among a sea of white conservatives and ...

This Diwali 2025, it’s not just about lights and laddoos; it’s about faith in the smallest things. Cowrie shells, known as symbols of Goddess Lakshmi, are believed to attract prosperity when placed in ...

Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is not just about diyas and sweets - it’s also a time to invite prosperity and divine blessings into your home. One special ritual gaining attention is buying and ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... “Before you do anything else,” curator Chris Meyer said the minute I arrived at the National Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology collection, ...