The World’s First Automatic Machine Gun
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 11, 2021
In an article in Nature in 1885, the renowned science journal published a description of a new type of gun developed by the well-known Amer...
Afghanistan’s War Rugs
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 9, 2021
Turkmen weavers in northern Afghanistan have been weaving rugs for thousands of years. This heavy textile, made for a wide variety of utilit...
Whiffling: The Art of Flying Upside Down
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 6, 2021
This image of a goose flying upside down captured by photographer Vincent Cornelissen has created a buzz online. In the viral photo, the g...
The Fabled Diamonds of Golconda
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 5, 2021
Before the discovery of the diamond mines in Brazil and South Africa in the early 18th century, India was the sole supplier of the world’s d...
Bobbie, The Wonder Dog Who Walked 2,500 Miles to Home
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 4, 2021
In August 1923, Bobbie—an average-looking collie puppy—accompanied his owners, the Braizer family, on a cross-country summer road trip from ...
The Arrow Stork
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 3, 2021
Many birds fly extraordinarily great distances in search of warmer climate, food and favorable breeding grounds, a seasonal phenomenon we no...
Moving a Courthouse by Rail
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 2, 2021
Perhaps the strangest thing to be ever moved by rail was a house—more precisely, the courthouse at Hemingford, which was at the time the cou...
The World’s Oldest Operating Company is 1,400 Years Old
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 2, 2021
Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd., a Japanese company that was then acquired by Takamatsu Construction Group, for which it continued to operate as a subs...
Fire Grenades: Victorian Fire Extinguishers
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 30, 2021
An early form of fire extinguisher popular in the late 1800s was the fire grenade. The grenade resembled a regular glass bottle or a modern ...
The Blowing Up Of Hell Gate
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 28, 2021
As ships from across the Atlantic sail up East River and into Manhattan, they pass through a narrow tidal strait called Hell Gate situated b...
Disposing Sodium in Lake Lenore
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 27, 2021
At the end of World War 2, the United States Army had an excess of metallic sodium left over from the war, which was used in the manufacture...
The First Mars Rover
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 26, 2021
In May 1971, the Soviet Union sent to Mars two robotic space probes launched within nine days of each other—Mars 2 and Mars 3. Neither space...
Micrarium: The Museum of Microscopic Animals
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 23, 2021
It is said that more than 95 percent of animal species are smaller than your thumb, yet the vast majority of the creatures that are displaye...
Horse-Powered Locomotives
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 22, 2021
Before steam locomotives became mainstream, railways were driven solely by muscle power, usually horses. These beasts of burden pulled wagon...
World’s First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 21, 2021
A 12-meter long steel pedestrian bridge opened last week in Amsterdam. Unlike other steel bridges around the world, this was not forged in a...
The Colors of Hormuz Island
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 21, 2021
Off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, about 8 km from the mainland, lies Hormuz Island, a small, teardrop shaped mound of rock salt, gy...
Mercury 13: The Women Who Almost Became Astronauts
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 20, 2021
If everything goes as planned, a few hours from now, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would blast off into space aboard the suborbital space vehicl...
Japan’s Acrobatic Noodle Delivery Cyclists
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 19, 2021
These photographs taken in the middle of the 20th century on the streets of Tokyo show how food delivery looked like before the onslaught of...
The Wenlock Olympian Games That Inspired Modern Olympics
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 17, 2021
The first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896, but it was the small British town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire where the Olympic...
Bharat Mata Temple: A Shrine Dedicated to Mother India
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 15, 2021
The ancient city of Varanasi, in central India, draws pilgrims from all around the world. One of the most important religious hubs and the h...
