The Clay Licks of Amazon Rainforest
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 20, 2019
Macaws and parrots of the Amazon rainforest have developed a particular taste for clay. They collect in large numbers on exposed river banks...
The Chrysler Air Raid Siren Was So Powerful it Could Induce Rain
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 19, 2019
The Chrysler Air Raid Siren was the size of a car. It measured twelve feet long and six feet high, and weighed an estimated 3 short tons. Th...
How Mediaeval Husbands Chastised Wives Who Talked Too Much
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 17, 2019
By putting a muzzle on them, of course. Known as Scold's bridle, these devices of torture and public humiliation were used mostly in En...
Vivipary or Why My Tomatoes Are Mutating?
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 17, 2019
Sometimes a seed will start developing and germinate while they are still inside their parent, the fruit. The seed first breaks through the ...
The Radioactive Energy Drink That Kills
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 16, 2019
Ebenezer Byers was a well known American socialite, son of industrialist Alexander Byers. In his youth Eben showed promising talent at sport...
Project Isabela: How Goats Helped Eliminate Goats From The Galapagos
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 15, 2019
The Galapagos Islands, off the west coast of Ecuador, are a treasure trove of unique ecological specimens. The islands’ extreme isolation an...
The Giraffes of Dabous
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 13, 2019
In northern Niger, about half-way between the towns of Agadez and Arlit, and a few miles west of the tar road connecting these two places li...
Tomb of Cyrus: The World’s Oldest Earthquake Resistant Structure
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 13, 2019
Natural calamites like floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes have always been considered “acts of god”, yet for centuries our ancestors have r...
Lake Titicaca’s 150-year Old Steamship That Runs on Dung
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 10, 2019
The BAP Puno. Photo credit: Peruvian Navy . Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America, is situated high up in the Andes on the bord...
Republic of Cospaia: The Italian Hamlet That Became an Independent State For Four Centuries Due to Surveying Error
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 9, 2019
Nuzzled next to Tuscany, in northern Umbria, lies a small Italian village called Cospaia. For nearly four centuries, this territory of just ...
Jakarta’s Rooftop Villages
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 8, 2019
Rooftops make great gardens, especially in dense urban environments where every available space has been utilized for living and for commerc...
The Vitrified Forts of Scotland
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 6, 2019
Throughout the Bronze and the Iron Ages, Europeans have constructed hilltop forts and enclosures made of stone. About two hundred examples o...
The 40-Foot Studebaker President
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 5, 2019
Few companies escaped the Stock Market Crash of 1929 that plunged the United States and much of the western world into an abyss of economic...
The Bridge of Breasts
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 5, 2019
At one point in the distant past, Venice had a busy red light district in the very commercial heart of the city—the Rialto area. Prostitutio...
Prague’s Streets Paved With Jewish Gravestones
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 5, 2019
Millions of people walking through the beautiful cobbled streets in the Czech capital Prague are unaware that they are treading upon old gra...
Project A119: The Secret Plan to Nuke The Moon
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 2, 2019
Long before the United States President John F. Kennedy delivered the inspiring "We choose to go to the Moon" speech in front of a...
Barge Haulers on The Volga
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 1, 2019
Before the era of steam engines, the process of moving a boat or a barge up a river was extremely difficult. The usual method was to tow the...
The Egg War of Farallon Islands
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 31, 2019
The California Gold Rush of the 1850s induced another rush for a commodity, which, although not precious, became such rare and expensive tha...
Memorial to The First Icelandic Glacier Lost to Climate Change
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 30, 2019
Next month, August 2019, a team of researchers and geologists from Rice University in Houston, along with members of the Icelandic Hiking So...
Tempest Prognosticator: Predicting Storms With Leeches
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 30, 2019
Some animals have the instinctive ability to predict changes in the weather. Frogs croak when a storm is approaching, birds return to their ...
