Aerotrain: The High-Speed Train That Almost Revolutionized Transport
Kaushik Patowary
May 19, 2020
Some of the fastest trains in service today have a top speed in excess of 200 miles per hour. With the exception of Shanghai maglev, all o...
Showing posts with the label Featured
Vennbahn: The Railway That Created a Peculiar Border Problem
Kaushik Patowary
May 14, 2020
Germany and Belgium’s border problem. Photo: gunnsteinlye/Flickr Along the German-Belgian border runs an old disused railway track, the ...
Turnspit Dogs
Kaushik Patowary
May 12, 2020
Observe the scene above depicting the inside of an inn at Newcastle, Wales, in the late 19th century. Men and women are sitting around the...
The Pearl Rush of Caddo Lake
Kaushik Patowary
May 11, 2020
Caddo Lake. Photo: Maciej Kraus/Flickr Natural pearls are a rarity today, but a hundred years ago, before British biologist William Savi...
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
Kaushik Patowary
May 6, 2020
When cotton first came to Europe from Central Asia during the Middle ages, people were fascinated by the fluffy, fibrous balls that resemb...
Cosmos 954: The Nuke That Fell From Space
Kaushik Patowary
May 1, 2020
What goes up must eventually come down, including satellites that are currently orbiting the earth. After their work is done, they will be...
The Mysterious Hum Nobody Can Explain
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 28, 2020
For the past nine years, residents of Windsor city, situated on the Canadian side of the US-Canada border just across Detroit river, have ...
The Artist Who Got Carried Away: The Story of The Peacock Room
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 25, 2020
In 1876, the British shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland bought himself a grand house at 49 Princes Gate in the fashionable neighb...
Ama: The Freediving Fisherwomen of Japan
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 23, 2020
In ancient times, the only way to gather food and other resources, such as sponge and pearl, from the sea bed was to hold one’s breath and d...
The Shortest Rivers in The World
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 21, 2020
Most people imagine rivers to be long meandering waterways flowing down faraway mountains, through the valleys and the plains until it reach...
The Secret of Coade Stone
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 16, 2020
The large lion statue that stands at the east end of Westminster Bridge, near the Houses of Parliament, holds a secret—it is made neither of...
Rettungsbojen: The Floating Rescue Buoys of The Luftwaffe
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 13, 2020
During World War 2, both the RAF and the Luftwaffe lost a large number of pilots at sea. The British used a couple of high speed boats that ...
The Historic Meeting on Elbe River
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 10, 2020
April 25, 1945, is a date few remember. But it was a significant day in the history of the world. On this day, American troops sweeping in...
The Grain Race
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 9, 2020
By the end of the 19th century, steam-powered vessels had almost completely replaced sailing ships in the commercial shipping business. But ...
Operation Tat-Type: Why Some American Kids Got Tattooed With Blood-Type
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 7, 2020
Photo: Hole in the Clouds The paranoia during the early years of the Cold War was so great that many American school children were made ...
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...
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...
