-
Tech NewsAboriginal Australians Are Humanity’s Oldest Civilization
New research shows that all present-day non-Africans can trace their origins to a single wave of migrants who left Africa 72,000 years ago, and that indigenous Australians and Papuans are descended directly from the first people to inhabit the continent some 50,000 years ago. That makes them world’s longest running civilization. A genetic and cultural … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploidThis Weird Purse Is Actually a Gun
Forgotten Weapons sees a lot of odd firearms, from a machine gun that Italian troops would mount to bicycles to Uzis that look like horseshoes. But the Frankenau purse gun takes the cake for pure strangeness. One side of the purse is functional and can hold coins. The other houses a five-shot pinfire revolver with … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSunken British Submarine Found Off the Coast of Denmark
On April 10, 1940, British submarine HMS Tarpon and its crew of 50 were sent to Norway to intercept Nazi merchant vessels. They were was never heard from again. Now, after 76 years, the sub has finally been found. An investigation of the remarkably well preserved vessel shows it didn’t go down without a fight. … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploidThe Staggering Evolution of Stop-Motion in Film History
Filmmakers have been stop-motion animation for eons, but holy crap man, people have gotten really, really good at it. This video by Vugar Efendi tracks the evolution of stop motion in film starting with The Enchanted Drawing in 1900, which was really just a drawing of a face changing facial expressions, all the way up … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsBrains of Nazi Victims Uncovered in German Psychiatric Institute
Dozens of brains and brain parts belonging to victims of the Nazi eugenics campaign—and possibly the Holocaust—have been uncovered during renovations at the Max Planck Psychiatric Institute in Munich, Germany. The grim discovery was made in the spring of 2015, prompting the Max Planck Society to launch a thorough investigation of its specimens collection. Surprisingly, … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploidWhy the Heck Do Some Countries Have Weird Panhandles?
If you look closely at a map, you’re bound to find some really weird shit. Countries you never knew existed pop up, bodies of water reveal themselves, and the borders of countries look totally random. What’s more random about those borders is when they have weird panhandles or salients, basically appendages of land that have … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidHow Aluminum Changed the World
Aluminum started as one of the world’s most expensive materials because it was difficult to refine—even though it made up 8 percent of the world’s crust. But eventually aluminum became one of the cheapest materials after methods of mass producing it were invented in the 1880s. It went from $1200 per kilogram down to a … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidHere Are Some Words That Seem Like They Should Be Related But Actually Aren’t at All
Did you know the words “male” and “female” aren’t actually related to each other? As in, there’s no “male” in “female.” The word male is derived from the Latin word masculus, while the word female comes from the French word femelle. It sounded close enough so we just made them both pronounced like male. Damn, … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
In 1898, Nikola Tesla Predicted Drone Warfare
Nikola Tesla was both of his time and ahead of it (he has a car company named after him, after all). Besides his contributions to altnerating current electrical systems, the inventor predicted smartphones, television, and apparently drones, which he thought could cause humanity’s destruction. In a patent that was granted on November 8, 1898, Tesla … Continued
-
Tech NewsShipwreck Hunters Bag an Amazing Discovery at the Bottom of Lake Ontario
A group of retirees-turned-shipwreck hunters have discovered the remains of the Washington, an 18th century trading vessel that sank to the bottom of Lake Ontario in 1803. The 53-foot sloop is the second oldest shipwreck to ever be found in the Great Lakes. The Washington was a commercial trading vessel that transported furs and household … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
More Sketchy Evidence for Fabled Nazi Gold Train Reignites the Hunt
In the bowels of the Owl Mountains near Wałbrych, Poland, legend tells of a hidden train, armed to the teeth and packed with up to 300 tons of Nazi gold. According to geologists, it isn’t there. According to historians, it may not exist. But naysayers haven’t deterred treasure hunters from setting out in search of … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
2,000-Year-Old Scrolls Inscribed With Ancient Curses Uncovered in Serbia
Archaeologists working in Serbia have discovered tiny parchments of gold and silver inscribed with what appears to be a series of ancient curses. The curse tablets were found alongside human skeletons at an excavation site at the foot of a coal-fired power station in Kostolac in northeastern Serbia. Archaeologists led by Miomir Korać are currently … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploidSmart Animation Taught Me More About the Civil War Than History Class
I’m pretty sure I could pass a high school history test about the Civil War armed with only the knowledge that was dropped on me from watching this highly entertaining 10-minute animation from John D. Ruddy. I’m actually halfway certain I would do better on that test after watching this YouTube video than I would … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsThis is What The Site of Britain’s Largest Non-Nuclear Explosion Looks Like 70 Years Later
On Nov. 27, 1944, 4,000 tons of bombs went off at RAF Fauld, a munitions facility in the English countryside near Hanbury, Burton. The explosion was so great that it caused a mushroom cloud and could be felt as far as Morocco. It left a giant crater and you can see what it looks like … Continued
-
Tech News
Heinrich Himmler’s Lost Wartime Diaries Confirm He Was a Total Bastard
Work diaries chronicling the daily activities of Hitler’s henchman Heinrich Himmler have surfaced in Russian military archives. The recovered texts speak volumes about a key figure behind the Holocaust—a man who could orchestrate mass killings at one moment and then casually switch to mundane family matters the next. Three books consisting of a thousand pages … Continued
-
Tech News
China’s Mythical Great Flood May Have Really Happened
Chinese legend tells of a great flood, and how Emperor Yu drove back the floodwaters, founding the Xia dynasty and giving rise to Chinese civilization. Now an international scientific collaboration has discovered the first geological evidence that such a flood may actually have happened—and the founding of the Xia dynasty may have happened hundreds of … Continued
-
EartherClimate Change
Melting Ice Will Release Toxic Waste From a Cold War-Era Test Site
During the Cold War, the US Army studied the feasibility of launching ballistic missiles from within Greenland’s ice sheet. When the project was done, engineers buried biological, chemical, and radioactive waste in the ice thinking it would be preserved for eternity. Shame they didn’t know about global warming. Called Camp Century, the facility was built … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploid
This Map Shows the Size of the World’s Biggest Empires from History
Which empire was the biggest throughout history? Which had the most people? Which had the biggest contiguous empire? The map below details all the most powerful empires from history and shows the area each empire covered, the amount of people they had under their rule, the year they reached their political height, the period of … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9TelevisionThe BBC Wants to Bring Back Time Commanders
If you’re an American, that headline is probably bound to elicit a confused face rather than the excitement it deserves. Allow me to explain! For those of you outside the UK, Time Commanders was a quasi-history show/game show that aired on BBC 2 in the early 2000s, where a team of contestants were tasked with … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploidHow a Gutenberg Printing Press Actually Works
Everyone who was born without a smartphone in their crib knows how a printing press works… in theory. You line up the type, ink up the slate, slap a piece of paper on, and then press down to print. Easy money. But the beauty of these historically important devices is in the details. It’s in … Continued
By Casey Chan