The Caprivi Strip
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 6, 2020
The country of Namibia has a sizeable landmass with an enviable coastline by the South Atlantic Ocean. Yet, a thin sliver of land, no more...
Showing posts with the label Featured
The Guillotine Haircut
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 1, 2020
Women traditionally wore their hair long. So when did short hair become the vogue? Some say it became fashionable only about hundred years...
Joseph Bell, The Real Sherlock Holmes
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 28, 2020
An illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that appeared in a stamp printed in Alderney, circa 2009. Photo: Olga Popova/Shutterstoc...
Fatal Familial Insomnia: The Disease That Kills by Sleep Deprivation
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 25, 2020
Everybody suffers from a little insomnia once in a while, but what if you were unable to sleep for months? Early studies conducted on do...
Barnacle Goose: The Bird That Was Believed to Grow on Trees
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 18, 2020
In the days before it was realized that birds migrate, ancient scholars struggled to explain why some species of birds appeared and disapp...
The Kettle War
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 17, 2020
Photo: B toy Anucha/Shutterstock.com The Kettle War of 1784 was a quintessential David versus Goliath story. A formidable naval fleet of...
The Earliest Depiction of Jesus Was a Mocking Tribute to Christianity
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 13, 2020
In the Palatine museum in Rome there is a collection of ancient graffiti etched on slabs of marble and limestone that once defaced the wal...
The Hanging Cages of St. Lambert's Church in Münster
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 12, 2020
If you crane your neck and look up while standing in front of St Lambert's Church in Münster, Germany, you can make out three iron cages...
Sweating Sickness: The Forgotten Epidemic
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 10, 2020
The Sleeping Beauty, by John Collier During medieval times, diseases were a constant threat to people’s health, brought about by lack of...
Bathysphere: The World’s First Deep-Sea Exploration Vessel
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 7, 2020
On the afternoon of September 22, 1932, listeners across America and the UK tuned their radio sets to an extraordinary live broadcast that w...
The Indian Perfume That Smells Like Rain
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 3, 2020
Rainwater flows down a roof. Photo: Anna Nikonorova/Shutterstock.com Love that musky, fresh smell of earth that permeates the air when t...
Cornfield Bomber: The Fighter Plane That Landed Without Its Pilot
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 2, 2020
One of the strangest aviation mishaps that ended happily happened on February 2, 1970. That morning, three F-106 Delta Darts took off from t...
The Soviet Census Debacle of 1937
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 26, 2020
In 1937, the Soviet Union conducted its first population census in eleven years. Soviet leaders, especially Stalin, had great expectations...
Where is Ground Zero in Nagasaki?
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 24, 2020
On the morning of August 9, 1945, six B29 bombers took off from Mariana Islands, located more than 2,100 kilometers north of Tokyo. One of t...
Hessy Levinsons Taft: The Jewish Woman Who Was Hitler’s “Perfect Aryan Baby”
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 24, 2020
Hessy Levinsons Taft, a retired chemistry professor at St. John's University, New York, has an amusing story to tell. When she was only ...
The Pomological Watercolor Collection
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 22, 2020
Before the days of photography, documenting anything accurately was a task that could only be undertaken by an artist or a model maker. So, ...
The Great Hedge of India
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 20, 2020
Back in the 19th century, eastern India was separated from the west by an impenetrable belt of trees made up of mostly thorny plants such as...
Nicholas Senn: The Doctor Who Blew Hydrogen Gas Up His Patient's Asses
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 19, 2020
Say, you get shot in the stomach. You go to a doctor. The doctor pulls down your pants and starts pumping hydrogen gas up your ass. Then he ...
The Mysterious Sky Battle Over Nuremberg in 1561
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 18, 2020
Throughout history, many observers have reported seeing strange things in the sky. Some of these sightings were, in all probability, natur...
When Dead Whales Toured The Country
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 17, 2020
For almost three decades, from the 1950s though the 1970s, three gargantuan, smelly, whale carcasses toured the length and breadth of Europe...
