Television has shaped global entertainment, providing viewers with countless hours of drama, laughter, and intrigue. From sitcoms that make us laugh until we cry to dramas that keep us on the edge of our seats, certain TV shows have transcended the small screen to become cultural phenomena. These series not only entertained millions but also set new benchmarks in storytelling, production, and character development. Here, we explore 10 amazing facts that reveal how some of the most popular television shows redefined the industry and captivated audiences worldwide.

Related: Top 10 Truly Terrible Television Series

10 The Cast’s Unbreakable Bond and Historic Pay Negotiation on Friends

One of the most amazing facts about Friends is the unity and solidarity of its cast. By the final two seasons, the six main actors—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer—were each earning $1 million per episode, making them some of the highest-paid actors in television history. What makes this even more remarkable is that the cast insisted on negotiating their salaries as a group, ensuring equal pay for all.

Initially, the actors were offered different salaries based on individual popularity, but David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston advocated for equal pay, leading the entire cast to negotiate collectively. This united front set a precedent in Hollywood and became a symbol of their off-screen friendship and loyalty.

The show’s creators credit this camaraderie for the series’ success and longevity. Throughout its 10 seasons, Friends maintained a consistent cast dynamic that was beloved by fans worldwide. Their historic negotiation remains one of the greatest examples of camaraderie and teamwork in the entertainment industry. This unity translated on-screen, creating a believable and relatable group of friends who continue to resonate with audiences long after the final episode aired.^[1]

9 Revolutionizing Television Production with the Three-Camera Technique on I Love Lucy

An often unknown fact about I Love Lucy is how the show revolutionized the way sitcoms were filmed by pioneering the use of the three-camera technique. Desi Arnaz, who played Ricky Ricardo and was married to Lucille Ball, introduced this innovative filming method to capture the live performances of the show.

In the early 1950s, sitcoms were typically broadcast live or filmed using a single camera. Instead, Arnaz insisted on filming before a live studio audience with multiple cameras simultaneously capturing the action from different angles. This technique allowed for seamless editing, preserving the spontaneity of the performances while maintaining high production quality.

Moreover, I Love Lucy was one of the first sitcoms to be recorded on 35mm film, allowing for better preservation and syndication, which paved the way for future reruns. By being filmed in front of a live audience, the show’s creators could capture genuine laughter, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the comedic timing.

As a result, I Love Lucy became a pioneering force in the television industry, influencing the production style of countless sitcoms to come. Its success demonstrated the potential of multi-camera production, which remains the standard for many sitcoms today. Desi Arnaz’s vision transformed the sitcom landscape, making I Love Lucy a lasting legacy in television history.^[2]

8 The Global Cultural Impact of the Transformers Franchise

The Transformers’ incredible journey from a simple line of Japanese toy robots to becoming a globally recognized multimedia franchise spans decades. In the early 1980s, Hasbro licensed two transforming robot toy lines from Japan: Takara’s Diaclone and Microman series. To introduce these toys to the American market, Hasbro partnered with Marvel Comics to create a backstory and universe for them. Thus, the Transformers brand was born in 1984, along with a comic book series and an animated television show.

The Transformers TV show quickly became a cultural phenomenon, leading to the production of The Transformers: The Movie in 1986. The brand then expanded into comic books, animated series, video games, and the highly successful live-action film franchise directed by Michael Bay, which has grossed over $4 billion worldwide.

The most remarkable aspect is how Transformers has continuously reinvented itself to captivate multiple generations of fans while maintaining its core appeal: the epic battle between Autobots and Decepticons. The introduction of new characters and storylines in subsequent series, such as Beast Wars and Transformers: Prime, helped the franchise stay fresh and relevant.

Its enduring legacy and ability to transcend cultural barriers make Transformers one of the most influential toy lines and multimedia franchises in history. It continues to resonate with audiences worldwide, proving that the battle between good and evil robots never goes out of style.^[3]

7 Hugh Laurie’s Accent and Record-Breaking Salary on House M.D.

An amazing fact about House M.D. is how British actor Hugh Laurie convincingly portrayed the American character Dr. Gregory House and became one of the highest-paid actors in television history. Despite his native British accent, Laurie mastered an American accent so well that the show’s creator, David Shore, didn’t initially realize he was British during his audition. Laurie’s portrayal was so authentic that Bryan Singer, one of the show’s executive producers, called him “an incredible American actor.”

Laurie’s dedication to the role earned him critical acclaim and multiple awards. His sharp wit, complex character portrayal, and distinctive limp made Dr. House one of the most memorable characters in TV history. By the show’s final seasons, Laurie’s salary had skyrocketed to $700,000 per episode, making him one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time.

His performance as the brilliant but misanthropic diagnostician became a defining aspect of the show, which ran for eight successful seasons. House M.D.’s global popularity helped redefine the medical drama genre and made Dr. Gregory House an unforgettable character. Laurie’s influence extended beyond the screen, as his impeccable American accent and sarcastic persona set a new standard for foreign actors taking on American roles.

Even after the show’s end, Hugh Laurie’s impact as Dr. Gregory House continues to be felt, as the character remains a touchstone for complex, flawed antiheroes in television dramas.^[4]

6 The Show’s Game-Changing Influence on Television Drama in The Sopranos

The most amazing fact about The Sopranos is how it revolutionized the television landscape, paving the way for modern TV dramas with complex antiheroes. Created by David Chase and premiering in 1999, the series followed mob boss Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, as he balanced his criminal empire with family life.

Before The Sopranos, television dramas rarely explored deeply flawed protagonists like Tony Soprano, who struggled with anxiety and depression while ruthlessly managing his crime organization. The show’s intricate storytelling, character development, and psychological depth set a new standard for TV dramas, influencing countless series that followed.

Moreover, The Sopranos was one of the first cable TV shows to gain mainstream popularity, proving that high-quality, mature storytelling could thrive on premium networks like HBO. It opened doors for other groundbreaking series such as The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, which further explored morally ambiguous characters.

The series won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and remains widely regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Its impact on the television industry is immeasurable, cementing its legacy as a game-changer and elevating the standards for serialized storytelling in ways that continue to influence modern television.^[5]

5 The Show’s Unmatched Longevity and Regeneration Concept on Doctor Who

The most amazing fact about Doctor Who is its unparalleled longevity, making it the longest-running science fiction TV series in the world. First airing in 1963, Doctor Who has continuously reinvented itself, staying relevant for over six decades.

A significant factor behind the show’s endurance is the ingenious concept of “regeneration,” introduced in 1966. When William Hartnell, the first actor to play the Doctor, had to step down due to health reasons, the producers decided to have the character transform into a new body, allowing a new actor to take over the role. This concept enabled the show to refresh itself with different actors while maintaining the central premise of an eccentric Time Lord traveling through time and space in the TARDIS.

To date, 14 actors have officially portrayed the Doctor in the main series, with each one bringing a unique flavor to the character. This ability to regenerate and adapt to changing times has allowed Doctor Who to resonate with multiple generations of fans, making it a cultural icon across the globe.

Beyond the regeneration concept, Doctor Who has also pioneered special effects, storytelling techniques, and innovative writing that have contributed to its unmatched longevity. The show’s remarkable ability to blend science fiction, adventure, and humor has ensured its lasting appeal and a loyal fan base that spans the world.^[6]

4 The Luke and Laura Wedding Phenomenon on General Hospital

TV’s soap opera General Hospital gave us the unparalleled spectacle of the “Luke and Laura” wedding episode. On November 17, 1981, over 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the wedding of Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary) and Laura Webber (played by Genie Francis), making it the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.

The episode marked the culmination of a storyline that captivated audiences nationwide, turning the couple into cultural icons. Their romance, filled with drama, twists, and turns, captured viewers’ imaginations, and the wedding was treated like a major cultural event. It was attended by real-life celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, who appeared on the show as Helena Cassadine and featured glamorous sets and costumes. The extraordinary viewership and media attention cemented General Hospital’s reputation as a pop culture phenomenon.

The popularity of the Luke and Laura storyline also propelled General Hospital to the forefront of daytime television, helping the show win the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series multiple times and securing its legacy as one of the most enduring soap operas in history. Luke and Laura’s relationship, though complicated, remains one of the most memorable in television history, embodying the dramatic highs and lows that make soap operas irresistible to their audiences.^[7]

3 G.I. Joe: The Action Figure That Became a Cultural Icon

G.I. Joe wasn’t just a toy; it was a revolution in the industry. Launched in 1964 by Hasbro, G.I. Joe, the “movable fighting man,” broke away from the idea of dolls being solely for girls. With its multiple articulation points and military theme, it became the first action figure designed to capture the imagination of boys. This innovation, along with a variety of figures and accessories, sparked the creation of the action figure industry as we know it today.

G.I. Joe’s influence extended beyond its initial design. The 1980s saw a reinvention with smaller, 3.75-inch figures. This shift, popularized by G.I. Joe, became the standard size for action figures like Star Wars and He-Man. The reinvented G.I. Joe also came with a rich backstory—an elite anti-terrorist team battling the evil Cobra. This narrative, along with accompanying comic books and a cartoon series, solidified G.I. Joe as a major cultural phenomenon.

From a simple toy line, G.I. Joe transformed into a global multimedia franchise. Its impact transcended playtime, proving that action figures could be the beginning of a cultural legacy.^[8]

2 Lynda Carter: Wonder Woman Takes Flight as a Feminist Icon

The Wonder Woman television series left its mark on pop culture in many ways, but perhaps the most amazing outcome is the enduring impact of Lynda Carter’s portrayal of the title character. Carter’s Diana Prince wasn’t just a superhero; she was a symbol of female empowerment who shattered stereotypes and inspired generations.

Premiering in 1975, the series showcased Wonder Woman’s strength and heroism, but Carter’s performance also imbued the character with compassion and elegance. She wasn’t just a warrior; she was a role model for young women who could be powerful and intelligent without sacrificing femininity. Carter’s iconic costume became instantly recognizable, forever linked to the image of Wonder Woman.

The success of the show and Carter’s portrayal proved that audiences craved strong female heroes. Wonder Woman paved the way for future characters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess, ultimately leading to the critical and commercial success of the Wonder Woman film starring Gal Gadot. Lynda Carter’s legacy as Wonder Woman is more than just a television show; it’s a testament to the power of female representation in media.^[9]

1 Who Shot J.R.? A Cliffhanger Heard around the World

The Dallas television series had its fair share of dramatic moments, but nothing quite captured the global imagination like the “Who Shot J.R.?” cliffhanger. This ingenious marketing ploy transformed a night-time soap opera episode into a cultural phenomenon.

On March 21, 1980, the season 3 finale of Dallas ended with J.R. Ewing, the show’s conniving villain, being shot by an unseen assailant. The cliffhanger left viewers hanging for months, sparking a frenzy of speculation about the culprit. Newspapers ran polls, fans debated endlessly, and even oddsmakers offered bets on who pulled the trigger.

The anticipation reached a fever pitch by the time the new season premiered. An estimated 83 million Americans tuned in to learn the identity of the shooter, making it the most-watched television episode in U.S. history at that time. Globally, over 350 million people watched the reveal, solidifying Dallas as a pop culture juggernaut.

The “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline not only saved a struggling series but also revolutionized television. It demonstrated the power of cliffhangers to generate excitement and audience engagement, forever changing the way television shows are structured and marketed.^[10]

Deception operations have been employed in warfare throughout history, with the earliest mentions being in works like Virgil’s Aeneid describing the Trojan Horse during the Trojan War. The Greeks invented smokescreens for use during the Peloponnesian War, and there are countless other examples of deception tactics that have both worked and failed. This list comprises some of the more important uses of deception that successfully tricked the enemy throughout the history of warfare.

10 Maskirovka
Russia, Battle Of Kursk, World War II

Maskirovka is a broad military doctrine of Soviet deception developed throughout the early 20th century. Its primary focus is denial, deception, and surprise. The practice utilizes several means of fooling the enemy, ideally suggesting to them that a smaller force is awaiting them “over the hill.”

It was most successfully employed at the Battle of Kursk during World War II, when a relatively large force of Germans unwittingly attacked what they believed to be a small force of Russian troops, which actually numbered more than four times their own. The Russian forces were able to achieve this, in part, by spreading rumors throughout their own ranks as to their capabilities and strength, which spread to the Germans through their counterintelligence collection means. Ammunition and supplies were moved only under the cover of darkness, while camouflage was utilized to conceal anything of military value. Additionally, the Soviets employed fake airfields, which enticed the Germans to bomb dummy aircraft, further confusing their assessment of the Soviet military strength and capabilities.

Prior to the battle, the Germans underestimated the Russians’ strength, thinking that they had fewer than 1,500 tanks and 400,000 men ready to fight. Unfortunately for German intelligence, the Russians’ deception worked, and they confronted more than 1.3 million fighting men, more than twice the estimated number of tanks, and nearly 3,000 aircraft. The resulting battle destroyed the German offensive and earned the Soviets their first victory against the Germans along the Eastern Front. For the remainder of the war, the Germans would be on the defensive all the way to Berlin.

The doctrine is still being used, most recently in the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the taking of Eastern Ukraine.

9 Bluffing
England, Battle Of Fishguard, War Of The First Coalition

In 1797, during what has been called “The Last Invasion of Britain,” French Revolutionary forces crossed the North Sea and faced the British at the Battle of Fishguard, which wasn’t really a battle at all. Having previously landed successfully a few miles west of Fishguard with nearly 20 boatloads of troops, 47 barrels of powder, and 50 tons of cartridges and grenades, the French were ready to take the town.

France’s Commodore Castagnier sent a single French ship to reconnoiter the bay while flying the British colors. As soon as the ship was spotted by the British, they fired a single blank from a 9-lb gun. While the port had eight of these large cannons, they were severely understocked and had only three rounds. The French ship immediately hoisted the French colors and fled the bay. The British may have fired the cannon to signal the ship in some way, but regardless of their intention, they caused the French to reconsider their target and turn away from Fishguard. Had they not fired the initial blank to bluff the French scout ship, the port would likely have been taken.

8 Trojan Coffin
The Normans, Castle Siege

Many stories of the fabled 11th-century Norwegian King Harald Hardrada have been told throughout the years, detailing his bravery and ingenuity at combat. During his conquest on the road to becoming the king of Norway, Harald laid siege to an unnamed castle by camping outside and establishing his men for the upcoming battle. He also had erected a small tent a ways outside the main camp, where he lay sick and possibly dying. Before any battle took place, it was reported that the great king had perished from his illness, and his men ventured toward the castle to tell the news of their commander’s demise. They addressed a large gathering of priests and requested that they allow their fallen commander to be buried within the city.

The priests believed that they would receive rich gifts for accommodating the bereaved fighting men and acquiesced. They formed a large procession and took Harald’s ornate coffin into their castle, along with a small group of his men. Once they’d crossed the threshold and entered the castle grounds, Harald’s men immediately barred the gate, called the remaining men to battle, and the good King Harald himself leaped from the coffin and declared that everyone be killed. The castle was taken, and Harald’s legendary exploits continued toward the conquest of England.

7 Elaborate Hoax
Union Army, Reclamation Of The Indianola, US Civil War

After losing one of its most prized ships, the recently constructed ironclad USS Indianola, the Union Navy conducted the most successful hoax operation of the US Civil War. The Indianola was a considerably formidable vessel, though it was plagued with problems during its construction, and it saw several successful combat operations.

Attempting to pass the city of Vicksburg, the ship engaged in a battle against the Confederate Webb, which rammed the vessel, causing its starboard wheel and rudder to become inoperable. As the ship began to take on water, its captain, Lieutenant Commander George Brown, ordered it run ashore, where he quickly dumped the Union codebooks and surrendered to prevent a greater loss of life. The Confederates moved the Indianola to the eastern bank of the Mississippi and established a 100-man salvage crew accompanied by two pieces of field artillery in an attempt to salvage the valuable vessel.

Deciding to attempt a recovery operation, Rear Admiral David D. Porter ordered that an old coal barge be made to look like a larger ironclad intent on taking the Confederates: “It was built of old boards in twelve hours, with porkbarrels on top of each other for smoke-stacks, and two old canoes for quarter-boats; her furnaces were built of mud, and only intended to make black smoke and not steam. Painted on the side was the taunting slogan: ‘Deluded Rebels, cave in!‘ ” To ensure that the Confederates saw the vessel approaching, he launched it in broad daylight toward the Confederate defenses.

Seeing the “formidable vessel” approaching, the salvage crew first attempted to raise the Indianola before finally deciding to blow its magazines, scuttling the ship. The Indianola was eventually resurfaced and returned to the North toward the end of the war.

6 Fraudulent Document
Sultan Baybars, Capture Of Krak Des Chevaliers, The Crusades

Sometimes all it takes is a well-executed bluff to confuse and capture the enemy. During the Crusades, following more than a year of what can only be described as a peaceful siege, wherein Sultan Baybars’s (also spelled Baibars) army camped outside the castle of Krak des Chevaliers, using its resources without engaging, the time had come to engage the formidable fortress.

The castle was built to withstand long sieges. Its fortifications were almost twice the size of that of some European castles, and it featured a large moat, high walls, and a gate accessible only by a long, winding passage. While the sultan had a superior fighting force, which had successfully stood against the Mongols and won, the Hospitaller stronghold had the advantage of fortitude, and the fight would certainly be a bloody and costly one. Knowing this, Sultan Baybars, who by all accounts was a brilliant tactician, retreated and devised a plan that involved a single sheet of paper.

Baybars finally got to implement his plan in the most spectacular way in 1271 during the Eighth Crusade, when he delivered a letter to his enemy—from his enemy. After a ten-day siege that took down a portion of the outer wall of the castle, a letter drafted from the leader of the Hospitaller ordered the men inside the castle to surrender. The knights immediately capitulated and followed the orders of their leader by sending a party out to meet the sultan and arrange conditions for their surrender. The deception worked, and the castle was taken without the need for further siege or bloodshed, all due to a falsified signature at the bottom of a piece of paper.

5 Feigned Retreat
The Normans, Battle Of Hastings, Norman Conquest

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is a hotly debated battle in many historical circles. There is no consensus as to whether William II of Normandy, later called William the Conqueror, initiated a feigned retreat or an actual one. Whether or not the decision to withdraw his cavalry was made by William to engage the British doesn’t matter when you consider that no other feigned retreat has been as successful before or since that battle nearly 1,000 years ago.

During the battle, the British shield wall was established by the best men available and continuously held the line against the onslaught of William’s cavalry until finally, the cavalry turned and fled. As they withdrew from the shield wall, the men holding the line broke and followed them in one of the biggest blunders in military history. As they engaged, the cavalry—now able to hold their ground against a sparse force without horses—quickly fell back on their pursuers and devastated their ranks. Simultaneously, the remaining forces were engaged, and due to their weakened lines, they were quickly destroyed. The successful feigned retreat by the cavalry won the battle and brought about the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England.

4 Baiting An Attack
US Army, Vietnam War

Oftentimes, the best deception operations are carried out due to accurate and timely intelligence that helps commanders to make decisions to thwart an enemy’s attack. Other times, this information has been used to bait an attack so that a counterattack can be implemented to achieve a positive result for the defensive force. This occurred during the Vietnam War, when the commanders of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Division, learned through intelligence that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and elements of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) were planning to attack an unnamed firebase as a test or probing operation.

Knowing this, the Americans established Diamond I Firebase 25 kilometers (16 mi) outside of Tay Ninh, an area that would make it enticing to attack. They placed ground sensors throughout the base and also reinforced it with a significant amount of artillery. The result: “Rather than the PAVN and NVA regiment having an easy battle, it was twice repulsed [and] suffered heavy casualties.” The attack took place on February 24, 1969, and cost the Vietnamese 118 soldiers and two captured.

3 Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing
British Royal Navy, World War I

During World War I, the German Navy maintained a highly successful fleet of U-boats (aka Unterseeboots) that operated in the Atlantic Ocean. While submarines were technically invented and used as early as the US Civil War, they did not see widespread use in naval combat until 1914, and the Germans were quite adept at being sneaky under the sea. The biggest problem that a surface vessel faced during this time was a complete inability to locate a U-boat. Sonar was developed very early in the war, but it wasn’t anywhere near as effective or efficient as it is today, so navies like the British and French utilized hydrophones, which had a short range and weren’t very effective if a U-Boat’s crew was well-trained and quiet.

Because of this, Q-boats were established. These were heavily armed vessels of all sorts that were “dressed” as merchant ships. Their job was to sail the seas and entice the U-boats to surface and attack only to find that their “prey” was much more skilled at defense than they originally thought. To further sell the deception, the ships would fly false colors would be flown, and when a U-boat approached, part of the crew, known as the “panic party,” would appear to abandon the ship. Once the submarine was in range, hidden guns were revealed, the White Ensign (the flag of the Royal Navy) raised, and the U-boat was sunk.

The use of Q-boats led to the sinking of ten U-boats, so it was successful, although most of its success came by forcing Germany to completely change how it conducted naval warfare—albeit too late for them to effectively win the war.

2 Left Hook
US And Allied Forces, Operation Desert Storm

Operation Desert Storm saw one of the most successful uses of deception via radio signals ever employed in warfare. The Iraqis’ attention was on an amphibious training maneuver by the United States Marine Corps, leading them to strongly believe that the Americans would invade along their coastline. They subsequently prepared for this eventuality.

Additionally, the 18th and 5th Corps Headquarters began their maneuvers through the desert in a massive flanking maneuver known as a “left hook,” where they were able to effectively outflank the Iraqis and attack while also blocking any avenue of retreat back into Iraqi territory from Kuwait. During these maneuvers, the Corps’s signals units broadcasted mimicked signals, which effectively made the Iraqis believe that the units were completely stationary.

As the units continued to move toward the Iraqi lines, the Iraqi forces moved away from them toward the coastline in order to repel their invaders. The result was a ground war that lasted only three days and caused the Iraqis to completely withdraw from Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. Most of their army surrendered to the Americans and Allied troops who had cut off their escape. After 100 hours of combat on the ground, President Bush declared a cease-fire and the successful liberation of Kuwait on February 27, 1991.

1 False Flag
Germany, Operation Himmler, World War II

Following Germany’s successful expansion into the neighboring countries of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, Hitler needed to continue to create Lebensraum (“Living Space”) for his idealized expansion of Germany. Hitler knew that he couldn’t easily get away with such expansion into the likes of Poland without the rest of the world raising a eyebrow, so he devised a false flag operation to allow for his entrance into the bordering nation.

Along the border town of Gleiwitz, several Jews were taken from a concentration camp and dressed in German border guard uniforms. They were taken to a nearby radio tower in Germany and shot and killed just outside the border of Poland. This action, which could become known as the Gleiwitz incident, along with 20 other less serious matters, were then used by the fuhrer’s propaganda campaign to forward his cause to take Poland.

Hitler immediately cited Polish aggression and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, saying, “This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. Since 5:45 AM, we have been returning the fire [ . . . ] I will continue this struggle, no matter against whom, until the safety of the Reich and its rights are secured.” While it is certainly true that German aggression was ongoing up to this point, the war can be said to have officially begun with the invasion of Poland, since two days following the attack, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Jonathan is an amateur graphic artist, illustrator, and game designer with a few independently published games through his game company, TalkingBull Games. He enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects.

Animals have always been a massive part of medical research. They are most commonly utilized in clinical trials, where we test the effectiveness and safety of new medications before moving on to human trials.^[1]

While animal testing is very crucial to the success of human medications, there are amazing lines of research involving animals in a less traditional sense. Some involve training animals to sniff out diseases, utilizing their body fluids for human treatment, or even using components of otherwise deadly venoms. Whether you are for or against animal testing, the things on this list will be sure to blow your mind!

10 Dogs Smell Cancer

There are many stories out there telling the tale of how a pet owner noticed their dog acting strange around them. Open further examination, they notice a lump or start feeling sick. After going to the doctors, they are diagnosed with cancer and have their dogs to thank for saving their life! But how does the science around this actually work?

It can really be chalked up to one thing: dogs’ amazing sense of smell. In our noses, we have olfactory receptors, which allow us to distinguish odors. The average human has approximately six million of these in their nose, while dogs have a whopping 300 million. This makes their sense of smell a lot more than just superhuman; it allows them to detect the slightest differences in the scents around them. What scent does a pet dog pick up on most often? Their owner, of course. Knowing this, it makes sense to think that dogs can even smell biological changes within us.

How effective is this method in terms of catching cancer early? A study using urine from prostate cancer patients found that dogs had a 91-percent success rate in identifying the cancer.^[2] Maybe sometime in the near future, we’ll see dogs used as a cancer screening method.

9 Animals Improve Symptoms Of Mental Illnesses

You’ve probably heard that animals have positive impacts on depression, but this isn’t the only mental illnesses that animals can improve. To list a few, animals aid in autism, ADHD, and anxiety.^[3]

Animals accomplish this by presenting social opportunities that would not arise otherwise. A good example of this is a depressed pet owner walking their dog. Also, exercise of any kind has been proven time and time again to alleviate symptoms of depression, as does being outside in nature. Pets can help improve sensory perception in autistic individuals and allow people suffering from ADHD to learn what routine is like and handle the responsibility of taking care of a living creature.

What pet owner doesn’t feel better after petting and cuddling their cat, dog, horse, rabbit, or any other pet out there? Knowing that an animal loves you unconditionally is a pretty special feeling and can lessen the mental burden of illnesses like depression and anxiety.

8 Zebrafish And Metabolic Disorders

In the United States, the vast majority of adults are either obese or overweight. In fact, 160 million (including both adults and children) are estimated to be overweight or obese. In an obese person’s body, there is an underproduction of or lack of sensitivity to leptin (a hormone that inhibits hunger and regulates fat stores) and a decrease in the body’s sensitivity to insulin (which regulates fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism). This is why obesity is considered a metabolic disorder, as hormones that regulate our metabolic system are being compromised.

Proteins found in zebrafish have been used in clinical trials involving mice that are being fed high-fat diets. Using these proteins as drug injections protected mice from the causes of obesity, explained above as the lack of sensitivity to necessary metabolic hormones.^[4] If this is could be applied to humans, this means that a simple injection could mitigate most of the harm caused by our Westernized diets. The results are remarkable and have opened up a huge area of research for the treatment of metabolic diseases.

7 Brazilian Viper Venom And High Blood Pressure

The venom of Bothrops jararaca, a Brazilian pit viper, can cause you hemorrhage (due to your blood being unable to clot) if you are bitten by it.^[5] This sounds terrifying, and the snake looks pretty terrifying, too. It comes as a huge surprise, then, that the venom of this deadly snake led to the discovery of the method used to treat another of America’s biggest health problems: high blood pressure.

If injecting this venom into you is deadly, how could this possibly be of help to us? The entire process is actually pretty revolutionary. Back in the past, medical researchers looked everywhere for the key to decreasing blood pressure. The Brazilian viper’s venom gave us that key. ACE inhibitors, the current treatment for high blood pressure, were originally developed from a peptide in the venom. These inhibitors block receptors in our body that tell our blood vessels to constrict, causing high blood pressure.

6 Childhood Blindness And Mice

While childhood blindness isn’t as common compared to other illnesses on this list, it is still very unfortunate. Children are born without one of their five main senses, making their life difficult from a young age. Giving sight back to someone who was born blind seems like an impossible miracle, but a linked gene found in mice could make this possible.

A 2006 study dealt with childhood blindness caused by defective genes, meaning that the proper cells that allow us to see aren’t created. This model was recreated in mice by knocking out the same gene that is missing or damaged in blind humans. When using gene transfer to reintroduce a healthy version of that same gene, the mice were able to begin producing the necessary cells for sight.^[6]

5 Giant Pandas’ Antibacterial Blood

Giant pandas look cute and cuddly, and their benefits to humans are proving to be so much more than just their adorable exterior.

Pandas happen to ingest and encounter a lot of types of bacteria in their natural habitats. Due to their constant exposure, their bodies have evolved to produce multiple strains of natural antibiotics. We can derive specific compounds from the panda’s genomes and use them to produce a diverse range of antibiotics that can fight bacteria and fungi.

This is significant because the antibiotics pandas produce have been found to kill certain strains of bacteria six times faster than the antibiotics we currently use.^[7]

4 Cats’ Purring Heals

This one is pretty mind-blowing. There is legitimate medical research that backs up the healing properties of a cat’s purr. If there wasn’t enough reason to own a cat, this should push aspiring cat owners over the edge.

There are a couple frequencies that promote bone growth and healing; they are 25 and 50 hertz.^[8] These low frequencies also happen to be in the range of cat purring, anywhere between 25 to 150 hertz. Scientists hypothesize that the reason cats purr is to promote self-healing, using their own frequencies to help with any internal bone injuries. This would also explain why cats purr when they are under stress or in pain.

The pressing question is whether it really benefits human bones as well. There is no scientific research directly supporting this theory, but many studies have shown that pet owners live longer. If cat purring was a contributing factor to this, that would be pretty amazing.

3 Dolphins Could Make Us Super-Healers

Imagine getting a shark bite and not suffering that much for it. Shark bites may not be lethal the majority of the time, but we still have to go to great lengths to properly heal the wound. Stitches, antibiotics, and other measures need to be taken to ensure that the wound closes and doesn’t get infected.

Large injuries observed on dolphins (presumably caused by sharks) require no special attention at all to heal. Their injuries healed in only weeks, despite the wounds being significant. The dolphins showed no signs of intense pain or discomfort from their injuries, and no permanent damage was dealt to them.^[9]

This strength of healing is unheard-of in any human suffering from an injury of this magnitude. So how do dolphins do it, and how could this benefit us?

Scientists suspect dolphins don’t bleed or get infections due to their “diving reflex,” which diminishes blood flow. Natural antibiotics found in their blubber ensure that no life-threatening infections occur. Similar to the giant panda on this list, we can utilize these antibiotics as well as learn a lot from their amazing healing properties.

2 Hibernating Mammals And Synapse Repair

The human brain uses synapses to pass signals from neuron to neuron. This process is essential for everything we do, from exercising to sleeping. We struggle to repair damaged synapses, this is why neurodegenerative diseases are so dangerous. However, a recent breakthrough allowed us to observe synapses that undergo significant cooling but still function after the cooling is over. Hibernating mammals manage this, though the study in question used artificially cooled mice.

The study was able to link a specific RNA-binding protein (RBM3), which was responsible for restoring the synapses after the severe body cooling.^[10] If this protein is removed, there is a significant reduction in synapse repair. This data supports the necessary presence of RBM3 for synapse and neuron health as well as the possibility of using gene therapy to increase production of RBM3 in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

1 Scorpions And Brain Tumors

Scorpion venom is yet another type of venom that you wouldn’t expect to both help and harm humans. The scorpion in question is Leiurus quinquestriatus, more commonly known as the deathstalker. That name speaks to the nature of this scorpion—it’s pretty deadly. The mix of neurotoxins in its venom is extremely dangerous; get stung by it, and you’ll need to be rushed to the nearest hospital.

Unlike the snake venom mentioned before, the compound utilized comes straight from the scorpion venom, and its name is chlorotoxin. This chemical can target brain tumors originating in the top of the spine and brain.^[11] The discovery of chlorotoxin has justified research into other scorpion toxins, and more testing is needed to see just how effective other species’ venom is.

Operating on tumors within the brain and spine is very risky. One wrong move, and the surgeon can cause irreversible damage. This makes chlorotoxin even more valuable. If we can fight tumors without operating, many risks are alleviated.

Earth has suffered five big extinctions and innumerable little ones. A potential sixth mass extinction, the only one created by the planet’s own inhabitants, looms. So in the spirit of collective mass improvement, now’s the perfect time to look back at scenes of chaos and turnover of life that we hope to avoid in the future.

From the hectic dawn of the dinosaurs to the numerous disasters that darkened skies, acidified the seas, and turned our blue planet into a hellscape, these awe-inspiring scenes of destruction and rebirth shaped the Earth.

10 Dinosaurs Take Advantage Of Extinctions

Dinosaurs entered evolutionary history the same way they exited—with an extinction.

This one occurred about 232 million years ago during the Carnian Pluvial Episode when deep-sea volcanoes (the Wrangellia basalts in British Columbia today) forced climate change and a turnover of ancient life.^[1]

This plunged the Earth into a series of wet and dry episodes. Most notably, four successive pulses of warming and cooling in just a million years led to multiple extinction scenarios which devastated the variety of plant and animal life.

Afterward, it took dinosaurs a surprisingly short span of just two million years to claim the globe and its many now-vacant niches.

9 The Chicxulub Asteroid Scores A Lucky Hit

The 10-kilometer-wide (6 mi) asteroid that took away our dinosaurs 66 million years ago was an exceptionally lucky strike which might not have killed the dinos had it struck anywhere else.

In fact, just 13 percent of the Earth’s surface harbored the necessary materials to spur such a mass extinction. The asteroid just happened to slam into a patch of Earth full of fossil fuels, abundant in hydrocarbons and sulfur. The incredible temperatures generated by the collision ignited these rich veins of fuel.^[2]

The resultant hellfires released vast amounts of soot which blocked out the Sun and decreased surface temperature as much as 10 degrees Celsius (18 °F). The escaping sulfur fell back down as acid rain.

Researchers modeled other impact sites. They found that the only other places with catastrophic fossil fuel concentrations included North America’s East Coast, the Middle East, and Siberia.

8 A ‘Trickle Of Food’ Feeds Deep-Sea Creatures

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid smashed into the Yucatan Peninsula and relieved the Earth of dinosaurs. It also killed the giant marine reptiles and caused an immediate extinction of many microscopic ocean creatures like plankton which feed other animals.

But deep-ocean creatures survived, fed by some mysterious food source. Researchers thank algae and some bacteria, photosynthesizing organisms that withstood the extinction and rained down on the ocean deep like a slow trickle of food for bigger creatures.

But life recovered quickly. The oceanic food chain restored itself in just 1.7 million years as new species took over recently vacated niches.^[3]

7 The Neanderthals Are Pushed Out

Neanderthals were like us: They buried their dead, crafted tools, controlled fire, talked, cared for the needy, and created art. So species inferiority may not have led to their demise. A new model says that we didn’t kill Neanderthals in bloody ancient warfare. Instead, their population simply fizzled out.

Their territory extended only from Europe to Central Asia. As other types of early humans (with more extensive habitats) poured in, resources weren’t adequate.

But the situation could have just as easily been reversed. Had we been living in the same region and subject to similar emigration from Neanderthal communities, we could have been the ones relegated to obsolescence.^[4]

6 Earth Gets Rung Like A Bell

Earth’s crust is riddled with tens of thousands of miles of cracks, or mid-ocean ridges, where lava bubbles up between tectonic plates.

When the dino-killing asteroid hit, it actually rung Earth, sending seismic shocks through the planet in the form of magnitude-11 earthquakes. As the jolt reached deep down, it shook the planet like a can of soda and irritated the mid-ocean ridges, which squirted even more molten matter.

The evidence?

Two massive magma mounds, or “bumps,” in the Pacific and Indian Oceans were located by scientists thanks to the increased gravitational pull of the bumps. They’re composed of 96,000–1,000,000 cubic kilometers (23,000–240,000 mi³) of magma, which formed within a million years of the impact.^[5]

The eruptions are on par with natural history’s all-time greats, and the increased volcanic activity continued for up to hundreds of thousands of years after the impact.

5 A Cluster Of Extinctions Fuels The Great Dying

The End-Permian Extinction 252 million years ago was the worst of Earth’s five mass extinctions. It wiped out 70–75 percent of terrestrial species and up to 95 percent of sea life (though some say it’s closer to 80 percent). This extinction event is therefore known as the Great Dying.

But newer research suggests that it’s more like the Great Dyings. The extinction was caused by a two-pronged geological attack. First, volcanoes smothered the globe and the oceans acidified. Then a wave of anoxia drained the seas of oxygen.

After this main event, which saw the Siberian Traps release enough lava to cover an area larger than Alaska, two further mini-extinctions followed.

Volcanoes are again to blame. Carbon isotopes reveal that two major events occurred half a million years and 1.5 million years after the Great Dying, a spate of destruction from which it took 10 million years to recover.^[6]

4 Hidden Eruptions Are Deadlier

Mass volcanism is always bad, but location can be more significant than the duration or magnitude. During the previously mentioned Great Dying, subsurface eruptions caused far more chaos. When the Siberian Traps erupted, not all the lava oozed out. Some spread out over 1.6 million kilometers (1 million mi) beneath the Earth’s crust.

It sounds like a lucky break because underground is where lava belongs. But when it pooled at the subsurface, it scorched carbon-rich sediments and sent plumes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

The result was ocean acidification, a rise in temperature, and an apocalyptic haze that decimated life. All in all, enough lava was released to cover a United States–size patch in up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) deep of lava.^[7]

3 The Dinosaurs Faded Out Long Before The Asteroid

Statistical analysis on the dinosaurian family tree revealed a marked decline long before the fated asteroid strike 66 million years ago. The downturn began around 140 million years ago. Previously, new species emerged faster than old ones disappeared. But by 90 million years ago, 24 million years before E-day, diversity was heading down the toilet.

Factors like climate change and continental breakup started whittling away at the big-money dinosaurs: theropods (T. rex and such), ornithischians (Stegosaurus family), and sauropods (the Brontosaurus group). Conversely, the horned and duck-billed dinosaurs began to establish a stronger foothold, possibly due to the rise of a new food group, flowering plants.

Considering these trends, some researchers believe that the dinosaurs might have bowed out even without a catastrophic cosmic intervention.^[8]

2 Space Wants To Kill Us

Extinctions may have a secret cosmic conspirator: dark matter.

The Earth and our solar system smash through the galaxy at more than 800,000 kilometers per hour (500,000 mph). Every 30 million years or so, they pass through the galactic disc in episodes that apparently line up with past extinctions.

Dark matter generally hangs in halos around Milky Way–like galaxies. But it also accumulates in the central midplane of the galactic disk. So when the solar system flies through this region, dark matter gravitationally perturbs space rocks and sends a few tumbling toward Earth.^[9]

As Earth moves through these invisible clumps, it accumulates dark matter at its core. The particles cause each other to explode, releasing energies up to a thousand times hotter than normal core temperatures. This sends material bubbling to the surface to incite volcanism, magnetic field reversals, and sea level changes.

1 Seedeaters Take Over

About 66 million years ago, a big asteroid slammed into Earth and killed off most of the dinosaurs. However, the birdlike maniraptorans endured.

Birdlike dinos came in two main flavors—toothed and not toothed. They consumed varied diets, but the ones without teeth, with their short and robust beaks, also ate seeds. This is why they survived the end-Cretaceous extinction while their toothy brethren did not.^[10]

In spite of acid rain, darkened skies, landscape-consuming fires, and the eradication of most food sources, maniraptorans kept their bellies full. How? They poked through the ground for seeds deposited by these awesome new things called flowers that proliferated during the Cretaceous.

Ivan Farkas writes about cool stuff for the Internet. You can contact him at [email protected].

Ancient Sparta was located in a region known as Laconia in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese. Even today, the allure of that prominent Greek city-state still catches our interest and imagination. The simplicity of their way of life, their political stability, their strict education system, and the “production” of the finest Greek warriors were some of the reasons why ancient Sparta was admired by many other Greek cities.

10 Brevity And Directness

In addition to their reputation as fine warriors, the Spartans were also known for the brevity and directness of their speech.

Shortly before Philip of Macedon (Alexander’s father) invaded Laconia, he wrote a letter to the Spartans saying, “If I invade Laconia, I will drive you out.” The Spartans wrote a one-word letter back to Philip saying, “If.” (Plutarch, On Talkativeness: 511a). Philip eventually entered Laconia and sent another letter to the Spartans asking whether they would receive him as a friend or a foe. The Spartans replied, “Neither.” (Plutarch, “Sayings of the Spartans”: 233e).

Plutarch wrote that Spartans do not say much, but what they say grabs the listener’s attention and they go straight to business (“Life of Lycurgus”: 19). A lost Greek comedy (we know some fragments of it due to the latter quotations) had a line saying, “Smaller than a letter sent from Sparta.”

9 Suppression Of Corruption And Greed

The pursuit of material wealth and mostly any other activity outside of a military career was discouraged by Spartan law. Iron was the only metal allowed for coinage; gold and silver were forbidden. According to Plutarch (“Life of Lycurgus”: 9), Spartans had their coins made of iron. Therefore, a small value required a great weight and volume of coins.

Transporting a significant amount of value in coins required the use of a team of oxen, and storing it needed a large room. This made bribery and stealing difficult in Sparta. Wealth was not easy to enjoy and almost impossible to hide.

8 Suppression Of Laziness

Spartan warriors had to be strong and fit. This was particularly important for young men who were still in the process of becoming fully developed warriors. Aelian (Miscellaneous History: 14.7) recorded that Spartan law required young men to stand naked in public so that their bodies could be inspected.

This was a routine check performed every 10 days, and they were expected to display a healthy and strong physique. Those who had flaccid limbs, excessive body fat, or both were beaten and censured.

7 Cowardice

Xenophon (Constitution of Sparta: 9.4) provides a detailed list of the disastrous consequences that a Spartan soldier could face if he was perceived as a coward.

According to this list, everyone would be ashamed to share a meal with a coward and to wrestle with him in the gymnasium. He would never be picked when choosing teammates for ball games, he had to make way for others in the street, he had to give his seat to younger men, he would not be able to find a woman to marry, and he could be beaten in case he behaved in a manner that would lead others to believe that he was not a coward.

During the famous last stand against the Persians in Thermopylae, a Spartan soldier named Aristodemus was suffering from a disease in the eyes and was too ill to fight. After returning to Sparta, he was known as “the coward Aristodemus.” One year later, Aristodemus fought and died bravely in the Battle of Plataea and regained his honor.

Plutarch added another form of punishment for cowardice. He wrote that cowards had to “go around unkempt, wearing cloaks with patches of dyed cloth, and with one side of their beard shaved.” (“Life of Agesilaus”: 30).

6 Marriage

Although Spartan law permitted anyone over age 20 to get married, men had the obligation of living in military housing until age 30. As a result, young married couples were forced to live their marriage as a sort of illegal and secret affair. Many couples would even have children years before they lived under the same roof.

Even during their wedding night, a newly married Spartan couple had to conduct themselves as if they were doing something wrong. A Spartan bride was dressed like a man and left alone on a couch in a dark bedroom. Her husband had to sneak into the room in secret, making sure that nobody noticed his presence.

“This would go on for a long time, and some Spartans even became fathers before seeing their wives in the daylight.” (Plutarch, “Life of Lycurgus”: 15).

5 Helots

The Spartans had slaves, known as “helots,” who were occupied as farmers, as house servants, and in most activities that would distract the free Spartan citizens from their military duties. The helots were culturally Greek, reduced to servitude by the Spartans, and with new conquests, their number increased. During the late eighth century and after a long war, the Spartans annexed Messenia (southwest of the Peloponnese) and its inhabitants were reduced to slavery and turned into helots.

Plato (Critias, fragment 37) claimed that Spartans had special locks on their doors because they had little trust of the helots. It is also known that the Spartans had a secret police, the Krypteia, who were responsible for keeping the helots in check. According to Plutarch (“Life of Lycurgus”: 28), the Krypteia would kill any helot found in the countryside during the night, and they would kill any helot who looked strong and fit during the day.

4 Spartan Kings

Sparta had two kings belonging to different royal dynasties. Although their power was limited, one of them would have the duty of commanding the army in time of war. Spartan kings were descendants of the god Heracles. At least, this is what the official genealogy of the Spartan kings claimed.

The existence of two ruling houses was in direct contradiction with the idea of a common ancestry, which led to an imaginative explanation: During the fifth generation after Heracles, twin sons, Agis and Eurypon, had been born to the king. This was the mythical origin of the ruling families’ names, the Agiads and the Eurypontids.

Herodotus offers a complete genealogical list for the ancestry of Leonidas and Leotychidas, the two Spartan kings around the time of the Persian Wars. (Histories: 7.204.480 for Leonidas and 8.131.2 for Leotychidas).

3 The Ephors

The ephors were a branch of Spartan government with no equivalent in the rest of the Greek world. They were elected annually from the pool of male citizens. Their role was to balance and complement the role of the king. They were the supreme civil court and had criminal jurisdiction over the king.

The kings swore to uphold the Spartan constitution, and the ephors swore to uphold the king as long as he kept his oath. When a king went to war, two of the ephors would join him to supervise his actions. During the absence of a king, some of his responsibilities would be delegated to the ephors.

2 Spartan Women

The role of women in Sparta was different than in the rest of Greece. In general, they had a lot more freedom. They were not secluded like in many other Greek cities, and girls were expected to endure the same physical training as boys.

They also had gymnastics side by side with boys, all naked. They were trained in casting the dart, running, wrestling, and throwing the bar, among other skills. All this was supposed to make women stronger, more flexible, and better equipped to endure the pain of bearing children.

Spartan women had a reputation among other Greeks of being chaste. This admiration coexisted with the fact that if a married woman was childless, the state could order her to see if another man could do a better job in begetting children. Usually, women would accept this initiative. Spartan law was strict about encouraging new children, and there was little or no room for maneuvering in this regard.

1 Spartan Army

Spartan citizens were expected to become professional soldiers, a process that began by removing young kids from their homes at age seven. The young Spartans were separated into age groups and lived in military housing.

From age seven, Spartans had to endure severe athletic and military training. Plutarch (“Spartan Customs”: 239d) said that Spartans boys were flogged with whips for an entire day on the altar of Artemis and they had to tolerate it, competing with each other to see who was capable of resisting the highest number of strokes.

Their training became even more intense at age 20. By this time, they joined common mess halls. Their skills in the battlefield allowed them to be capable of outmaneuvering any other Greek army. It was no coincidence that Sparta had no need for fortifications during most of its history.

Ancient bones can return a wealth of information to the modern researcher. But they can’t ever truly reveal the dead’s lost humanity. Only when the hollow sockets become the thoughtful eyes of a girl or healed fractures give a knight a handsome scar does time vanish as skeletons turn back into real human beings.

10Ava

Nearly four millennia ago, a young woman died in ancient Britain, and she was unusual. Ava’s skull was strange, and so was her grave.

Nicknamed “Ava” after Achavanich, where she was unearthed in 1987, and aged 18 to 22, she most likely belonged to the Beaker people, a European group with short and rounded skulls. But Ava’s head was uneven yet shapely enough to suggest deliberate binding.

During the Middle Bronze Age, it was customary to bury the dead under a cairn or in a soil pit. Ava’s unmarked grave was cut with a lot of effort into solid rock. A beaker found inside also hinted that Ava was special—its designs have never been seen before. She died too young and from unknown causes.

9The Mary Rose Archer

The Mary Rose was the flagship of King Henry VIII’s war fleet. She sank over 500 years ago and took many souls to the bottom of the sea. In 1982, the wreck was raised with a dead crew of 92 skeletons.

Historical accounts mention elite troops onboard, and this meant longbow archers. One such identified archer was an impressive 2 meters (6 ft) tall—well above the average Tudor male. Personal items indicated his rank was high and his built had to be powerful to draw the tough 16th-century longbow.

To reveal what this crack soldier looked like, a scan of his skull was fed into a 3-D printer that popped out an exact replica. The archer’s face was reconstructed around the printed skull. The result showed a man with a no-nonsense look that would make any opponent think twice.

8The USS Monitor

A more recent maritime tragedy involved the USS Monitor, the Navy’s first ironclad warship. She sank in a storm In 1862, while being towed off Cape Hatteras. Almost 150 years onward, her gun turret resurfaced through a joint effort by the Navy and NOAA. Inside, they found a pair of skeletons, two of only 16 Civil War sailors to be recovered.

After reconstructing them, NOAA released the images. One of the men who drowned in the turret was very young, between 17 and 24, and had movie star good looks. His companion, although about the same height and also white, was older. Aged 30 to 40, he was likely an avid pipe smoker and had a wide face dotted with close-set eyes and a big nose.

7The Girl Of Uchter Moor

In 2000, a peat harvester in Germany pulled up a body. Police initially thought it was the missing Elke Kerll, but a DNA test disproved this. She was dubbed “Moora” after Uchter Moor where she was found. Her origins languished for years until her missing hand turned up in the same area. More tests showed that the bog body wasn’t modern but a teenager who had died during the Iron Age.

Five independent teams recreated five slightly different Mooras. But most of her features—eyes, nose, and cheekbones—were all alike. Moora’s behavior still confounds experts.

She went deeply into the bog, a highly dangerous thing to do. Was the teen fleeing or collecting bilberries (a mind-altering fruit)? Whatever followed, the lack of ancient skeletal trauma indicates an accident rather than murder ended her short life.

6The Silla Skull

The Silla Kingdom controlled much of the Korean Peninsula (57 BC–AD 935), but despite being one of the most enduring and influential dynasties, complete skeletons from that period are scarce. Incredibly, a perfectly preserved grave was found in 2013, that of a woman’s.

Her skull was fragmented but, once assembled, revealed a strange elongated head researchers don’t believe was the result of binding. Had she suffered this procedure, the bones in the front of her skull would’ve been flatter, and the sides would’ve grown more to adjust to the pressure of flattening. The Silla woman shows none of this. Her skull is normal except for its odd shape. Experts believe that it might’ve been a natural occurrence, albeit rare, in the ethnic group during that era.

5The French Mummy

Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793, and King Henry IV of France had his long-dead head removed, as revolutionaries desecrated as many royal tombs as they could find. Rediscovered in a private collection, the skull’s face was digitally returned, and to the excitement of researchers, it mirrored known depictions of Henry, a mole and ear piercing included.

The embalming method fits historical records of how Henry’s body was prepared, but it obscures the papery mummy’s identity. Sure, the face resembles Henry, but the embalming and careless modern handling contaminated the DNA so much that it can no longer be compared with his living descendants.

4The Stirling Knight

It’s not often one can meet a real medieval knight. But renovations at Stirling Castle made this possible when the body of a young man was unearthed. Near him, a woman had her head crushed, possibly by a mace. The pair was part of 10 skeletons discovered, including two babies. A siege appeared to have been behind their violent deaths.

His skeleton revealed the powerful physique of someone trained since boyhood with weapons and horses. Healed injuries proved he was a professional soldier who had survived some hairy battles. A facial reconstruction showed the scars of old wounds. Unexpectedly, documents revealed his name. He was Sir John de Stricheley, an English nobleman who died in 1341, possibly felled by a Scottish arrow.

3The Flores Woman

Better known as the controversial “hobbit ,” her remains were found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, standing an adorable 1 meter (3 ft) tall. A recent artistic rendering showed that the 30-year-old had high cheekbones and large eyes. The more accurate software showed that the woman had modern features rather than the monkey look paleo-artists previously credited her with.

While researchers say she’s no beauty queen, missing much of what one would call a forehead, it remains incredible to see such a long lost part of the human family tree. That is, if she is even an ancient human. Officially called Homo floresiensis, she lived 18,000 years ago and with a different-shaped brain and wrist bones more consistent with apes. Scientists believe she might be an entirely new species.

2Dante

When Dante’s skull was turned back into a face, researchers were surprised to see that he differed from traditional depictions of the man. Usually, he is shown with a stern or severe expression, but when his features were revealed through forensic efforts, Dante had a softer gaze and looked a whole lot friendlier. However, his famously hooked nose was spot-on.

Among other difficulties, Dante suffered the death of his beloved Beatrice and banishment from Florence in 1302 for opposing Pope Boniface VIII. His actual bones remain hidden by Italian monks who refused scientists access to them. Dante’s face was recreated using a replica skull.

1St. Anthony

When a Brazilian expert was asked to reconstruct the appearance of an ancient person, all he was told was that the skull belonged to a 36-year-old man. The face was that of an ordinary-looking male, perhaps somebody easily forgotten when passed on the street. Only afterward did the expert find out that he had helped millions of believers to gaze upon the real face of Saint Anthony.

Born in 1195, St. Anthony became a monk at 15 when he joined the Augustinians. Two remarkable events mark the career of this great saint, one in life and the other in death. While alive, he personally met with the famous St. Francis of Assisi, and the second was how fast he was canonized. The second fastest in history, St. Anthony was sainted merely a year after he died at a convent in 1231.

+The Face Of God

The most explosive headline in human history would be the announcement that the skull of Jesus Christ has been found. Unfortunately, there is no sign of it. Unfolding the next best thing, researchers studied the Turin Shroud. Whether it’s a clever artistic fraud or a real miracle, one cannot resist looking into what could very well be the face of Christ.

Employing sketch artist expertise and computer graphics, specialists recreated both the body and the face of the man-print on the Shroud. The results matched the historical portrayals of Jesus. Even if the 3-D pictures are a little rough-edged, they are believed to be the most accurate Turin reconstruction.

Pictured here is Ray Downing’s final illustration of the Man in the Shroud. Downing was the artist who created the reconstruction for the History Channel. Whether you believe this is the face of God or not, it is certainly quite an accomplishment to take a reverse image from an ancient cloth and turn it into a virtually-photographic quality reproduction.

New technologies and innovations linked to old ones are unlocking scientific mysteries in ways never thought possible. These revolutionary new techniques are allowing unprecedented insight into the natural world.

Whether they reveal an obscure and unseen galaxy billions of light-years away or a cryptic message from millennia ago, these pioneering methods are game changers in their fields.

10 Photographing Hidden Spaces With Wi-Fi

Researchers wanted to see the world “through Wi-Fi eyes,” so they placed a cross made of aluminum foil, a Wi-Fi emitter, and two receivers (one stationary, one mobile) in a closed room. They recorded the Wi-Fi waves as they reflected off the cross to encode its image in 3-D within a hologram.^[1]

This technique could eventually reveal the interiors of closed structures even if the receivers are placed outside, with lifesaving consequences for victims trapped under snow or in collapsed buildings. Alternatively, in 5–10 years, Wi-Fi surveillance may be used to organize and supervise factories full of robot workers.

9 Revealing Hidden Space Scenes 10 Million Times Faster With AI

Large enough objects like galaxy clusters can bend light around them, revealing and magnifying the objects behind them.

“Reading” a single lens can take months of work and many tedious comparisons between actual images and numerous computer simulations. But neural networks, or artificial brains based on biology, can decode these lenses 10 million times faster—in a few seconds instead of months.

Scientists fed the aforementioned AI half a million simulated images and tested it against Hubble images. The AI proved itself as accurate as traditional analysis but in a fraction of the time. This tech will open up the universe like never before, with an unprecedented amount of data set to flood in from the next generation of observatories and telescopes.^[2]

8 Peering Through Solid Objects With Neutron Beams

A brand-new imaging technique peers through solid objects by hitting them with a focused beam of neutrons.

Instead of a conventional lens, the new technology uses silicon wafers to split and redirect a neutron beam. The waves strike the object and ricochet into each other, producing an interference pattern.

Unlike other methods, this revolutionary type of neutron interferometry can zoom in and out to detect very small and very, very small objects alike, ranging from 1 nanometer to 10 micrometers. Neutron interferometry was previously a supplement to other imaging efforts, but this advance may turn it into a unique “main course” option.^[3]

7 Turning (Dead) Animals Transparent To Glimpse Hidden Biology

An imaging technique named uDISCO (ultimate 3-D imaging of solvent-cleared organs) turns dead animals transparent to unveil biology’s inner workings.

Scientists dunk the animal into a dehydrating solvent that removes water and fat, which shrinks the specimen up to 65 percent and effectively turns it into a translucent mummy.

It doesn’t damage fluorescent proteins engineered into the rodents’ bodies like previous techniques did, so scientists can observe these markers once the animal has been transpar-ified. They hope to use this to one day map the human brain, a feat that would take 1,000 years with conventional methods.^[4]

6 Mapping An Entire Country Using Lasers

The entirety of England is being mapped by aerial lasers, or LiDAR, a technique that has already scanned 75 percent of the country. From above, researchers pelt the landscape with a million light wave pulses per second, building a 3-D topographical map based on the waves’ return time.

It began as an effort to map changing coastlines. But as an added bonus, it has revealed four Roman roads that snake invisibly beneath the modern terrain.

As a double bonus, it could disrupt the £1 billion a year illegal dumping racket by quickly detecting changes in landscape and allowing the authorities to apprehend dumpers.^[5]

5 New X-Ray Methods Illuminating Invisible Art

Researchers can peer through layers of paint and reveal secrets beneath some of the world’s most famous masterpieces.

It started with Picasso’s 1902 oil painting La Misereuse accroupie, or The Crouching Beggar. Curious colors and textures peeking out from between cracks in the oil didn’t match the surface layers. So scientists shot different wavelengths of light at it because oil is transparent to some wavelengths. They confirmed a 1992 study that found another artist’s landscape beneath Picasso’s beggar.^[6]

X-ray analysis then revealed an entirely new feature, that the women’s hand (obscured by the robe) is clutching a piece of bread. More revelations will undoubtedly follow now that scientists can use this method in situ at museums and such.

4 Detecting CTE And Brain Damage In The Living

For the first time ever, researchers have confirmed the detection of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a living patient.

The patient, along with 13 other ex-NFL athletes, underwent brain scans. They revealed a protein called tau which smothers damaged cells and migrates across the brain, killing neurons.

In 2015, one of the retired players in the study, identified as former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill, died. The autopsy confirmed that McNeill was suffering from CTE as well as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.^[7]

If validated, such technology would be good for more people than just ex-athletes. It would also benefit the military by detecting brain irregularities in soldiers exposed to the concussive forces of an explosion, for example.

3 Exposing Cancerous Cells With A Pen

One of the trickiest parts of treating cancer is making sure that every unwanted cell is removed during surgery. Now, a new pen-like device can scan potentially infected areas 150 times faster than current methods.

In proof-of-concept testing on 253 patients, the “MasSpec pen” detected cancerous tissues with 96 percent accuracy and it did so in only 10 seconds.

The pen releases a drop of water onto suspect tissues and then drives it into a mass spectrometer to detect the telltale waste products produced by cancerous cells, even specifying their subtype.

If approved for widespread use, the MasSpec Pen will offer faster, more precise, and safer surgery.^[8]

2 Peeking Inside Mummies With A Particle Accelerator

Researchers can now look inside mummies without damaging them, thanks to the Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, a particle accelerator.

For the first time ever, scientists trained the high-energy X-rays on the Hibbard mummy, a five-year-old Egyptian girl, which dated to the end of the first century AD.^[9]

The Hibbard mummy was chosen because of its intact “mummy portrait,” a wooden face panel with a painting of the child’s likeness. Without disturbing the brittle material, researchers saw through its shroud and found unexplained objects therein, like wires in the girl’s teeth, a weird bowl-shaped object in her skull, and some kind of small stonelike item wrapped to the girl’s abdomen.

1 Unrolling Ancient Scrolls With Novel X-Ray Tech

Pompeii wasn’t the only town buried by Vesuvius’s famous outburst: Little Herculaneum was also smothered by hot ash and lava.

As were its legendary scrolls of Herculaneum, part of the world’s oldest surviving classical library. Unfortunately, they were crisped by temperatures exceeding 260 degrees Celsius (500 °F). Recently, scientists were able to read the letters on one of these scrolls despite its 2,000-year interment and volcanic ash bath.

Scientists analyzed the distortion of X-rays as they passed through different materials. Like the letters on the scroll, which didn’t penetrate into the papyrus and remained in relief by an amazingly tiny tenth of a millimeter, just enough to allow detection.^[10]

Ivan writes cool things for the Internet. He’ll write cool things for you, too, if you contact him at [email protected] and pay him in food or money.

Mafia. Cosa nostra. The octopus. The plague. So many names and euphemisms are used to describe that terrible criminal organization that has rendered the island of Sicily so famous in the world—with more than a little help from Hollywood, of course. While the mafia certainly exists and kills, although largely without the glamor shown in the movies, it is unfair to characterize the whole island of Sicily as just the birthplace of organized crime. So many beautiful, strange, and even spectacular things come from this land. Here are 10 amazing facts that you probably don’t know about Sicily.

10 Poltergeists

In 2004, strange events that would become known as “the fires of Canneto” frightened the population of the quiet village of Canneto di Caronia. It started with electrical appliances that caught fire spontaneously, for no apparent reason. Initially, most suspected faulty electrical lines, until appliances started to catch on fire that weren’t even plugged to the grid. Soon, non-electrical objects—such as armchairs and mattresses—also inexplicably caught fire. Even a van passing through the city was a victim of what many started to think were ghosts or evil spirits.

The population panicked, and so did the authorities. The power grid was cut, the town was partially evacuated, and scientists from different parts of the world came to study the phenomenon, but no explanation was found. Some said it was related to the static electricity generated by the railway nearby, while others said that the fault lay with the Etna volcano and its magnetic field. Some even started to suspect secret tests by the American Army or UFOs. Months later, the events stopped as mysteriously as they had started, and Canneto became once again a quiet little town. As of yet, there is no definitive explanation to the occurrence.

9 Cagliostro

So many legends exist about Cagliostro that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. What seems to be clear is his real name was Giuseppe Balsamo, he was born in a poor neighborhood of Palermo in 1743, and he was a real character.

After swindling his way out of Sicily, he went to Rome, where he became a skilled pharmacist—as well as a skilled forger—under the name Alessandro Cagliostro. Thanks to his pharmacy skills and knowledge of occultism, he landed a job with the rich and powerful Cardinal Orsini. After becoming a Freemason in London, he went to Paris, entreated by the Cardinal de Rohan. Due to his friendship with Rohan and infamy as a forger, he was accused of participating in the so-called “affair of the necklace,” an attempt to swindle the French royal family. He was likely innocent, and in fact was acquitted in the end, but not before spending nine months in the Bastille prison. He ended up in the hands of the Inquisition three years later in Rome, accused of being a Freemason. Sentenced to life in prison, he died in 1795.

His fame was so great even during his lifetime that he was recommended as a physician to Benjamin Franklin during his visit to Paris and Giaccomo Casanova wrote about his meeting with Cagliostro. Goethe, in his travels through Sicily, is said to be the one to ascertain his real identity as that of Giuseppe Balsamo, although some still dispute that.

8 Sea Monsters

According to Greek mythology, ships that pass to the Messina strait between Sicily and Calabria are in danger of being attacked by Scylla and Charibdys, the monsters that guard either side of the narrow passage. This myth gave rise to the expression “between Scylla and Charybdis,” a local equivalent to “between a rock and a hard place.”

First described by Homer in The Odyssey, the two monsters were originally beautiful nymphs who were transformed into horrible forms. In The Metamorphoses, Ovid says that the sea god Glaucus fell in love with Scylla, but she was repulsed by his fish tail, so he went to the famous sorceress Circe and asked her for a love potion. Unfortunately for all involved, Circe was herself in love with Glaucus. In a fit of jealousy, she poisoned the waters and transformed Scylla into a monster with six heads, each having a very long neck, four eyes, and a mouth with three rows of teeth, which she would use to chew on unlucky sailors.

Charybdis, according to other myths, was once a gluttonous woman who was punished by Zeus for stealing cattle from the gods. She was transformed into a monster and forced to swallow such huge amounts of water that she would immediately vomit, creating large whirlpools that would sink most ships. It is true that there are such currents in the strait of Messina, but no credible eye-witness accounts of any puke monsters as of yet.

7 The Sonnet

The most famous of all traditional poetic forms, consisting of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter with an elaborate rhyme pattern, was originally invented by a poet from the Sicilian school, Giacomo da Lentini. Created in the early 13th century, the sonnet was then brought from Sicily to Tuscany. It was there that it was made famous worldwide by the great poets of the following generation, such as Petrarca and Dante Alighieri, the famous author of The Divine Comedy. In fact, Dante himself celebrates “il Notaro” in the verses of Purgatory XXIV, 55–7.

From Italy, the sonnet was taken to France and England, where writers such as William Shakespeare made extensive use of the form. Despite the triumph of modern poetry and free verse, the sonnet is very much in use even today and it is still important to learn its mechanics, to the despair of many high school students.

6 Street Food

Recently, the capital of Sicily, Palermo, has been elected the European Capital of Street Food. In a recent ranking by Forbes, it was listed among the top five in the world for cities with great street food, holding the top spot in Europe. Among the delicacies offered by street vendors, we find arancini (the famous Sicilian rice balls with choice of meat or bacon) and pannele (simple squares of fried, smashed chickpeas and herbs that are eaten with bread). The sfincione is a local version of pizza, made with tomato sauce, caciocavallo cheese, onions, and anchovies on top of a thick and soft crust.

For those with a stronger stomach, options abound. The panino con la milza (or pane ca meusa in Sicilian dialect) is a sandwich made with chopped veal’s lung and spleen that have been boiled and then fried in lard. The stigghiola consists of a of sheep’s intestines on a skewer. As a dessert, you can order granita, a semi-frozen drink made with crushed ice and lemon or other flavors.

5 The Tallest Active Volcano In Europe

Located in the eastern side of the island near Catania and reaching a height of more than 3,000 meters (10,000 ft), the Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe. “Active” is certainly the right world to describe it—the last eruption with lava occurred at the end of November 2013, but almost every year the volcano shows some sign of activity.

Despite its many eruptions over the years, a large city that had failed to take precautions against the volcano’s dangers was once almost wholly destroyed as a result. Even so, there are only 77 deaths that could be attributed directly to Mount Etna, including the recent death of two improvident tourists who decided to climb near the summit. The locals are not afraid of it, and in fact, they hope that the volcano continues active for a long time. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, including vineyards—some of the best wine in Sicily is produced from grapes grown in the region.

4 It Was Once Richer Than The North Of Italy

Before the unification of Italy in 1861, Sicily was an independent kingdom. From 1814–1860, it joined the Kingdom of Naple to form the so-called Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which comprised most of the current South of Italy. During this period, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was richer than all the other Italian kingdoms of the time in terms of revenues. According to the studies of Francesco Saverio Nitti, economist and later Prime Minister of Italy, the kingdom had 443.3 million golden lire. That was 65.7 percent of all the money circulating in the peninsula at the time, making it the richest among the Italian states.

Its economy, however, was based mostly on agriculture, and it did not industrialize as fast as the north of Italy did. The unification of Italy was also disastrous for the region, after which it lost a large part of its relevance. Other events—such as the 1908 Messina earthquake, which killed 123,000 people, and the emigration of a large number of Sicilians to the Americas—ended up reducing the economical prospects of the South even further. Today, Sicily is an autonomous region, and while it is not the poorest part of Italy, it is far from being the richest.

3 The Largest Opera House In Italy

Everybody knows that Italians love opera. If size is an indication of love, then Sicilians love it most of all. The largest theater and opera house in Italy, Teatro Massimo, was built in Palermo and inaugurated in 1897. Its full name is Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele, because it was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II.

Construction took over 20 years, starting on 1874 and ending in 1897. The opera house was designed and overseen by Italian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, who didn’t live to see the work completed. After his death in 1891, construction was continued by his son, Ernesto Basile. The Teatro Massimo can be seen in its full glory during the long opera scene at the end of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Part Three.

2 The Allied Invasion

While the Invasion of Normandy, or D-Day, is celebrated as the great turning point of World War II, it is also true that the invasion of Sicily by the Allies in 1943 was an earlier victory that began turning the tables on the Axis powers. Codenamed Operation Husky, the battle lasted for 38 days and culminated with a decisive victory for the invading Allied forces.

Thanks to the occupation of Sicily, the Allies were able to control the Mediterranean sea, force the German soldiers to the North of France (where they would later be attacked on D-Day), and eventually complete the liberation of the European mainland. The success of the invasion also caused the fall of Benito Mussolini and the arrest of the dictator by King Vittorio Emanuele, although he was later released by German forces and reigned until 1945 in the limited Republic of Salò. It is said that Sicily was the least nationalist part of Italy at the time and that Sicilians did not fight for the Axis—they mostly helped the Allies to combat the German forces.

1 It May Have Better Greek Ruins Than Greece

Sicily is rich in ancient Greek ruins, and many say that they surpass in beauty those found on modern-day Greece. For a long time, the ancient Greeks controlled a large part of the island, mostly in the eastern region around Syracuse, where the famous mathematician Archimedes was born. Well-preserved Greek ruins still remain in Syracuse, Taormina, and near Agrigento. The latter is the location of the famous “valley of the temples,” a collection of seven different temples dedicated to different Greek deities.

The Greek control of the region ended with the Roman conquest of the island after the siege of Syracuse, in 214–212 BC. Syracuse fought bravely against the Romans with Archimedes’s novel war inventions, which included the “Archimedes’s claw,” a crane that was able to lift Roman ships out of the water and sink them. They also used giant mirrors to deflect the light of the sun and burn the sails of enemy ships. Despite their ingenuity, the Romans won the war and Archimedes was killed. A Roman soldier, disobeying orders to keep the old mathematician alive, killed Archimedes while he was drawing geometrical shapes on the sand. “Don’t disturb my circles” were his famous last words, as the Roman soldier stepped on his drawings.

Tom Creus is a writer, teacher, and filmmaker. He has visited Sicily several times, the last time in December 2013. He occasionally writes at tomwaiting.wordpress.com

Mummies are often associated with ancient Egyptians even though they were not the only culture that mummified dead humans and animals. The Chinese did, too. The Egyptians were probably not the first, either. The Chinchorro people of Chile have been mummifying their dead since 5000 BC. The first Egyptian mummy was created 2,000 years later.

Mummies could also be created naturally. The Incas did this when they mummified their dead by exposing them to the cold temperatures and dry climate. However, the most fascinating natural mummies were created after a human or animal died in some random place.

A lucky combination of a perfect location, weather, and temperature as well as the absence of scavengers turned them into mummies. We have found some, and they are just amazing.

10 Stuckie The Dog

Stuckie is the mummified remains of a hunting dog that was trapped in a chestnut oak tree for almost 60 years. The dog was probably chasing a raccoon when it entered the tree through a hole around 1960.

Unfortunately, the dog was too big to pass through the hollowed-out tree and got stuck. Eventually, it died of starvation. However, its body mummified instead of decaying. It remained untouched for about 60 years until it was discovered after some loggers cut the tree.

Scientists later discovered that the moisture-absorbing tannin in the tree prevented Stuckie from decaying. The fact that the animal was stuck inside the tree also protected its body from scavengers. Stuckie is currently displayed at the Southern Forest World Museum in Waycross, Georgia. The dog’s remains are still inside the tree.^[1]

9 Two Extinct Cave Lions

In 2015, contractors searching for mammoth fossils around the Uyandina River in Siberia found the mummified remains of two cave lion cubs. These animals are the same size as the Siberian tiger—the world’s largest cat species. Cave lions roamed through Africa, Europe, and North America until they went extinct 12,000 years ago.

Over 12,000 years ago, these cave lion cubs were 2–3 weeks old when the soil around their den collapsed and buried them inside. Cave lions are born blind, and researchers believe that the mummified cubs had never opened their eyes at the time of death.

The ice of Siberia mummified their remains, leaving them well-preserved. Even their eyes were intact, making them the most complete cave lion fossils we have ever found. Before their discovery, fossil bones were all we had to prove that cave lions had ever existed. The fossils were named Uyan and Dina after the Uyandina River where they were found.^[2]

8 Lions From Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pharaohs, pyramids, and mummies. We all know they mummified lots of humans and cats. However, a lot of people do not know that they also mummified several other animals, including baboons, crocodiles, dogs, birds, and lions.

Mummified lions are the most surprising. We already know that lions were revered in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptian god Nefertum is depicted as a lion. The goddess Sekhmet also has a lion head. Ancient Egyptian writings indicate that this civilization kept lions and could have mummified the animals after their deaths.

A group of archaeologists led by Alain Zivie revealed that tales of the mummified lions were true after the scientists found the first mummified remains of a lion among those of several cats at Saqqara cemetery in Egypt. Analysis revealed that the lion was a pet that had lived and died in captivity.^[3]

7 Fake And Partial Animal Mummies

A few years ago, researchers from the University of Manchester and Manchester Museum scanned 800 animal mummies from ancient Egypt. To their surprise, they discovered that a third of the mummies had no animal remains in them. Another third had partial animal remains, and the last third contained full animals.

This probably occurred because animals were often mummified to be offered as sacrifices to Egyptian deities. In comparison, human mummies were created to preserve the bodies for their spiritual journeys into the afterlife.

Researchers believe that ancient Egyptians specifically bred animals to turn into mummies. They were often unable to keep up during periods of high demand, causing them to sometimes cut corners. And how best to cut corners if not by excluding the animal from the mummy?

While some researchers believe that sellers passed the fake mummies off as the real thing, others believe that vendors replaced the animals with items used by the animals, which was supposedly ethical. Examples include putting a nest or eggshell in place of a bird. However, no one knows for sure.^[4]

6 An Ancient Baby Horse

Until a few years ago, Batagaika crater in eastern Siberia harbored the mummified remains of a young Lena horse (Equus caballus lenensis). The now-extinct Lena horse lived in eastern Siberia 30,000–40,000 years ago. This foal is believed to have lived around the same time.^[5]

Researchers believe that the foal died by drowning after a fall into a natural trap. The animal was just two months old at the time of death. Fortunately for us, its remains were perfectly mummified in the icy permafrost of Siberia. The foal was found with its skin, tail, hooves, and nose hairs intact.

5 Mummies Of Eagles, Doves, Swallows, Bats, And More

Lake Natron is one of the weirdest lakes you will ever read about. Located in Tanzania, the lake has a higher-than-normal alkaline level, making it highly caustic and deadly. Animals that fall into it die and become calcified. Only some flamingos, the Alcolapia latilabris (a species of small fish), and algae can survive the lake’s harsh properties.

Mummified remains of eagles, doves, swallows, songbirds, and even bats have been recovered from the lake. Flying animals are often victims because the lake reflects like a mirror when viewed from above. Many unfortunate birds and even a helicopter pilot unwittingly ended up in the lake after mistaking it for empty space.

Lake Natron is named after natron, a chemical formed from a mixture of sodium carbonate and baking soda. This is the same reason that the water has a high alkaline content and turns birds into mummies. Natron itself has been used by humans for millennia. Ancient Egyptians used it as far back as the 4th millennium BC to make glass and preserve their mummies.^[6]

4 Yukagir Bison

In 2011, some tribesmen in Siberia found the mummified remains of a bison along a lake. Researchers determined that it belonged to the now-extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus), an ancestor of the modern American and European bison. However, researchers named the fossil after the Yukagir tribe that found it.

The Yukagir bison was found in almost perfect condition, which is really incredible considering that it died about 9,000 years ago. In fact, it is the most perfect steppe bison fossil ever found. It had its fur and most of its internal organs intact—including the heart, lungs, stomach, blood vessels, and brain—even though they had shrunk in size.

Researchers later removed several of these body parts for analysis. They determined that the bison was around four years old at the time of death. It probably died of starvation because there were no layers of fat in its abdomen.^[7]

3 Yuka The Mammoth

The fossil of Yuka the mammoth takes the top spot among the mammoth fossils we have discovered. This is because Yuka’s internal organs are well-preserved even though she has been dead for 39,000 years. Her brain, tissues, and muscles are all intact. In fact, scientists are trying to use her tissues and DNA to clone the woolly mammoth.

The intact brain is the most fascinating. Researchers have never found a mammoth brain even though they have discovered lots of mammoth fossils. Interestingly, researchers never expected to find a brain. They saw it by chance during a MRI scan to detect Yuka’s age.

Yuka was found in Russia’s Arctic Circle in 2010. She weighs over 100 kilograms (220 lb), causing researchers to speculate that she was 6–11 years old at the time of death. The analysis of injuries, including bite and scar marks, on her body reveal that she was attacked by a cave lion trying to feed on her.

Some humans watched the hunt. The cave lion scored the kill, and the humans probably attempted to steal it. However, it is obvious that none of the parties succeeded.^[8]

2 Ice Age Wolf Pup

In 2016, some Canadian miners found the 50,000-year-old mummified remains of the only ice age wolf we have ever found. The pup was discovered as the permafrost melted around the Klondike region of Yukon, Canada. Interestingly, the pup was perfectly preserved with its head, tail, skin, hair, and other body parts intact.

A nearby caribou calf was not perfectly preserved and was missing several vital body parts from the stomach down. Only the head, torso, and two front legs were intact. Scientists determined that the pup and caribou calf died around the same time. Scientists hope to extract the pup’s DNA to provide insight into the ice age wolf population.^[9]

1 A 12,400-Year-Old Puppy

In 2016, researchers recently got their hands on the 12,400-year-old mummified remains of a puppy from the Pleistocene epoch. The fossil was found frozen in the permafrost at the bank of the River Syalakh in Siberia. Researchers believe that the puppy died in a landslide after which its body mummified in the ice.

Curiously, the mummified fossil of the puppy was well-preserved. Its entire body, from its nose to its tail, was intact. Even its hair was unscathed. The brain had partly decomposed, though. However, 70–80 percent of it was intact, which is impressive considering how long the puppy has been dead.

To put that into perspective, the partly decomposed brain of the 12,400-year-old puppy is the only brain we have from an animal from the Pleistocene epoch even though the puppy is not the only animal or dog we have from that time period.

Earlier in 2011, researchers had found the fossil of another dog around the area. Unfortunately, that animal was too decomposed to be useful. Scientists believe that both dogs are related. Researchers also uncovered human tools around the site.^[10]

They believe that the tools belonged to the humans who owned the animals. This indicates that they were domestic animals. This is why scientists concluded that they were dogs and not wolves. Nevertheless, researchers believe that the valuable DNA and tissue extracted from the 12,400-year-old puppy could be used to bring it back to life.

The ancient Greeks are renowned today for their advanced thinking. We’ve all heard of Aristotle and Socrates, and the writings of the Greeks have influenced modern thought in almost every way possible—from how we write fiction to how we understand the world around us. They were hundreds of years ahead of their time in mathematics and politics.

But perhaps their greatest achievements were in the area of mechanics. From the first computers to the first clock tower, the ancient Greeks built some truly amazing machines, some of which wouldn’t exist again for another 1,000 years. Some were practical, while others were simply for fun or to aid in scientific demonstrations.

Let’s take a look at ten of the greatest examples of ancient Greek mechanical engineering.

10 The Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism is an analog computer that was discovered in an ancient Greek shipwreck in 1901. Assembled sometime between 205 BC and 60 BC, it was designed to measure the movements of the heavens. It had a clock-like face with seven hands that tracked the movements of the planets and the Moon and also had mechanisms for tracking the phase of the Moon, the calendar, and the lunar and solar eclipses.^[1]

It turned our understanding of Greek engineering upside down when it was first properly identified in 2006, with its extremely precise and interlocking gear systems. It demonstrated that the ancient Greeks were capable of a level of precision engineering that was previously thought impossible. And it might not even be the oldest version of this machine—Cicero, the Roman writer, described Archimedes building a similar device in the third century BC.

Unfortunately, only fragments of the device were recovered, so key features of it—such as how the device drove the planetary pointers, which no doubt must have been very complex, considering how the planets’ paths through the sky vary—are still not understood.

9 The Diolkos

The ancient Greek city of Corinth was a center of maritime trade in the ancient world, and it saw hundreds of vessels in its port at any one time. It was also close to the narrowest bit of land in the Greek peninsula, which would have saved ships days of travel if they could take a shortcut through it.^[2]

Hence the construction of the Diolkos sometime around the fifth century BC, a special kind of portage road that allowed ships to be hauled overland, avoiding the long trip around the Peloponnese. In the past, it used to be thought of as a way of transporting cargo ships quickly from the Aegean sea to the Ionian and vice versa, but it is now widely believed that cargo ships would have been too large to use the Diolkos, which would explain the construction of the Corinthian Canal in AD 67.

Nonetheless, it probably played an important role as a cheap method of moving small ships and military vessels between the seas in a hurry and was probably used by wealthy Greeks with their own personal boats as a fast form of transport.

8 Philo’s Gimbal

The gimbal serves many purposes today—not least in the world of television, where its role in stabilizing handheld cameras keeps filming nice and smooth—but the very first gimbal was invented by Philo of Byzantium sometime around 200 BC, when he used it to make an inkwell that would never spill.^[3]

The ink was mounted in a container at the center of the device, surrounded by concentric circles that always held it upright, even when turned. The frame around the outside featured numerous holes to dip the pen into—so the writer could turn the inkwell over, or accidentally knock it, and still continue writing without spilling any ink.

In later eras, the gimbal became absolutely crucial for navigation, holding a compass steady on a rocking ship so that the compass point always accurately pointed north.

7 The Kleroterion

The ancient Greek version of democracy may look primitive to our modern eyes, but they used a very innovative device to ensure that juries were always made up of people who couldn’t be bribed or otherwise influenced: a randomization machine.^[4]

A kleroterion was a kind of slot machine with some funnels, a crank, a hole, and 500 small slits. When a jury was assembled for a trial, each juror brought with them a form of ID—a thin piece of bronze or wood with their identifier on it, called a pinakion. These were all inserted into the slits. An officer tipped a handful of balls into the funnels at the top of the device—some black, some white. He then pulled the crank, causing one ball to come out. If the ball was black, the row of pinakia were removed, and those jurors wouldn’t serve that day. If the ball was white, those jurors were eligible for duty. The official pulled the crank for each row of pinakia until they’d all been accepted or rejected. There was no way to predict which ball would come out for which row, thereby ensuring that no one could have guessed before the trial who would be on the jury, preventing them from influencing their decisions.

6 The Aeolipile

The aeolipile was, as far as we know, the world’s first steam engine—invented in the first century AD, roughly a millennium and a half before they became a common means of generating electricity.

It was invented by Heron of Alexandria. However, it certainly wasn’t intended to be an engine, and Heron never saw it as such. Rather, he used it as a simple device to demonstrate some of the principles of pneumatics, no doubt to aid in lessons or to attract the attention of curious visitors.

The engine itself was a hollow sphere mounted on two tubes it could rotate around. The tubes provided steam from a hot cauldron below the machine. As the steam filled the sphere, it escaped through another tube (sometimes two) that jutted out of the sphere. These tubes were angled sideways, so the force of the steam coming out caused the sphere to rotate.^[5]

5 The Crane (And Archimedes’s Claw)

The Greeks invented the crane around the year 500 BC, a simple wooden hoist-and-pulley system that made erecting tall, sturdy buildings much more practical. (The technology was later improved by the Romans, who spread it across most of Europe.) However, the Greeks could easily build advanced cranes of their own, as is proven by Archimedes’s Claw.

Archimedes’s Claw (depicted rather fancifully in the painting above) was a machine built in Syracuse by Archimedes sometime before the Roman siege of the city in 214 BC.^[6] According to ancient accounts, the claw was a kind of crane that could either push or lift ships out of the sea, toppling them and causing them to sink. It was mounted close to the city’s sea walls, preventing Roman ships from coming close to the city.

According to Plutarch, the claw terrified the besieging Romans, who began to feel like they were fighting against the gods, and many soldiers were frightened by the sight of any wooden frame above the city walls in case it was another one of Archimedes’s contraptions. They gave up any hope of taking the city by sea, resigning themselves to a long land-based siege.

4 The Tower Of The Winds

Built in roughly 50 BC, the Tower of the Winds in Athens is widely considered to be the world’s first meteorological station as well as the world’s first clock tower.^[7] In ancient times, it was topped by a weather vane that indicated the direction of the wind. The tower has eight walls, each facing one of the compass points, and features a massive sundial which could be used to track the time of day. It had a water clock inside, which kept track of time overnight or on cloudy days.

Its considerable height and its dominant position on the Roman Agora in the city both seem to suggest it was intended to function in much the same way as a clock tower would today, and the ancient Greeks themselves knew it as the Horologion: “Timepiece.”

The building still stands today and is remarkably intact, mostly due to restoration work. It has inspired many architects over the course of history, and smaller replicas are scattered across Europe.

3 The Showers Of Pergamum

The ancient Greeks are famous today for their love of athletics, seen most prominently in the Olympics and their modern-day revival. What they are less known for, however, are the facilities ancient athletes sometimes enjoyed.

A system of showers was excavated at a gymnasium (built in the early second century BC) in Pergamum, which was one of the greatest ancient Greek cities.^[8] Now located in modern-day Turkey, it also hosted the greatest library outside of Alexandria, and its rulers consciously invested in the public works of their city to increase its prestige.

As such, it is unlikely that these shower systems were common across the Greek world, but they certainly existed. The Pergamum showers had seven bathing units, into which water flowed through an overhead mains system onto the bathers.

A shower system is also depicted on a vase from the fourth century BC, so by the time Pergamum’s showers were built, the ancient Greeks had been using showers for over a century. The image on the vase even depicts separate cubicles and rails for users to hang their belongings on.

2 Archimedes’s Screw

Archimedes is commonly considered to be the inventor of the Archimedes screw, a machine used even today for transporting water to a higher level with relatively little energy.^[9] The ancient Greek version was powered by treading, where human workers or slaves would use their weight to power the machine—the crank-operated version was invented in medieval Germany.

It is argued that Archimedes’s screw wasn’t the first such device to exist in the ancient world. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built circa 600 BC, were said to have been watered by screws. However, the earliest source who says this is Strabo, writing almost 600 years later—and long after the invention of Archimedes’s screw, so he may have been using his knowledge of the technology around him to theorize how the Hanging Gardens might have worked. The site of the Gardens is still a mystery even today, so there is no way of knowing for sure.

Even so, the machine didn’t become commonly used until Archimedes’s lifetime, when it started to be employed by the Greeks and, later, the Romans for irrigation or for draining ships.

1 Heron’s Fountain

Another device designed by Heron of Alexandria to demonstrate physics, Heron’s fountain used the principles of hydraulics and pneumatics to create a fountain that spurts water without power.^[10] It is used even today in physics classrooms to aid teaching.

Heron’s fountain is made of three components: an open bowl, an airtight water-filled container, and an airtight air-filled container, each stacked above the other. A pipe leads from the bottom of the bowl to the air container, another leads from the air container into the water container, and another leaves the water container and is positioned above the bowl. When water is poured into the bowl, it falls down the pipe into the air container. Pressure in the air container then pushes air into the water container, which pushes water up the pipe and back into the bowl, where it creates more pressure in the air container.

While not physically practical, like Heron’s other devices it shows the incredible grasp the ancient Greeks had on physics over 1,000 years before the Renaissance and the scientific revolution. The device is not technically a perpetual motion machine, though it can run for a very long time if constructed to the right specifications. Resetting it is as simple as draining the water from the air container back into the water container.