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Striking a New Pose

When they were first reconstructed in the late 1800s, dinosaurs were assumed to have looked like giant reptiles. Through the early half of the 20th century they were portrayed in 3-D skeleton mounts and in artists’ depictions either in a four-legged stance with their tails dragging on the ground

Specious Claims?

As I was reading the paper one Sunday morning, a rather alarming front-page headline caught my eye: “Attack of the killer worms—foreign invaders threaten saplings and trilliums.” Reading further, I discovered that the article was referring to some inconspicuous non-native earthworm species

40 Influential Research Projects

For 40 years, ROM magazine has been keeping readers up to date on the latest scientific breakthroughs and most current findings in archaeology and art history by ROM researchers. In celebration of the magazine’s 40th anniversary, we look at 40 of the Museum’s influential projects. Take a look

Romancing the Stones

On a 9th-grade school trip in 1957, Michael Scott saw his first computer—a state-of-the-art vacuum tube IBM 650 model—at the University of Florida. The first rule his class learned was “You may not wear jewellery, especially rings” while working with computers, because rings could dent the

To Conserve and Protect

It was the winter of 2007, and within the ROM’s dark, silent storage vaults 97 paintings awaited permanent exhibition in the airy new Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada. My task, as the ROM’s new paintings conservator, was to create a plan that would ready this daunting number of works for

The Plight of the Red Knot

One of the most magnificent sights in the world takes place at the far ends of the earth, in places like Tierra del Fuego, northwest Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa: huge flocks of shorebirds circle high in the sky, calling excitedly as they begin their arduous journey to breeding

Science of the Scrolls

How far-reaching technologies help researchers unshroud the mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Long shrouded in mystery , the precise meaning and origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls elude us still. Science and technology are light years ahead of where they were when the first scrolls were discovered

A Shot at Fame

Before we had celebrities we had the merely famous . Albert Einstein, photographed by Martin Hohlig for the society magazine Vanity Fair in 1923, was famous for his scientific theories. His dusty, even slightly frayed, felt suit is meant to convey sobriety rather than glamour; he is posed against

Faking It

For centuries, forgery of art and collectibles has plagued the world, and the end, it seems, is nowhere in sight. In ancient Rome, when Greek art became popular, it was copied to meet the demand. During the Middle Ages relics associated with Christ and the saints were highly prized and reproduced

Dior's Scandalous New Look

When Christian Dior's extravagantly feminine New Look burst upon the fashion-starved post-World War II scene, not everyone accepted it—French saleswomen literally tore the dresses apart, spawning numerous anti-New Look protests. A glimpse into the rise of—and shock waves caused by—a