An allergic reaction happens when the immune system gets overprotective. Once something relatively harmless is perceived as a threat, the resulting “defensive attack” can leave a person with a stuffed nose or life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

The world of allergies is not just about symptoms. Things get downright bizarre. From the transfer of someone else’s allergy and underground treatments to unbelievable things that people just cannot handle without hives (or shock), one will never again look at water or Wi-Fi the same.

10 Many Sufferers Are Not Allergic

In 2019, researchers published the results of an interesting study. It surprised even them. The project rounded up 40,000 adults from the United States. Tests and questionnaires determined that 1 in 10 had one or several food allergies.

Around 19 percent, which was twice the number, thought they had allergies when they did not. This was often the result of self-diagnosis when symptoms appeared after consuming a particular foodstuff.

However, the study showed that these individuals could be food intolerant rather than allergic. Intolerance is basically the body’s inability to digest a certain kind of meal and is not life-threatening. A true allergic response happens when the immune system mistakes something as a threat and responds aggressively, which is life-threatening.^[1]

The most unexpected revelation gleaned from the volunteers (the real sufferers) was how many of them developed their particular problem as adults. In fact, 48 percent only picked up an allergy once they were all grown-up.

9 Hypoallergenic Cat Myth

Life is hard for cat lovers who must abstain from adoring this particular pet due to having a feline allergy. Just visiting friends with a cat can result in sneezing, a goopy nose, and eyes that itch like there is no tomorrow.

Then the good news arrived—hypoallergenic kitties. Based on the belief that hair was the problem, breeds like the Cornish Rex, with its short and curly hair, enjoyed promotion as allergen-free pets.

However, the hypoallergenic cat does not exist. Not until researchers can do something about feline saliva. The problem is not the fur but something in their spit.

Cats are the only animals in the world that produce a protein called Fel d 1. When somebody says they are allergic to cats, they are actually allergic to this protein. The uniqueness of Fel d 1 is the reason why people do not have severe reactions to other animals.^[2]

The protein exists in the cat’s urine, skin, and saliva. After a cat grooms itself, the spit dries and turns into vapor. Long-haired cats have more fur and thus release more of the airborne allergen after a good kitty bath.

8 Tick-Induced Meat Allergy

The lone star tick trawls the United States, mostly around the eastern coast. When the species bites a human, some people can no longer enjoy a steak. It all starts with something called alpha-gal. This sugar probably ends up in the tick’s stomach after sucking blood from an animal.

It is believed that the tick introduces alpha-gal into the person’s bloodstream, after which the immune system produces antibodies against it. This, in itself, does not cause any problems. However, the immune system now has alpha-gal on its list of enemies—and red meat contains this sugar.

Those who have never encountered the lone star tick can safely eat a burger, but their bitten counterparts face symptoms within 4–6 hours. Unfortunately, this is not a rare condition and the allergic reaction is so severe that it almost equals the famously dangerous peanut allergy.

Currently, there is no way to stop a reaction, which could include hives, breathing difficulties, and anaphylactic shock. People with an alpha-gal allergy must carry an EpiPen to inject in case of an emergency.^[3]

7 Exercise Allergy

Couch potatoes are in no danger of this one. However, those who love or need to exercise face an unusual risk. Around 2 percent of people suffer from an allergic reaction to exercise.

For some reason, physical exertion ticks off their immune system. It releases antibodies that trigger mild to severe symptoms. Those on the lower end develop hives, a runny nose, and digestive issues. When it gets more dangerous, the throat can constrict and blood pressure can drop to the point of circulatory failure.^[4]

Technically called exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIA), this condition can flare up regardless of the intensity of the exercise. Oddly, while many common activities can activate this weird condition, there have been no reports of EIA from swimming.

The general cause is also unknown, although a subtype is food-related. This mouthful is called food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA). After eating a specific snack (sometimes, any food), FDEIA patiently lurks until the person exercises and only then causes a reaction.

6 The Hookworm Treatment

In the 1970s, a parasitologist named Jonathan Turton got fed up with his allergies. So he swallowed a hookworm. After two years of living with the parasite, he published the results.

Turton claimed that his hay fever never flared up during that time. He believed that the worm protected itself by producing chemicals that suppressed his own immune system. This meant that Turton’s immune system could not overreact to allergens.

Modern researchers agree to a point. Several studies have shown promise with worms and inflammatory diseases, including Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Since most “worm remedies” had already happened in the shadows, researchers also visited traditional healers, people who had infected themselves to treat disease, and worm sellers.^[5]

This unregulated underground had a few insights, including improved allergies, asthma, Crohn’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. However, hookworm is a serious infection. Safe mainstream usage is not possible as doctors are still grappling with whether this is real or a placebo effect. If real, a lot of research needs to be done to determine the correct treatment and control of the parasites.

5 Wi-Fi Lawsuits

Some people claim to have electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). In 2015, a 15-year-old killed herself. Afterward, her family explained in court how the school’s Wi-Fi signals had left her nauseated, unable to concentrate, and suffering from debilitating headaches.

A 12-year-old boy’s parents sued his private school, insisting that the institution’s newly installed “industrial-capacity Wi-Fi” was detrimental. His symptoms included dizziness, skin irritation, and nosebleeds. In another case, a French woman won a disability settlement. Although the court accepted that her symptoms interfered with her life, it did not entirely acknowledge EHS.

Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that this is not a “medical diagnosis.” EHS symptoms could mean anything. Sufferers report general signs like headaches, vertigo, rashes, and nausea. While affected people insist that removing themselves from electromagnetic signals makes them feel better, scientists are wary.^[6]

When tested, EHS patients could not tell when the signals were switched on. The symptoms are not in doubt. However, the failure to replicate EHS in the laboratory suggests that a host of other triggers could be responsible instead.

4 Buckwheat Tattoos

The peanut allergy is well-known. While most Americans are aware that it could provoke serious consequences, few know that buckwheat is just as dangerous—anaphylactic shock and all.

The US and UK are basically buckwheat free, but Japan is a different story. This grain is the main ingredient of their popular soba noodles. For this reason, the Japanese are familiar with the fact that it is a common food allergen.

In 2017, Japanese restaurant owners wanted to spread awareness among foreign tourists before their customers could get into trouble with the delicacy. They approached a dermatologist and ad agency. The resulting campaign was rather unique—using a temporary tattoo based on historical Japanese art.

To test if a person is allergic to buckwheat, the skin is pricked before the tattoo is applied with soba noodle broth. If allergic, red skin irritation will show through see-through sections of the image. Although a positive test is scary, it beats anaphylactic shock due to ingestion.^[7]

The fright hardly lasts, thanks to the beauty of the tattoos. Even the clear sections were designed to blend the red rash into the art.

3 Aquagenic Urticaria

Life is not possible without water. Now imagine being allergic to water. It may sound like a yarn, but this condition, called aquagenic urticaria, is very real. As one of the rarest types, only about 100 cases have been recorded.

In 2018, Minnesota toddler Ivy Angerman was diagnosed with the condition. At 18 months old, she could be the youngest to ever develop an H₂0 allergy. Oddly, aquagenic urticaria has an age-related link. Most patients first experience the condition with the onset of puberty. In Ivy’s case, simple things like bath time and sweating can cause a rapid outbreak of hives and rashes.

This allergy is mysterious. Any kind of water, regardless of temperature, can trigger a reaction. Doctors do not know why. Some suspect that water is not the culprit but something inside it—perhaps a dissolved chemical, such as chlorine. Another theory suggested that the skin itself might produce a substance that morphs into an allergy trigger once in contact with H₂0.^[8]

2 Post-Orgasm Illness

In 2002, a peculiar condition was recognized. Called Post-Orgasmic Illness Syndrome (POIS), it might stem from a semen allergy. Scientists are unsure about the cause because the discovery is relatively new, few studies exist, and not a lot of men have come forward. Researchers suspect that sufferers are allergic to their own semen.

POIS is triggered by ejaculation, followed by sickness that resembles flu (terrible fatigue and weakness). Symptoms appear within seconds or hours, sometimes lasting up to a week. Some can be scary, like memory lapses and speaking incoherently. Worse, it is a chronic condition.^[9]

As only about 50 cases are known, the disorder is considered to be rare. Many more men probably have it, but they may be misdiagnosed or unaware that POIS exists.

However, it appears that the offending substance might be the cure. A study found that two volunteers experienced reduced symptoms after receiving injections of their own increasingly concentrated semen. The bad news for POIS hopefuls is that they had to sit through this weird treatment for up to 31 months.

1 Allergies Can Get Donated

When a patient receives a transplant, he gets a new organ and a second chance. However, some people get more than they bargained for—their donors’ food allergies.

In 2018, one woman found this out the hard way. All her life, she ate nuts without any ill effect. After the 68-year-old received a new lung to treat her emphysema, she felt like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Luckily for her, she was still recovering in the hospital from the transplant and doctors were on hand when she went into her first peanut shock.

The event was severe, but she survived. When doctors checked the donor’s background, they found that he used to have a bad nut allergy. Such donated allergies are rare, but they do happen. Around four or five other cases exist in which lung transplants gave recipients their donors’ negative reaction to nuts.

Lungs are not the only organs capable of transferring food allergies to a new person. There have been cases involving bone marrow, kidney, and heart donations. For some reason, liver transplants come with a higher risk.^[10]

Everyone has been scrabbling around at the moment trying to stock up their cupboards with food that will last out the lock-down. We’ve all been sniffing things past their use-by date to see if they are still just about edible. Rice and sugar may seem to last forever but even the longest-lasting foods eventually off.

For those who are brave enough to try them however archaeologists have turned up food and drinks that have lasted thousands of years longer than their makers ever expected.

10 Failed Fast Food Ideas

10 Roman Wine

If there is one thing anyone knows about wine it is that the older it is the more expensive it is. In that case the Speyer Bottle of Wine is priceless. The oldest sealed bottle of wine that still contains liquid this Roman-era wine found in a German tomb is 1650 years old. Age does not always guarantee better tasting wine however – this wine is unlikely to be a pleasant drink.

Without opening the bottle scientists have been able to perform tests on the discoloured liquid still inside. As far as they can tell no bacteria have made their way into the glass bottle but the alcohol that once would have given the wine its kick has long ago escaped or broken down. As well as wine the bottle once held herbs that flavoured the wine or may have given it medicinal properties.^[1]

9 Roman Bread

Every baker has at some time or other left their bread in the oven too long and found that the crust has turned just a little bit browner than you would like. One loaf however has turned completely to burnt carbon – and archaeologists could not be more thrilled.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted it destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Yet the act of destruction preserved the towns beautifully for archaeologists to explore. One of the things the ferocious temperatures of the eruption did was burn several Roman loaves of bread.

In one bakery belonging to a man called Modestus an oven was found that still contained 81 of the round loaves, which must have gone in to bake just before the disaster that would soon overtake the city. Other loaves have been found that bear the stamp of their baker on the top. This may have been an advertisement of sort, or a guarantee of quality.^[2]

8 Bog Butter

What is bread without a little butter? While milk goes off quickly by churning it into butter you can make it last a little, or a lot, longer. In Ireland when people went out to cut up turf from peat bogs they sometimes came across puzzling masses of a waxy substance that looked peculiarly like butter. Dating from up to 5,000 years ago it turned out to be the oldest butter ever found.

Peat bogs have unique properties that help to preserve organic matter. Bodies of long dead people that are pulled from bogs have been mistaken for recent murder victims. It may be that ancient Irish people were placing butter in bogs to preserve it too – or they buried them to protect them from thieves. They then simply forgot about their butter until it turned up thousands of years later.

Many of the discoveries of bog butter are in quantities that you would think would be hard to misplace. One barrel contained nearly 80 pounds of butter while another chunk weighed in at over 100 pounds. When celebrity chef Kevin Thornton tried a bite of old bog butter perhaps predictably he described it as tasting rancid.^[3]

7 Chinese Soup

Archaeologists often find ancient food storage vessels and by analysing the microscope fragments embedded in their walls can identify what they once held. But sometimes they get lucky and there is enough sloshing about to know what it is immediately. In 2010 while exploring a tomb from around 400 BC Chinese researchers opened a bronze vessel and found a still liquid soup inside.

Time had turned the bronze vessel green with verdigris and this had soaked into the soup giving it an unappetising green tinge too. Still in the soup were the animal bones that would have flavoured it. Later examination showed that the bones belonged to oxen and the soup would have given the deceased a savoury treat to enjoy on their trip to the afterlife.^[4]

6 Burnt British Bread

British food does not have the best reputation in the world. It is often pictured as overcooked, boiled, or burned. While this is hardly true a find dating back 5500 years may suggest an early origin for this view of Britain’s cuisine. When bread from an archaeological site was first recovered it was so burnt that it was mistaken for charcoal.

The Neolithic site being explored held a variety of items in a pit. The bread was only identified as such under a microscope but other finds included fragments of pottery and a stone knife. Some have suggested that the hole in the ground was no more than a rubbish dump, while others think it represents a religious site where offerings were made. Says something about ancient British deities if their taste was for burnt toast.^[5]

10 Intriguing Ancient Roman Foods

5 Primeval Pitta

That British bread is nowhere near the oldest bread that has ever been discovered however. In the remains of a fireplace in Jordan a flatbread was discovered that dated back 14500 years – around four thousand years before agriculture is thought to have developed in the region.

Before this discovery bread had been associated with the growing of crops. Here it seems that the Natufian people who baked it used grains that were gathered from wild growing barley and oats, as well as mixing in tubers of plants that they dug up. It may be that bread is one of the dishes that spurred people towards planting their own grains in the first place.

Researchers who discovered this bread experimented with the types of tubers that had been used in making it. Their efforts to make flour from them were partially successful. They did manage to make baking flour but described the results as gritty and salty.^[6]

4 Ancient Honey

Honey is one of the few foodstuffs that, so far as we know, genuinely never spoils. Due to the high sugar content any bacteria or fungi that attempt to grow on it would have all their water sucked out by osmosis. Honey also contains gluconic acid and small amounts of hydrogen peroxide that make it a doubly inhospitable place for microorganisms to live. Honey is a food that preserves itself.

Perhaps fittingly it was often included in Ancient Egyptian burials. While the Egyptians were attempting to preserve their corpses for eternity they included a food that would last almost as long. Pots of honey over 3000 years old were discovered near the Great Pyramid and their contents would be perfectly edible today. While these are the oldest surviving samples of honey known there is evidence of people using honey and beeswax dating back well beyond this – there may be even older honey waiting out there for us to try.^[7]

3 Chinese Noodles

Noodles are a staple in most people’s pantries because they can last for years as an emergency meal. In 2005 in China some noodles, probably inedible, were discovered that dated back 4000 years. Prior to this discovery the earliest evidence of noodles was to be found in a 2000 year old Chinese text.

Made from millet seed the noodles were discovered at an archaeological site under 3 metres of sediment in an overturned bowl. The whole site seems to have been ruined by a massive earthquake. Whoever sat down to their bowl of noodles never got to enjoy them. The upturned bowl created an empty space and prevented the noodles from being crushed by the debris that fell on them. Creating a tight seal over the noodles prevented oxygen getting in and degrading the noodles.

Millet seed is still used to make noodles in some of the more rural parts of China today. Though wheat noodles are preferred elsewhere for their superior texture it is not known whether they have the same staying power as these ancient millet noodles.^[8]

2 Roman Egg

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Well, if a recent find in England is anything to go on it was the egg. The only complete chicken’s egg from Roman Britain was discovered in a 3rd century AD site that served like something of a wishing-well. People would come and toss items into the water as objects of devotion and by a lucky convergence of properties of the mud there the organic products, including these eggs, survived the centuries.

Egg fragments had been found at Roman burials before but these complete eggs were found in a woven basket that had been placed in the water. When archaeologists attempted to remove the four eggs three of them broke apart – releasing a rotten stench. The fourth was gently removed and remained intact.

The only other complete Roman egg was found in the city of Rome itself – cradled in the hand of a young girl when she was buried.^[9]

1 Egyptian Cheese

Cheese, it has been said, is milk’s leap towards immortality. In the case of one batch of Ancient Egyptian cheese it may well have managed it. The tomb of the Egyptian Ptahmes was discovered in 1885 and contained hundreds of wonderful artefacts that were scattered to museums around the world, before everyone promptly forgot where the tomb was. Only on its rediscovery 2010 did archaeologists explore the contents of the many jars that had been placed there as provision for the dead man. Among the broken pots they found a strange white mass wrapped in cloth. Unsure what it was at first scientific analysis revealed this 13th century BC lump to be cheese.

Made from sheep and goats’ milk the researchers were not too complementary about its quality. One said it would have had a “really, really acid bite.” Others pointed out that it contained the bacteria found in unpasteurised milk that can cause potentially deadly Brucellosis. This was a cheese that may have sent those who ate it to eternity sooner than they would have liked.^[10]

10 Bizarre Origin Stories About Your Favorite Foods

In case you haven’t heard, the universe is old. So old, it just kind of popped up about 13.77 billion years ago, for some reason. Throughout that lengthy period, it’s had a lot of time to stretch its feet and evolve into what we see today.

Though it’s stupendous that we can even see that far, which is luckily possible because light has a speed limit of 186,000 miles per second. So we can observe things as they were when their light left its source, many billions of years earlier. And that light reveals some surprising, incredibly ancient (or aged) things.

Related: Top 10 Long-Term Space Exploration Problems We Have Yet To Solve

10 A Mindbendingly Gigantic and Old Quasar

The quasar—unexcitingly known as J0313-1806—is an astronomical hall of famer for its mass and age. It’s 13.03 billion light-years away, and even at this early stage, it’s a doozy.

Though the universe was less than 5% of its current age at this point, the quasar-powering black hole already held 1.6 billion Sun-masses. That’s an absolutely insane quantity, and with stats like these, it’s easy to see why quasars often outshine the entire galaxies that surround them.

The blandly named quasar in question is (was) indeed active, spewing super-hot gasses at one-fifth the speed of light. It’s also altering its environment, as astronomers have detected intense star formation in the host galaxy.

But the black hole is too massive, too early, to have been fed by stars or formed by a collapsing star cluster. Instead, if it skipped these middlemen and started from big blobs of cold hydrogen gas that collapsed directly into a black hole, it still would have been born gnarly: a baby black hole with 10,000 stars’ worth of mass.^[1]

9 A Galaxy That Seemingly Skipped Billions of Years of Evolution

Every so often, a galactic observation bungles conventional cosmological models. One such bungler is a galaxy known as ALMA J081740.86+135138.2. It’s more than 12 billion light-years away and therefore very old, to understate things. But it’s too much of a whopper and too orderly for such universal infancy.

Around this time, less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang, about 90% of early galaxies were “train wrecks,” or chaotic clumps of gas and dust. But our dear ALMA J081740.86+135138.2 already sported a nice rotating disk and matched our Milky Way in size, at 100,000 light-years across. Plus, at 70 to 80 billion solar masses, it’s pretty beefy for a faintly shining antique galaxy.

Since the universe was only 1/10th its current age, the surprisingly hefty specimen is an unexpected find in such early cosmological days. Typically, it takes billions of years for galaxies to whip themselves up then calm down so that the gas can cool and coalesce into Milky Way-like structures.

But it’s possible to skip this whole billions-of-years-long process if the cold gas flows along dark matter filaments, as on a cosmic highway, to prematurely create beautifully spiraling galaxies.^[2]

8 The Early Universe Wasn’t So Empty

About 300,000 years after the Big Bang, everything was filled with an opaque fog of neutral hydrogen that blocked light and made the young universe invisible. It was only unveiled when the first cosmic bodies burst forth to shine and ionize (electrify) the hydrogen, lifting the “fog.”

Luckily, scientists can peep more than 13 billion years into the deep past to see how it happened. An improved gravity lensing technique revealed the cosmos when it was between 500 million and 1 billion years old. Though the researchers didn’t find their primary target, the first stars ever born, known as Population III stars.

But they did find a surprising amount of galaxies already brewing. Up to 100 times fainter than any previously detected, with lower masses than anything Hubble has spied so far. This suggests that the first stars formed even earlier than anyone thought.

And that, a mere 500 million years after the Big Bang, an unexpectedly rich collection of galaxies was already ionizing the opaque intergalactic murkiness of neutral (non-ionized) hydrogen.^[3]

7 The Oldest Galaxies…Are Right Here

You don’t have to go rummaging through deep space to find the universe’s oldest galaxies because they’re within astronomical “walking distance.”

Some of the faintest dwarf galaxies surrounding the Milky Way, including Segue-1, Bootes I, Tucana II, and Ursa Major I, are more than 13 billion years old. This places these satellite galaxies at the beginning of the universe, making them some of the first galaxies ever—among the ones that dispelled the ever-reaching darkness of the “cosmic dark ages.”

These findings support the “Lambda-cold-dark-matter model,” which states that dark matter particles (whatever they are) drive cosmic evolution. And they began doing it more than 13 billion years ago, when congregations of dark matter, by their gravitational influence, persuaded particles of matter to accumulate and form all the structures we see now.^[4]

6 A Solar Graveyard

Barring any unforeseen catastrophe, the Sun will die in about five billion years. When it does, it’ll puff out, shed its outer layers, then settle down as a white dwarf.

A white dwarf like the dead star SDSS J122859.93+104032.9 is located about 410 light-years away. It was originally about twice as massive as the Sun. But when it died, it puffed up and lost its outer layers, shrinking and becoming only 70 percent as massive as the Sun. It’s also surrounded by a cosmic graveyard. It’s encircled by a debris field made from the shattered bodies of the planets it once warmed.

In its death throes, the star obliterated its solar system. But astronomers picked something surprising out of the jumbled carnage. A planetary fragment, a heavy metal (physically and figuratively) body that survived the death of its planetary family.

The fragment was detected by a stream of gas emanating from its body. Its size is iffy, possibly just a kilometer across. Or it could rival the solar system’s largest asteroids, at several hundred kilometers. It’s deep within a gravitational well that exerts believe has a pull 100,000 stronger than the Earth’s. So to have held up, the fragment could be the ultra-dense, metallic remnant of a planetary core.^[5]

5 The Mysteriously Ancient Galactic Disk

DLA0817g, aka the Wolfe Disk, is an anomaly. A rotating disk galaxy, spinning at 170 miles per second, upset galactic formation theories by existing when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old.

Astronomers thought galaxies like these required much longer to form their clean, stable disks. And by much longer, we mean about 6 billion years, or approaching half the universe’s current age. But like all fortuitous finds, DLA0817g nonchalantly discards man-made theories. It’s unlike typical galaxies formed around this time, which are messy, banged-up things caused by big-time collisions.

But that’s not the case here, suggesting a different mechanism. If DLA0817g were sucking up streams of cool gas, like a gigantic vacuum cleaner, that would allow it to hold its form. And to continue pumping out stars at a rate ten times faster than in our Milky Way.^[6]

4 Quasars Terrorized a Young Universe

Astronomers peered deep into space-time and found a bunch of quasars at the edge of the universe, more than 13 billion light-years away. That’s such an incredibly distant, unimaginable epoch that its inhabitants existed in a dust-free environment. Because there hadn’t been enough time for stars to spew out the plumes of molecules that coagulated into cosmic dust.

Of the 21 quasars detected in the baby universe, J0005-0006 and its buddy J0303-0019 are the first ones ever observed without any dust around them. They belong to the most-distant population of quasars detected, which were already popping up in surprising abundance less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

These 21 ancient quasars from the infant universe are powered by supermassive black holes that hold the contents of 100 million suns. Due to their dust-free complexion, astronomers believe these to be first-generation quasars. Yet these things are so stupidly energetic and modern astronomy so precise that researchers can see them literally across the entire universe.^[7]

3 A Star Nearly As Old As Existence Itself

A newly discovered star, 2MASS J18082002–5104378 B, is unbelievably ancient: 13.5 billion years old. That’s almost as old as the universe itself. And it will continue to burn for trillions of years over a ridiculous span that dwarfs the current age of the universe. And here’s a huge surprise: it wasn’t found out at the far reaches of space, but close to home in the Milky Way.

In another surprise, it’s located in the “thin disk” of our galaxy, in the same neighborhood that houses the Sun. But unlike good ol’ Sol, this star with the terribly unwieldy name is so old it could be just a single generation removed from the first-ever stars, which graced the void with light.

These first stars were devoid of metals. Metals were created later on, as their sub-atomic components were smashed together in the fury of stellar cores or during supernovae. So instead of metals, these ancient stellar geriatrics were full of hydrogen, helium, and lithium.^[8]

2 A Timeless Cosmic Relic

NGC 1277 is unique. It’s an old soul, a relic that shows what galaxies were like during the universe’s early eons. Like many old-timers, it’s aversed to change and has “remained essentially unchanged for the past 10 billion years.”

It’s one of over 1,000 galaxies floating about the Perseus cluster, about 240 million light-years away—even though these “1-in-1,000” relics are generally found much, much farther away. It almost exclusively contains elderly old stars born 10 billion years ago. These once shined bright and blue(r) but are now aging and red, enjoying a period of galactic quiescence. And even though NGC 1277 contains twice as many stars as our Milky Way, it’s only a quarter of the size.

NGC 1277 has a grim future. This menagerie of elderly stellar bodies is zooming through space at two million miles per hour. That’s probably too fast to allow it to combine with other galaxies or siphon star-building gas to keep itself spry.^[9]

1 Amino Acids Form Early, Before the Planets

The prevalence of amino acid building blocks is a major factor in universal habitability. A prospect that just improved via the recent discovery that glycine, a simple yet super-important life-forming amino acid, is even easier to form than previously believed.

It was thought that energy was needed to form glycine and its ilk. Energy supplied by, say, ultraviolet radiation. But researchers now say UV is no longer a necessary ingredient in the recipe; glycine can form through the rad-sounding “dark chemistry.”

In the interstellar clouds, tiny, ice-covered dust particles smash into each other like cosmic bumper cars. They fragment and reassemble into interesting compounds. The most tantalizing aspect of the research is the realization that glycine, and other amino acids, may form in space clouds before the clouds condense into celestial bodies.

So these amino acids can be ready before the formation of their solar system. And then distributed throughout the universe by comets and such, potentially laying the groundwork to birth all sorts of ETs.^[10]

What do you do with human remains? Many people feel uncomfortable with just tossing granny in the compost heap when she dies. Luckily, it seems humans have always treated the bodies of the dead with respect. Most cultures have some sort of ritual to mark the end of life. Some of those are very different from the burials most people are familiar with. Sometimes they involve giving the deceased a makeover.

Here are ten ways that human remains have been embellished.

10 For the Love of God

There is a common motif in European art that some have found a bit macabre. Memento Mori are artworks designed to remind viewers that death is coming for us all. Painters have long included skulls in their works to underline the transience of human life. Damien Hirst decided to go a little further in his piece For the Love of God.

After buying an 18th-century skull, he had the teeth removed from the jaw and cleaned by a dentist. A perfect cast of the skull was then made, and platinum was used to replace the bones. Into the platinum skull were placed 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a large pink stone on the forehead. The original teeth were then inserted back into the jaws.

The grinning skull was put up for sale for £50 million.^[1]

9 Tezcatlipoca Turquoise Skull

One of Hirst’s inspirations for his decorated skull was the Tezcatlipoca Turquoise Skull held in the British Museum. This Aztec skull dates from the 15th century and is covered with small tiles made from turquoise, lignite, and seashells. The staring eyes are made from polished lumps of pyrite. The skull has been cut away at the back, and the inside is lined with deer skin. The jaw is loosely attached to allow it to move up and down.

It is thought that the skull is a representation of the god Tezcatlipoca. He was a god associated with divination, obsidian, the night sky, and conflict. The skull has straps attached that were originally painted red, so it is thought that it was designed to be worn—possibly by a priest for use during a ritual.

Other decorated Aztec skulls have been discovered. Researchers who studied them concluded that only the most high-ranking human sacrifices had their skulls converted into these decorated masks.^[2]

8 Gobekli Skulls

Gobekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the most intriguing ancient sites ever discovered. Dating to around 8000 to 9000 BC, it contains some of the earliest large carved stones in the world. These are decorated with images of lions, bulls, foxes, and other animals, as well as abstract patterns. The largest stones at the site would have taken tens of people a year to carve and even more people to move into its location.

As well as the remains of animals, which may have been sacrificed, a number of human bodies have been found at Gobekli Tepe. They have led some researchers to describe a “skull cult” that once existed there. This is because some of the skulls have deliberately carved marks on them.

Once the skin and flesh had been flayed from the skulls, it appears that deep gouges and holes were made into the bones for some purpose. That the marks may have been part of a ritual is suggested by their deliberate nature and that the pigment ochre had been dabbed onto the bones too. These may be the earliest examples of decorated human remains ever found.^[3]

7 Monk in a Statue

A statue of a Buddhist monk from China made its way to a market in the Netherlands. There it was snapped up by someone who appreciated its aesthetic qualities. When the purchaser took it to be restored, he and the restorer were undoubtedly startled to discover a human skeleton inside.

In 2014, the statue was taken to a hospital to undergo a CT scan to reveal more about the person who had been turned into their own sculpture. The scans revealed that the 1,000-year-old body was in a sitting position that exactly mirrored the shape of the statue. The body is assumed to be that of the Buddhist Liuquan, who died around the year 1100 AD.

Probes were inserted into the gold-painted statue, and samples were taken from the body. The researchers found scraps of paper that had Chinese writing on them. The internal organs of the body had been removed and replaced with these papers before the body was turned into a statue.^[4]

6 Kapala Skulls

Kapala is a term in Sanskrit which can refer to a bowl—or a skull that has been turned into a vessel. Following Tibetan ritual, bodies were given “sky burials,” which involved leaving the dead open to nature and allowing birds and animals to consume the flesh. Once all that was left were bones, then the skull could be retrieved and turned into something beautiful.

These Kapala skulls were then ritually anointed with oils and prepared for use in other rituals. Sometimes this involved carving images and patterns into the skull itself or decorating the skull with silver and stones. The Kapala could be placed on altars or used as drinking and eating bowls. It was thought that the wisdom and knowledge of the dead could be taken in by the one who consumed from the skull.

To ward off the anger of destructive deities, cakes shaped like human body parts would be placed in the Kapala and offered up to the vengeful spirits.^[5]

5 Bad Durrenberg Shaman

When people die today, they are often dressed in their best suit or favorite dress. In the past, however, the dead might be buried with the tools of their profession, like ancient archers interred with flint arrowheads. In Bad Durrenberg in Germany around 9000 years ago, a woman was dressed for burial in an outfit that suggests she was a shaman.

The Bad Durrenberg Shaman was a woman aged around 25 or 30, found buried sitting upright and packed in thick red clay. Nearby was the body of a young baby. What marks her as special are the objects she had been dressed in—the regalia. These included an extraordinary headdress made from animal bones, teeth, and two horns from a roebuck deer.

Studies of the body suggest that the woman suffered from a malformation of her neck that would have restricted blood flow. By holding her head in certain positions, she would have fainted. This might have made her an effective go-between for her people and the world of the spirits.^[6]

4 Dressing the Dead

On Sulawesi Island in Indonesia, a festival takes place called the Manene. Everyone is expected to attend: young, old, and even the dead. At the Manene, families gather to clean the tombs of their ancestors and take their bodies out into the sun. Once they have been removed, the corpses are dressed in fresh clothes.

This allows the living to show the departed that they are still respected and treasured. Some are given their favorite things to underline the reverence they are held in. Some bodies might get a pair of sunglasses to shield them from the glare. Others might be given a cigarette. It is thought that by treating the dead with respect, the dead will help to bless the community.

The Manene is only performed every few years. Many of the bodies are in a remarkable state of preservation. They must enjoy the good afterlife.^[7]

3 The Oldest City

Çatalhöyük has been described as a proto-city and may be among the earliest-built human communities. The ruins were found in Turkey and are markedly different from what you might expect a city to look like. The mud-brick buildings were all built one against another—there were no roads or walkways between homes. To enter your house, you walked along the roof and descended a ladder. Çatalhöyük was inhabited from around 7100 to 5600 BC.

While most attention has been drawn to how people lived in this early city, other researchers have found the dead of Çatalhöyük to be equally interesting. Many of the homes had dead bodies buried under their floors. The purpose of burying people inside houses is unknown, but it is found in several cultures. What marks the bodies of Çatalhöyük as different, quite literally, is that they were ritually painted after their deaths.

Some of the bodies have striking marks of red cinnabar painted on them. One body shows a stripe of pigment applied to the skull. Only a minority of bodies found in the city were painted in this way, which opens questions as to what purpose the decoration served.^[8]

2 Saints

In Catholicism, there has long been a tradition of treating the body parts of saints as holy. These relics were often thought to grant miracles to worshippers. Less known is that even to this day, all Catholic altars used for mass celebrations have small relics in them. Not all relics are hidden; some are ostentatiously put on display.

When most people think of reliquaries holding the mortal remains of saints, they think of a little golden object—maybe with a saint’s finger or a bit of bone inside. Sometimes the whole body is turned into a sparkling relic, however. Some, like Saint Deodatus in Rheinau, Switzerland, are shown sitting upright and clothed in shining armor. His skull is covered in a wax mask. Others prefer to only show the skull of the saint.

Known as catacomb saints, these bodies were mostly shipped out from Rome for churches elsewhere in Europe. The churches who took the bodies often spent lavish sums to coat the bones in layers of gold or silver and stud them with precious gems.^[9]

1 The Jericho Skull

About 9,500 years ago in Jericho, modern Palestine, a man died. We know this because his skull was discovered by excavators in 1953. Unlike most nameless skulls from the past, however, we know what this man looked like. After he died, his head was removed from his body, and a hole was cut into the back of the skull, into which soil was stuffed before plugging it with clay. Then the skull was coated in plaster and modeled to resemble the man’s face in life. Shells were then inserted to resemble eyes. It is probably the oldest portrait held in the British Museum.

The skull was scanned to ascertain whether the face that was put on the skull was supposed to be a portrait or just a symbolic representation. From these scans, a scientific reconstruction of the face was possible. They also revealed that the man’s head had been bound as an infant to permanently change the shape of the head.

Other plastered skulls like the Jericho Skull have been discovered. One in the Ashmolean Museum uses the ridged sections of cowrie shells to mimic eyes. If you don’t want to see a skull squinting at you, it is probably best to avoid searching this one out. ^[10]