For the Vikings, reputation was the most important thing in life. In their eyes, a person’s deeds were the only thing that survived them long after they were gone, so they loved to celebrate the actions of their ancestors and friends while trying to make a name for themselves personally, whether that be by exploring,

Throughout human history, we’ve found all manner of ways to measure just about anything. And why not? Having a standardized means of quantifying the world around us can certainly be helpful. Some of our chosen methods, however, have been decidedly strange. We’ve covered oddball units of measurement before, but we’ve gone and found ten more

Saint Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century is the first recorded case of stigmata, the marks of the crucifixion left on the body. Since then, there have been around 400 people who’ve claimed to have the stigmata, of which around 25 are believed to be alive today. Almost all stigmatics are women, notable

There are a variety of ways that you can die depending on where you are and what you’re doing when it happens. Although some individuals peacefully pass in their sleep, others have to go through immensely uncomfortable and drawn-out deaths. Death itself isn’t surprising. What’s astonishing is that you may die from the most mundane

When we think of methods that governments and big corporations use to spy on us, we often think of computers, smartphones, and maybe surveillance cameras. As you are about to find out, these are hardly the only things that can be used to keep tabs on us. Seemingly innocuous items like toothbrushes, headphones, and children’s

The past few years saw an unprecedented slew of remarkable fossils. It is not always the biggest dinosaurs that are the most valuable to science. More important are the fragments that reveal behavior, extinct diets, missing ancestors, and the answers to tough puzzles. New finds can also introduce intriguing mysteries about unknown human species and