The buildings and structures left behind from ages past have astounded history buffs for centuries. From the Parthenon to the Great Pyramid, there never seems to be an end to the multitude of information we can gain from them. But often, that which can be observed above the ground pales in comparison to the extraordinary finds that have been discovered underneath our feet. Whether it be ancient reservoirs, theaters, temples, or disguised strongholds, these monumental subterranean structures serve as a continuing legacy of the ancient world’s remarkable ingenuity.

10 Chavin De Huàntar
Peru

The pre-Colombian pilgrimage center of Chavin de Huàntar covers an area of around 12,000 square meters (130,000 sq ft). Consisting of artificial terraces and squares, coated stone buildings, and a sunken plaza, its impressive appearance authenticates the site’s ceremonial and cultural importance in the ancient Andean religious sphere.

The site’s essence however, lies in the three stories of subterranean tunnels, ventilating shafts, chambers, and stone-lined galleries. It’s here that you can see engraved obelisks and sculptures in situ, as well as marvel at the enormous scale of the site’s masonry. In fact, the network of drains and vents present inside the site’s core is unparalleled in all of South America’s subterranean archaeological sites and leaves Chavin de Huàntar without equal.

9 Qanat Firaun
Jordan

The Qanat Firaun, or Gadara Aqueduct, is the ancient aqueduct that supplied water to the Roman-Hellenistic Decapolis cities of Adraa, Abila, and Gadara. Only rediscovered in 2004, the 170 kilometer (105.6 mi) pipeline is not only the longest underground aqueduct of antiquity, but also the most complex.

It was constructed in the qanat manner—with vertical shafts every 20 to 200 meters (65–650 ft) connected from opposite sides by a multitude of tunnels. It took hundreds of miners over 120 years to complete the tunnel, during which time they excavated over 600,000 cubic meters (21,200,000 cu ft) of limestone, comparable to more than a full quarter of the Great Pyramid’s total volume.

8 The Mithraeum At The Baths Of Caracalla
Rome, Italy

Mithraeums were the underground worship centers for the Roman Mithraic cult, a religious movement that revolved around the Persian god Mithra. During excavations at the Baths of Caracalla in 1912, archaeologists uncovered the largest Mithraeum found to date, which measured 230 square meters (2,475 sq ft).

Unfortunately, most of the artwork inside the great hall was lost to time, but a few relief carvings and inscriptions survived. One of its most significant remaining features is the fossa sanguinis, a deep hole into which initiates were lowered to be baptized by the blood of a sacrificed bull.

7 The Knights’ Halls
Acre, Israel

The Knights’ Halls were built by the Hospitaller Knights, a monastic order who devoted themselves to caring for the injured and ill during the First Crusade. Cleverly engineered underneath the castle and prison of Acre—the port city and entrance to the Holy Land—the complex of halls all form part of the Hospitaller’s citadel.

The structure includes a dungeon, an ancient Gothic church, several conjoined halls, and a dining room. Although the site was mostly destroyed by the invading Muslim armies after the Crusaders’ defeat in 1187, it was rebuilt during the Second Crusade. Consisting of three floors, to date only 5,000 square meters (53,819 sq ft) of the archaeological marvel has been excavated.

6 The Basilica Di San Clemente
Rome, Italy

From the outside, the small Basilica dedicated to Pope St. Clement in A.D. 99 may seem insignificant, but on closer inspection you realize that it is an unvarnished, layered representation of Rome’s religious history. Immediately below the beautifully decorated 12th-century Basilica, we find the lower church, or lower Basilica. This is a fourth-century church built partly on top of what historians believe was the home of a Roman nobleman.

Apart from being the site of the papal conclave in 1099, it also contains one of the largest collections of early medieval frescoes in Rome today. Beneath the lower Basilica are the remains of a building destroyed by the great fire of A.D. 64, as well as a Mithraeum containing several monuments used by the cult of Mithra.

5 Prasanna Virupaksha Temple
Hampi, India

Amid the mesmerizing ruins of Hampi, a World Heritage Site, the Prasanna Virupaksha Temple—also known as the Underground Shiva Temple—lay buried for over 400 years before it was rediscovered in the 1980s. Believed to have been used by the royal household during private ceremonies, the temple is similar in design and layout to the temples located on Hermakuta Hill, and features a variety of carvings, sculptures, and murals.

The grand inner sanctum includes an impressive pillared hall and beautifully carved columns that actually extend through the roof. The floors of the hall—as well as the inner sanctum—remain underwater despite excavations and ongoing attempts to preserve the site.

4 Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
Island Of Malta

The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum dates back to around 2500 B.C., making it the only known prehistoric subterranean structure in the world. Although many believe it started out as a sanctuary, it also served as a necropolis, and thousands of human remains have been located within its mysterious chambers. One of its most significant features is the Oracle Room—a carved hole in the wall which produces an echo that reverberates throughout the Hypogeum whenever someone speaks into it.

Several smaller chambers throughout its three levels pick up these echoes and turn the reverberations into something that sounds a lot like a heartbeat, leading many to speculate that the hole played a major part in the ancients’ ceremonies. Other features include its unique formation in relation to the equinoctial sun, massive carved stone formations not unlike those found at Stonehenge and Baalbek, and an elaborately painted ceiling displaying ocher spirals.

3 Mausoleum Of Qin Shi Huang
Xi’an, China

The Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum is the 2,200-year-old burial site of China’s first Qin emperor. Most famous for its partly excavated terracotta army which lies to the north and south of the mound, many foreigners do not grasp that the mausoleum is in fact China’s most extravagant tomb complex. The complex consists of four layers and includes an underground palace, an inner city, an outer city, and a wide variety of subordinate buildings and tombs.

The subterranean phenomenon, which stretches more than 600 square meters (6,500 sq ft), took over 700,000 laborers more than 38 years to build, and in the four decades archaeologists have been excavating the site, they’ve barely begun to scratch the surface. Even though nobody has yet been allowed to excavate the central tomb housing the underground palace, we know from ancient records that it symbolized the emperor’s real palace while he was alive and that it occupies more than two-thirds of the inner city.

2 Tomb Of Seti I
Abydos, Egypt

The Tomb of Seti I is the longest and deepest of the tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The first tomb to be artistically adorned and decorated, it features exquisite reliefs, colorful paintings, and an intricately carved column depicting Seti I with the goddess Hathor. In fact, every single chamber, roof, and passageway in the tomb was decorated, setting a precedent for the tombs of all the kings to come. Unfortunately, since excavations during the ’50s and ’60s caused changes in the tomb’s moisture levels, a number of the walls have cracked or collapsed, and the tomb is now mostly closed to the public.

1 The Basilica Cistern
Istanbul, Turkey

The Basilica Cistern‘s name might imply that it’s nothing more than an ancient water reservoir, but nothing could be further from the truth. During the third and fourth centuries, a spectacular temple surrounded by magnificent gardens stood in its place. When that was destroyed by fire, Emperor Justinian had 7,000 slaves rebuild the original structure on the very same ground—all 9,800 square meters (105,500 sq ft) of it. Also known as the Sunken Palace, it is a wonder to behold.

The Cistern’s arched ceiling is supported by 336 engraved marble columns—each of them 9 meters (30 ft) tall—which you can reach by descending down a flight of stone steps. While operational, the Cistern supplied water to the buildings on the First Hill, including the Great Palace of Constantinople, and continued to do so into modern times. Today, only a few feet of water remain. It has been the subject of several films, novels, and, most recently, a video game.

Hestie Barnard Gerber is a freelance writer, copy editor, researcher and graphic designer. Born and raised in the culturally diverse and beautiful South Africa, her interests lie at the intersection of African history and archaeology, cultural studies, European arts and culture and ecotourism.

The following 10 accounts capture moments in history that have often been forgotten in time. These moments have not only left their mark on US history but have significantly altered the future of a nation in a time plagued with violence, injustice, and despair. The news isn’t all bad, though. We also got an iconic clothing item from the old American West that is still popular today.

10 The Ghost Dance

In 1870, the Ghost Dance, a Native American religious movement, was believed to restore tribal life. Supposedly, the buffalo would return to the Plains, the dead would rise, and all white men would vanish from the land. The movement was enthusiastically received by Native Americans, specifically the Lakota, and spread to California and Oregon over the years.

As word of the ritual reached neighboring white communities, officials felt threatened by the ceremonies, believing that the Lakota intended to start a war. The US government dispatched the army to stop the dancing and apprehend key leaders such as Sitting Bull and Big Foot.

Sitting Bull was killed as police attempted to arrest him. Two weeks later, members of the 7th Cavalry killed Big Foot and 145 of his followers in the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Ghost Dance died out among the Lakota, and historians believe that this atrocity signified the beginning of the end in the West’s Indian Wars.

9 A Failed Revolution

In December 1826, Benjamin Edwards and a force of 30 men rode into Nacogdoches, Texas, which was owned by Mexico. Edwards declared himself the ruler of the Republic of Fredonia and intended to seize the region. He had hoped that his efforts would be supported by the Anglo residents.

To strengthen his defense against the Mexican soldiers, Edwards negotiated an agreement with the Cherokee under which he would share Texas with them in exchange for military aid. However, the revolt disintegrated when the Mexican militia arrived six weeks later.

Realizing his rebellion had failed, Edwards fled to the US for sanctuary. In 1835, a more victorious revolution took place and established the independent Republic of Texas. Texas joined the Union as its 28th state in 1845.

8 Levi’s Jeans

During the Gold Rush in 1853, Levi Strauss headed West and opened his own dry goods and clothing company. Jacob Davis, a tailor in Nevada who had purchased cloth from Strauss, developed a way to make pants durable and resistant to wear and tear. Seeking a patent for his unique design yet unable to cover the cost himself, Davis wrote to Strauss asking for financial backing in exchange for partnership in the business.

The men formed Levi Strauss & Co. and quickly began selling their “waist-high overalls” to miners, lumberjacks, and farmers. By 1873, Strauss and Davis had sold thousands, allowing them to expand around the world. What was born during the Gold Rush became a social phenomenon and stood the test of time, becoming known as the iconic Levi’s jeans.

7 Trail Of Tears

In 1835, 100 members of the Cherokee tribe signed the Treaty of New Echota, relinquishing all lands east of the Mississippi with the promise of money, livestock, and land in Indian Territory. Although most Cherokee opposed the treaty, the US government considered the deal finalized, justifying the removal of Native Americans from their southeastern homeland.

By 1838, only 2,000 Cherokee had left for Indian Territory, prompting President Martin Van Buren to send General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to forcefully remove the Native Americans from the land.

Their homes and belongings were looted, and they were forced to march more than 1,900 kilometers (1,200 mi) to Indian Territory, an event known as the “Trail of Tears.” Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died during the journey from typhus, dysentery, whooping cough, cholera, and starvation.

6 Bleeding Kansas

“Bleeding Kansas” was a period of violence that erupted in 1854 following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which overturned the boundary between slave and free territory. Northern abolitionists began organizing groups for the settlement of Kansas. Meanwhile, largely proslavery western Missourians flooded into the state to oppose the Act, resulting in carnage on the border.

Kansas territory became difficult to govern due to the conflicting pro- and anti-slavery views, resulting in two separate governments within the state. Five years later, a single constitution was adopted, although the animosity and violence remained.

These events spurred tensions nationally due to the media’s portrayal of the atmosphere in Kansas and became the spark that helped to ignite the Civil War.

5 Banditos

In 1853, Joaquin Murieta became a legend to Mexican Americans living in California. Born in Mexico, Murieta immigrated to California in 1848 with the hopes of striking it rich during the Gold Rush.

However, his dreams of fortune were diminished upon the passing of the Foreign Miners Act and the Greaser Act, which disallowed Mexicans to mine for gold. In response, Murieta led a band of outlaws up and down the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, robbing stagecoaches and gold miners.

A $6,000 bounty was offered by the state of California for Murieta’s capture, dead or alive. Led by Deputy Sheriff Harry Love, a team of 20 California Rangers searched the countryside for weeks. They captured Murieta’s brother-in-law, who led the rangers to Murieta’s whereabouts.

Attacking the campgrounds at dawn, the rangers killed eight of the bandits, including Murieta. Love claimed the $6,000 reward after he presented Murieta’s severed head, preserved in whiskey, to state officials.

4 The Pueblo Revolt

For three generations, Spanish explorers subjugated the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, forcing them to abandon their religions, adopt Christianity, and pay tribute to Spanish rulers. The Pueblos’ sacramental objects were destroyed, their land seized, and their centers of worship demolished. Any resistance to Spanish rule was punishable by imprisonment, torture, amputation, and death.

In 1680, the Pueblos began an uprising to expel the Spanish from New Mexico. The Native Americans seized Spanish horses and blocked all roads leading to Santa Fe, isolating the northern part of the province from the southern part. They demanded that the Spanish leave and free Native American slaves.

But it was to no avail. This prompted an attack of nearly 500 Native Americans on Spanish settlements and missions. Many Spanish settlers escaped, fleeing south down the Camino Real. The Pueblos rejoiced in their newfound independence for 12 years. Then, on September 14, 1692, the Spaniards returned to reclaim Santa Fe.

3 The Battle At Picacho Peak

Led by Captain Sherod Hunter, Confederate Rangers set out for Tucson, Arizona, in February 1862 to establish a Confederate stronghold in the West. Meanwhile, in Fort Yuma, California, Union Colonel James H. Carleton ventured east to Tucson with his battalion to halt Captain Hunter’s advance.

On April 15, 1862, Union soldiers approached Picacho Peak, 80 kilometers (50 mi) northwest of Tucson, where they were ambushed by the waiting Confederate cavalry. The armies exchanged heavy fire until late afternoon, eventually forcing the Union soldiers to withdraw.

In the end, it was a victory for the Confederates. Although miniscule in comparison to the bloodshed in the East, the events that transpired in the desert that fateful afternoon marked the westernmost battle of the US Civil War.

2 Mountain Meadows Massacre

In southern Utah in 1857, 140 men, women, and children were shot, bludgeoned, and stabbed in an event known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Newspapers placed blame on Mormon settlers while Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church, openly blamed Native Americans for the atrocity.

The few people who did survive, all under age seven, stated that the perpetrators were white men. In addition, Mormons were witnessed wearing jewelry and clothing from the massacred victims. To restore order, President James Buchanan sent 2,500 soldiers into Salt Lake City, territory that Young had declared as independent from the United States.

Knowing federal troops were approaching, Young called for Mormons to prepare for the anticipated war between the church and the federal government. The Mormons set fire to the plains to halt the advancing army, attacked the supply lines, and burned Fort Bridger to the ground. With winter taking its toll on the starving soldiers, President Buchanan agreed to grant amnesty to the Mormons regarding all federal offenses, including murder, in return for peace and order.

1 1838 Smallpox

The fur trade in the Great Plains introduced smallpox to the Native American population in 1837, leaving them decimated and vulnerable to attacks by nomadic tribes.

The Native Americans had no immunity or treatment, so the disease killed nearly everyone infected. Those who contracted smallpox died within a few hours after experiencing excruciating pain. Nearly half decided to end their own misery with knives, guns, or leaps headfirst off cliffs.

Some attempted to escape the epidemic, dispersing into the Plains for refuge. Those who remained in their villages became easy prey for the virus and stood no chance of survival. There are few events in history of a disease killing so many within such a short period of time. The Mandan population fell from 1,800 to fewer than 100 and the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes were reduced by half between the summer and fall.

Adam is just a hubcap trying to hold on in the fast lane.

Between February 1692 and May 1693, colonial Massachusetts was the scene of a mass hysteria sparked by false accusations from several young girls. By the time it was over, the resulting Salem witch trials had claimed the lives of 20 innocent souls. These 10 lesser-known facts about the trials make a dark period in American history far more senseless and appalling.

10 The Afflicted Orphans

Many of the leading accusers were young girls who had been orphaned at birth and left with dismal, if any, prospects for the future. Orphans, who had no monetary or emotional support, were disregarded by society at that time. Some historians believe that this was the basis for their false accusations.

Carol Karlsen, author of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, suggests that the grim outlook for the girls’ long-term material well-being sparked their dramatic “possession” performances to “focus the communities’ concern on their difficulties.”

Karlsen goes on to explain that this was perhaps a way for the afflicted girls to deal with the oppression they felt as orphans. In doing so, they finally attained the respect and attention of their communities within Puritan society.

9 How Do You Plead?

As the number of the accused began to rise, it became apparent that confession carried greater leniency as opposed to pleading innocent. Those who maintained their innocence were met with harsh interrogations that often led to death, such as submerging the accused in the local pond to test their magical abilities to stay afloat.

Despite popular belief, burning victims at the stake was less common than hanging them at the gallows. In a three-month period in 1692, 19 men and women were led to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging.

Those accused of witchcraft but not convicted awaited their fates as prisoners for months on end. Perhaps one of the more disturbing cases was that of Giles Corey who, after being imprisoned for five months, was pressed to death with stones. Three days later, Corey’s wife was hanged.

8 The House Below The Hill

Remarkably, it wasn’t until January 2016 that the execution site on Gallows Hill was discovered on a rocky outcropping next to a Walgreens pharmacy. Researchers from the University of Virginia set out to discover “the house below the hill,” the location where accused witch Rebecca Eames claimed to have witnessed the hangings.

It was determined that Eames was referencing a house on Boston Street, the main road that led into the courthouse. The site was identified by current topographical analysis in addition to examining the likely route for transporting prisoners in the center of Salem to their deaths.

Using ground-penetrating radar, researchers confirmed that the victims were hanged from a tree as no trace of a gallows structure was discovered. The establishment of a memorial site is currently underway by the city of Salem.

7 The Burials

The bodies of the accused were denied respectful interments and were frequently thrown in a ditch. However, in the late hours of the evening, family members often returned to Gallows Hill to exhume their loved ones for burial elsewhere. This included Salem’s most famous victim, John Proctor.

Rebecca Nurse, a frail 71–year-old woman who was hanged on July 19, 1692, was exhumed by her children and secretly buried in an unmarked grave on the family property where she had lived. Nearly 200 years later in 1885, Nurse’s descendants erected a memorial to Rebecca in the family graveyard located in Danvers, Massachusetts.

6 America’s First Witch Trial

Although the Salem witch trials have been cemented into history books, they were not the first of their kind. Almost 50 years earlier in Connecticut, Alse Young was publicly hanged for witchery in Hartford’s Meeting House Square. Five other residents met the same fate a short time later.

In 1662, seven trials took place that resulted in four innocent souls being sent to the gallows. During the trials, some were bound by their hands and feet and cast into water to test their floating ability.

The hysteria began with the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Kelly who passed away unexpectedly. Kelly’s parents testified that their daughter had suddenly fallen ill the night after she returned home with their neighbor, Goodwife Ayres.

The Kellys insisted that their child had been possessed. Within 50 years, Connecticut saw 46 prosecutions and at least 11 executions until the state’s final witch trial in 1697.

5 Remorse

Toward the end of 1692, the public began losing faith in the witch hunts because many of the accused were devout individuals. This contradicted the concept of Puritans as faithful servants of God, and by 1693, 12 jurors had publicly apologized for their miscalculated judgments during the trials.

Four years later, the General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching. In 1702, the court publicly declared the trials unlawful. In 1711, monetary compensation was granted to heirs of the accused, and the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of those wrongfully imprisoned. Unfortunately, it was not until 1957 that Massachusetts formally apologized.

4 The Tragic Case Of Mr. Jacobs

Perhaps one of the more tragic tales was that of 70-year-old George Jacobs Sr. who had been accused by his own granddaughter. Jacobs laughed at his judges during his trial, proclaiming that he couldn’t believe that these events were transpiring or that the villagers were buying into the idea of witchery.

The number of his accusers only increased with his public denouncement of the “afflicted” girls. As the realization of his fate set in, Jacobs resorted to the lifesaving strategy of confession but to no avail. He was found guilty and hanged on August 19, 1692—one of the first men in Salem to be executed for witchery.

Jacobs’s remains were recovered from Gallows Hill and buried on his family’s property. In 1864, his remains were unearthed and described by his descendants as a “tall, arthritic, toothless skeleton.” As part of a ceremony marking the 300th anniversary of the trials, Jacobs’s remains were brought to Salem. They were finally laid to rest on August 2, 1992.

3 The Western Section Of The Village

Although the cause of the mass hysteria has never been determined, historians have disputed numerous theories about the root of the irrational frenzy that plagued the Salem villagers in 1692. One of the more intriguing and logical explanations focuses on the ergot fungus which grows on rye, the main grain of Salem Village.

Ergotism (ergot poisoning) comes from the potent ergot alkaloids that affect the central nervous system, causing contractions of the smooth muscle and internal organs. According to toxicologists, a person who consumes ergot-contaminated food will experience violent muscle spasm, hallucinations, crawling skin sensations, delusions, and vomiting.

All of these symptoms were described in the Salem records. In addition, the fungus thrives during warm, damp, rainy springs and summers, the exact conditions present in the western section of Salem Village where nearly all the accusers lived.

2 The Ipswich Jail

As the jails began to overflow, many of the accused had to be transferred to other prisons. Sarah Good and her four-year-old daughter, Dorothy, arrived at the Ipswich jail in spring 1692. A short time later, Sarah gave birth to her second daughter, Mercy.

The infant subsequently died in the harsh prison conditions, and on July 19, Sarah was hanged. Although never charged, Dorothy remained imprisoned for nine months until her father could pay for his child’s bond and “board.” Historic accounts claim that Dorothy went insane from the grave psychological damage she endured.

After the witch trials ended and all the accused were released, legend has it that their tortured spirits remained at the jail. For years, prisoners were found screaming in their cells because of apparitions they had seen. After the Ipswich jail was torn down, the land was used for a farm and later a school. Still, strange noises and ghostly sightings were reported throughout the years.

1 A Martyr’s Death

George Burroughs, a Harvard graduate and supposed witch ringleader, was called to serve as one of the first Puritan ministers in Salem Village in 1680. Four years earlier, Burroughs had been forced to flee his previous home in Falmouth (present-day Portland) following Native American attacks.

Burroughs’s survival of several massacres and his perceived ties to Native Americans and Satan led some members of Salem Village to suspect him of witchery. On May 4, 1692, Burroughs was forcibly dragged from his home in Wells, Maine, and subsequently jailed.

On the day of his execution, he was paraded through the streets of Salem to the noose that ended his life. In a brave final statement, Burroughs proclaimed his innocence and recited the Lord’s Prayer with strength and composure, drawing tears from spectators who unsuccessfully called for the halt of his execution.

To date, scholars see Burroughs as the sole person executed for his religious beliefs as opposed to the vivid and delusional imaginations of the Massachusetts colonists.

Adam is just a hubcap trying to hold on in the fast lane.

Mysteries are woven into the fabric of civilizations around the world. The creepy ones are spoken about in hushed tones. The funny ones are laughed over around the dinner table. Lengthy articles are written about them and heated discussions arise because of them. And perhaps the best of all mysteries are the historic ones that remain unsolved. Those that occurred when built-in cameras in smart phones and instant posts on social media were still years, if not decades, in the making…

SEE ALSO: 10 Mysteries Resolved By Unbelievable Surprise Twists.

8 The Houston gargoyle

In 1986, NASA employee Frank Shaw, left his office late one evening and walked briskly to his car. He had worked a long shift and was anxious to get home. But all thoughts of home flew from his mind when he looked up at the NASA buildings and saw a black figure perching on one of its corners. Afterwards Shaw recalled the figure resembling a humanoid creature with a something like a cape wrapped over its shoulders. In his shocked state, Shaw thought it may have been a gargoyle. He also claimed to have seen two massive wings protruding from the its sides.^[1]

Eventually arriving home, Shaw told his family what he had seen and that the ‘gargoyle’ had stared directly at him. When the winged creature took flight, Shaw had run to his vehicle and drove off in terror.

Naturally most were sceptic of Shaw’s tale, but his family rallied behind him. However, they did warn him to keep his sighting a secret from his bosses so as to not be labelled ‘insane’. As time went by, Shaw kept pondering over what he had seen and eventually built up enough courage to tell his supervisor, despite his family’s advice. To Shaw’s great surprise, his supervisor proceeded to tell him that other employees had experienced similar sightings. A file on the creature had also been opened after the corpses of two resident NASA German Shepherds were found mutilated in the same location the ‘gargoyle’ had been spotted.

Over the years, no new sightings of the creature have made the headlines. What exactly did Frank Shaw and those before him see at the NASA buildings? That remains a mystery.

7 The Kaimanawa Wall

In the Kaimanawa State Forest stands a mysterious structure known simply as the Kaimanawa Wall. Alternative historian, Barry Brailsford, caused an uproar in 1996 when he claimed the wall pre-dates Maori colonization by around 1200 years. He also claimed the wall was man-made, because it consists of ignimbrite and its sculpted surfaces seem to have been shaped by human hands. Had these claims been accepted as truth, it would have meant serious financial and political implications for Maori tribes in New Zealand.^[2]

If the wall is indeed as old as 2000 years, an old claim from the Waitaha would be proved as true. The Waitaha have long claimed that their people settled in NZ before the Maori tribes got there. This theory goes directly against the long-standing belief that archaeological evidence shows the first Maori people arrived between 1250 and 1300 followed by more. Local tribes in the Kaimanawa region believe that the wall is no more than a natural formation eroded by weather over many years.

Another theory about the wall has it that the wall is probably not even a hundred years old and is the last standing reminder of what used to be a sawmill. Geologist, Dr Peter Wood, stomped on this theory by stating that he believed the wall was formed by an ignimbrite sheeting cooling process and that the stones were more than 300,000 years old. The government instituted a ban to the site after these findings, effectively prohibiting any further assessments. While theories remain, any conclusive proof of the wall’s age and origin remains elusive.

6 Swissair Flight 111 valuables

On 2 September 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean roughly 8 kilometres from Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. The accident killed all 229 passengers and crew onboard the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. It took four years to complete the search and rescue, recovery and investigation which ultimately led to the conclusion that flammable material in the plane’s structure allowed an onboard fire to spread beyond control.^[3]

Sometime after the crash, it emerged that the plane was carrying a Picasso painting, almost 50kg in cash as well as 5kg of jewels including a diamond from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. None of these were ever recovered. For 1 year after the accident an exclusion zone extending 2 kilometres was set up around the crash site. When this zone was suspended, people would have been ‘free to search the area’ for the lost valuables. While it is possible that none of the valuable items may have survived the plane crash, their eventual destination and whether someone may have already located them, remains a mystery.

5 Russian plane in Nairobi

On 17 December 2018, a private jet landed at Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya just half an hour before it was due to close for the day. There were five people on board the twin-engine jet which sported a foreign registration. Three days later the plane departed for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at half past four in the afternoon. A little more than an hour later on the same day the plane set off again to a new destination, Chad, this time with seven people on board.^[4]

Now this in itself does not constitute any mystery. However, it was discovered that the plane is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin who is a Kremlin insider with ties to Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin had been named one of 13 people of interest in the investigations into the 2016 US election. The immigration department also refused to reveal the identities of the other passengers on the plane.

This caused quite a commotion in Kenya, because while the plane was expected, there was no word from local security agencies on whether Prigozhin was actually aboard the aircraft. Rumors spread that Prigozhin, who is part of Wagner Group, wanted to set up security deals in Kenya where training, weapons and electioneering services would be traded for mining rights. Wagner Group has been linked to the murder of 3 journalists of Russian descent in July 2018.

A month before the plane landed in Nairobi it was reported that Kenya and Russia are working together in developing nuclear power technology. Whether this was the reason for the mission being kept hush hush or whether something shady was being planned, we’ll probably never know.

4 Phantom kangaroos

Earlier in 2019, a photo of kangaroos jumping in the snow in Australia made the rounds on social media. However, that was nowhere near as weird as the phantom kangaroo sightings in the US of all places.^[5]

The very first sighting was reported in 1899 in Wisconsin. Then after several years of no sightings, Reverend W.J. Hancock spotted a phantom kangaroo in Tennessee in January 1934 along with several other witnesses. This particular kangaroo was blamed for the killing of a dog, chickens and sheep. According to several people who claimed to have seen phantom kangaroos, the creatures are up to 5.5 feet tall and have glowing eyes.

Several years later between 1957 and 1967, many reported seeing these kangaroos in Minnesota and in 1974 hundreds witnessed a kangaroo in Chicago. There were even reports of a kangaroo haunting the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in 1980. Local zoos were contacted during sightings, but no kangaroos were ever reported missing. It is alleged that one of the kangaroos was struck by a car and killed in 1981 but both driver and creature disappeared before any investigation could take place.

3 Mzora stone circle

11 kilometres from Asilah in Morocco, a megalithic stone circle named Mzora stands guard over the hills. The existence of the circle was first realized in 1830 AD. Starting out with 175 stones, the circle now consists of 168 with the tallest being more than 5 metres high. There is a barrow at the centre of the circle and the diameter of the structure is spread over 55 metres.^[6]

In the 1st Century AD, Roman general Quintus Sertorius believed Mzora to be the tomb of Antaeus, a giant killed by Hercules as one of his labors. He noted that the remains of an 85-foot man were found inside the circle and they were immediately covered up again. An excavation of the site in the 30s revealed no remains, neither did further investigations in the 70s.

Assessments have revealed that Mzora was built by the same culture that was responsible for the megaliths in Europe. The circle incorporates a Pythagorean right angle triangle which is the same method used in similar megalithic structures in Britain.

As with other megalithic circles it has been theorized that the stones were used as a calendar and for monitoring the incoming seasons. Others believe that druids worshipped at the stones or that they were landing strips for alien crafts. But the true purpose of Mzora remains unknown.

2 The missing volcano

In 1469, a mini ice age struck Europe. Flora didn’t flourish at all and there were reports of fish being frozen as they swam around in ponds. Four years earlier, crowds attending the wedding of King Alfonso II of Naples gazed up at the sky in awe as the sun turned dark. Following that day, the weather turned grim in Europe. Germany experienced flooding to the extent that coffins were exposed in cemeteries, whole villages were swept away and in Poland, citizens started traveling by boat as the rain poured relentlessly. What no one realized was that a giant volcano thousands of miles away had erupted and caused an ash cloud so big it covered Earth. This led to the coolest decade for many centuries to come.^[7]

In 2009 scientists found a sulphurous layer in the snow layers of 1809 and 1810 while on expedition in Antarctica and Greenland. The finding indicated that a volcanic blast had occurred which would have shot debris almost 50 kilometres up in the air. They had found the aftermath of the volcano that erupted thousands of years ago. The only problem was, they couldn’t find the volcano itself.

In 2012, further investigation revealed that the 15th Century climate disaster wasn’t caused by only one volcanic eruption, but two. However, the volcano remains missing. Some have surmised that the eruptions were so violent it may have torn the volcano apart. But until evidence is found, that remains just a theory.

1 The Hunt for The Golden Owl

In the early 90s, author Max Valentin hid a bronze sculpture of an owl in flight in mainland France. Valentin was the only person who knew the location of the owl. He then published a book called The Hunt for The Golden Owl effectively setting up a treasure hunt with no time limit. The book contained riddles that needed to be solve in order to find the little owl, with the prize being not only the bronze sculpture but a statuette of the original owl in gold and silver to the value of one million francs.

The book also included several rules including prohibiting the winner of the treasure hunt from speaking to the public or media about the location of the owl or the solutions to the riddles in the book.

Max Valentin has since passed away and his publishing company went out of business, but the location of the little bronze owl remains a mystery. The creator of the silver and gold owl, Michel Becker, regained ownership of it via a court ruling in 2009 but tried to auction it in 2014. Luckily the owl’s status was protected, and it had to be removed from the auction. Becker is still in possession of the owl today.^[8]

Max Valentin is said to have produced a book of solutions to the riddles in his original book before he died but his son is holding fast to that document; honoring his father’s wish that the bronze owl be found by someone who could figure out the riddles.

Practicing medicine is just that—practice—because physicians are forever perfecting their skills and acquiring knowledge. With that said, medicine is continuously evolving. But every theory, invention, and breakthrough discovery had an origin, some from very modest beginnings which paved the way to how modern medicine is practiced today.

The following 10 cases are those of extraordinary discoveries. Some are due to brilliant concepts that are impossible to envision. Others are due to mistakes but nonetheless forever changed the future of medicine.

10 Barber-Surgeons

In medieval Europe, surgery was practiced primarily by barbers (as opposed to surgeons) because surgery was viewed more as a craft than a profession at that time. Barbers carried out the “treatment” of bloodletting (bleeding people) as well as tooth extractions, amputations, enemas, selling medicines, and, of course, a shave and haircut, if desired. In fact, the red-and-white pole that still symbolizes a barbershop also symbolized the white napkins and blood-soaked bandages.

What is so intriguing about the barbers during this time is that they were the first to look inside a human, which paved the way for professional surgeons. The two professions were eventually merged in 1540 by Henry VIII as the United Barber-Surgeons Company.

In time, surgery established itself as a profession, eventually causing King George II to separate the two fields in 1745 by establishing the London College of Surgeons. At that point, a university education was required to perform future operations.

9 Thomas Willis

In 1647, English physician Dr. Thomas Willis was the first in modern medical literature to discover that the urine of those who suffered from diabetes tasted sweet, comparing the flavor to that of honey. Yes, you read that correctly. Willis tasted the urine of his diabetic patients.

In fact, Willis described the flavor as “wonderfully sweet as if it were imbued with honey or sugar.” Although such a discovery is off-putting and disgusting to most, it broke down barriers to the understanding of diabetes. Ultimately, it led to the term “mellitus” as in “diabetes mellitus,” a Latin word for “honey” which Willis coined.

A medical chemist of the school of Paracelsus, Willis wrote many books during this time, his last being Rational Therapeutics. His description of the sweet taste of urine in diabetic patients is highly detailed in Section IV, Chapter 3 of the book. Willis was also the first to notice an association between depression and diabetes, an observation that was only rediscovered three centuries later.

8 Leopold von Auenbrugger

Austrian physician Leopold von Auenbrugger discovered the method of percussion in 1754 during his first years of working in a hospital. Percussion is a method in which the physician taps parts of the body with his fingers to detect the presence of fluid, such as pneumonia in a patient’s lungs. Auenbrugger, the son of an innkeeper who had observed his father tapping on barrels of wine to determine how full they were, created a new method in physical examination and medical diagnosis.

He practiced his theory on cadavers by injecting fluid into the pleural cavity to demonstrate the significance of percussion. In this way, he could determine where the fluid was and what medical efforts should be made for its removal.

Auenbrugger compared the sound of a healthy lung to that of a drum with heavy cloth over it, echoing a hollow sound when tapped. When the lung would fill with fluid, the echo would dissipate, leaving a sound similar to that of the fleshy, hollow part of the thigh.

Auenbrugger’s observations were published in what is now considered to be a medical classic, Inventum Novum. It forever changed the way that examinations would be conducted and remains the cornerstone of a physical exam to this day.

7 Nikolai Korotkoff

The circulation of blood—as well as the varying pressures—has been studied for centuries, with a broader understanding occurring in 1615 by Dr. William Harvey. In 1628, Dr. Harvey published Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (“On the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals”), which was the foundation for work on the circulatory system.

Over 100 years later in 1733, Reverend Stephen Hales recorded the first blood pressure measurement after developing a further understanding of the correlation between the heart and pulse and how it applies to blood pressure and volume. This new knowledge allowed for the invention of the first sphygmomanometer (blood pressure monitor) in 1881 by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch.

However, it wasn’t until 1905 that Dr. Nikolai Korotkoff discovered the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressures, thus further improving the sphygmomanometer by using a cuff that could be placed around the arm to provide equal pressure to the limb. Korotkoff discovered the varying sounds within the arteries as pressure was applied and released, and this remains the standard of blood pressure measurement to this day.

6 Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec

French physician Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec, having invented the stethoscope in 1816, is considered the father of clinical auscultation. That year, Laennec had observed two children playing in a courtyard, sending signals to one another using a long piece of solid wood and a pin.

Laennec noted that the children would receive an amplified sound while holding their ears to one end of the wood while scratching the other side with a pin. He later recalled this observation during a physical examination in which he desperately wanted to listen to his patient’s lungs and heartbeat.

Laennec spent the next three years perfecting his design. Ultimately, he created a hollow tube of wood that was the forerunner of the modern-day stethoscope. With his invention, Laennec observed the various sounds of the heart and lungs, ultimately forming various diagnoses based on his observations, which were supported by autopsy findings. As a result, he was the first to write descriptions of cirrhosis, bronchiectasis, and other pulmonary conditions, eventually publishing his work in De L’auscultation Mediate (“On Mediate Auscultation”).

5 Karl Landsteiner

At the University of Vienna, Austrian biologist and physician Dr. Karl Landsteiner took an interest in why some blood transfusions were successful while others proved to be fatal. In 1900, this led to a discovery in which he classified blood into three separate groups: A, B and C. However, C would later become known as O, thus establishing the ABO blood group.

He discovered the different varieties of blood by mixing the red cells and serum from each of his staff and then demonstrating how some of the serum from different individuals agglutinated (stuck together) to the red cells of others. This research led to the publication of his 17th scientific paper in 1901 which broke down the different variations of blood types, thus outlining the importance of individual blood typing.

In 1930, Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine, although that would not be the end of his research and discoveries. Ten years later, Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener, an American colleague, discovered Rh, another blood group.

Landsteiner’s research was of paramount importance to the field of medicine. Given that not all blood types are compatible, his discoveries are still in use today and forever will be. For blood transfusions, transplantations, pregnant women, and any form of blood loss, blood typing is essential in preventing incompatibilities which could lead to agglutination, blood clumping, strokes, and death.

4 Joseph Bell

Dr. Joseph Bell was a unique medical scholar and surgeon who was obsessed with the power of observation, which he stressed was vital to physical examinations and diagnosis. Bell believed that close observation of an individual could reveal much about the patient before he even spoke a word, thus leading to an accurate diagnosis.

Prior to this, diagnoses were based simply on the symptoms. Bell, who lectured at the medical university in Edinburgh, Scotland, stressed the importance of looking past the obvious and focusing on the once minuscule. Examples of such observations would be sailors’ tattoos (which could tell you where they had traveled), a patient’s hand (which could reveal his profession), and the look of a patient’s face (which could show if he was a drinker among other things).

Bell often tested his students’ concentration to highlight the subtle signs that they had overlooked. On one occasion, he introduced a liquid compound that had a terrible taste to it. He dipped a finger into the solution, licked his finger, and then told his students to do the same.

They complied and were disgusted by the taste. Moments later, they found out that Bell had dipped the wrong finger and licked another, an observation that his students had missed. Bell had a reputation for never being wrong on a single diagnosis. In time, he became a legend at the university.

Bell’s skill was soon sought by detectives who needed his help with criminal investigations. He assisted police with investigating numerous crime scenes, describing the victims and even attempting to create profiles of the culprits. In 1888, he worked on the Jack the Ripper case.

Bell was the model for the Arthur Conan Doyle character Sherlock Holmes. Bell’s powers of observation led to the development of forensic science, forever leaving an imprint on medical and criminal investigations.

3 Paul Ehrlich

In the early 1900s, German chemist Paul Ehrlich focused his attention on immunology as well as combating infectious diseases through the use of drugs. In fact, Ehrlich coined the term “chemotherapy” in what he described as a process of treating diseases with chemicals.

During this time, Ehrlich tested his chemicals on animal models and was the first person to show the potential effect that drugs could have. In 1908, Ehrlich used arsenicals to treat syphilis in a live rabbit, which he cured. In time, he turned his interest to the cure of cancer, ultimately using the first alkylating agents and aniline dyes that proved to be effective.

His pioneering research and the therapies that he discovered—such as using chemicals that combated not only diseases but tumors as well—led to groundbreaking contributions that gave birth to chemotherapy. Prior to this, cancer was treated solely with radiation, surgery, or both. Ehrlich went on to receive the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, and he will be forever known as the founder of chemotherapy.

2 Alexander Fleming

On September 3, 1929, Alexander Fleming, a professor of bacteriology at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, was returning from holiday when he noticed something unusual in one of his petri dishes containing the bacteria Staphylococcus. Aside from the dotted colonies containing the bacteria, Fleming observed one clear region in the dish that was free of the Staphylococcus.

This region surrounded an area in the dish where mold had grown, as if the mold had secreted something that inhibited the bacterial growth. This accidental discovery was the dawn of the antibiotic age. Fleming went on to publish his findings in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology in June 1929, keeping the interest in penicillin going with bacteriologists around the world.

It wasn’t until World War II that two scientists from Oxford University enhanced Fleming’s findings. Ernst Chain and Howard Florey began working with penicillin and, in time, produced a powder that kept its antibacterial strength for an extended time as opposed to becoming ineffective in a matter of days.

Mass production of penicillin began, ultimately saving millions of people in the battlefields who would have otherwise succumbed to bacterial infections. Fleming, Chain, and Florey were awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for their outstanding and lifesaving discovery, which gave rise to countless more antibiotics.

1 Marie Curie

Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1867, Marie Curie had an innate thirst for knowledge, reading and studying whatever she could get her hands on from an early age. Curie moved to Paris in 1891, enrolling at Sorbonne University where she studied physics and mathematics.

There, she met her future husband, Pierre, and the two wed four years later. They went on to investigate radioactivity together, which led to their discovery of polonium in July 1898. Later that year, they discovered yet another new chemical element: radium.

Their research and discoveries paved the way for the development of X-rays. In fact, during World War I, Marie was the head of the radiological service for the Red Cross, teaching medical orderlies and physicians the new techniques of X-rays. She also equipped ambulances with the machines, which she drove to the front lines herself.

Marie and Pierre were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903, and Marie received a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for her research in chemistry. Her exposure to high-energy radiation during her years of research led to the deterioration of her health, and she succumbed to leukemia on July 4, 1934.

Adam is just a hubcap trying to hold on in the fast lane.

Advancements in technology have revolutionized the way we communicate, travel, and do business. But they’ve also had a profound effect on our health. Many people complain about video game, smartphone, and Internet addictions as well as the increasing isolation fueled by our reliance on communication methods that let us avoid ever coming face-to-face with another human being.

Ironically, this same technology has also turned our globe into the information equivalent of a small city or village. With all the sharing of medical data and the improvements in powerful equipment to make and keep us well, advances in medicine are occurring faster than ever.

Designer genetics, reversing the aging process, and a cure for the common cold all sound like futuristic medicine. But considerable progress was made on all these things and more during the past year. Here are 10 recent medical breakthroughs and how they will impact the future.

10 Successful Artificial Womb

Scientists have created an artificial womb capable of allowing very premature fetuses to develop normally for approximately one month. The device was tested on eight fetal lambs, which were extracted from their mother’s wombs prematurely and transferred to an artificial womb. The lambs continued to develop, showing normal growth and maturation until they were “delivered” after four weeks.

The artificial womb consists of a clear plastic bag filled with synthetic amniotic fluid. The umbilical cord of the fetus is connected to a machine that provides nutrition and oxygen to the blood, similar to the placenta.

A normal pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks. Thousands of babies are born very prematurely every year—after less than 26 weeks in utero. Only about half of these babies survive, and those that do suffer severe complications such as cerebral palsy, paralysis, and mental retardation.

An artificial womb approved for use with humans would allow these early births to continue developing in a womb-like environment for a longer period of time. Creators of the device hope to test it on human babies within the next five years.^[1]

9 First Human-Pig Hybrid

This year, researchers successfully created a human-pig hybrid, something scientifically referred to as a chimera. A chimera is an organism that contains cells from two different species.

One way to create a chimera is to introduce the organ of one animal into the body of another, but this carries a high risk of the host body rejecting the foreign organ. The other way to create a chimera is to begin at the embryonic level, introducing the cells of one animal into the embryo of another and allowing them to develop together.

Early chimera experiments resulted in the successful growth of rat cells inside a mouse embryo. Mouse embryos genetically modified to produce a rat’s pancreas, eyes, and heart had all developed normally. The promising results led to experiments with human cells.

Pig organs are quite similar to human organs, which is why the animal was chosen as a host. Human cells were injected into early stage pig embryos. The hybrid embryos were then implanted in surrogate sows and allowed to develop through the first trimester before being removed and examined. The result was 186 chimeric embryos that contained the beginning stages of important organs such as the heart and liver.

Being able to produce human organs and tissue inside another species is a big step toward the ultimate goal of lab-grown human organs, which have the potential to save thousands of lives. Currently, 22 people die every day while awaiting an organ transplant.^[2]

8 Flu-Fighting Frog Slime

A frog species that was recently discovered in southern India has flu-fighting slime. The secretions on a frog’s skin contain short chains of amino acids, or peptides, which act as a guard against bacteria. Scientists tested the peptides of the Indian frog and discovered that one of them, urumin, is capable of protecting against the flu.

Each strain of the flu contains two surface proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Flu strains are named for the variation of each protein they contain. For example, H1N1 has the H1 version of hemagglutinin and the N1 version of neuraminidase.

The most common strains of seasonal flu viruses contain H1. Urumin has effectively killed every type of H1 flu strain tested, even strains that have developed a resistance to current antiviral treatments.

Current medications that treat the flu target the neuraminidase protein of the virus, which mutates more often than the hemagglutinin. A drug that specifically targets the hemagglutinin would be effective against more strains of the flu and could provide the basis for a universal vaccine.^[3]

7 New Melanoma Treatment

A team of researchers at Michigan State University has discovered a potential drug that could drastically reduce the mortality rate of melanoma. This is the deadliest form of skin cancer primarily because the disease can quickly metastasize (spread through the body and affect organs such as the lungs and brain). This happens through a transcription process in which our genes produce RNA molecules and certain proteins in melanoma tumors that allow the cancer cells to spread.

A new chemical compound has shown success in interrupting this cycle. The compound shuts down the transcription process, which prevents the cancer from being able to spread so aggressively. In lab studies of its effect on melanoma cells, the compound was successful in reducing the spread of the cancer by 90 percent.

The potential drug is still a few years away from human trials, but researchers are optimistic about the possibilities. In addition to treating melanoma, the compound will also be tested for its ability to halt the spread of other types of cancer.^[4]

6 Bad Memory Eraser

People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or other trauma-related anxiety attacks could one day have the ability to simply erase their bad memories.

Scientists have been studying this for years. Recently, a pair of researchers at the University of California–Riverside (UCR) experienced a breakthrough when examining the effects of memory. They specifically looked at the pathways that create memories and allow us to access them.

When a traumatic event occurs, the brain’s pathway to that memory is stronger than pathways to memories that are not associated with trauma. This is why a person can remember every detail of a horrific event that happened years earlier but fail to recall what he ate for breakfast that morning.

To test traumatized mice, the UCR researchers played a high-pitched noise and shocked the mice at the same time. Predictably, playing the sound again caused the mice to freeze in fear.

Using a technique called optogenetics, the researchers were able to weaken the connections between the neurons associated with the pathway of the high-pitched noise. The mice were once again exposed to that sound but no longer showed any signs of fear. Their memory of the traumatic event had been effectively erased.

An important aspect of the technique is that only targeted memories are affected, so trauma sufferers would be able to forget their painful experience without forgetting how to tie their shoes.^[5]

5 Spider Venom Stroke Treatments

You would not want to get bitten by an Australian Darling Downs funnel web spider. Their venom can kill a human in 15 minutes. But it also contains an ingredient that can protect brain cells from the damage inflicted during a stroke.

When someone has a stroke, blood flow to the brain is interrupted, which starves the brain of oxygen. The brain reacts by functioning in an abnormal way that produces acid. This acid causes brain cells to die.

Hi1a, a particular molecule found in the Australian spider’s venom, has been shown to protect brain cells from stroke-related damage. When Hi1a was administered to rats two hours after an induced stroke, the extent of brain damage was reduced by 80 percent. When researchers waited until eight hours after a stroke to administer Hi1a, the amount of brain damage was still 65 percent less than what was seen in untreated rats.

There are currently no medications that protect stroke victims from brain damage. Some treatments will break up blood clots in the brain or control hemorrhaging to reduce injury to the brain. But nothing is available at this time to reverse brain damage from a stroke. If Hi1a proves successful in human trials, it would drastically improve the outcome for stroke victims.^[6]

4 Human Trials Of Antiaging Treatment

An antiaging treatment is one step closer to hitting the market. After animal trials showed incredible success in reversing the aging process of cells, human trials are currently underway.

Our cells are capable of repairing themselves, but their ability to do so declines as we get older. A certain metabolite called NAD+ is present in every cell and crucial to the repair process.

A team of researchers from the University of New South Wales conducted trials involving NMN, which makes up half of an NAD+ molecule. After NMN was given to elderly mice, they exhibited an increased ability to repair damaged cells. After just one week, the cells of older mice that had been treated with NMN were functioning just as well as the cells of younger mice.^[7]

A final step in the trial included exposing mice to radiation. Mice that had been pretreated with NMN showed lower levels of cell damage than ones that had not. Even mice treated with NMN after exposure exhibited less cell damage.

An effective antiaging treatment would not be limited to use in elderly patients. Astronauts experience accelerated aging when they are exposed to cosmic radiation. People who travel on airplanes or undergo X-rays are also exposed to radiation, albeit a much smaller amount. And childhood cancer survivors experience accelerated cell aging, which leads many to suffer from a chronic disease such as Alzheimer’s before they reach age 45.

3 Early Detection Cancer Tracking

Scientists from Rutgers University discovered a way to successfully track micrometastases, tiny tumors in the body that are too small to be detected by current screening methods. This new technique involves injecting tiny glow sticks into the bloodstream and waiting to see where they land.

The Rutgers team used nanoparticles that emit shortwave infrared light. The nanoparticles are designed to stick to cancer cells as they move throughout the body. In early studies, a test done on mice showed that the nanoparticles accurately tracked breast cancer cells as they spread to various locations in the critter’s legs and adrenal glands.

The nanoparticle method is capable of detecting a tumor months before MRI scans would be able to. Researchers believe the technique will be used for human cancer screenings within the next five years.^[8]

2 A Cure For The Common Cold

For centuries, humans have been trying to find a cure for the common cold. An ancient Egyptian medical document dated 1550 BC instructs someone suffering from a cold to recite “in association with the administration of milk of one who has borne a male child, and fragrant gum” to cure themselves.

Today’s treatments are about as effective. Vitamin C tablets, Echinacea teas, and various over-the-counter medications fail to work against the common cold.

But that may be about to change. While many viruses are responsible for causing the common cold, rhinovirus is the most prevalent, causing up to 75 percent of infections. A team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier University found success earlier this year when testing certain antimicrobial peptides.

The team synthesized peptides found in pigs and sheep. Then the researchers tested the peptides against lung cells that had been infected with rhinovirus. The peptides were successful in killing the virus.^[9]

Researchers are working to modify the peptides to be even more effective against the rhinovirus before developing them into a drug capable of curing the common cold.

1 Embryonic DNA Repair

For the first time, scientists have successfully edited the DNA in a human embryo without causing any unintended harmful mutations.

An international team of scientists conducted an experiment using a powerful new gene-editing technique. Sperm was obtained from a donor carrying a genetic mutation that causes cardiomyopathy, a disorder that weakens the heart and causes irregular heartbeats, heart valve problems, and heart failure.

The sperm was used to fertilize donor eggs, and then the gene-editing tool was used to alter the mutation. Scientists described it as a microscopic surgery in which they administered a precise cut to the mutated gene.

When the gene was cut, the embryo was triggered to repair the defective gene on its own. The technique was used on 58 embryos, and the gene mutation was successfully corrected in 70 percent of them. Most importantly, the correction did not result in unintended defects in other areas of the DNA, as was the case in earlier experiments.

The embryos were not used to create babies. More testing is required before that would be possible.^[10]

Critics of genetic modification in embryos are concerned about a few factors. Changes made to the DNA of an embryo would be passed down in future generations, so any mistakes made in the gene-editing process could ultimately result in new genetic diseases. There are also concerns that the research could lead to “designer babies,” where parents pick and choose the traits of their children before birth, effectively crafting a child with certain physical aspects and abilities.

Scientists researching embryonic genetic modification state that their work is only aimed at preventing genetic diseases, not creating made-to-order offspring. Diseases that could be prevented with embryonic gene editing include Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and cases of breast and ovarian cancer caused by mutations in the BRCA gene.

The universe is a fascinating place – a vast cosmic void home to all kinds of strange and spellbinding things. Black holes. Neutron stars. White dwarfs. The skies are filled with these spectacular oddities.

Day in, day out, astronomers look up at the heavens hoping to catch a glimpse of some new celestial phenomenon. And, now and then, they strike it lucky, spotting an ethereal rarity peeking through the darkness of outer space. This list explores ten cosmic discoveries that are, quite literally, out of this world.

Top 10 Weird Things That Could Exist In Space

10 Restless Black Hole Traipses Across the Cosmos

For years, astronomers believed that supermassive black holes never moved. The cosmic colossuses are said to sit stoically at the heart of almost all large galaxies while stars and planets soar around them. But a recent discovery suggests that the model might not be as accurate as scientists once thought.

Researchers at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics were taken aback when they spotted a supermassive black hole sauntering through the skies. The scientists had been comparing the motion of galaxies with that of the black holes inside them. Of the ten galaxies they studied, nine contained black holes that were at rest. But when they peered inside J0437+2456, a spiral galaxy 228 million light-years from Earth, the researchers discovered a “restless” black hole moving at some 4,810 kilometers per second (2,990 miles per second).

Supermassive black holes weigh so much that it takes an enormous amount of force to get them to move. The one in J0437+2456 has a mass almost three million times greater than that of the sun. Scientists are now keen to work out what caused the deep-space giant to start moving in the first place.

Astrophysicists have two main theories. It could be that the black hole was born when two separate black holes collided and merged. This fusion sometimes causes recoil, which could have sent the newly-formed black hole spinning across the cosmos. Or it could be that the black hole is half of a binary system orbiting some center of mass with its hidden cousin.^[1]

9 Gamma Rays Rip Through the Milky Way

In 2021, scientists noticed an intense burst of energy shooting across the galaxy. A bout of gamma rays flashed through the Milky Way, although its origin has left astronomers stumped. Gamma rays are created when streaks of cosmic rays come tearing through the galaxy. Cosmic rays are made up of protons and other particles spat out by exploding stars and black holes. When these particles come into contact with galactic dust in the Milky Way, it triggers nuclear reactions resulting in ultra-high-energy gamma rays like the ones detected.

Astronomers were able to see the rays using a sophisticated network of detectors on the Tibetan Plateau. Scientists have described it as a record-breaking discovery: the most energetic burst of gamma rays ever detected. At its peak, the Tibet ASy experiment was picking up signals at an eye-watering 957 teraelectron volts (TeV).^[] To put that in perspective, the beams at the Large Hadron Collider reach energies of 6.5 TeV.^[2]

8 Dark Matter Might Be Ripping a Star Cluster Apart

Is there something giant and mysterious lurking in space that rips apart nearby star clusters? Astronomers reckon there might be. In recent months, scientists have become aware that stars are disappearing from the Hyades cluster. Hyades is one of the closest star clusters to our own Sun, sitting just 153 light-years away.

Researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA) noticed the vanishing stars while looking at data from the Gaia satellite. One theory, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics in April 2021, is that a strange cosmic entity is tearing into the Hyades cluster. A thin strip of stars known as a tidal tail seems to have been yanked out of place, rendering the stars invisible from Earth.

The ESA team reckon that a wandering wedge of dark matter may be behind the disruption. Researchers reckon that Hyades may have encountered a small halo of matter ten million times the mass of the Sun. As the name suggests, dark matter does not emit any light. This means that, although it is highly abundant in the universe, scientists understand very little about it.^[3]

7 Unicorn Black Hole Spotted 1,500 Light Years from Earth

Astronomers have uncovered a black hole 1,500 light-years from Earth, making it the closest black hole known to science. Black holes are known as cosmic giants, but this is one of the smallest ever seen. The tiny stellar object weighs just three times the mass of the sun. Scientists have given it the nickname ‘The Unicorn’ because it is rare to find one with such low mass and because it was spotted in Monoceros, the unicorn constellation.

A team of researchers at Ohio State University came across the low-mass object while searching for bright stars with black holes nearby. Black holes absorb everything, including light, which makes them notoriously difficult to spot. But the scientists detected ‘The Unicorn’ because its gravitation field has a small tugging effect on a nearby red giant star. This mild gravitation pull causes the star to distort ever so slightly, which the Ohio group picked up using a range of telescopes and surveys.^[4]

6 The Hellish New Planet that Turns Metal to Vapor

TOI-1431b: a planet hotter than lava that vaporizes metal. This “hellish” ball of flames was discovered by physicists at the University of Southern Queensland. Almost twice the size of Jupiter, scientists say it might be the hottest planet in the known universe.

The scorching planet is less than 500 light-years from Earth and reaches temperatures of 2,700 degrees Celsius. That blistering heat is well above the melting point of most metals. “This is a very hellish world,” Dr Brett Addison told the press. “No life could survive in its atmosphere. In fact, the planet’s nightside temperature [2,300 degrees Celsius] is the second hottest ever measured.”^[5]

5 Giant Jellyfish Structure Discovered in Space

Extra-terrestrial jellyfish might sound like something out of a dodgy science fiction B movie. But scientists recently discovered a mammoth tentacled structure sprawling across the cosmos, and it has left them scratching their heads. The USS jellyfish is a mysterious mass of charged particles with a width of over a million light-years. The elusive giant has been described as the first known polyphoenix – a mysterious and intricate expanse of space that emits radio waves. Astronomers say they have never seen anything quite like it.

Australian student Torrance Hodgson first uncovered the USS jellyfish in 2017 as part of his graduate research project. At first, he assumed he had made a mistake. But, after much analysis, he and his advisor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt discovered the unique structure lurking in the Abell 2877 galaxy cluster. The acronym ‘USS’ bears no relation to the US navy. Instead, it stands for ultra-steep spectrum, a reference to the fact that the USS jellyfish only appears on a narrow band of low-frequency radio waves.

Scientists have speculated about the origins of the USS jellyfish. One theory is that the gargantuan structure is made of the remnants of matter spewed out by black holes around two billion years ago.^[6]

4 Cosmic Pipelines Fuelled the Early Universe

In the early days of the universe, only a few billion years after the Big Bang, outer space was a vast network of massive galaxies. Giant star systems filled the skies. These enormous galaxies needed cold gas for fuel, but they were almost always surrounded by hot atmospheric gas. From where did this cold gas come? How were these supersized galaxies able to survive?

Cosmologists have spent years searching for an answer to those questions. Now, thanks to a new study from the University of Iowa, they are one step closer to a definitive answer.

Scientists have long suspected that galaxies were fed cold gas by interconnecting structures made of dark matter. These structures are similar to filaments and pipelines. But this recent study marks the first time astronomers have detected one of the cosmic “pipelines.”

Using a state-of-the-art detector in the Atacama Desert, cosmologists looked into a galaxy formed when the universe was just 2.5 billion years old, a fifth of its current age. The research team found evidence in the form of “chemical fingerprints” on the outskirts of the galaxy that suggested there was a stream of cold gas. Further analysis confirmed the gas was being pumped in from the outside, supporting the theory of galactic filaments.^[7]

3 Dark Sirens Could Solve One of the Major Puzzles of the Universe

The universe is a mysterious thing. It is constantly expanding, we know that for sure, and all the galaxies inside it are drifting further apart. But measuring the speed of its growth is a difficult task. The expansion of the universe is described by the Hubble constant, named after US astronomer Edwin Hubble. But there are two different ways of calculating the Hubble constant and they both produce significantly different results.

But now there is a new theory that could help solve this issue: dark sirens. Dark sirens occur when enormous stellar objects like black holes or neutron stars come smashing into each other with such force that it warps the fabric of time and space. These astronomical distortions are known as gravitational waves and were first picked up by the LIGO detector in 2015.

Dark sirens are known to produce flashes of light that show up on traditional telescopes. When this happens, scientists can use the gravitational wave signal to calculate the distance then work out how quickly it is moving away by measuring the light. But researchers hope that, as technology improves, they should soon be able to pinpoint dark sirens with extreme precision. In the ever-evolving field of gravitational wave astronomy, scientists will be able to calculate the Hubble constant without the need for the burst of light.^[8]

2 Radio Signal Detected From Deep Inside the Cosmos

In March 2021, scientists announced that they had picked up a signal from the most distant region of space ever recorded. The celestial emissions traveled 13 billion light-years before they were discovered by stargazers on Earth.

It is highly unusual for astronomers to find radio signals from so deep in space. The waves are said to come from a far-flung quasar, an enormous galactic object that lets off a colossal amount of energy. Scientists believe that the signal they received was emitted when the universe was 780 million years old, still in its infancy.^[9]

1 The Milky Way’s Glowing Core Could Shed Light on Dark Matter

There is a strange glow coming from the center of our galaxy, and no one is quite sure what causes it. Scientists were baffled to find gamma rays from the heart of the Milky Way back in 2009 using NASA’s Fermi telescope. Now, a new study, published in March 2021, suggests that the elusive source of the celestial gleam could be dark matter.

The trailblazing paper was written by Mattia di Mauro, a nuclear physicist based in Turin. He studied ten years of measurements from the Fermi telescope, as well as data from the International Space Station, and studies of nearby dwarf galaxies. The evidence suggests that dark matter particles are crashing together and destroying each other in a blaze of gamma rays and subatomic particles.

If Mauro’s theory is correct, it could pave the way for a new understanding of dark matter. From the wealth of evidence he collected, the Italian physicist has estimated the mass, behavior, and decay of the mysterious particles.

But many other scientists are wary of Mauro’s findings. Some believe that the galactic glow has nothing to do with dark matter. Instead, they argue that it comes from a bulge of stars in the core of the Milky Way.^[10]

10 Amazing Things You Probably Don’t Know About The Space Race

Everybody has fantasized about hitting the jackpot at some point in their life. Whether you scour the ocean floor looking for sunken treasure, love sports betting or casinos, or even just play the lottery, everybody harbors a small flicker of hope that one day they can win big and change their lives for the better.

For most people, this payday and level of wealth will always remain an unattainable dream that few people are willing to invest time or money into achieving. But for the incredibly lucky few, great fortunes are still out there, just waiting to be discovered.

With that in mind, here are 10 examples of ordinary people who made astonishing discoveries that made them millions of dollars overnight.

Related: 10 Inspirational Rags-To-Riches Stories

10 Hand of Faith Gold Nugget, Australia: $1 Million

In the fall of 1980, Kevin Hillier and his family were traveling up and down the Australian coast in a van searching for work opportunities. Hillier had been making ends meet by doing odd jobs. However, after suffering a back injury, doctors had told him to cut back on the physical labor but to go walking to aid his recovery, which directly led to his interest in metal detecting.

Hillier’s wife often prayed they would discover their fortune through their newfound hobby, and Hillier once dreamed that he found a gold nugget that couldn’t be removed from the soil. But the family continued to struggle until one day in September 1980 when, outside his small hometown of Wedderburn, Victoria, Hiller’s dream became an unbelievable reality.

While out walking with his metal detector, Hillier really did discover a gold nugget that couldn’t (initially) be pulled from the ground. After many hours of careful digging, he managed to extract a gold nugget that weighed about 27.6kg (61 lbs.) which he sold in February 1981 to the Gold Nugget Casino in Las Vegas for over $1 million, where it remains the largest gold nugget on display anywhere in the world.^[1]

9 Heade’s “Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth,” Indiana: $1.25 Million

In January of 1999, an unnamed man was playing a board game about fine art titled Masterpiece when he recognized a picture that was painted in a similar style to a painting he had bought to cover a hole in the wall of his Indiana home. Intrigued, he searched the internet until he came across information from the Kennedy Galleries in New York regarding the work of an American artist named Martin Johnson Heade.

After sending some pictures and a description of the painting in his home to experts at the gallery, the owner was shocked to learn that his acquisition was actually a lost work by Heade. The piece was still in its original frame, and it was in remarkable condition, considering it was painted in the 1890s.

Heade’s “Magnolias On Gold Velvet Cloth”—as the painting was titled—was eventually purchased by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts for more than $1 million after the board of trustees managed to raise the funds in a meeting that lasted less than 90 minutes.^[2]

But don’t be discouraged, reportedly, there are many more lost or forgotten—and valuable—paintings just waiting to be found at your neighborhood thrift store, flea market, or rummage sale.

8 Declaration Of Independence, Pennsylvania: $2.42 Million

The Declaration of Independence is considered by many Americans to be the most important document in the nation’s history. After the original was created, 200 “first edition” copies were made by John Dunlap ‘ were made so the message of the Declaration could be carried across the nation. Of the 26 copies known to survive, only three of them are currently in the hands of private collectors.

One such copy was discovered behind a painting that a collector only bought because he liked the frame. Upon disassembling the frame, the unidentified owner found an “unspeakably fresh” first edition copy of the Declaration Of Independence folded up behind the picture.

An excited friend encouraged the owner to contact Sotheby’s to get it appraised and eventually it sold for $2.42 million at auction in 1991, with the price reflecting the unique nature of this discovery and the remarkable condition it was in. That same copy was auctioned by the 1991 auction wiiner again in 2000, bringing in $8 million.^[3]

7 Hoxne Hoard, UK: $2.5 Million

In November 1992, a farmer was working his fields in Suffolk, England, when he realized that he had lost his hammer. Knowing it could take years to search for it alone and not willing to give it up as lost and buy a new one, he asked his friend Eric Lawes to bring his metal detector over and attempt to locate his missing tool.

Not long into the search, Eric picked up a signal, so he began digging in the soil where his reading was strongest. It quickly became apparent that he had not found the hammer but had instead stumbled across something much more exciting. After digging up a few shovels full of gold and silver coins, Eric quickly contacted police and local archeologists to inform them of his discovery. The very next day, a team of experts excavated the entire chunk of earth containing the coins so that they could be examined and extracted under laboratory conditions. It was only when the experts began the lab work that they realized the significance of Eric’s discovery.

Overall, Eric had found about 27 kilograms (60 pounds) of gold and silver objects, including over 15,000 coins that dated from the Roman occupation of Great Britain. Mr. Lawes received over $2.5 million from the British government as compensation for his remarkable discovery, which he split evenly with the landowner, who eventually found the hammer which had sparked the initial search.^[4]

6 The Royal One, Black Opal, Australia: $3 Million

In 1999, a man known only as Bobby decided to sell all of his equipment and retire from an opal mining career that had lasted more than 20 years. Bobby lived in Lightning Ridge, a small mining community in New South Wales, Australia, and he found the stone in the very last bucket that had been mined.

Bobby worked carefully for months to reveal the beautiful opal, which he eventually named the Royal One. For reasons known only to him, Bobby inexplicably kept it under his bed (or in a kangaroo skin pouch around his neck) for more than 14 years despite having the expertise to know just how potentially valuable it was.

Eventually it was auctioned off in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2013, and the Royal One—a 306-carat high quality black opal—netted Bobby over $3 million.^[5]

5 Tanzanite Stones, Tanzania: $3.4 Million

Tanzanite is an incredibly rare mineral that can only be found in one place on earth, the African nation of Tanzania, from which the gem gets its name. The rarity of tanzanite makes it extremely valuable, and mining this gem provides a valuable source of income for many budding entrepreneurs and treasure hunters in the country.

Out of all the people who spend their lives searching for tanzanite, Saniniu Laizer must be considered the luckiest. In June 2020, his mining operation in Tanzania recovered the two largest examples of the mineral ever recorded, weighing 9.3 kilograms (20 pounds) and 5.1 kilograms (11 pounds), which he sold to the Tanzanian government for more than $3.4 million.

Amazingly, Laizer wasn’t ready to retire with his new fortune. Just two months later, in August 2020, reports suggest that he found another huge piece of Tanzanite weighing 5.3 kilograms (14 pounds), worth an estimated $2 million.

Laizer has 30 children to care for, but he still promises to build a school and a medical center with his newfound wealth in an attempt to help all the people who live in his impoverished community.^[6]

4 Crosby Garrett Roman Helmet, Cumbria UK: $3.6 Million

In the UK, important archeological finds must be reported to the relevant authorities upon discovery. Certain valuable metals such as gold and silver are not permitted for private sale, so just like the previously mentioned Hoxne Hoard, a “finder’s fee” is paid to anyone who discovers and reports valuable historical artifacts. The finds are then acquired by local museums, where they can be studied and viewed by the public.

The next item, however, wasn’t covered by these laws as it was made from bronze, which is only considered treasure if it is part of a hoard. Since this object was discovered on its own, it could be sold privately, which was great news for the pockets of the unnamed person who found it!

The artifact in question is a bronze, ceremonial Roman cavalry helmet in unbelievable condition for its age. It was discovered by an amateur metal detectorist on a Cumbrian farm in the UK in May 2010. It’s one of only three Roman helmets to be found in Britain with a complete facemask. Because of its rarity and the fact it could be purchased by anybody, the helmet eventually sold for $3.6 million, which was paid by a private collector at an auction in October 2010.^[7]

3 Staffordshire Hoard, UK: $4.3 Million

An amateur metal detectorist named Terry was searching a field in Lichfield, England, in July 2009 when he came across an area with a uniquely strong signal. Almost immediately after breaking the surface of the ground, the man knew he had discovered something special as he started to uncover an astonishing stash of gold, weapons, and ornaments that had lain undisturbed beneath the surface for over 1,300 years.

What has become known as “The Staffordshire Hoard” was essentially a “war hoard” dating from 600–650, which was an especially turbulent period of England’s history. Experts believe that the items were captured in battle by armies from the kingdom of Mercia, which was at war with the neighboring regions of Northumbria and East Anglia at the time. Although, how it came to be buried in a field far from any known buildings or roads, we will probably never know.

The hoard was purchased by the Birmingham Museum for more than $4.3 million and is still available for the public to view. The money was split evenly between metal detectorist Terry Herbert and landowner Fred Johnson.^[8]

2 “Christ Mocked” By Cimabue, France: $26.8 Million

This story is remarkably similar to that of Heade’s “Magnolias on Golden Gold Velvet Cloth,” which originally covered a hole in a wall. However, this painting, “Christ Mocked” by Cimabue, hung over a stovetop in a French farmhouse for decades. Thought to be a Russian religious relic, the paint was darkened by the stove’s heat, and the whole thing was covered in dirt and grease. This tiny masterpiece was eventually discovered in September 2019 by an auctioneer categorizing the belongings of the elderly owner who was moving out of the old house and into a retirement home.

Upon closer inspection and after some cleaning, it was realized that this was one of only 11 known paintings created by the Italian artist Cimabue. The painting was put up for auction. It was purchased by two U.S.-based collectors who specialized in Italian Renaissance art, but the French government imposed a 30-month ban on the export of the painting with the hope that it could quickly raise enough money to buy it so that the painting could remain in France and eventually be displayed in the Louvre.^[9]

1 The Third Imperial Easter Egg by Fabergé, USA: Roughly $33 Million

The Russian Revolution is famous for many things: the eventual rise of communism, the demise of the Romanov royal family (the last monarchs in Russian history), and the confiscation and eventual sale of numerous golden bejeweled eggs created by the master artist, Peter Carl Fabergé, by the incoming regime.

Fabergé eggs not only hold remarkable value because of the cost of materials used in their creation and their fabulous designs but also because they are the last remaining relics of a royal family and a way of life that no longer exists in Russia today.

You would think that with their incredible notoriety, Fabergé eggs would be quite easy to identify and locate, but due to the secretive nature of Stalin’s sales of the eggs to private buyers in Western countries, eight of the Imperial eggs created for members of the Russian royal family are still missing today.

So when a man from the midwest happened across the Third Imperial Easter Egg at a jumble sale, the intention behind him spending $14,000 on acquiring this unique piece of art was not based on knowledge of art or Russian history, but from a desire to melt it down and profit from the raw materials that the egg consisted of. Upon appraisal, however, the unnamed man realized that he had paid more than the egg’s gold and jewels were worth, and he was worried that he had made a colossal error that would cost him a lot of money.

In desperation, the man searched the words “egg” and “Vacheron Constantin” (the words engraved around the clock) into Google and stumbled across an article in a British newspaper.

To the scrap metal dealer’s astonishment, the egg he thought would lose him money was actually worth something in the region of $33 million, and in 2014, the egg was purchased by a private collector for an unknown price.^[10]