July 22, 2025

The Mighty Moth

Consider the humble moth. It doesn’t get the adoration of its butterfly counterparts in the insect order Lepidoptera, but its beauty is no less dazzling. Although they may fly under the radar, moths make up the vast majority of the 180,000 Lepidopteran species on Earth, not butterflies or skippers, and the entire group is in decline. This Moth Week, take a moment to learn about these surprisingly colorful and diverse pollinators.

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Moth insect. Macrocilix maia. This moth has two symmetrical patterns that resemble flies feeding on bird droppings

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Uropyia meticulodina is a species of moth of the Notodontidae family. It is found in China and Taiwan. It's wings bend and curl inward to resemble a leaf.

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Top of the Props

Rosebud, the iconic sled from the film Citizen Kane, recently sold at auction for $14.75 million, the second highest price ever paid for a piece of movie memorabilia. The sled, a classic example of a MacGuffin device, joins a long list of film props that fetched millions at auction, including the following.

“There’s no place like home”

The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz were sold in December 2024 for a winning bid of $28 million—but that wasn’t the final tally. When factoring in fees, the all-in price was more than $32 million.

“Ejector seat? You’re joking.”

In the 1964 film Goldfinger, James Bond is given an Aston Martin DB5 tricked out with many special features, including machine guns, tire slashers, an oil-slick dispenser, and an ejector seat, to name a few. The car became a highly recognizable part of the Bond franchise, appearing in seven more films. In 2019 a promotional copy of the DB5 used for the 1965 film Thunderball sold for $6.4 million.

Goldfinger (1964) Actor Sean Connery as James Bond stands with his Aston Martin DB5 sports car in the film directed by Guy Hamilton. spy movie based on novel by Ian Fleming

Marilyn Monroe’s “subway dress”

The white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1955 comedy The Seven Year Itch—lifted by the updraft from a subway grate—sold for a total price of $5.52 million in June 2011. That puts the dress slightly ahead of Robby the Robot of Lost in Space and Forbidden Planet fame, which was bought for $5.375 million in 2017.

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Asian elephant

The largest land mammal in Asia, these elephants have been classified as an endangered species since 1986.

AHMEDABAD, INDIA- JUNE 12, 2025: Members of the investigation team examine the site of the Air India flight crash on June 12, 2025, in Ahmedabad, India. An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London's Gatwick Airport crashed shortly after takeoff carrying 232 passengers and 10 crew members. The plane crashed on a resident doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad, which suffered major damage in the accident. India, Asia, Crash, Accident,

Air India Flight 171

This passenger airliner crashed on June 12 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, claiming the lives of 241 of the 242 people on board.

Greenland shark under ice (Somniosus microcephalus), Lancaster Sound, northern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.

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On land that distinction goes to the tortoise. But in the water there’s an animal capable of living for 500 years.

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