When you hit the gym or go for a run, you probably do something easy first to warm-up your muscles. Warming up prevents injury by priming muscles, getting your blood flowing, and boosting your confidence before a grueling workout. Doing warm-up exercises isn't just for athletics though. Warming up can be a great way to prepare your mind and hands before you tackle a bigger project. It's a low stakes way to loosen up your gestures while also nudging your brain to get into creative mode.

Once you've warmed up, you'll be needing your next project. My Modern Met Academy courses are great for building up your skills and confidence when you're feeling overwhelmed by a blank canvas or page. One great class for both beginners and seasoned artists is Nitika Ale's Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings. Ale encourages her students to become more confident in their work, focusing on color-mixing and loosening up brushstrokes.

Scroll down to check out five ways you can warm up to create your next masterpiece.

Before you start your next art project, here are five activities to get you in the right frame of mind:

1.  Blind Contour Drawing

Photo: M. Gunn, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Without looking at the surface you're drawing on, use your chosen medium to sketch something in front of you. Bonus points if you don't lift your hand from the page. This is especially great for practicing drawing oh-so-difficult hands and feet. Blind contour drawing lets you shed any perfectionist tendencies and focus purely on observation and moving your hand in unison.

2.  Sketching a Dozen Patterned Circles

Photo: maritime_m/Depositphotos

Fill up a page in your sketchbook with 12 circles. Then draw a new pattern inside each circle. By playing with patterns, you'll get your creative juices flowing and feel more playful with how you make marks on the page.

3. Shading and Color-Mixing

If you are drawing, use your pencil to create a gradient across the top of your page. Start with the lightest pressure and slowly increase until you are making the darkest value possible. Then keep doing this, but instead of just up and down vertical lines, use points to create a pointillist gradient, then continue with cross-hatching. If you are a painter, gradients can help you become an expert in color-mixing.

Start with the pure hue of your paint and slowly mix in more white paint for it to become lighter, or black paint to become darker. Or start with one hue on one end and slowly blend in a new color to create a totally new color.

4. Doodling

Quickly make a large random doodle on paper. Once again, don't look at the page while you doodle. Then take what you drew and turn the doodle into something more representational, like an animal. This again gets you to look at something in a new way.

5. Thumbnail Warm-ups

Draw two to four squares on your page. Then draw a thumbnail sketch or paint a thumbnail painting of a composition you're interested in doing in larger scale. Next, use the remaining thumbnails to alter your original idea. Should an object be larger in the frame? Or would it help to add more contrast to your shades? This not only helps you warm up, but lets you refine your plans for your next work of art. Artist Nitika Ale demonstrates this exercise with acrylic paint in her e-course, Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings.

Enroll now in Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings or one of My Modern Met Academy's other painting and illustration classes to guide you as you develop your artistic eye and create muscle memory in how to translate your vision to the page or canvas.

My Modern Met Academy: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok

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If you have a dog or cat in your life, you likely take lots of pictures. Whether or not you consider yourself creative, it's hard to resist becoming a total shutterbug, grabbing another photo of our good boys and girls while they're snoozing in the sun or romping in the yard. They're just so cute, you've probably even paid for extra cloud storage just to make sure you hold on to every image ever captured of your loved one with a wagging tail. Your pet, however, might not be a fan of the puparazzi or sitting still for a clear shot. With a little bit of guidance though, you can capture beautiful, artistic portraits of your furry, fuzzy, or whiskered family members that you will treasure for years to come and be proud to frame and hang on your walls.

With My Modern Met Academy‘s Introduction to Pet Photography: Capture the Spirit of Your Furry Friend you get to stretch your creative muscles while having quality time with your pets. Professional photographer Belinda Richards goes over the entire process, from dog psychology to photo editing, that even with just your phone's camera you'll create work that belongs in a museum.

One student who completed the class wrote, “I have been an outdoor photographer for nearly 20 years, and decided to delve into studio photography. Knowing nothing about studio lighting and how it works, I found Belinda so easy to understand. She explained everything in a way I wasn't having to pause and google what she was talking about.” Richards covers a wide array of skills over 15 short lessons that it's impossible to not learn something, even if you're a seasoned photographer.

Enroll now in Introduction to Pet Photography: Capture the Spirit of Your Furry Friend on My Modern Met Academy before you take any more out-of-focus pictures of your animal companion who's more interested in chewing on your phone that posing. Once you've taken your pet photography skills to the next level, you can check out My Modern Met Academy's other online classes that will help you capture your pets and their lovable personalities.

In Introduction to Pet Photography: Capture the Spirit of Your Furry Friend, photographer Belinda Richards will make sure you feel comfortable with every step in the photography process.

Richards makes sure you know how to encourage your pet to show off their best angles and character.

Belinda Richards: Website | Instagram | Facebook

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Photo:NASA/Goddard/ASU

As beautiful as the Moon is, its surface is not especially hospitable to humans. Temperatures at the equator range from 250°F (121°C) during the day to -208°F (-133°C) after dark. Add in micrometeorites and high levels of radiation and it seems unlikely that astronauts will ever spend extended periods of time on the Moon’s surface. However, according to a new study published in Nature, the first confirmed lunar cave has been identified and could eventually be a base camp for astronauts on long-term missions.

Scientists have been theorizing about lunar caves for at least 50 years. In 2009, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)  launched in order to make a 3D map of the Moon. It gathered evidence in 2010 of very deep pits, including one on the Sea of Tranquility, near where Apollo 11 landed in 1969.

The radar imaging of this 300-foot-wide pit has now been reanalyzed using new signal processing techniques. As a result, University of Trento scientists Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer determined the pit is indeed an opening to a cave that is as long as 14 tennis courts and 130 feet wide.

Photo: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Despite its promising structure, getting in and out of the cave might be tricky. It's nearly a completely vertical slope down, and it's 410 feet below the surface on the west side. On the east side, it's even deeper at 443 feet. As Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration researcher Robert Wagner explained to The Guardian, “Getting into that pit requires descending 125 meters before you reach the floor, and the rim is a steep slope of loose debris where any movement will send little avalanches down on to anyone below. It’s certainly possible to get in and out, but it will take a significant amount of infrastructure.”

Scientists are hoping this is just the first of many caves to be discovered as the LRO has already identified over 200 lunar pits. The confirmed lunar cave, along with other pits, are thought to be the result of lava tubes formed from volcanic activity that occurred billions of year ago. Not only could caves be vital to future long-term missions in terms of shelter, they may also contain ice and be a source of water. Study author Carrer notes, “After all, life on Earth began in caves, so it makes sense that humans could live inside them on the Moon.”

The research implications of having access to lunar caves would also be wide-reaching. The geological record from inside the caves will provide billions of years of information. This data would aide researchers in understanding both volcanoes and the formation of the Moon.

“It’s really exciting,” Carrer says. “When you make these discoveries and you look at these images, you realize you’re the first person in the history of humanity to see it.”

While lunar caves have been theorized about for half a century, researchers have recently confirmed the existence of one on the Sea of Tranquility.

One of many large pit craters so far found on the Moon — do these pits provide access to open lava tubes? Image is 1170 meters wide. (Photo:NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

This is a spectacular high-Sun view of the Mare Tranquillitatis pit crater revealing boulders on an otherwise smooth floor. This image from LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera is 400 meters (1,312 feet) wide, north is up.
(Photo: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

The lunar cave is thought to be a lava tube cave that is the result of volcanic activity billions of years ago.

This image was taken in August 2019 inside a lava tube near Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, where scientists had come to study the microbes and minerals that could reveal insights about similar extra-terrestial environments. (Photo:NASA/Goddard)

h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]

All images via NASA.

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READ: Recently Discovered Lunar Cave May One Day Serve as a Base Camp

Reddish liquid contained in urn (Photo: Daniel Cosano et al., CC BY 4.0)

A family in southwestern Spain started some renovations on their house back in 2019. They quickly happened upon a tomb that was part of the ancient Roman city Carmo's necropolis, or massive graveyard. This tomb had been covered up for millennia, and as a result remained undisturbed by looters. The artifacts that lay under modern-day Carmona date to the early first century CE and have included several astonishing finds. Recently, scientists published findings on an urn which contained almost five liters of reddish-brown liquid. Laboratory tests have confirmed it is wine that's been hermetically sealed for 2,000 years. This is now the oldest known liquid wine ever found.

The wine wasn't alone though. At the bottom of the urn were the cremated bones of a man and a gold ring adorned with Janus, the Roman god of transitions with two faces looking in opposite directions. The wine and the ring were both added to the funerary urn, likely to ease the deceased on their journey to the afterlife. As the scholars wrote in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, “Given the religious significance of wine in the ancient Roman world, where it was highly symbolic and closely related to burial rituals, it is unsurprising to find vessels that might have originally contained wines among burial furnishings.”

While today the wine appears reddish, study authors and University of Cordoba chemists Daniel Cosano and Jose Rafael Ruiz Arrebola determined the wine to have originally been white wine. Using mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography, scientists determined the polyphenol and mineral salt composition of the wine. There was an absence of syringic acid, which would be present if the liquid had been red wine.

The current color is likely due to decomposition. And based on the polyphenols, study authors believe it would have been strikingly similar to modern-day Fino wines made in the region, which are a type of white sherry. While the wine has been lying in contact with cremains for two millenia, Cosano did brave having a sip of the ancient spirit. His colleague, Ruiz Arrebola, who himself declined partaking, told All That's Interesting about Cosano's observations, saying, “The flavor is salty, which is not surprising given its chemical composition, specifically its high concentration of potassium and sodium.”

Funeral chamber. (Photo: Daniel Cosano et al., CC BY 4.0)

The glass urn that contained the wine was found with five other funerary urns that each had its own loculi, or niche, in the tomb. This was likely a family tomb, with three urns holding female remains, and three male remains. Not much is known about the family, but the names Hispanae and Senicio were engraved on two separate urns. Along with the urns were more jewelry, ivory sheets believed to have been a box burnt on a funeral pyre, and plates that likely had food offerings. The excavation made headlines last year for the equally impressive find of a crystal bottle that held patchouli perfume, bringing us closer to understanding the sensorial experience of ancient Roman life.

Prior to the Carmona urn, the oldest liquid wine found is thought to be in a bottle excavated from Speyer, Germany, in 1867. This region was also part of the Roman empire in 325 CE which is the approximate vintage of the wine. However, this bottle has not been unsealed or tested as the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, which owns the bottle, is afraid of the effects of its exposure to air, and they don't want to risk shattering the bottle.

There has also been wine residue found inside pottery from 8,000 years ago in modern-day Georgia. Preventing wine decay was still a code to be cracked in Roman times, and they relied upon additives, such as salt, for longevity. The fact that this tomb evaded looters and that archaeologists are certain the urns remained isolated from flooding or leakage has created what might be a singular opportunity to study 2,000-year-old wine still in its original form.

An ancient Roman tomb was discovered in the backyard of an Andalusian family's home in Carmona, Spain.

Access to the tomb. (Photo: Daniel Cosano et al., CC BY 4.0)

Inside, archeologists found what is now the oldest-known liquid wine, and it dates back to the early first century CE.

Fig. 1. (a), (b) Funeral chamber. (c) Urn in niche 8. (d) Lead case containing the urn. (e) Reddish liquid contained in the urn. (Photo: Daniel Cosano et al., CC BY 4.0)

h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]

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Are you an art hobbyist or perhaps an art enthusiast who wants to become an artist? In either case, finding time and motivation to make art can be a challenge. With work, school, friends, family, and household chores, it’s easy to neglect your recreational passion. Perhaps your last artworks were finger paintings for mom's refrigerator, but you want to learn something new. Having an art habit makes you not just an artist, but a less stressed and more focused individual in general.

Where to start though? My Modern Met Academy is perfect for making art a habit. Across mediums, we have classes that are great for beginners or those who feel a little rusty. From Beyond Bouquets to Dappled Light, our courses will inspire you to expand your creative horizons.

Scroll down for some tips on how to build an art habit and never miss an opportunity to create (and have fun in the process).

Here are 6 tips to get your creative practice going and build good art habits.

1. Set small, consistent goals.

While you might want to eventually paint the next Guernica, start small. Even as few as five minutes a day will help build a lasting habit. With short sessions, you won't worry about your to-do list, and you can slip art anywhere into your day.

Conveniently My Modern Met Academy classes are broken up into short lessons. They're perfect to set the tone for the day and watch while you're drinking your morning coffee.

2. Mise en place – have all your materials ready.

When you want to work in short bursts, it’s important to not spend too much time gathering your materials and finding a spot with good light. Mise en place is the culinary practice of having all of your ingredients and tools prepped before you start cooking. This is helpful to do with art as well.

Have your paints laid out, pencils sharpened, and cups of water filled and set where you want to make your art ahead of time so it's easier to dive into the creative process when inspiration calls. This can be as simple as keeping your sketchbook and pens together in a bag next to your keys so you don't forget to grab them for on-the-go sketching.

Artist Demi Lang includes a quick lesson on organizing your workspace in her course Architectural Illustration for Everyone and all of My Modern Met Academy’s classes start with an explanation of the materials you'll need to complete projects.

3. Use the buddy system.

Art can be a solitary practice, but having an art buddy can enhance the experience. Meeting up for coffee dates to sketch can help time fly by and be a great way to build friendships as well.

Not sure who to ask? Look for meet-up groups, both in person and online to have a whole team of body-doubles. Even if you prefer making your art solo, it can be great to have someone to update on your progress to keep you accountable. They can even be a source of critiques when you're ready.

On My Modern Met Academy, you can take a class for yourself and gift that same class to a friend. Then, you can make a pact to tackle lessons together. You don’t even have to be in the same location at the same time. Like a book club, you can set a goal to complete a lesson within a certain amount of time and reconvene at a later date, holding each other accountable.

4. Keep a “reference library” for inspiration.

Sometimes the creative muse is AWOL. That's when it's great to have your own compendium of art inspirations. Whether it's jotting down ideas in the Notes app, or saving posts from your favorite artists and museums' Instagrams, having somewhere you keep a pile of ideas is great for when you just don't know what to make. It's also a fantastic way to learn about your personal style and what artistic aspects you'd like to lean into as you grow in skill.

Artist Anna Sokolova loves to return to several well-loved books of scientific and nature illustrations when she is thinking about her next piece. You can learn about her process in Animal Portraits in Colored Inks.

5. Try something new.

If you feel yourself becoming bored with your art, that's exactly when you should try something you haven't before. This can be as simple as using a color you tend to ignore. Hate orange? Use only shades of orange in your next piece. Another option is trying a whole new medium that will not only reignite your interest but still help improve your artistic talent.

In Mixed Media Thread Painting, you'll practice both painting and embroidery in a way that will add a fresh perspective to both mediums.

6. Take an art challenge.

Want to get better at drawing hands? Challenge yourself to draw 100 in different poses. Repetition is practice and practice makes perfect. There are also new art challenges on social media nearly every month. Famously, there's Inktober where you get a new prompt each day in October for an ink drawing. Coming up in August, there's Doggust when you can draw a different dog for each day. If you want to be ambitious, you could take a new class each month and master a new technique.

The key thing to remember is that art is about exploring and learning. Get your art habit started with one of My Modern Met Academy's classes and then keep on creating. If you want to share your art after your class, be sure to tag @mymodernmetacademy.

My Modern Met Academy: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok

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Photo: Nowhereman/Depositphotos

If a butterfly flaps its wings, will a hurricane suddenly materialize? No, not likely; but it turns out butterflies can still achieve some impressive feats with their delicate fluttering. After a decade of some serious detective work, entomologist Gerard Talavera and his team at the Botanical Institute of Barcelona (CSIC) have shown that the Vanessa cardui can manage to migrate from West Africa to South America. That means they remained in flight for up to eight days without anywhere to land or fuel up on nectar.

Vanessa cardui, commonly known as the painted lady, have an expansive geographic distribution and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Until recently, South America was considered another exception. Yet, Talavera had heard of some supposedly popping up in French Guiana.

Being an expert in insect migration, he went to investigate. After several days of fruitless searching, Talavera was ready to give up and go home; however, one fateful walk on a beach led to finding not just one but 10 painted lady butterflies flapping tattered wings. The dilapidated wings suggested they’d had a long, arduous journey, but it seemed impossible that they could have survived a 2,600-mile transatlantic trip.

V. cardui are known to be migratory. They regularly migrate 9,000 miles between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, but they have plenty of rest stops along the way. With a maximum range of 500 miles flying a day without wind, scientists found it hard to believe they could cross the ocean without killing themselves from exhaustion.

Photo: Adogslifephoto/Depositphotos

First, the team checked that the butterflies really did come from Africa. After comparing genomics between different painted lady populations, the team confirmed that the butterflies were not from North America, which would have been the closest departure.

After managing to get pollen samples from the tattered wings, Talavera identified over a dozen plants the butterflies had come into contact with. Two species, Guiera senegalensis and Ziziphus spina-christi, only flower in West Africa towards the end of its rainy season.

They then confirmed all of the butterflies were from the same location via isotope testing. Turns out the butterflies had not been born in Africa though. They’d already migrated from Western Europe shortly after hatching, but before they started their marathon of a trip from Africa to South America.

In total, the scientists believe the butterflies spanned 4,300 miles in less than a month. While many insects migrate long distances, these butterflies rival the longest documented migratory routes. It’s also probable that this is the first recorded instance of an insect crossing the Atlantic themselves.

How did they accomplish this feat? Thanks to first-of-its-kind wind analysis, Talavera and his team believe the butterflies were helped along by Saharan winds. They most likely alternated between actively flying and then taking breaks by gliding on the same winds that manage to carry Saharan sand to the banks of the Amazon.

Photo: Wirestock/Depositphotos

The scientists published their findings in the Nature Communications journal last month. Their combining pollen, wind, genetic and isotope analysis is being called “a brilliant piece of biological detective work,” by admiring scientists like David Lohman, an evolutionary ecologist at the City College of New York did in The New York Times. Not only did Talavera and his team use innovative methods to solve their mystery, but they also brought some crucial insight to the study of insect migrations in general.

Prior to this study, most of what we know about migratory insects’ routes is thanks to citizen scientists who logged their sightings. The breakthrough is also well timed as scientists believe global warming will contribute to drastic changes in migration paths. Just like the painted lady butterflies who likely accidentally got caught up in some powerful winds and ended up in a new home, billions of insects could be affected, which in turn impacts flora and fauna that depend on insects for pollination and sustenance.

Using minute samples of pollen found on butterflies' wings, Spanish scientists managed to chart the delicate creatures' impressive journey.

New study! We demonstrate a transatlantic flight for Vanessa cardui butterflies. An incredible feat for insects!

Read the full paper here: https://t.co/CqOFLQZOjw#insectmigration #butterflymigration #PhyloMigrationLab @IBB_botanic @CSIC pic.twitter.com/btyNbeBdNE

— Gerard Talavera (@GerardTalavera) June 25, 2024

Using geneomics, scientists learned the painted lady butterflies had actually hatched in Europe before first migrating to Africa and then South America.

The discovery of such extreme trans-oceanic journey have significant implications for insect ecology, physiology, and historical biogeography. We may be underestimating the frequency and impact of these movements on our ecosystems. pic.twitter.com/f2eKj6wmFg

— Gerard Talavera (@GerardTalavera) June 25, 2024

Thanks the resourceful and persistent research of the scientific team, critical information about our global ecosystem has been discovered.

Pour la première fois, une équipe scientifique internationale a prouvé que des Belles-Dames (Vanessa cardui) ont atteint la Guyane française, en Amérique du Sud, à partir de l’Afrique occidentale, parcourant au moins 4 200 km. pic.twitter.com/H4YVrCwzuH

— Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa (@uOttawa) June 25, 2024

h/t: [Smithsonian]

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In this 30-second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. (Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

If you make a wish every time you spot a “shooting star,” July 30 will be a busy night for you. Two different meteor showers are scheduled to peak on that night. As a result, it will be possible to see a meteor every two minutes during the darkest hours. Especially if you live in southern latitudes, the Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids will inspire even those with the shortest attention spans to keep their eyes on the sky.

The Delta Aquariids will be the source for most of the meteors. Up to 25 per hour will stud the sky in late July. The Alpha Capricornids will be less frequent. However, they'll be brighter and might even include some fireballs. “This shower is not very strong and rarely produces in excess of five shower members per hour,” writes the American Meteor Society. “What is notable about this shower is the number of bright fireballs produced during its activity period.”

The meteor showers' names are based on their radiant. This is the location in the sky where it appears they're originating to us on Earth. The Delta Aquariids will look like they are coming from the constellation Aquarius, specifically the bright star Delta Aquarii. Similarly, the Alpha Capricornids will appear to be originating from the star Alpha Capricorni. If you're into astrology, you'll know that Capricorn and Aquarius are next to each other. Hence, the overlap in peak dates being especially exciting since skywatchers won't be able to tell which meteors are which necessarily.

While they're named for stars, meteor showers are the result of debris from comets entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds and burning up. The Delta Aquariids originate from the 96P Machholz comet and the 169P/NEAT comet created the Alpha Capricornids. 

The Aquariid showers will be happening from July 18 through August 21. You can already catch a glimpse of the Capricornids which started on July 3 and will last until August 15. While it might be hard for those of us farther north in the Northern Hemisphere to catch a glimpse of the meteor showers, we'll have our turn with the Perseid meteor showers which peak in mid-August.

No matter which meteor shower you attempt to enjoy, make sure to leave city lights behind and allow half an hour for your eyes to adjust.

Two different meteor showers in the same part of the night sky will be peaking on July 30, 2024.

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, which peaked in early May, was captured in this stunning image by astrophotographer Petr Horálek. It was taken near San Pedro de Atacama, a Chilean town about 50 km away from the Chajnantor observatory site, where APEX and ALMA, astronomical facilities co-owned by ESO, are located. The Eta Aquariids meteors are caused by leftover debris from Halley’s comet and make up the bright, arrow-like darts of light in the photo. (Photo: P. Horalek/European Southern Observatory, CC BY-NC-SA)

h/t: [Good News Network]

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Photo: StudioLightAndShade /Depositphotos

Many office workers have a beloved coffee mug that they cling to for dear life. It's common for people to become possessive over their precious cup, which serves both as a vessel for their caffeine boost and an expression of their personality. It also acts as a conduit for warm drinks which have been shown to improve metaphorical feelings of warmth. Despite the comfort the humble office mug may bring, researchers have suggested that there might be something sinister lurking within.

Dr. Charles Gerba, microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, told LifeHacker that “around 90% of most office coffee mugs harbor dangerous germs, and 20% of those carry fecal bacteria.” Where are those dangerous germs coming from? Probably the cleaning process itself. Kitchen sponges and sinks are rife with bacteria and viruses that make your toilet pale in comparison. A communal sink and sponge only exacerbates the problem as they are cesspools for germs.

Is this vindication for the less hygienically minded among us who are happy with a quick rinse of their mugs? Maybe. But don't let sugar or milk sit in your mug. As infectious-disease expert Jeffrey Starke, professor at Baylor College of Medicine, explains, “If you leave cream or sugar in your mug over the weekend, that can certainly cause mold to grow.” In that case, the best solution is taking your mug home to wash it. Alternatively, you can avoid touching kitchen surfaces and only use disposable paper towels during your wash-up. Of course that might be frustrating news to the eco-conscious who only have a reusable mug to limit paper waste.

So, what's the answer to the age-old question How often should you wash your office coffee mug? Ultimately, there is no clear-cut solution for all. For extra precaution, the main pieces of advice appear to be to rinse your office cup after every use, avoid using a communal sponge, and take the cup home for a clean in the dishwasher each day.

Scientists encourage washing your office coffee mug often, but not necessarily with a sponge.

Photo: Zetor2010/Depositphotos

If you keep your coffee mug in an office kitchenette, it's bound to have bacteria on it and the likelihood of dangerous germs is greater with the use of a communal sponge.

Photo: seb_ra/Depositphotos

Microbiologists suggest that “around 90% of most office coffee mugs harbor dangerous germs, and 20% of those carry fecal bacteria.”

Photo: AI-generated image via Depositphotos

So, your best option is to rinse your cup in the office, and then take it home for a cleaning in the dishwasher.

Photo: NewAfrica/Depositphotos

h/t: [IFL Science]

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Our e-learning platform, My Modern Met Academy, has a full roster of incredibly talented artists who excel at breaking down art into bite-sized lessons. Whether you're interested in illustration, painting, crocheting, or photography, chances are one of our team of instructors can introduce you to new skills that you'll use for years to come.

If you haven't signed up for one of our classes yet, now's the perfect time to enroll. You'll be able to pace yourself and rewatch each lesson as many times as you want. After completing the class, you'll likely be excited to learn as much as possible about your new pastime. Luckily, our instructors aren't just great in the classroom; many of them continue to share their expertise through different mediums. Several of our online instructors have written books that make perfect companions to My Modern Met Academy courses.

Scroll down to see the books our instructors have published.

Here are 6 books by My Modern Met Academy instructors that will keep you going on your artistic journey.

Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square: Draw unique cartoon characters using simple geometric shapes
by Margherita Cole

Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon

Instructor and former My Modern Met writer Margherita Cole has made a career out of illustrating and sharing her knowledge with others. If you've ever enjoyed one of our drawing tutorials, then you'll love Cartooning Made Easy. Cole's book (inspired by her drawing guide on My Modern Met) is chock-full of approachable instructions that will help beginners feel comfortable diving into illustration.

While beginner drawing students are waiting for their book to arrive, they can take Cole's Drawing 101: Learn the Building Blocks of Sketching. With three separate projects, the class covers all of the fundamentals a budding illustrator needs to know.

Drawing and Illustrating Architecture: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Art of Drawing and Illustrating Beautiful Buildings
by Demi Lang

Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon

Demi Lang makes intricate architectural drawing seem simple in both her popular class Architectural Illustration for Everyone: Draw Buildings in Ink and Colored Pencil and her recently published book Drawing and Illustrating Architecture: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Art of Drawing and Illustrating Beautiful Buildings. With over 17 years of professional experience, Lang has a plethora of tips to help illustrators create crisp and precise works. Make sure you don't miss her top-selling online class. Then, check out her book for even more in-depth instructions.

Brilliant Inks: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating in Vivid Color – Draw, Paint, Print, and More!
by Anna Sokolova

Buy on Amazon

Anna Sokolova's vibrant illustrations can't be ignored. Working with ink can be intimidating to the uninitiated but Sokolova shares her love of vibrant ink in her class Animal Portraits in Colored Inks as well as her book Brilliant Inks. Start making beautiful illustrations of your favorite animals through the My Modern Met Academy class and then expand your repertoire with Sokolova's well-reviewed book.

Realistic Drawing for Beginners: How to Create Stunning, Lifelike Drawings of Any Subject
by Matheus Macedo

Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon

With only a pencil, Matheus Macedo can create portraits that are as realistic as photographs and convey moods and personality effortlessly. Luckily, he will be sharing his talents in his new book. Available for preorder, Realistic Drawing for Beginners will ship in November and be the perfect companion to Macedo's Realistic Portrait Drawing Made Easy course on My Modern Met Academy.

Portraits with Procreate: A Beginner's Guide to Drawing and Painting Faces
by Melissa de Nobrega

Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon

Melissa de Nobrega‘s newly published book is a great introduction to making digital art. Before you start learning how to use Procreate, take de Nobrega's portrait class at My Modern Met Academy. Portrait Drawing for Beginners is an excellent introduction to portraits for students of all skill levels and will be insightful no matter the medium you prefer to use.

The Enthusiast's Guide to Composition: 48 Photographic Principles You Need to Know
by Khara Plicanic

Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon

Khara Plicanic teaches our class on crocheting titled Crochet Crash Course. In the class, you'll learn how to make a purse that is perfect for your summer plans. Plicanic is skilled at a wide variety of arts and crafts, but her skill set goes beyond that. Her book The Enthusiast's Guide to Composition is actually geared toward photographers. In it, photographers can learn everything they need to know to create the perfect subject for their cameras. If you're always on the lookout for your next hobby, consider learning from Plicanic who will get you started quickly no matter the project.

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@blade_hats Creation of a Top Hat with a Skull, totally handmade work www.bladehats.com #handmade #hatmaker #bladehats #heavymetal #inspiration ♬ sonido original – Blade-Hats

If your favorite fashion icon is Slash from Guns N' Roses and you appreciate quality craftsmanship, you should check out Spanish haberdashery Blade Hats. While not everyone can pull off a cowboy hat with a skull molded into the top, watching Marcos Souto, the owner of Blade Hats, create one his custom designs is undeniably impressive.

Using traditional millinery techniques, he cuts, steams, and hand-molds fabric over wooden hat blocks. He then hand-sews embellishments onto his bespoke hats that are anything but old-fashioned. Inspired by 80s heavy-metal rock bands, Souto's hats feature skull motifs, metal chains, and even playing cards. They attract a range of customers that travel from all over the world to be get a Blade hat.

Each piece is handcrafted and Souto shares the process utilizing his skilled techniques on social media. In one video, the hat being made is for a man who endured a 20-hour-long flight just to get Souto's beaver and rabbit felt hats. At one point, the hatter even lights his work on fire, letting flames create a velvety texture as well as the perfect amount of distress.

The techniques Souto uses were once the standard, but fell out of fashion once mass-manufacturing became possible. Paired with the rise of department stores in the late 19th century, artisanal hats have become a rarity. Given the laborious process, each hat normally takes about three to five months to complete. Luckily, with the magic of social media, you get to see the complete process within the length of a Metallica song. The amount of handiwork shown all at once underscores how much of an artisan Souto is. Even Slash himself owns one of Blade Hat's designs.

If you're thinking of swapping out your baseball cap for this artisan's custom headwear, you can check out the offerings on Blade Hats' website where the designs typically range in price from about $485 to $1,500.

Marcos Souto of Blade Hats uses traditional hat-making techniques to create custom goth glam hats that feature skulls on top.

@blade_hats Handcrafted custom-made Skull Top Hat worn and distressed In raw black #handcrafted #custommade #hatmaker #heavymetal #inspiration #bladehats ♬ sonido original – Blade-Hats

@blade_hats Handcrafted Skull Cowboy distressed black in Toquilla Straw WWW.BLADEHATS.COM #handcrafted #custommade #bladehats #inspiration #heavymetal ♬ sonido original – Blade-Hats

@blade_hats Custom-made Skull Crown BH in aged and distressed toquilla straw WWW.BLADEHATS.COM #handcrafted #custommade #bladehats #hatmaker #inspiration #heavymetal ♬ sonido original – Blade-Hats

For those not into skulls, he even makes his own sorting hats for Harry Potter enthusiasts to finally figure out if they're Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

@blade_hats Handcrafted Sorting Hat Which Hogwarts house do you think you would belong to? #handcrafted #custommade #hatmaker #bladehats #harrypotterworld #inspiration ♬ sonido original – Blade-Hats

Blade Hats: Website | Instagram | TikTok
h/t: [Reddit]

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