Ah, the laser! Whether spaceship-mounted for blowing up planets, handheld for close-quarters battle, or table-mounted for bisecting troublesome secret agents, a laser is a surefire way to add a bit of sci-fi pizzazz to any story. Meanwhile, in the real world, lasers perform all manner of useful jobs, from cutting and welding metal to performing surgery, scanning barcodes, transmitting data […]

It can reach altitudes of more than 15,000 metres or 50,000 ft, and fly nearly 10,000 kilometres or around 6K miles – nearly a quarter of the earth’s circumference – without refuelling. It can penetrate even the most heavily defended airspace, deliver up to 18,000 kilograms of bombs with pinpoint accuracy, and slip out again – all while remaining all […]

Imagine you are a contestant on the classic game show Let’s make a Deal. The host, Monty Hall, presents you with three closed doors. Behind one is a brand-new sports car, while behind the other two is a goat. You make your choice and prepare to discover whether you will leave the studio the proud owner of a set new […]

Oysters. Chocolate. Opium. Ginseng. Spanish Fly. Ambergris. Alcohol. MDMA. What do all of these have in common? Well, aside from the makings of a very wild party, they have all at one time or another been used as aphrodisiacs. Derived from the Greek aphrodisiakon or “pertaining to Aphrodite”, goddess of love, aphrodisiacs are substances believed to enhance the sexual experience […]

If you were a pilgrim or other traveller during the Middle Ages, you would have faced a whole host of dangers on the road, from bandits and pirates to harsh weather to wolves in the forest. But the encounter you would have feared most was with ghostly figures standing at the side of the road, dressed in rags and shaking […]

On August 19, 1964, a Delta D rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and soared into space, successfully delivering the Syncom 3 satellite into a 42,164 kilometre equatorial orbit. At this altitude, the satellite orbited at the same rate as the earth’s surface, making it appear to stand still high over the Pacific Ocean. Anchored in the sky, […]

Quick: are you right-brained or left-brained? Chances are, you answered this question immediately and definitively. If you are the creative, intuitive type, drawn to creating music, stories, images, and other forms of art, then you are right-brained. If, by contrast, you are more analytical and logical, drawn to mathematics and pattern recognition, then you are left-brained. And if you don’t […]

Valdivia, Chile. May 22, 1960. Magnitude 9.5. 1,655 killed. Prince William Sound, Alaska. March 26, 1964. Magnitude 9.2. 128 killed. Sumatra, Indonesia. December 26, 2004. Magnitude 9.1. 227,898 killed. Tohoku, Japan, March 11, 2011. Magnitude 9.1. 15,700 killed. These are the four most powerful earthquakes in recorded history. If you keep up with the news, then you have likely heard […]

Most of our nightly dreams are either traumatic conga lines of unresolved anxiety, or a hodgepodge of random, incoherent nonsense that makes perfect sense while we’re asleep but quickly fades into irrelevance once we awake. But for some people, dreams can be far more useful; indeed, they can change the world. Such was the case for German chemist August Kekulé, […]

In one of the more memorable scenes of the 1966 camp masterpiece Batman: the Movie, the Caped Crusader ascends a rope ladder to the Batcopter when a large – and very rubbery – shark clamps its jaws around his leg. Unable to dislodge the fiendish fish, Batman calls up to Robin in the Batcopter and tells him to bring down […]

As far as successful film franchises go, few are as balls-to-the-wall insane as The Fast and the Furious. Best described as Mission: Impossible soaked in Axe Body Spray, the series is set in an alternate universe where few problems can’t be solved by driving muscle cars at it. Over its ten installments, the franchise has seen its band – sorry, […]

It is a classic action movie scenario. Our hero, burdened with disarming the doomsday weapon, killing the bad guy, saving the love interest – or all three at once – must assault a building packed to the brim with armed goons. Thankfully, being the protagonist, our hero is also blessed with bottomless magazines and unfailing aim, and proceeds to simply […]

On February 7, 1984, 370 kilometres above the earth, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II floated into the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger and prepared to make history. Strapped to his back was a bulky device resembling a futuristic chair, known as the Manned Maneuvering Unit or MMU. As he gently touched the joysticks on the twin armrests, jets […]

In the 2008 film Wanted, mild-mannered office worker Wesley Gibson, played by James McAvoy, is inducted into a secret group of elite assassins known as The Fraternity, who keep the world in balance by eliminating those who threaten its safety. Among the superhuman skills Wesley learns is the ability to “curve” bullets by swinging his pistol as he fires, allowing […]