Put a frog in a pot of boiling water and it will immediately jump out. But put that same frog in a pot of cold water and raise the temperature gradually enough, and it will be boiled alive. This evocative story has long served as a useful metaphor for complacency in the face of gradual change, being used in discussions […]
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In today’s world of high-tech medicine, it is easy to take for granted the ease, regularity, and relative safety with which modern surgery is performed. For most of human history surgery was a bloody, painful, and dangerous affair. Without the benefit of antiseptic techniques or anaesthesia, surgeons had to work fast, racing against the clock to amputate a limb or […]
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Beneath the gothic arches and towers of Phoebe Hearst Hall at Atlanta’s Oglethorpe University lies a truly extraordinary room. Measuring 20 x 10 x 10 feet and carved into solid Appalachian granite, the room is packed with a dizzying collection of artefacts from the late 1930s, from phonograph records and typewriters to Lincoln Logs, Donald Duck toys and small mannequins […]
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If you regularly visit the dentist, chances are you have sat at least once for a set of dental x-rays. The procedure is usually straightforward: first, the dentist will drape a protective lead vest over your chest and abdomen, then place x-ray film in a plastic holder in your mouth and the x-ray machine against the side of your head. […]
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Fanta is among of the world’s most popular and beloved soft drinks, being sold in over 188 countries and over 150 flavours, including Lime, Pineapple, Elderflower, Peach-Apricot, Watermelon, Blackcurrant, and – the most popular by far – orange. For over 75 years the brand has dominated the soft drink market in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan, […]
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On the morning of March 23, 1976, the peace of Tokyo’s Satagawa neighbourhood was shattered as a small aircraft came screaming out of the sky and slammed into the side of a large two-story house. The plane burst into a giant fireball on impact, setting the house ablaze and injuring two of its occupants, though miraculously no-one but the pilot […]
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In the opening sequence of the 1965’s Thunderball, James Bond, having just dispatched the villainous SPECTRE agent Colonel Jacques Bouvar, flees to the rooftop of Bouvar’s French chateau, dons a futuristic-looking jetpack, and makes his dramatic escape. Given its fantastical, over-the-top nature, this scene was obviously accomplished via the magic of Hollywood special effects, right? Well, no, actually. As incredible […]
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On July 6, 1947, foreman William Brazel was patrolling the Foster cattle ranch, 50 kilometres outside the town of Roswell, New Mexico, when he noticed some strange debris strewn across the ground. The debris was composed of a strange, silvery metallic substance, parts of which were covered in strings of mysterious symbols resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs. The following day, Brazel contacted […]
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Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. First conceived by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1735, this system for classifying life on earth, known as Linnaean Taxonomy, has been in use for nearly 300 years and is taught in every high school biology class. In recent years, however, a better understanding of genetics and evolution has resulted in Linnaean Taxonomy […]
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If you suddenly decided to travel around the world, what sort of vehicle would you choose? Likely a sailboat, or – of you’re feeling particularly ambitious – an aeroplane. Well if so, then you’re a far more reasonable person than Ben Carlin. When this former Australian mining engineer began planning his own round-the-world trip in the early 1950s, he decided […]
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The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest single campaign of the Second World War. Lasting from the very first day of the war in Europe to the very last, the battle pit German U-boats against Allied merchant shipping in a struggle for control of the Atlantic sea lanes, essential to keeping the British Isles supplied with food, fuel, and […]
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The world of alcoholic cocktails is dizzyingly diverse, with as many potential drink combinations as there are varieties of alcohol and mixers. Some, like the Cuba Libre – rum mixed with Coca-Cola – are very simple, while others, like the Commonwealth – a monstrous, record-braking concoction boasting an astounding 71 ingredients sourced from every nation in the British Commonwealth – […]
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The space suit has become synonymous with the astronaut, defining the occupation more than any other piece of equipment. Essentially flexible, one-person spacecraft, space suits protect astronauts from the harsh environment of outer space and have been key to countless spaceflight achievements, from walking on the moon to the building the International Space Station. But while humans first reached space […]
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In his Aphorisms, written around 380 B.C.E, Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates describes a truly horrifying case of disease: “The master of a large ship mashed the index finger of his right hand with the anchor. Seven days later a somewhat foul discharge appeared; then trouble with his tongue – he complained he could not speak properly. His jaws became pressed […]
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If you were to visit New York’s Coney Island in the early 20th Century, you would have found no shortage wonderful amusements to occupy your time. You could swim in the ocean, enjoy an ice cream or a hot dog, or brave the death-defying mechanical rides of the island’s three giant amusement parks. If you were feeling more adventurous, you […]
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Escape From L.A. Goldeneye. The Matrix. Ocean’s 11. The Fate of the Furious. These are but a few of the many popular films to feature electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. As depicted in these films, EMP is the ultimate weapon of the electronic age, able to destroy every electric or electronic circuit within its blast radius and plunge entire cities or […]
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On August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay flew over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and dropped a single, 4,000 kilogram uranium bomb called Little Boy. Seconds later the bomb detonated with the equivalent power of 15 thousand tons of TNT, destroying 8 square kilometres of the city and killing an estimated 90-140,000 people. Three days later the […]
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The Great Depression of the 1930s brought sweeping changes to American life and culture, not least to the American vocabulary. As Americans increasingly blamed freefalling wages and skyrocketing unemployment on president Herbert Hoover, more and more common objects were derisively renamed in his honour. Sprawling “Hooverville” shanty towns popped up in nearly every city, the homeless slept under newspaper “Hoover […]
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