Tzompantli: The Gruesome Skull Racks of The Aztecs
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 25, 2021
When Spanish explorers first arrived in Mexico in the early 16th century and made contact with the Aztecs, they were taken aback by the cult...
Chicago River: The River That Runs Backward
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 23, 2021
From the mid to the late-19th century, Chicago was in the midst of a period of rapid growth, and as the city grew it placed enormous strain ...
Ascension Island’s Remarkable Ecological Transformation
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 18, 2021
In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, thousands of miles from practically anywhere, lies an isolated volcanic island called Ascension. ...
Mount Tambora And The Year Without a Summer
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 16, 2021
Volcanic eruptions can change the planet’s climate. During major eruptions, huge amount of volcanic ash are released into the upper atmosphe...
The World’s Largest Sailing Ship
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 12, 2021
On December 14, 1907, a large sailing ship wrecked off the coast of Annet, in the Isles of Scilly, killing all but two of her eighteen crew ...
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...
