Moving a Courthouse by Rail

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...