At the end of last year, Tahlequah the killer whale birthed a female calf. After only a few days the calf died, and Tahlequah was seen carrying her lost baby draped over her snout for at least 11 days in the Puget Sound. In 2018 the orca displayed similar behavior when she lost her previous calf. She carried the 300-pound body on her head for 17 days while swimming 1,000 miles. Researchers characterize the mother orca’s reaction to these losses as grief.

• Dinosaurs, long thought of as drab-looking creatures, were anything but—research on fossilized melanin cells shows that dinosaurs were feathered in bright colors; some even sported spots and stripes.
• Our solar system did not establish itself slowly, as was long thought, but was born of a violent blur of impacts and destruction.
• Women in Viking society likely controlled the money through their creation and trade of textiles.