10 practical movie monsters have traveled a wild road from hands‑on puppetry to pixel‑perfect digital beasts. Special effects have never been static; they constantly evolve, pushing filmmakers to chase ever‑greater realism. Early crews relied on tangible tricks—suits, puppets, miniatures—that gave creatures a physical presence on set. Those practical tools made monsters feel weighty, but the rise of computer‑generated imagery opened a whole new toolbox, letting legends leap from the screen in ways once impossible. Yet the shift hasn’t always been smooth; some CGI revamps sparkle, while others stumble under the glare of modern lenses.

Why 10 Practical Movie Monsters Matter

10 King Kong

It’s a funny thought: the colossal ape that towers over skyscrapers started life as a tiny model. In the 1933 original, Kong’s massive brawls were achieved through stop‑motion, moving miniature figures frame‑by‑frame to simulate his thunderous fights. The ’60s and ’70s saw a blend of animatronics and actors donning gorilla suits, giving him a more tactile feel. The millennium, however, turned the tables.

The 2000s breathed fresh life into Kong, most famously with the 2005 remake. Here, motion‑capture technology recorded an actor’s movements, translating them into a fully digital ape. While this sacrificed some of the creature’s old‑school tangibility, it granted Kong unprecedented facial nuance and emotional depth, letting audiences connect with him on a whole new level.

9 Godzilla

Godzilla’s reign began as a towering saurian powered by nuclear fury, a force capable of flattening entire metropolises with his iconic atomic breath. The original filmmakers, lacking stop‑motion budgets, opted for a man‑in‑suit approach, striding through miniature cityscapes. This suit‑based kaiju technique defined the franchise for decades.

When the 2000 reboot arrived, the beast was rendered on computers. Early on, CGI was limited to a handful of shots, but soon the rubber suit was fully retired. Yet the spirit of the original lived on—Godzilla’s proportions and gait still echoed the classic human‑scaled movements.

Later entries, such as Shin Godzilla, even blended motion capture with digital rendering, preserving the lumbering menace while upgrading texture detail. The result: a monster that feels both familiar and spectacularly modern.

8 Xenomorphs

Space horror’s crown jewel, the Xenomorph, first slithered onto screens through intricately crafted puppets and suits that hid their seams in shadowy lighting. Their acidic blood and relentless hunting made them terrifying, and the early practical effects capitalized on close‑ups and darkness to mask any imperfections.

As the series progressed, entire swarms of these alien predators shifted to CGI. The digital transition was uneven—bright lighting and flashy set pieces often exposed the lack of physical texture, diluting the original’s tangible dread.

7 The Thing

John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece introduced an Arctic‑bound entity that could perfectly imitate its victims. Most of the film relied on ordinary actors, reserving grotesque reveals for meticulously built animatronic puppets that pulsed with realistic terror.

The 2011 prequel abandoned much of that subtlety, opting for a fully digital monster that erupted in bright, heavily lit scenes. The CGI version struggled to convey the same visceral horror, often appearing weightless and unconvincing against the practical effects of its predecessor.

6 Dracula

Vampire lore’s most iconic figure, Dracula, has traditionally been rendered with simple tricks—fake fangs, bat silhouettes on strings, and modest makeup—to convey his supernatural allure and strength.

Modern adaptations, like Dracula Untold, leaned heavily on CGI to depict bat swarms and grandiose battle scenes. While visually impressive, the over‑reliance on digital effects sometimes eclipsed the character’s subtle, gothic terror.

5 The Mummy

The cursed Egyptian priest, wrapped in ancient bandages, originally shuffled across the screen in practical suits, embodying an undead menace that could barely be stopped. The physicality of these bandaged actors gave the Mummy an unsettling presence.

Remakes in 1999 and 2017 swapped the classic wrappings for CGI‑enhanced flesh, enabling grotesque transformations, scarab swarms, and towering sandstorms. While the digital spectacle added adventure flair, it often lacked the gritty realism of the original practical effects.

4 The Wolfman

The 1941 classic introduced a cursed man who transformed into a feral beast, achieved with masks, gloves, and prosthetic hair. The practical approach gave the Wolfman a raw, animalistic edge.

Later portrayals in franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight prioritized the wolf form, relying on CGI that varied in quality—bright scenes exposing the digital flaws. The 2010 remake, however, revived the classic mask technique, delivering a standout blend of tradition and technology.

3 The Terminator

Terminator’s cybernetic assassins masquerade as humans, concealing metal skeletons beneath flesh. Early films used real actors, supplementing injuries with prosthetics, animatronics, and stop‑motion for more severe damage.

As the series progressed, CGI began to complement practical work, but the core physicality remained. However, entries like Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate leaned almost entirely on digital rendering, showcasing liquid‑metal bodies and nanotech effects.

These fully CGI renditions often appeared weightless, failing to mesh seamlessly with the live‑action elements—a stark contrast to the gritty, tactile feel of the original practical effects.

2 The Kraken

The legendary sea monster, a massive squid capable of dragging ships into abyssal depths, first appeared through stop‑motion tentacles and wirework in early cinema, letting filmmakers suggest its enormity without fully revealing it.

When CGI arrived, the Kraken was finally shown in full, but results varied. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest kept the creature shrouded, preserving mystery, while others, such as the Clash of the Titans remake, exposed it in bright underwater scenes, making the digital monster feel less convincing.

1 Dinosaurs

Prehistoric giants have long fascinated audiences, their sheer size and power making them iconic monsters. Early depictions relied on stop‑motion, animatronics, and full‑size costumes to bring these colossal beasts to life.

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park revolutionized the genre, blending practical animatronics for close‑ups with groundbreaking CGI for sweeping shots. The result was lifelike skin, fluid musculature, and a sense of real presence that set a new benchmark. Subsequent films that mixed both techniques continued to deliver dinosaurs that felt both tangible and spectacular.

In the years that followed, pure CGI dinosaurs dominated screens, yet the most memorable moments still often involved a clever mix of practical and digital work, reminding us that a touch of reality can make the impossible feel possible.

When you see ads of carefree girls splashing in pools or dancing through meadows, you’re witnessing the luxury of modern tampons and pads. But before those conveniences arrived, women had to be inventive. The top 10 practical approaches they employed stretched across continents and centuries, from simple cloths to surprising natural materials. Let’s travel back in time and see how menstruation was handled before the 20th‑century breakthroughs.

10 Rags

Fabric scraps served as the most straightforward stand‑in for a modern pad. Since at least the 10th century, women folded and layered pieces of cloth to soak up menstrual flow. These pieces were reusable; once they were saturated, they could be rinsed, wrung out, and used again, making them both economical and durable.

This cloth‑based method persisted well into the 19th century, overlapping with the debut of commercial sanitary pads in 1888. Because pads were initially pricey and not universally accessible, many women—especially those of limited means—continued to rely on rags well into the early 1900s.

9 Papyrus

Ancient Egyptian women are thought to have turned softened papyrus into a makeshift tampon. Papyrus, a reed that grew abundantly along the Nile, was traditionally used for writing. By soaking the stalks in water, the fibers became pliable and slightly sticky, allowing multiple strips to be bound together into an absorbent plug.

While the idea is plausible—papyrus is both soft and plentiful—direct evidence is scarce. Any records that might have mentioned such a practice likely perished because ancient texts were themselves written on papyrus, a fragile medium that rarely survived the ages.

8 Wool

In classical Greece, wool appears in medical writings as a possible tampon material. The famed physician Hippocrates, whose work dates to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, documented a wool‑based insertion method, likely because wool was readily available in the region.

Hippocrates’ broader medical theories were a mixture of insight and misconception—he famously claimed that excess body fat could crush the uterus, for example. Nonetheless, his recommendation of wool reflects a logical use of a common, absorbent resource that could be fashioned into a temporary menstrual aid.

7 Cedar Bark

Native American women, particularly in the Great Plains, turned to cedar bark as a makeshift pad and even as a diaper material. While bark is typically thought of as rough, cedar possesses unique qualities: it is lightweight, thin, and—most importantly—highly absorbent.

The combination of low weight and moisture‑retaining capacity made cedar bark a functional, if not especially comfortable, alternative when other supplies were unavailable.

6 Buffalo Hide

The Arikara tribe of the northern United States—spanning North Dakota, Montana, and parts of Wyoming—crafted sanitary pads from buffalo hide. Beyond providing meat, the buffalo supplied an array of materials: bones for tools, horns for vessels, sinews for threads, and its skin for clothing and shelter.

To transform raw hide into a pad, the skin was soaked, stretched, and scraped to remove hair. Afterward, it was smoked over a fire, which both dried the leather and infused it with preservative properties. The resulting material became soft, pliable, and relatively comfortable compared with rougher options like cedar bark.

By the time the hide was fully processed, it served as a durable, reusable menstrual pad that could be washed and reused, fitting the resource‑conscious lifestyle of the tribe.

5 Natural Sponges

Coastal women of antiquity, especially around the Mediterranean, sometimes employed natural sea sponges as tampons. Sponges are inherently absorbent, making them a logical choice for fluid collection.

Modern research, however, warns that raw sea sponges can harbor bacteria, yeast, and other pathogens. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classified them as “significant‑risk devices” in the 1990s, prompting stricter cleaning protocols for contemporary products. Ancient women lacked such sanitation methods, likely boiling the sponges before use, but the risk of infection would have been considerably higher.

Despite modern concerns, advances in sterilization have allowed some companies to market cleaned sponges safely, though the ancient practice remains a testament to resourcefulness in the face of limited options.

4 Grass

Across Africa and parts of Australia, women fashioned both pads and tampons from various grasses and vegetable fibers. A pad might consist of a bundled strip of grass, while a tampon could be a tightly rolled bunch of grass stems and roots.

Not all grasses are created equal. Some, like carpet grass, can be relatively soft, but many species are itchy, rough, or even painful to the delicate skin. The experience was often far from comfortable, yet it represented a readily available solution when other materials were scarce.

Even today, many women in resource‑limited regions still rely on improvised options—rags, leaves, or paper—highlighting the ongoing challenge of equitable menstrual hygiene worldwide.

3 Paper

In ancient Japan, women are believed to have rolled sheets of paper—specifically the sturdy, fibrous washi—into tampons, securing them with a band called a kama. Because the paper was relatively strong and absorbent, it could be changed multiple times a day, often up to ten replacements.

Washi, produced since around AD 800, is crafted from long plant fibers that remain intact during processing, giving it superior durability and absorbency compared with typical Western paper. This quality made it a surprisingly effective makeshift menstrual aid.

The frequent changes required by this method underscore how labor‑intensive menstrual care could be before the advent of disposable products.

2 Rabbit Fur

Some historical accounts suggest that women once turned to rabbit fur as a pad material. While documentation is sparse, the notion is plausible: rabbit fur is soft, pliable, and could be gathered without much effort.

Various cultures—including Native American and African societies—have long used rabbit pelts for clothing, blankets, and other utilities. It follows that a few might have repurposed the fur to catch menstrual flow, though concrete evidence remains limited.

Given the softness of the fur, it would have provided a relatively gentle barrier, but the lack of reliable sources means this practice should be viewed with cautious curiosity.

1 Nothing!

In 19th‑century Europe, many women—particularly those of modest means—simply allowed their periods to run free. At that time, commercial pads were either non‑existent or prohibitively expensive, and homemade alternatives required fabric that many could not spare.

While this practice is most documented among poorer women of the era, the principle extends across history: whenever resources were lacking, women sometimes opted for free‑bleeding, whether out of necessity or personal choice. Even today, some women deliberately choose to free‑bleed as an act of empowerment or convenience.

The enduring reality is that menstrual care has always been shaped by accessibility, economics, and cultural attitudes, reminding us how far modern products have come—and how vital continued progress remains.

Top 10 Practical Overview

The top 10 practical methods highlighted here showcase the ingenuity and resilience of women throughout history. From humble rags to inventive uses of natural materials, each solution reflects a unique response to the challenges of menstrual management before the era of disposable hygiene products.

When we talk about the most catastrophic tools humanity has ever created, the phrase “top 10 disturbingly efficient” immediately brings nuclear weapons to mind. These ten devices combine terrifying power with a twist of practicality that makes them as fascinating as they are frightening.

10 W54 Man‑Portable Rocket‑Launched Nuclear Weapon

At the dawn of the atomic age, bombs were massive, clunky, and delivered low yields. Over the decades, engineers managed to shrink the hardware while cranking up the explosive power. The smallest nuclear device ever fielded by any army is the W54, a truly pocket‑sized terror.

Developed by the United States in the 1950s, the W54 was a tactical, low‑yield weapon capable of unleashing blasts ranging from ten tons up to a full kiloton. It was mounted on the M‑28 and M‑29 Davy Crockett short‑range rockets, which could hurl the payload a mere two to four kilometres before impact.

Beyond its rocket role, the W54 was adapted into a Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM), a man‑portable bomb intended for use if Soviet forces ever overran Europe. Soldiers could carry it short distances and fire it as an artillery round to deny key terrain.

Later variants tried to turn the W54 into a nuclear‑tipped air‑to‑air missile; the W72 model was a rebuilt W54 fitted to the AGM‑62 Walleye guided bomb, theoretically capable of delivering a six‑hundred‑ton yield, though no operational examples are known.

Before the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the United States produced roughly 400 W54 units between 1957 and 1979, testing them extensively to ensure reliability.

9 Mark‑18 Ivy King

Some nuclear strategists argue for precise, low‑yield weapons, while others champion a “go big or go home” philosophy. The Mark‑18 Ivy King epitomizes the latter, standing as the United States’ largest pure‑fission bomb ever tested.

In direct response to the Soviet Union’s push for high‑yield devices in the 1950s, the Truman administration launched Operation Ivy, culminating in the Ivy King test on 16 November 1952. The explosion delivered a staggering 500‑kiloton blast.

This behemoth weighed about 3,900 kg (8,600 lb) and employed a 92‑point implosion system. Its core contained enough highly enriched uranium to equal four critical masses, pushing the design to the edge of criticality safety. To prevent accidental detonation, aluminum and boron chains filled the central chamber, absorbing stray neutrons.

When it was time to arm the weapon, technicians simply removed the neutron‑absorbing chain, allowing the reaction to proceed. Between March 1953 and 1956, the United States manufactured 90 Mark‑18 bombs.

8 W82 Nuclear Artillery Shell

In nuclear parlance, weapons are divided into strategic and tactical categories. The atomic bombs that fell on Japan were strategic – designed to force surrender through sheer devastation. Tactical nukes, by contrast, are meant to support conventional forces in specific engagements.

The W82 exemplifies this approach. It is a low‑yield, 155 mm artillery shell capable of delivering a two‑kiloton blast. Its design allows for interchangeable components, enabling it to function either as an “enhanced radiation” device or a standard fission bomb.

Developed to bolster NATO’s forward defense against a potential Soviet incursion, the W82 could be fired up to 30 km (18.6 mi) when equipped with a rocket‑assist booster. Though the original plan called for 2,500 rounds, only about 1,000 were produced before the program was cancelled in 1991 following the Cold War’s end.

7 W44 Nuclear Depth Charge

Submarines are among the most potent platforms in naval warfare, posing a continuous threat to surface ships. To counter this menace, navies equipped themselves with torpedoes and depth charges, some of which carried nuclear warheads.

The United States introduced the W44 nuclear depth charge in 1961 for use with the RUR‑5 ASROC (Anti‑Submarine ROCket) system. This system launched a rocket that delivered a Mark 44/46 torpedo fitted with a W44 warhead.

The W44’s ten‑kiloton yield made it a terrifyingly effective tool against enemy submarines. Once the rocket’s torpedo entered the water, the depth charge detached and sank to a pre‑set depth before detonating.

Although only tested once or twice, a total of 575 W44 units were produced before the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty halted further underwater nuclear testing.

6 B61 Mod 11/12 Nuclear Bunker Buster

Staying underground is the classic way to survive a nuclear blast, but that very protection makes it hard to neutralize hardened targets. To breach fortified bunkers, the United States developed the Mod 11 version of the B61 thermonuclear gravity bomb.

The Mod 11 works by combining a powerful ground‑shock wave with a penetration depth of roughly three metres (ten feet), forcing the bulk of the explosive energy deep into the earth to demolish the target. It can be equipped with yields of 0.3, 340, or 400 kilotons.

In 2019, development began on the GPS‑guided Mod 12, offering yields of 0.3, 1.5, 10, or 50 kilotons. The weapon is believed capable of piercing up to 304 metres (1,000 ft) of solid granite, specifically to threaten Russia’s continuity‑of‑government facility at Kosvinsky Kamen.

5 MK‑54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition

While the W54 was engineered for rocket deployment, the MK‑54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was designed to be carried by soldiers directly into the battlefield. Its purpose was to thwart a Soviet invasion of Europe by allowing troops to place a nuclear charge on critical infrastructure.

Weighing just 23 kg (51 lb) and fitting into a standard duffel bag, the MK‑54 could deliver yields ranging from ten tons up to one kiloton. It featured a timed delay, giving operators a window to set the device and escape before detonation.

Three hundred MK‑54s were built, and airborne units were trained to parachute into enemy territory, plant the bomb on targets such as power plants or bridges, and then retreat. The mission was fraught with controversy, as many participants believed it was essentially a suicide task: the timer and blast radius left little chance of safe egress.

Veteran Mark Bentley recalled the grim reality, saying, “We all knew it was a one‑way mission, a suicide mission.”

4 RA‑115 Suitcase Nuke

The Soviet Union responded to the American MK‑54 by creating its own “suitcase” nuclear device: the RA‑115. Weighing between 22 and 27 kg (50‑60 lb), these portable bombs were meant to sit covertly at strategic locations for eventual detonation.

Each RA‑115 was linked to a small power source with a backup battery, which could signal a loss of power to a GRU post at a Russian embassy or consulate. According to defector Stanislav Lunev, the USSR produced roughly 250 of these weapons, with more than a hundred still unaccounted for.

The unsettling implication is that these devices could have been hidden inside the United States, ready to eliminate key targets or political figures if the Cold War ever ignited. Russian officials have debated the veracity of these claims, but the secrecy surrounding the program leaves many questions unanswered.

3 Blue Peacock Nuclear Land Mine

The United Kingdom devised a nuclear land mine, codenamed Blue Peacock, to bolster NATO’s defensive line should the Soviets push into northern Germany. The project’s earlier names included Brown Bunny and Blue Bunny before settling on Blue Peacock.

Designed to produce a ten‑kiloton explosion, the mine could be triggered either by an eight‑day timer or a manual wire. NATO planners believed that a well‑placed atomic mine would not only devastate enemy installations but also render the area uninhabitable for a considerable period due to radioactive contamination.

Although the system progressed through development, it was never deployed because of the unacceptable risk of widespread fallout contaminating allied territory. An odd anecdote from the program involved a proposal to keep the mine’s electronics warm in sub‑zero conditions by sealing live chickens with food and water inside the casing, letting their body heat prevent freezing.

When the project was declassified in 2004, many assumed it was an elaborate April Fools’ joke – but the documentation proved otherwise.

2 9M730 Burevestnik Nuclear‑Powered, Nuclear‑Armed Cruise Missile

In March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled six new strategic weapons, the most eye‑catching of which was the 9M730 Burevestnik – a cruise missile that carries a nuclear warhead and is itself powered by a nuclear reactor.

Developed as a countermeasure to the United States’ THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system, the Burevestnik claims an essentially unlimited range and the ability to evade all existing and advanced air‑ and missile‑defense systems.

Because the weapon is relatively new, its exact yield remains classified. However, the program is linked to the tragic Nyonoksa radiation accident in August 2019, which claimed the lives of five scientists testing an isotope power source for a liquid‑fuel rocket engine.

Russian envoy Aleksei Karpov framed the incident as a retaliatory move following the United States’ withdrawal from the Anti‑Ballistic Missile Treaty, underscoring the high‑stakes nature of this nuclear‑powered missile race.

1 RDS‑220 Tsar Bomba

The RDS‑220, popularly known as the Tsar Bomba, remains the most famous nuclear weapon ever built. Tested in October 1961, it holds the record as the largest man‑made explosive ever detonated.

Designed more as a proof‑of‑concept than a battlefield weapon, the bomb measured eight metres (26 ft) in length and weighed a staggering 27,000 kg (60,000 lb). Only a single unit was ever constructed and tested.

While some estimates suggest a potential yield of 100 megaton if a uranium‑238 fusion tamper had been used, the actual explosion produced about 50 megaton, more than 3,300 times the force of the Hiroshima blast.

To carry the massive device, a specially modified aircraft was stripped down, painted with reflective white coating, and its crew was given merely a 50 percent chance of survival. Upon release, the bomb generated a mushroom cloud that rose 67 km (42 mi) into the atmosphere.

These ten disturbingly efficient nuclear weapons illustrate how engineering ingenuity can be twisted into instruments of unparalleled destruction. From pocket‑sized bombs to megaton behemoths, each design reflects a unique blend of practicality and horror.

On the one hand, extending life to the point of practical immortality (longevity escape velocity, or LEV) is an absurdly bad idea, the epitome of human hubris, fraught with all manner of social, economic, and philosophical problems—many of which we probably can’t foresee.

On the other hand, if aging is a disease like any other (as epigeneticists tend to think), and our number one killer at that, aren’t we morally obliged to work on a cure—especially if, as researchers claim, a cure most definitely exists? Aubrey de Grey, one of the most public advocates of life extension research, answers the question of why he wants to cure aging with another: “What the hell is wrong with everyone else that stops them from being motivated to cure aging? It’s responsible for the overwhelming majority of global suffering. WTF?”

On yet another hand (who knows, maybe we’ll graft one on next), if you’re enjoying life, why not prolong it indefinitely? It’s not like we’re going to eliminate death entirely and force everyone to live forever; we’re just looking at ways to tackle its primary cause.

In any case, wherever you stand on life extension, there are certain things you can do right now to improve your odds of living long enough to see it happen. And, even if when that day comes you opt out of “living forever,” these top 10 tips for practical immortality can only improve your health in the meantime. For the most part anyway.

10. Take supplements

Although there’s very little evidence in favor of supplementing nutrients for longevity (something de Grey himself points out), life extension zealot Ray Kurzweil takes hundreds of pills every day. If you want to stand a chance of living forever, he insists, you must “be aggressive with your supplementation.”

Stephen Coles, another life extension enthusiast, appears to agree, prescribing a daunting nutrient cocktail of vitamins (B, C, E, etc.), fish oil, soya lecithin, and many, many other supplements.

Obviously the cost of so many pills can rapidly get out of control. It’s also no small feat keeping up with the often contradictory research and adjusting your regimen accordingly, while at the same time accounting for differences in size, weight, gender, health, lifestyle, diet, and so on. Given that individual supplements could end up interfering with, duplicating, or even counteracting the effects of the others, fine-tuning your intake can become a rather tedious full-time job. And it’s probably not worth the hassle.

But if you’re serious about supplementation (because there is in fact reason to be), then the best way to get started is to plan out your own “personal supplement pyramid.” The idea is to start with a reliable foundation of supplements recommended for everyone—multivitamin, CoQ10, essential fatty acids, probiotics, and so on—before customizing your intake from there. First, you’ll add supplements recommended for your own medical profile (e.g. pomegranate extract for a family history of heart disease), and then you’ll top off your pyramid with some of the more faddish or experimental wonder-supplements (or drugs) of the day. These might include protein-refolding supplements, Basis, or metformin. Ned David, co-founder of Unity Biotechnology, is said to look 20 years younger, in part because he uses metformin—a diabetes drug that helped even elderly diabetics live longer than a healthy control group.

9. Watch what you eat…

As with supplements, Aubrey de Grey doesn’t think much of fad diets when it comes to extending longevity. Obviously an unhealthy diet can significantly shorten your lifespan, but slavishly following the Atkins or paleo diet (for instance) might be a waste of your time—unless of course you’re overweight.

That said, you can’t go wrong with a traditionally healthy diet. That means ample fiber (prunes, whole grains, potato skins, etc.), fatty acids (from oily fish or vegetarian supplements), and plenty of vegetables. Antioxidants are especially useful for slowing the production of free radicals that cause havoc to aging cells. Antioxidant foods include walnuts, pomegranates, ginger, and blackberries. Red wine contains the powerful antioxidant resveratrol and evidence suggests drinking it in small quantities could help protect against a variety of age-related disorders, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Green tea, with its polyphenols, antioxidants, and antibacterial qualities, is also recommended. Meanwhile, you should limit your consumption of saturated/trans fats, meat, dairy, chemical additives, sugar, starches, and heavily processed foods. And you should never eat brains.

Some nutritionists believe we should eat the same as “Blue Zone” residents, i.e. those living in areas with the most centenarians. People in Sardinia (Italy), Okinawa (Japan), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California), for instance, have longer lifespans on average, perhaps because of their seafood-rich and otherwise plant-based diets.

It should be noted, however, that such a diet is not really feasible for most of us. Our use of chemical pesticides has rendered many foods (especially apples, peppers, peaches, spinach, and strawberries) actually toxic, and our polluted seas have increased methylmercury levels in fish to potentially dangerous levels.

In short, it’s probably best to follow de Grey’s golden rule for diet and eat whatever doesn’t make you feel ill.

8. …but eat less of it

People in “Blue Zones” also tend to eat less, for example by stopping when they’re “80% full” as opposed to fully stuffed. According to many life extension fanatics, this kind of calorie restriction may be key to extending longevity.

In fact, we’ve actually found that animals tend to live longer when they’re kept hungry—perhaps because a starving body focuses less on reproduction and more on surviving the famine, investing energy and resources into repairing cells and boosting resilience. One monkey put on a 30% calorie restricted diet at the age of 16, for example, turned 43 in 2017 (the equivalent of 130 in human years), breaking the longevity record for his species. Other studies have demonstrated the same effect in smaller animals such as nematode worms and rats.

Calorie restriction is tough, though, even if it’s only temporary. In one study, participants who restricted their calories on only five days per month for just three months of the year had a dropout rate of 25%. For some, calorie restriction just isn’t worth it. It diminishes their quality of life too much, even if it does extend the duration. And it could also be harmful. Many researchers are keen to point out that calorie restriction is really more of a focus for studying aging in the lab than a practical lifestyle recommendation. A drug with the same effect, i.e. of dampening the mTOR signalling pathway to regulate cellular metabolism, would be far preferable.

Still, calorie restriction might be a good idea if you’re currently overweight.

7. Get into shape

De Grey doesn’t live much of a temperate lifestyle himself; he drinks as much as he likes and doesn’t even bother with exercise because he’s “so well optimized” genetically (i.e. with high glucose tolerance, low insulin, and low triglycerides). Nor does he think it’s essential for anyone to lose weight or stop smoking to stand a chance of reaching LEV. You might gain a couple of extra years but this is nothing compared to the long-term goals of de Grey’s SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) Research Foundation. Within 30 years, he insists, we should be able to reverse any kind of lifestyle damage anyway. And we’ve already seen the first stirrings of the gene therapy era with the “impossible” advent of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing system.

For many, though, especially if another 30 years would be pushing it, adopting a healthy lifestyle now is probably a good idea. For one thing, just like calorie restriction, exercise puts the body under strain and dampens the mTOR signalling pathway. Adopting a healthy lifestyle can also reduce your chance of mortality from any cause by a massive 61%, potentially increasing your lifespan by more than a decade.

But you don’t need to go crazy. The best (and safest) exercise might just be walking. Evidence suggests that it’s just as effective as vigorous exercise for lowering cholesterol and preventing hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. It also lowers blood sugar, improves digestion, eases fatigue, boosts mood, and enhances sleep, all of which are vital for getting into (and staying in) shape.

6. Stay safe

Even if you do live to see age and possibly disease eliminated, you’ll still be at risk of accidental death and murder.

You can actually run your own simulation here to see how long humans would live in a world without age or disease, based on data from the Insurance Information Institute. In one simulation of 500 practical immortals, for instance, the oldest person to die was 54,258 years old and the cause of death was a car accident. Other causes of death, including shooting and drowning, limited the average life expectancy to a paltry 8,938 years.

Setting aside the question of how car safety and other factors will have improved by the 563rd century (around the time that last quadragintiquinquagintimilliquinquagintiducentinarian crashes his car), these statistics can help us frame the dangers that we face every day. After age and disease, car accidents are the most common cause of death by far. You have a 0.011% chance of dying this way every year. The next most common cause of death, in the US at least, is assault by firearm. You have a 0.0035% chance of this.

Obviously the answer is to invest in self-driving cars, or to avoid driving altogether. Tighter gun laws might help too (although armed police apparently pose the real threat, killing more American civilians every year than mass shooters, terrorists, and gangsters put together). Then there are the freak accidents none of us see coming.

Unfortunately, you can’t eliminate risk entirely without severely limiting your quality of life. So you’re better off sticking with the essentials. Keep a first aid kit handy (and know how to use it); learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver (and make sure those around you do too); and know exactly what to do in a variety of life-threatening situations.

While you wait around for LEV, you should also stay on top of regular medical and dental check-ups, including twice-yearly prophylactic cleaning in the latter case, and all essential vaccinations.

5. Minimize stress and get plenty of sleep

Importantly, don’t freak out about the risks that surround you each day. Avoid all stress in general, including about your age. Frequent bursts of adrenaline can be dangerous and cortisol can actually corrode bodily tissues. Stress also constricts blood vessels, potentially leading to angina.

De-stressing your life doesn’t have to be stressful. Some common tips are to avoid routine emergency deadlines, take time out when you need it, and use public transport instead of driving in big cities.

Getting good quality sleep is also important, so you should never go to bed on an argument or with unfinished business in mind. Sleeping pills are a bad idea because they interfere with the crucial REM phase of sleep. Take naps if you need to, but try to stick to a regular schedule that allows at least seven hours of sleep.

Incidentally, if you snore, you should get it checked out by a doctor. Snoring is often a symptom of sleep apnea and may indicate your blood and brain aren’t getting enough oxygen while you sleep.

4. Get out more

Research suggests that getting out into nature can also help to reduce stress levels. It’s such a powerful remedy, in fact, that even just looking at pictures has been found to produce similar effects. Indeed, spending time outdoors is often more effective than pharmaceuticals for treating a range of unhelpful conditions, including depression and dementia.

Untreated depression in particular can dramatically shorten your life expectancy, and this has little to do with suicide rates. Depressed individuals are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke and tend to have unhealthier lifestyles, being more prone to heavy drinking and smoking. In other words, if you want to “live forever” but you’re depressed, getting un-depressed should be your top priority.

It’s also important to surround yourself with good friends. Studies have consistently shown a correlation between good friendships and better health and well-being, including a lower incidence of disease and depression. According to a 2010 study, loneliness and isolation is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and actually worse than being obese. The right friends can also help to promote healthier behaviors in general. Interestingly, relationships with family members do not appear to be quite as beneficial.

3. Have sex daily

Less than a third of Americans aged between 18 and 59 have sex more than twice a week. And this isn’t anywhere near enough. According to a 1997 study, 45 to 59-year-old men having sex less than once a month were twice as likely to die over a 10-year follow-up period as those having sex the most frequently. The optimum, according to L. Stephen Coles, is to have sex with a (willing) sexually healthy partner every single day, and this goes for any age group, so long as it doesn’t risk aggravating existing problems like heart conditions. But there’s apparently no requirement for orgasm. It’s just the intercourse that’s important.

It may also be important, particularly if you’re male, to avoid being single too long. On average, married men tend to live longer than their unmarried counterparts, and this may have something to do with taking fewer risks, as well as benefiting from a wider social circle.

2. Support causes

When Aubrey de Grey was asked what the best thing anyone can do to extend their life is, his answer was simple: “Give SRF [SENS Research Foundation] lots of money.” The next best thing? “Persuade others to.”

As far as he’s concerned, there’s really nothing else to do at this point. Our hopes for practical immortality rest squarely with longevity research. If you want to live forever, it makes sense to give what you can.

So why aren’t more of us investing? De Grey suggests it may have something to do with selfishness. Older investors may believe they stand little chance of personally benefiting from the research and refuse to part with their cash. Younger tycoons tend to be more enthusiastic.

But the odds aren’t actually that slim, even for the oldest billionaires. At 50-odd, de Grey gives himself a roughly 50/50 chance of reaching LEV, which not only means halting aging but actually reverting his body to the biological age of 30 and keeping it there indefinitely. More promisingly, he believes the first person to live to the age of 150 has already been born, and that they’re already over 60. Couple that with Kurzweil’s prediction that we could reach LEV by 2029 and there’s every reason to give money to SENS—just to hurry things up and improve your own chances of living long enough to benefit from the breakthroughs. (Then again, maybe that’s the idea; all religions make bold claims to get us to cough up donations.)

But there are other reasons to support causes in the name of longevity. Having something to believe in obviously gives you something to live for. And of course making the world a better place should be a priority if you’re planning to stay in it. You might therefore want to change your political alignment (and work to change others’) to vote for the most peaceful, science-literate, and non-climate-change-denying politicians. You might also want to campaign for nuclear disarmament, for preserving the oceans, and against Monsanto killing our bees. Ensuring you’ve actually got a world to live in is a no-brainer if you want to live forever.

Again, though, it’s important not to stress out over it. Having a purpose is one thing, and improving the world is fantastic. But go with the flow wherever you can and live and let live for longevity.

1. Have a backup plan

So you’re taking the right supplements, watching what you eat (and eating less of it), you’re in shape, keeping safe, getting plenty of peaceful sleep (after nightly sex), and you’re spending a lot of your time outdoors with friends. You’re even supporting SENS research with some of your (not too stressfully) hard-earned cash. You’re well on your way to reaching LEV and attaining practical immortality.

But everyone needs a backup plan.

Many life extension enthusiasts see cryonics as the next best thing, opting to have their bodies or heads cryogenically frozen in case they die before reaching LEV. This could also be a safeguard, going forward, against accidental death—even as a practical immortal. If you die in a car accident, for example, you could simply be frozen until we figure out a way to resurrect you. There’s no guarantee we ever will, of course, but it’s safer than rotting in the ground.

Some life extensionists also look to the 2045 Initiative, which seeks to eliminate the body entirely by uploading human consciousness to a digital format. Even the Dalai Lama is said to support this so-called “Avatar” project, whereby uploaded consciousnesses will be installed into humanoid robots.

While this might sound totally far-fetched, many just think it’s inevitable. In fact, as the name of the initiative suggests, they think it’s inevitable by 2045.

So it’s 30 years (ish) again. All signs point to this as the golden number. Live another 30 years and you stand a fairly good chance of “living forever”—in one form or another.

Just so long as there’s still a world in which you can do so.

Everybody loves a good prank! Pranks are supposed to be a harmless way to play a joke on a friend or family member in an innocuous and good-natured way. However, small pranks sometimes start “prank wars,” causing the practical jokes to spiral out of control, becoming mean and dangerous.

While a good prank is a work of art, some jokesters just don’t know when to stop! Others simply should never have started pranking in the first place. Our list today includes 10 practical jokes that went too far. These “hilarious” pranksters touch on political corruption, lacing drugs into baked goods, fake national disasters, and pregnancy. What a gas!

As we go through this list of ill-advised pranks, remember this advice. When it comes to practical jokes, less is almost always more. Also, consider safety because none of the pranks below ended the way the jokesters thought they would. Let’s get into it!

10 Richard Nixon Running for President in 1992?

The first prankster on our list decided to take things way too far. As we all know, religion and politics are two things people do not take lightly. A fake presidential candidate? Sure, that could be funny. But, this practical joker took things to a whole new level by deciding to impersonate one of the most infamous presidents in United States history.

In 1992, this prankster claimed to be the notorious Richard Nixon. He conducted a radio interview with NPR, in which he said that he was running for president. In the interview, he doubled down on his famous “I am not a crook!” statement and said he “never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”

While I can admit that is a funny thing to say (and made even funnier with a convincing Nixon impersonation), it was not funny when thousands of people thought that the disgraced Republican was actually re-seeking the presidency.

9 Pot-Laced Muffins

All sorts of “senior pranks” have backfired in high schools across the country, but this one takes the cake. Or at least the muffin.

Two Dallas area high school students decided to bake up some special treats for their high school faculty. These weren’t ordinary muffins; the students laced them with a secret ingredient: marijuana. Reportedly the two seniors put their special muffins into the teacher’s lounge. Obviously, the muffins looked tasty because many teachers ate them. However, the boys must have done something wrong because 19 staff members had to take trips to the emergency room in the aftermath. It is safe to say that this prank did not go how the students intended.

8 UFO Sighting in Jafr, Jordan?

With some of these pranks, it is really hard to figure out what the “jokesters” were thinking. The next prank falls squarely into that category.

Being the editor of a newspaper in a small city in Jordan is probably a challenging job. What are the best ways to draw people to your city and attract tourists? Here are three possibilities: writing about improved infrastructure, local festivals, and beautiful architecture. In 2010, the local newspaper of Jafr, Jordan, took a different approach—an otherworldly one.

In order to draw attention to their city, the newspaper ran an article indicating that a UFO had landed near their fair city. Instead of increasing interest, this article caused panic. The mayor of Jafr evacuated more than 10,000 people. While it is hard to figure out exactly what the newspaper was thinking, at least the article was printed on April Fools Day, so maybe that should have been a clue to the citizens of Jafr.

7 Exploding Chair Gag

A couple that pranks together also laughs and… sometimes cries together. The next prank on our list comes from a couple of professional prankers. Comedian Robin Armstrong and his girlfriend had a YouTube channel where they would share the various pranks that they played on one another. His girlfriend came up with a prank she thought their subscribers would love.

Armstrong’s girlfriend rigged a chair to explode, planning for it to launch Armstrong into a pool. While Armstrong did not see the prank coming, when the chair exploded, things went awry. He was shot more than 10 feet (3 meters) into the air and did not land in the pool. Instead, he landed on the ground and broke his back. The fortunate news for this prankster couple is that Armstrong did not suffer any permanent damage, although he had to spend several weeks at the hospital.

6 Covered Stop Sign

Maybe it is just me, but I have never seen much humor in messing with traffic signs that are designed to keep everyone safe. I guess I am not cut out to be a prankster!

Two teenage boys near Columbus, Ohio, thought traffic signs did not provide them with enough entertainment and decided to make some adjustments. They covered a stop sign (arguably the most important of all traffic signs) and made it so drivers could not see it. The teenage pranksters did this by wrapping the stop sign completely with plastic wrap and petroleum jelly. They were so proud of the work that they even talked about it on social media.

Fortunately, many drivers were familiar with the area and stopped, even without a visible sign. But, eventually, their luck ran out. Two elderly sisters were driving and did not see the stop sign (thanks to this prank). The vehicle was struck by oncoming traffic and killed the passenger immediately, while the driver eventually had to have her leg amputated above the knee.

Both pranksters were eventually held accountable for their actions, taking guilty pleas for reckless homicide.

5 Pregnancy Prank

The next prank on our list is a two-parter! It took place on the most famous of pranking holidays, April Fools Day, in 2013. Strap in because this one is extra ridiculous! These pranks relate to a young couple in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the time, Tori Wheeler, an 18-year-old, came up with a two-part practical joke to play on her boyfriend (at the time) Derek Bauer.

Wheeler’s premise was pretty straightforward. She told Bauer that she was pregnant. However, Wheeler was far from finished. Bauer did not respond to her practical joke in the way she liked, so Wheeler pulled out a knife. The police were called before anyone was hurt, but Wheeler claimed that she pulled the knife out as a prank, too!

All kidding aside, this prank clearly went too far, and we should all be thankful that no one was injured.

4 Twins Prank a Bank

Throughout this list, we have seen pranks on politics, road signs, knives, and pregnancies. What else is hilarious? That’s right, robbing a bank!

The twin pranksters Alex and Alan Stokes thought of this inarguably clever and funny idea. The twins at least had the wisdom not to go inside the bank to attempt their practical joke. They brought their own cash (in bags) and had masks covering their face outside the bank’s front entrance. Then, they called an Uber driver who was intended to be the prank victim. Like a reasonable citizen, the Uber driver refused to give a ride to two people who appeared to have robbed a bank.

Nearby observers must not have gotten the joke, as the police were called on the twins. The police were kind and let the boys go. However, they couldn’t let this funny joke die and tried it again the same day. This time, they were charged. For supposedly professional pranksters with a significant YouTube following, this practical joke was poorly thought out and went way too far.

3 Blue Hill Eruption?

Next on our list is a prank from a Boston television news segment. It took place on April Fools Day back in 1980. Producer Homer Cilley created an entire broadcast as a prank.

In the report, the news station alerted citizens about a hill in nearby Milton, Massachusetts. It indicates that (although it is just a hill and has never shown any seismic activity) the Great Blue Hill was beginning to erupt. The newscasters described the lava and danger in great detail. There were also warnings from the American president at the time, Jimmy Carter.

As the cherry on top, the producer also included real volcano footage to really sell his prank. Well, it worked! Citizens definitely thought there was a volcanic eruption and panicked, many taking out their ire on the TV station. Cilley was fired for the practical joke.

2 Students Try to Teach Their Teachers a Lesson

Three high school pranksters from Brooklyn had a similar prank to number nine above, but it was far more malicious. The students made some tasty cakes for their teachers. These were covered on top with what appeared to be red candy. The candy? It was actually a laxative!

As you might expect, none of the teachers found this prank amusing. Five reported significant health concerns. To be honest, I don’t know how these practical jokers ever expected this prank to go any differently. They are just fortunate that nobody got more seriously hurt.

1 Gas Prank (Not What You’re Thinking)

We have another butt-related prank as the final item on our list. This one involves a specific tool used in manufacturing, compressed air. Compressed air is used for a variety of things in manufacturing. It is not intended to be used for practical jokes.

The compressed air comes with enormous force, enough to push through the skin. In 2018, in Japan, one man thought it would be funny to use the air unconventionally. He directed the compressed air toward a colleague’s backside. The results, as you might expect, were horrific. The air shot through the victim’s clothes and into his body, all the way into his lungs. This led to his eventual death.

Remember, keeping pranks small and harmless is the way to keep them funny..