World

Centuries before chess spread across Asia, another board game captivated people throughout ancient China. Known as Liubo, it was played by emperors, nobles and ordinary families during the Han Dynasty, appearing so frequently that complete game sets were buried alongside the dead. Yet despite its popularity more than 2,000 years ago, the game’s rules have…

Image: South China Morning Post Sometimes the most dangerous discoveries hide in plain sight. In central China, a 90-year-old woman spent nearly two decades using what she believed was an ordinary piece of scrap metal as a household hammer. The heavy object cracked walnuts, crushed red peppers and drove nails into wood without ever causing…

Image(s): Left/WRAL-Youtube-AOL/Right/AI Generated Wildlife enthusiasts often spend decades searching for unusual colour variations in snakes without ever finding one. That is why a chance encounter in the Arizona desert has attracted widespread attention. Retired police officer Phil Roberts recently came across an extraordinarily pale rattlesnake whose striking white appearance stunned even experienced reptile experts. Although…

Image: Vindolanda Charitable Trust Archaeologists excavating the remains of a Roman fort in northern England have uncovered a remarkable sandstone carving believed to depict a protective deity that watched over the military outpost around 1,600 years ago. Buried beneath the fort’s defensive ramparts for centuries, the carved figure is offering fresh insights into the spiritual…

Seen from space, Seattle stands out as a vibrant patchwork of deep green forests, blue waterways and dense urban development. The city’s famous nickname, the “Emerald City”, reflects the evergreen trees that surround it, but its landscape tells a much older story than modern skylines and parks. Long before Seattle became a major Pacific Northwest…

An Indian-American doctor has spoken out after receiving a wave of racist comments online over a video in which she wore a bindi, saying she was stunned by the level of anti-Indian abuse directed at her despite being born and raised in the United States.Dr Karishma Reddy shared her response in an Instagram video after…

In the middle of the Indian Ocean lies Diego Garcia, a remote coral atoll that became one of the most strategically important military bases on earth. Long before its runways, warships and military operations existed, the island was home to an entire community, the Chagossians, whose ancestors had lived across the Chagos Archipelago for generations….

A Common Greenshank stood on the edge of a pool of water. In the 1980s, Scotland planted commercial trees across parts of a 9,000-year-old peatland; decades later, conservationists are removing them to protect wildlife and keep its stored carbon in the ground.The massive project centers on the Flow Country, a vast area of wet bog…