The Crusades are seen as a milestone in European history. Especially through romanticizing eyes, they are often viewed as a heroic age, with legendary tales of pious folk, honor-bound knights, and even epic narratives imbued with mystical and semi-mythological elements, such as the search for the Holy Grail. Modern historians, however, tend to view the crusades more than a little […]
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The McRib is a food with both a devout following and many detractors. But what is the genesis of the world’s most popular fast food chain’s most mysterious menu item? And why, oh why, is it not available all the time like the majority of the rest of the McDonald’s menu? Cooking ribs in the Americas predates the colonial period. […]
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She has been called “the most kissed girl in the world,” and in the 120 or so years since her death she has certainly been among the most widely-seen. Her gently smiling face has adorned the homes and studios of some of the 20th Century’s greatest writers, artists, and thinkers, inspiring dozens of works of art and literature. And in […]
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Quantum mechanics is every Hollywood writers favorite handwavy tool to accomplish whatever they feel like in a given moment regardless of whether what they say or have happen has anything remotely to do with the reality of this branch of science and, well, reality. Beyond the masses, it is so NOT understood that even the likes of Richard Feynman, one […]
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Just where did language come from and what does it take for a language to develop? If a group of children grew up isolated from the rest of the world, without any access to human language, would they create one of their own and, if so, what would it look like and how long would it take? These questions have […]
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Of all the advanced weapons technology developed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, perhaps none was as sought after by the Allies as the Aggregat-4 rocket, better known as the V2. Developed at the Peenemunde Army Research Station under the direction of Walter Dornberger and Werner von Braun, the V2 was the world’s first operational ballistic missile, pioneering […]
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The Edwardian Era, lasting from 1901 to 1910, is often remembered as a final age of innocence before Europe descended into the savagery of the First World War – a gilded period of refinement and elegance. This is somewhat ironic, as for most of his life the namesake of the era, King Edward VII, embodied exactly none of these virtues. […]
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On October the 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, into orbit. This event sent shockwaves through the United States defence establishment. Not only did Sputnik demonstrate that the Soviets were more technologically advanced than anyone had imagined, but it announced that they now possessed long range ballistic missiles capable of reaching any target […]
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In May 1972, technicians at the Tricastin Uranium Enrichment Plant in France made an alarming discovery. A shipment of Uranium ore from the Oklo mine in the African nation of Gabon was found to contain only 0.71% of fissile isotope Uranium-235, instead of the 0.72% typically found in nature. This discrepancy, while small, was enough to set off alarm bells, […]
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It is the stuff of nightmares and horror movies. A patient is dragged kicking and screaming by hospital orderlies and pinned to a gurney. A bite block is forced into their mouth, and a pair of electrodes placed on their head. Then, at the flick of a switch, hundreds of volts of electricity are passed through the patient’s head. This […]
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On the beach just outside Grantley Adams Airport on the island of Barbados, five large naval cannons sit overgrown and rusting in the tropical heat, lying where they were abandoned fifty years ago. These relics are all that remain of Project HARP, an audacious 1960s attempt to launch satellites into space using giant guns – and of the grand ambitions […]
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In the summer of 1915, a lone British soldier cycled down a country road outside the French town of Albert. His papers identified him as Private Denis Smith of the 1st Leicestershire Regiment, and at first glance he would have seemed quite ordinary: a slightly plump and ruddy-faced boy with short brown hair – no different from the thousands of […]
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It has been called the Emperor of all Maladies. For the entirety of human history, Cancer has been our constant companion, afflicting young and old, rich and poor, sinner and saint alike. And for most of that history we have been all but helpless against it. It was not until the 19th century that advances in surgery made it possible […]
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In a dim corner of Fire Station #6 in Livermore California hangs a truly extraordinary object…a lightbulb. But this is no ordinary lightbulb. First installed in 1901, it has been burning almost continuously ever since, having only been switched off a handful of times in nearly 120 years. The Livermore Centennial Bulb has become something of a local celebrity, with […]
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330 kilometers northwest of the Canadian capital of Ottawa lies the town of Carp. At first glance the place might seem unremarkable, no different from the countless other sleepy little towns dotted across rural Ontario. But Carp is a small town with a big secret. For 35 years it was the site of a vital piece of Cold War infrastructure, […]
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On July 28, 1944, a flight of P-51 Mustangs escorting a squadron of B-17 Bombers on a mission over Merseburg, Germany, spotted something strange in the distance: a pair of white contrails rising at tremendous speed into the stratosphere. As the contrails pitched over and dove onto the bomber stream, the fighters broke formation to intercept. Seconds later, a pair […]
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If you have been out and about recently, you likely have seen signs asking you to pay with exact change, letting you know that there is a coin shortage. The problem with physical money is that there is a precise amount of it at any given time. If you have four quarters, two pennies, and a dime in your pocket, […]
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Following World War II, the United States military expended great efforts to harness the power of the atom. Military planners were enamored with the promise of cheap, long-term power offered by a nuclear reactor, and efforts were in full swing in the 1950’s to develop nuclear reactors to support the military. Before satellites were available to monitor for impending attack, […]
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