Pervitin: The Wonder Drug That Fueled Nazi Germany

May 25, 2020

When Heinrich Böll, the German writer and Nobel laureate, was a young man in his twenties, like many able-bodied youths of his time, he jo...

Draining of Fucine Lake

May 21, 2020

In western Abruzzo, in central Italy, about 80 kilometers east of Rome, lies one of Italy's most fertile plains. The vegetables that a...

Tsar Tank

May 20, 2020

Before World War I, military tanks were a mere concept. Leonardo da Vinci made sketches of a human-powered armored vehicle, with canons all ...

Aerotrain: The High-Speed Train That Almost Revolutionized Transport

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...

Remembering Epidemics With Plague Columns

May 15, 2020

Military victories are much celebrated, but a victory against a common enemy, such as a disease, is as important, especially in older times ...

Vennbahn: The Railway That Created a Peculiar Border Problem

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

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

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...

Kruger Shalati: The Train Hotel Over Sabie Bridge

May 9, 2020

For several years, it was possible to hop into a train at Komatipoort, on the South Africa-Mozambique border, and ride through the wildern...

The Bayeux Tapestry

May 7, 2020

History is not always written. Sometimes it’s carved . Sometimes it’s embroidered. In a museum in Bayeux, in Normandy, is such a piece o...