Like a shadow, history is attached to every pot shard, pebble, and bone. Nothing on this Earth is without a backstory. Archaeology is all about finding these missing shadows and sewing them together to better understand bygone times. Rare stories are particularly valuable. They offer glimpses into the personal lives of ancient business owners and

The span of human history has seen many extremes in medicine that have gone horrifically wrong. This linear narrative of trial and error to help the diseased among us has had mixed results. Particularly in the Middle Ages, the Western world was trapped somewhere between ancient medicine, relying largely on ideas by Greek thinkers and

We all know that babies are gross. That’s just a fact of life. Parents are often surprised by how gross their lives have become after their little ones are born. Diaper changes lose their shock value, the smell of spit-up clings to everything, and eating food that’s been on the floor becomes totally normal. That’s

Writing can sometimes be seen as a kind of therapy, and people with traumatic pasts are often advised to write down their experiences. After all, authors are usually encouraged to write what they know. However, some people’s backgrounds are more colorful than others. And for those with secrets in their past, writing from experience can

Off the beaten track is one thing, but there are places in the world that the hardiest, most intrepid adventurers would think twice about traveling to. Whether because the climate is so harsh, or the place is so remote, some destinations just don’t seem to be worth the effort. Here, we look at ten locations

When Netflix released their feature film Bird Box in 2018, many viewers were left questioning what the “monster” was that drove everyone to suicide. One of the online theories is that the monster represented “mass hysterical contagion,” nowadays known as mass psychogenic illness (MPI), where a single individual suffers a psychogenic illness that spreads to

Piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden is a worldwide problem. Today, ships from several navies patrol the area to keep the pirates at bay. But once in a while, the pirates manage to hijack a ship. When that happens, they will only release the ship after receiving a huge

When it comes to serial killers, some become famous, while others slip through the cracks, forgotten murderers who seem to have simply been overlooked by history. For example, Karl Denke, the Forgotten Cannibal himself, was lost to the dustbin of history almost instantly. Even today, with the advent of the Internet, some people who’ve done

While we are about to start a new year, 2018 has been a great year for science, especially for astronomy and space engineering. Experts and scientists have made many space discoveries and advances, some of which have attracted worldwide attention. However, many other discoveries have gone largely unnoticed by the public, although they are no

With the holidays wrapping up here in the Western world, many of us still have our Christmas lights up, our bellies full, and plenty of other cheerful things hanging around to remind us of our recent celebrations. Holidays in this day and age are a great way for us to share, laugh, love, and make

With the celebration of a new year comes one of the most anticipated events these days: the New Year’s Eve fireworks. These fireworks shows are a common tradition around the world. People love the displays of bright colors and the figures that these pyrotechnic devices generate in the sky. Many others are also excited to

Nobody cares about a lamp wick when massive Egyptian tombs are being reported by the media. Discoveries of tiny artifacts are often sidelined, but they do move human knowledge in powerful ways. In recent times, archaeologists listened to music made millennia ago and saw miniatures of giant icons. They found bizarre objects in burials and

The phrase “flesh-eating” is nightmarish enough to stop anyone dead in their tracks, conjuring up images of flesh falling off of the bone, deep black necrosis, or perhaps a zombie apocalypse in which the undead are biting flesh from bone. Be it flesh-eating zombies, flesh-eating animals, or, even more terrifying, flesh-eating microscopic organisms, the idea

Have you ever looked at a painting, drawing, or sculpture and wondered about the creator? Whose mind was it that birthed any creative genius? Sometimes, what you find is deeply unsettling but not altogether surprising. Prisons today formulate ways to encourage inmates to adopt art as a form of redemption, but it’s clear that art

In biology class, we all hear the words “biodiversity,” “biotechnology,” and “biochemistry.” But here’s another “bio”-beginning word for you: Extending from the ocean floor to about 10 kilometers (6 mi) above sea level is what we call the biosphere. It holds parts of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere. The biosphere influences biodiversity, which

Keeping up with the news is hard. So hard, in fact, that we spent the whole of 2018 rounding up the most mind-blowing stories for you each and every week, because we’re nice like that. With New Year’s approaching, now feels like the perfect time to look back on 2018 in news and pick the

Self-immolation is suicide on principle. Religious self-immolation is the ancient practice of sacrificing the body and mind through suicide to make a statement for a cause that one feels deeply about. It’s a burned offering of the entire self. The practice can be traced back to ancient India but probably predates that. There have likely

According to research led by the American Museum of Natural History in 2017, there are approximately 18,000 bird species on Earth—nearly double the amount previously thought. One of the study’s authors said that this number has concerning implications for conservation practices. Many bird species have already gone extinct due to predation or human activity. Despite

When it comes to choosing a profession, most people pick jobs which are not only comfortable but also ones where they don’t have to deal with too many people. When people do enjoy working with the general public, they tend to prefer to work with the living rather than the dead. But there are some

Ever wondered what that strange-looking plant sticking out of your front porch was or how ancient tribes had their Saturday night sesh? This list will outline a bunch of frankly bizarre drugs that, depending on where you live, you may just find on your morning walk, if not in your own backyard. Be warned, however:

We consider the modern times to be advanced in every way. However, we forget that a lot of very awesome things have been discovered or invented that were, for one reason or another, lost to the winds of time. Some of them weren’t just good for their own time. They also rival anything we have

Christmas is a time for bringing people together from all walks of life. It is about spreading cheer wherever you can. But life doesn’t always go our way, and many of us suffer hardships. We hope when we are hardest hit in those times that something or someone might turn things around. So here you

People often say, “A picture paints a thousand words.” While that holds true for most pictures, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has for centuries continued to evade the understanding of art critics, historians, and the public. On display in the Louvre, the tiny portrait is often touted as “the best known, the most visited, the

Christmas is a time for gift-giving, spending time with the family, and eating yourself into a near-comatose state. And, while these are admirable goals, it is also important to celebrate those who use the yuletide season to give back to their communities. Some people just embody the spirit of Christmas. From the volunteers in soup

While parents today may occasionally joke about crate-training their children, some parents of the recent past took to actually chaining their children up instead of parenting them. Sometimes, this was done to prevent them from running away. It was common in the early half of the 1900s to chain a runaway child to a chair

Parasites and pathogens are pretty terrifying things. Immune systems serve to mount a defense against these elusive little creatures. This is, in fact, how sexes came to be, as a means to mix the genes necessary to stir up the genetic pot, creating more stout and powerful immune systems as various microscopic invaders adapted to

If the week has got you down, this list might help lift your spirits. We looked at all the positive, inspiring, and amusing stories that made the headlines over the last few days and put them all into one list. It goes well with a side of quirkiness. There are a few tales to get

A wall, fossilized mud, a piece of pottery—they all have the potential to be pages in history. Some were colored and carved on purpose. Others were marked by accident but revealed dramatic information to archaeologists no less. The most valuable are the rare, even unique, glimpses back in time. From natural disasters to prehistoric hunts,

Most of us think of the holidays as a time to celebrate and be joyful. But it actually has become a tradition for controversies to pop up around Christmas. And this year is no different. In 2018, we have seen a series of controversies spring up over Christmas ads, decorations, greetings, songs, and trees. Christmas

It’s always hard to be on the receiving end of criticism, especially if you’re an artistic type of person. You may pour your heart and soul into your work, only to have someone with possibly no talent trash your masterpiece publicly. Although most people can take criticism reasonably well, some people completely snap after reading