Nikola Tesla died alone in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel on 7 January 1943, at the age of 86, and the scene quickly became more than the end of a celebrated inventor’s life. He had spent his later years talking about a powerful beam weapon he called “teleforce”, while newspapers ran with the…
As the effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August of 1945 proved to be devastating enough to convince scientists that nothing would grow in this place for decades, with the temperature around the explosion site being excessively high and the level of radiation dangerously increased, along with practically all forms of life in…
A routine renovation in Turkey’s Cappadocia in 1963 unearthed Derinkuyu, a vast underground city. This ancient marvel, extending 85 meters deep, housed thousands with residential areas, stables, and sophisticated ventilation. Most people who take a sledgehammer to a basement wall are looking for extra storage space or a hidden pipe. But in 1963, a homeowner…
A young boy’s desert exploration led to an incredible find. Jude Sparks stumbled upon a fossilised tusk and skull. This prehistoric beast, a stegomastodon, lived over a million years ago. Representative Image (Image Credits: Google Gemini) It was supposed to be a normal afternoon of exploring the desert. In November 2016, nine-year-old Jude Sparks was…
In 1974, farmers in Shaanxi, China, digging for water near the Li Mountains, unearthed fragments of terracotta figures. A terrible drought struck the province of Shaanxi in 1974. The farmers there, who wanted to help themselves out, began to dig a well on the hills around Li Mountains, not far from Xi’an. No water came…
In 1996, two students discovered an ancient skeleton, dubbed “The Ancient One,” near the Columbia River. DNA analysis revealed the 9,000-year-old remains are genetically linked to Native Americans, resolving a long-standing debate. Representative Image (Image Credits: Google Gemini) In the year 1996, two young college students, struggling with the intense heat of July on a…
Astronomers announced they discovered the TOI-201 planetary system, which greatly expands our understanding of how solar systems form and develop. It is located 370 light-years from Earth, has three distinct objects (a super-Earth, a warm Jupiter, and a very massive brown dwarf) and contains a dynamic gravitational interaction. Unlike the solar system we inhabit, as…
Among the myriad of actions performed exclusively by humans, crying appears to be the most enigmatic. While no other animals are known to cry, humans shed emotional tears from birth throughout life. As suggested by some scientists specialising in evolutionary biology, rather than being an act of vulnerability, crying is, in fact, a highly developed…
The latest imaging work on ancient Egyptian remains has brought unusual clarity to mummified body parts that were sealed for over two millennia. Scientists using advanced CT and 3D scanning technology have examined limbs, skulls, and a foot that dates back more than 2,300 years. The remains, reportedly from between 401 and 259 BCE, were…
Ernst Öpik’s journey from Estonia to Northern Ireland is a story shaped by war, forced migration and scientific achievement. A respected astronomer and astrophysicist, he left his homeland during the Second World War as Soviet forces advanced across Eastern Europe. Like thousands of Estonians in 1944, he fled the Red Army and began a long…