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

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

10 Photographing Hidden Spaces With Wi-Fi

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

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

9 Revealing Hidden Space Scenes 10 Million Times Faster With AI

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

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

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

8 Peering Through Solid Objects With Neutron Beams

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

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

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

7 Turning (Dead) Animals Transparent To Glimpse Hidden Biology

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

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

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

6 Mapping An Entire Country Using Lasers

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

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

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

5 New X-Ray Methods Illuminating Invisible Art

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

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

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

4 Detecting CTE And Brain Damage In The Living

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

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

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

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

3 Exposing Cancerous Cells With A Pen

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

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

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

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

2 Peeking Inside Mummies With A Particle Accelerator

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

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

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

1 Unrolling Ancient Scrolls With Novel X-Ray Tech

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

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

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

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

Think guns are the only way to hunt? Think again. Since ancient times humans, have devised bizarre methods to get their prey. Some are used on land, others on water. Some are used to get meat, others for pest eradication.

10Kleptoparisitism

Stealing meat from lions seems like a poor choice. However, the Mbororo herdsmen of Cameroon have done it for centuries. They use flaming sticks to chase big cats from kills. The technique is common among large predators but otherwise little documented in man.

With lions growing increasingly wary of people, kleptoparistism has become easier for humans. Reports from Cameroon, Uganda, and Tanzania indicate the practice is on the upswing. This is bad news for big cats. They expend tremendous energy bringing down prey. If their sustenance is stolen, it can have a massive impact on survival rates. Some fear human kleptoparisitism might eradicate entire lion populations.

9Trout Tickling

It might sound like a euphemism, but trout tickling is an ancient way to get a free dinner. This fishing technique requires no equipment, just stealth. You approach a likely trout hole from downstream. Lie stomach-down on the bank. Reach into the water. Once you feel a trout, tickle the belly as you move tail-to-head to lull the fish. When you reach the head, squeeze and yank the fish out of the water.

For centuries, this technique has been popular among Europe’s poor. They could not afford equipment or pay to fish private land. It is generally considered a form of poaching. Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, the first notable European jazz musician, was known as an expert trout tickler. Perhaps the dexterity required to play stringed instruments translates to trout tickling.

8Golden Eagle Hunting

The Burkitshi are members of Mongolia’s ethnic Khazakh minority that use golden eagles to stalk prey. The hunters ride horseback with these enormous raptors perched on their arms as they scour the High Altai Mountains in search of foxes.

The bond between hunter and bird goes deep. The hunters capture eagles live. Four-year-old birds are ideal. At this age, they have developed hunting skills yet are still malleable enough to be trained. Only females are used. Their wingspan is larger and they are more ferocious than males. The eagles are domesticated, fed by hand, and even sleep with their captors. The golden eagles can live up to 30 years, but the hunters release them after 10. The birds die wild.

Golden eagle hunting will soon be extinct. The Bukitshi are disappearing. There are believed to only be 50 or 60 left practicing this ancient nomadic lifestyle.

7Aboriginal Fire Hunting

The Martu people of Australia’s Western Desert are known for using fire to hunt lizards. The result has actually benefited the wildlife of the Outback. The technique creates a small patchwork of cleared land—perfect habitat for bush critters.

Goanna are the Martu’s most valuable resource. These burrowing lizards make up 40 percent of their caloric intake. The Martu technique of goanna hunting is thousands of years old. In winter, the lizards hibernate. Women cover burrow entrances and set the surrounding grass ablaze. Without this technique, the brush becomes overgrown. Unchecked growth is perfect fodder for lightning fires, which can be devastating to mammalian habitat. The practice is such an integral part of Martu culture that their language has a word for every stage of the post fire vegetation growth.

6Rat Hunting With Dogs

Rat hunting involves an incredible amount of coordination for such a small quarry. Reports from mid-19th-century London describe using terriers and ferrets in tandem to curb the city’s monstrous infestation. The ferrets chased the rats out of their holes, and the dogs dealt the deathblow. Many canine breeds we now consider lapdogs were specifically developed to hunt vermin.

New York has turned to traditional methods to help curb its abundance of rats. Specially trained Jack Russells, fox terriers, and dachshunds and their owners prowl the shadows in search of vermin. This is hunting for extermination. One camp views this as a time-honored tradition. Animal rights activists view it as cruelty. It’s hard to say this is less humane than poisoning, which leaves rats fatally ill for hours. What’s more, these poisoned rats pass toxins on to anything that eats them.

5Persistence Hunting

Most experts believe we fed our rapidly developing brains first as scavengers and then as endurance runners. Our upright posture and naked skin with sweat glands are designed for rapid cooling. Our large butt muscles and elastic tendons allow us to run much more efficiently than other animals. Humans are ungainly creatures, but there is no animal in the world that can match our stamina.

Persistence hunting is still practiced by the Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana and the Raramuri people of northern Mexico. Modern fitness enthusiasts have also started to dabble with this ancient technique. Many of these fit folk are vegetarians. They are more interested in the theoretical applications than a means of sustenance.

4Knife Hunting Wild Boar

Hawaii is a paradise in jeopardy. Invasive species threaten to destroy the island’s fragile ecosystem, and there is no more destructive species than wild boar. There is only one solace: They are delicious.

People in Hawaii hunt these surly beasts with knives. The technique involves stalking the hogs, chasing them down with dogs, and then pouncing for the fatal stab. Knives are considered both more traditional and safer than bullets on a crowded island.

Wild boar are not just a problem in Hawaii. They either are, or soon will be, a major environmental disaster in every state in the lower 48. Some folks have resort to using explosives. This is not hunting. It is extermination—explosives destroy the meat.

3Octopus Pots

Octopus are incredibly smart and incredibly delicious. They have the most complex brain of any invertebrate but are traditionally caught using a simple technique. The standard way of fishing for octopus is using pots. The vessels are lowered to the sea floor and anchored. The octopus crawls into the pot, thinking it has found a new home. The fisherman drags up the pot with the octopus, which rarely try to escape. The technique does not even require bait. It is almost too simple.

Potting octopus has changed little over millennia. The vessels were traditionally made of terracotta. Now, most are plastic. The technique is almost universal around the globe. Ancient Greeks used octopus pots, and so do modern fisherman from Spain to Japan.

2Gum Lime Sticks

Poachers in Cyprus are decimating the songbird population. Their hunting technique is simple and ancient. They use lime sticks covered in ultra-sticky gum derived from Syrian plums. The sticks are placed in the inviting lower branches of juniper trees. Foraging birds become ensnared.

The quarry of the traditional Cypriot bird hunters is blackcaps, a common European wren considered an island delicacy. The problem with the gum-stick technique is that there is tremendous by-catch of endangered species—like the spotted flycatcher. There are many organizations and volunteers working to stop the songbird slaughter. The challenge is daunting. Bird hunting is an ancient part of Cypriot culture and there is no shortage of poachers. The lime sticks do tremendous damage to the birds. They are often fatally wounded in the rescue process.

1Flounder Tramping

Flounders are a flat fish known for their white flakey flesh. Their low profile and penchant for crabs often means they are found in the shallows around estuaries. Ingenious hunters have found out how to harvest this delicious fish with a diabolically simple technique: They step on them.

Flounder tramping is a traditional fishing technique used in southwestern Scotland for centuries. The process is simple. You walk along the mud flats until you step on a flounder. At this point, a fight against instinct occurs. Every impulse tells you to remove your foot from the fish. However, you must stand firm, or the quarry will escape. Some trampers also employ a stick, which they use behind their shuffling feet.

On the first Saturday of August, the small town of Palnackie, Scotland, hosts the World Flounder Tramping Competition. The fun is broadcast throughout the UK and Australia.

+Further Reading

Read on for more from the animal kingdom!

10 Mysterious Trips Into The Wilderness That Went Horribly Wrong
8 Endangered Species Still Hunted
Top 10 Worst Man Eaters In History
10 Deadly Tricksters of the Animal World

Abraham Rinquist is the executive director of the Winooski, Vermont branch of the Helen Hartness Flanders Folklore Society. He is the co-author of Codex Exotica and Song-Catcher: The Adventures of Blackwater Jukebox.

When most people think of psychotherapy, they picture patients relaxing on a sofa and spilling all of their emotions. “Tell me about your childhood,” the therapist says, taking a drag of his cigar. In reality, therapy takes place in all kinds of settings.

10 Sexual Surrogacy Therapy

Your therapist looks deeply into your eyes, holds your hand, and kisses you passionately on the lips. This isn’t a violation of the American Psychological Association’s code of ethics. Kissing, and sometimes even more, is just part of the job as a sexual surrogate. Sexual surrogates are trained professionals that work with sex therapists to help people work through intimacy issues. Surrogacy goes beyond regular talk therapy; it includes activities to model appropriate romantic and sexual relationships.

People may choose sexual surrogacy for many reasons, including anxiety about relationships or general sexual dysfunction. A newly widowed person struggling with dating or a war veteran returning as an amputee might practice flirting or body confidence with a surrogate. Sessions can include everything from social skills training to actual genital-to-genital contact. Surrogacy might sound like prostitution, but its therapeutic benefit seems to give it a free legal pass. The focus is not on pleasure, but on learning what appropriate sexual or relationship behavior feels like. Surrogates aim to get patients to the point where they can end therapy and forge connections on their own.

9 Equine Therapy

Horseback riding is no longer a luxury for the rich. The impressive size and emotionally intelligent nature of the horse makes it an excellent therapy partner for troubled youth, drug addicts, and people with disabilities. Learning to care for and ride these gentle giants can be a way to develop important coping skills like self-confidence and patience. Therapy with a horse feels more like fun than work, so patients may feel more open to growth as they learn to take care of both themselves and of their animal friend.

Because horses can weigh up to 900 kilograms (2,000 lb) and are easily frightened, patients get a hands-on education in overcoming fears. Anger and anxiety have no place in the saddle, so troubled youth and others struggling with those emotions may find that working with a horse helps to form new patterns of positive behavior. Caring for the horse and its equipment, or even learning to conquer the fear of riding, can be a powerful metaphor for other challenges in life.

Horses aren’t the only animals helping people figure out their feelings; elephants, dolphins, monkeys, and many other animals have been used in therapeutic or service settings.

8 Nude Psychotherapy

While now a forgotten art, baring bodies and souls in nude therapy sessions was all the rage in the late 1960s. At the forefront of this movement was Paul Bindrim, an offbeat psychologist who believed nakedness allowed people to shake off the social expectations created by clothing and to deal directly with their most private emotions. During group therapy events, Bindrim preached that by shedding shirts and ties, people could explore repressed thoughts, heal marriage troubles, and achieve “peak experiences,” a euphoric state of being attained only through self-actualization.

Nude truth-seekers would delight in spending several days revealing their deepest secrets in facilitated exercises designed by Bindrim to promote trust and openness. Activities included everything from deeply gazing into a partner’s eyes to scrutinizing each others’ genitals in an exercise called “crotch eyeballing.” Bindrim taught that true freedom from negative thoughts could only be achieved once a person could expose her most private motivations and parts. Staring directly into what he believed was the root of all repression was a means to do this. Groups of participants swam, meditated, hugged, and expressed rage, all in their birthday suits.

As the socially liberal climate of the 1960s dwindled, so did the popularity of nude therapy. Bindrim felt the sting of conservative critics, but his naked marathon programs seemed to fall out of favor due to changing times as opposed to any wrongdoing. Those seeking nude therapy today aren’t out of luck. The Human Awareness Institute in California offers participants courses in intimacy and sexuality, some with the option of ditching clothes in search of personal purpose.

7 Chess Therapy

Sometimes healing is best done in the company of kings and queens. Patients get clear about their feelings in chess therapy, a technique used to reach patients who have trouble communicating verbally. The idea of using board games to help patients learn problem-solving skills was first used by Persian scholar Rhazes (AD 852–932) during his tenure as chief physician at a Baghdad hospital. Since then, the game of chess has been used to represent real-life problems, allowing patients to explore skills like conflict resolution and decision making.

One case study reports that chess was an excellent outlet for a 16-year-old boy with schizoid personality disorder who felt emotionally isolated from other people. While he struggled to form relationships, playing chess helped him see his therapist as a partner and confidant. As therapy went on, he felt safe sharing his feelings, all during the banter of discussing his next move.

Rooks and pawns allow patients to act out fantasies and explore impulses. Simply questioning why the patient has decided to move a piece in a certain way might give way to conversation about a bigger issue.

6 Wilderness Therapy

When the campsite is set up and the fire is lit, the doctor is in. Wilderness therapy is a successful, and sometimes controversial, way to help troubled youth by teaching life and social skills on the hiking trail. Intensive group therapy and one-on-one sessions are coupled with outdoor activities like mountain climbing and fly-fishing to teach self-reliance and responsibility. Programs promise to reform even the most wayward of offenders, including juvenile delinquents and teens with depression, anger management issues, or eating disorders.

While wilderness therapy can be effective, certain methods have come under fire for using unethical, and sometimes downright abusive, techniques to help struggling youth. Wilderness programs are loosely regulated, so not all programs are staffed by qualified professionals. Upon closer examination, some “therapy” groups seemed to be just military-style boot camps with little mental health benefit.

Most famous for his controversial wilderness therapy programs is Steve Cartisano, founder of the Challenger Foundation and several other programs throughout the US and South America. Cartisano faced negligent homicide charges when two teens died during excursions that he was supervising. Although he has been acquitted of that charge, a string of abuse allegations have followed him wherever he sets up shop. He maintains his innocence and his dedication to helping youth, but his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Even legitimate wilderness therapy groups have been criticized for partnering with teen escort companies to forcibly remove unwilling participants from their homes to attend the program. While controversy and risk exist, wilderness therapy might be a creative way to teach life skills when other methods have failed.

5 Hypnotherapy

Hypnotism might seem like a magic trick, but it actually has the power to help people break into their subconscious to get to the cause of their problems, like smoking or overeating. Hypnotherapy helps patients change unwanted behaviors with suggestions of new behavior patterns during guided meditation sessions.

The feeling of “zoning out,” such as while driving long distance or lying on the beach, is what a hypnotic state feels like. While hypnotized, the patient is not asleep, but rather extremely relaxed and sensitive to suggestion. Psychotherapists who use this method believe that while hypnotized, a patient can uncover subconscious negativity and replace it with new ways of thinking or feeling.

Skilled hypnotherapists begin the process with a relaxation exercise to clear the mind and to release tension. (Think of the classic line, “You’re getting very sleepy.”) From there, the hypnotist expertly guides the patient through suggestions to solve the problem, like choosing healthier snacks or eating smaller portions to lose weight. The brain, much like a sponge in this moment, will supposedly start to incorporate those recommendations into new patterns of thought.

Hypnotherapy is meant to be used alongside regular talk therapy and not just on its own. Patients can even learn to hypnotize themselves to find stress relief on their own.

4 Sandplay Therapy

Building sand castles is fun in the summertime and may have therapeutic value, too. Much like chess therapy, sandplay therapy offers those with trouble communicating the chance to share their feelings by designing scenarios with figurines in sand trays. Children, and sometimes adults, relay their feelings through expressive creations without ever having to speak a word.

Inspired by the teachings of Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist Dora Kalff developed the sandplay technique to communicate with patients who might have difficulty sharing their feelings as a result of trauma or abuse. Patients are provided with trays of sand and a variety of figurines. They are instructed to create stories about the toys and the patterns of play that emerge can often mirror real problems in the patient’s life.

Therapists are trained to pick up on those symbols. When a child makes adult figures act aggressively while child figures behave anxiously, the therapist might ask the child to explain why older people are mean to little kids. A conversation about the toys might give way to sharing details of an abusive parent. While discussing trauma or abuse can be difficult, the playfulness of the sand sets the stage for healing conversation to take place.

3 Flooding Therapy

Phobias, extreme and irrational fears, can cause much anxiety and pain. But never fear; anxiety caused by spiders, dogs, and even elevators can all be alleviated through flooding, an intense form of exposure therapy that requires patients to face their fears.

Irrational fears are cured by exposing the patient to the fear-inducing object over a long period of time. For example, a person looking to get rid of his fear of dogs may start by just looking at photos of dogs under the supervision of a trained professional. Therapy continues with an “exposure” to dogs in person and eventually working up the courage to pet actual puppies. The slow pace of learning to manage fear has proven to have high success rates in gently treating anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Flooding therapy works just like exposure therapy, except there is nothing slow about it. Patients will be asked to face full-on fear in the first visit. There is no gradual introduction to the feared object, and flooding can be quite intense. Dog-phobic individuals will be asked to play with puppies right away and elevator-hating people will spend their first flooding session riding the lift without breaks. Flooding therapy evokes a strong anxiety response that in theory, will exhaust the patient into letting go of the irrational fear.

However, critics say that intense exposures may not be therapeutic but instead traumatic to people already struggling with extreme fear. In some cases, flooding actually makes the phobia worse. There is no way to know if a patient will respond well to flooding therapy, so the general consensus is that slow and steady wins the race.

2 Puppet Therapy

Dragons, pigs, and puppies can help you learn to deal with an overbearing boss, an annoying neighbor, or a troublesome child. Puppets play an important role in therapy by helping patients express emotions and practice difficult conversations in the safe company of a stuffed animal. As they practice being assertive with a toothy tiger puppet, patients might feel freer to stand up for themselves outside of therapy. Puppets make it easier for patients, especially children, to practice expressing difficult emotions, discuss abuse, or practice social skills in a playful way.

Puppets create a safe distance between the therapist and patient, so it feels more comfortable speaking through the puppet. Trained therapists can creatively mirror the child’s problems, which makes introducing difficult topics easier. For example, a girl struggling with moving to a new town is told that the puppet has just moved, too.

The therapist interviews the puppet, rather than the patient, which gives the patient license to say whatever they feel. Puppets, and other forms of play therapy, have proven to be excellent ways to teach autistic children social skills or to practice imaginative thought.

1 Horticulture Therapy

Imagine the patience and knowledge it takes to grow a tiny seed into a strong tree. In horticulture therapy, therapists combine their love for nature with their expertise in mental health to teach those skills. Much like equine therapy uses the horse to teach skills, horticulture therapists use plants to convey different lessons and skills. Working in prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes, therapists initiate conversation while gardening or crafting pinecone bird feeders.

As groups work together to plant flowers or grow gardens, therapists lead conversations on confidence and teamwork. Horticulture therapy is especially useful for people with disabilities. Activities can be designed for people in wheelchairs or with other special needs. Anyone can delight in the happiness of watching a flower grow. It can be a great source of pride to watch a planted seed grow and be instrumental in its care. By connecting with nature, patients find calmness to bring into their own lives.

Samantha Popp uses her extensive background in education and behavioral modification to teach professionals how to play nicely with each other. You can learn more about her work at www.laforceschool.com and you can follow her on Twitter.

In today’s society, fortune-telling typically involves tarot cards, palm reading, and horoscopes. These modern practices are tame compared to what went on in the past. Throughout history, people have been just as obsessed with trying to figure out what will happen in the future as they are today.

In ancient times, many different forms of divination were practiced by oracles and soothsayers all over the world. Here are ten techniques to see the future that have long since been forgotten.

10 Amniomancy

When a baby is born, it sometimes has a caul, which is a membrane covering the head. This is rare, only happening to one out of every 80,000 babies born. In ancient times, if a baby was born with a caul, fortune-tellers claimed that it would reveal a lot about the child’s future. If the caul was red, it meant that the baby will live a happy life, but if it was blue, the child going to have something horrible happen to them in the future.^[1]

In Poland, there was a legend that a child born with a caul over its head would grow up to be a vampire. The only way to prevent this horrible destiny would be to dry out the caul, save it until the child’s seventh birthday, and force-feed it to them. Some parents would grind it up into a powder and hide it inside the cake, while others probably made their kids eat their own seven-year-old amniotic membrane like it was beef jerky. Cauls also became a popular superstition during the Victorian era. They were dried up and sold to sailors as a talisman that was supposed to protect someone from drowning.

9 Pyromancy

In ancient Greece, followers of the god Hephaestus believed that they could communicate with him through fire. Similar to a crystal ball, some people would stare into the flames and claim that they could see the future. Pyromancy is fortune-telling with flame, but many seers did more than just stare. The shape of the fire was also considered a sign from the spirits of future good or bad news.

If an object was thrown into a fire, the way it burned would predict the future. If it burned quickly without producing a lot of smoke, that meant that the future would have a good outcome. Conversely, if a fire was difficult to start, it was seen as a very bad omen, predicting a terrible tragedy was about to occur. Today, it only makes sense that certain objects like leaves and paper produce a lot of smoke and that chemical reactions can even produce colors in the flames. However, every reaction of the fire was seen as communication with the gods. An ancient text read, “If the offerings sputter and do not burn, Hephaestus will not cooperate.”^[2]

8 The Long Man

Cherokee Native Americans would consult a medicine man, or “long man,” every time they wanted to know about the future. It wasn’t uncommon for an entire family to visit the long man, who would always live near a river. He would cast a spell and ask for a sign about the family’s future. If the river continued to flow and nothing happened, it was a sign of long life and prosperity, guaranteed for at least the next seven years. However, if a log or even a tiny leaf began to float down the river, it meant that there would be a death in the family in the near future.^[3]

Another technique used by Cherokee medicine men was analyzing the movement of beads. Similar to a Ouija board, the medicine man would claim that the beads moved in between his fingers all on their own. Depending on the behavior of the beads, he could predict whether a woman would say “yes” to a man’s proposal to be his wife.

7 Zoomancy

In many cultures, the behavior of animals was taken into account as a sign of the future. In ancient Greece, Alexander the Great took advice from a seer named Aristander. One day, Alexander was about to make an animal sacrifice to the gods in exchange for victory in battle. Suddenly, a large bird swooped over the sacrificial altar and dropped a rock on the king’s head. Aristander was there, and he predicted that the omen meant Alexander would win the battle regardless, so there was no need to kill anything else as a sacrifice.^[4]

There were specific types of zoomancy, depending on the animal. For example, cats have always been symbols of witchcraft. The study of cats’ behavior was called ailuromancy. There is actually some truth to the idea of ailuromancy, since modern scientists know that dogs and cats can predict when an earthquake or hurricane is approaching.

6 Scrying

From circus fortune-tellers to wizards, crystal balls have been an iconic way that psychics tell the future. The proper term for this is “scrying,” and it can actually be done in any flat, reflective surface. This includes mirrors, water, and crystals.

In the 16th century in England, Queen Elizabeth’s advisor, John Dee, was known for using a crystal ball to see the future. He predicted that Elizabeth’s sister, Mary, was going to die, and Elizabeth would ascend to the throne. He was thrown into jail for practicing witchcraft. Three years later, his prediction actually came true. Elizabeth immediately removed him from jail and made him her advisor.

Elizabeth wrote a new rule that any divination that John Dee practiced was considered to be “white magic” from God. Dee embraced this and dove deeply into practicing the occult. He drew strange symbols, claiming they were a language taught to him by angels. Today, his crystals and other fortune-telling artifacts are on display at the British Museum in London.^[5]

5 Agalmatomancy

In ancient Egypt, giant stone or metal statues were built with the sole purpose of using them in divination rituals to predict the future. This practice is also sometimes referred to as idolomancy, or praying to idols. The major difference is that the automata were big enough to sit in the middle of a town square, while idols were smaller and kept inside the home. Oracles were people who were gifted with the ability to predict the future. They believed that spirits would inhabit these statues, and if they prayed to the automata, the answers to their questions about the future would manifest through their dreams.

In ancient Israel, these idols were called teraphim. They are mentioned in the Bible, when Rachel takes her father’s teraph. Some believe that these idols were made in the image of ancestors and were essentially haunted by ghosts that looked after them.^[6] Others used the teraphim to seek their fortune, just like the automata.

4 Tasseography

In ancient China and the European Middle Ages, fortune-tellers practiced tasseography, which is the art of reading tea leaves. Drinking a cup of tea made from loose leaves causes small bits of leftovers to sit at the bottom when the liquid is gone. The interpretation of the shape the tea leaves make is almost like a Rorschach test. Depending on what the fortune-teller sees, it can apparently reveal a lot about your future.

For example, if the leaves make the shape of a snake, it means there is someone untrustworthy who will cause issues in the near future . . . but if those same curvy lines are interpreted as “mountains” instead, it foretells a future journey or an obstacle that may be in the way of a goal. If there are multiple shapes that appear in the cup, any leaves that form near the rim of the cup are the immediate future. Anything that settles into the center of the cup is the distant future. By the 18th century, fortune-tellers in Italy were doing similar predictions with coffee.^[7]

3 Casting Lots

The basic idea behind casting lots is to get answers to questions about the future utilizing objects that represent straightforward answers, like “yes,” “no,” and “maybe.” The idea has spread throughout multiple cultures. Some examples of the objects used include shells, sticks, paper, or even beans. Sometimes, people would use a pendulum, which was some sort of crystal or object hanging from a string. The direction in which swings will give “yes” or “no” answers.

Versions of this are still used today, with the Magic 8-Ball toy and the paper fortune-teller game made by elementary school children. There is also a superstition that the pendulum technique can be used for predicting the future gender of a child when a woman is pregnant. Eventually, the vast majority of divination would be labeled as “demonic,” but Christians would carry on this tradition of casting lots, which they decided to call cleromancy, saying that it was predicting the will of God.^[8]

2 Anthropomancy

The Aztecs and the Incas were notorious for human sacrifice, but they weren’t always just an offering in order to appease the gods. “Anthropomancy” very literally means “man prophecy.” Children and babies were sacrificed for the sake of anthropomancy, or studying the entrails of a dead human being in order to predict the future. The victims had to suffer through a slow death of having their chest cut open and their organs spilled out of their body. The omens that predicted the future were based on how the organs were arranged and how the victims reacted as they died.^[9]

This also happened in ancient Mesopotamia and Japan. Similarly, in ancient Greece, they practiced splanchomancy, which is the sacrifice of a young virgin woman as a form of divination. Other societies studied the entrails of animals to predict the future as well.

1 Chaomancy

The ancient Irish tradition of divination used the air, stars, and wind. Today, it is called chaomancy, and it covers most events in nature. During bad winds and storms, the damage done to plants and homes was seen as an omen. Sometimes, leaves would be sitting on the ground with some kind of strange residue on top. This was a particularly bad sign that some kind of illness was about to fall on the family. Some mystics also claimed to hear voices in the wind that would foretell if someone was going to die.^[10]

Even when there was no storm, chaomancy was used in the form of observing the shapes of cloud formations, similar to the interpretation of tea leaves, in order to predict the future. Comets and changes in the stars were a huge deal as well, predicting chaos or good fortune, depending on whatever event was happening at the time. In its own way, chaomancy seems to have been a very early form of meteorology, studying how clouds and wind will predict what sort of weather is coming.

Shannon Quinn is a writer and entrepreneur from the Philadelphia area. You can find her on Twitter @ShannQ.

This year, the French began to enforce a law that bans unhealthily thin models, with said models needing a doctor’s certificate in order to be hired for work. In addition the law stipulates that digitally altered images, that make models appear even skinnier than they are, will need to be labeled as such. It’s a dramatic step to tackle the growing epidemic of eating disorders that continues to perpetuate in the Western world.

With more and more individuals attempting to reach unattainable beauty standards, it’s no surprise that weight loss gimmicks and scams have reached epic proportions. However, to our surprise, radical and misguided attempts weight loss have been prevalent throughout history. Here are 10 such methods more horrifying than you probably imagined…

10. Victorians Ate Live Tapeworms

The Victorian Era, which took place roughly between the 1830s to 1900, was known for its particular beauty standards. Most notably, women of wealth wore extravagant, multi-layered skirts which had a beehive shape. For women in the Victorian period, getting into those tightly worn outfits was a struggle in itself. Most women of the Victorian Era were pushed into fastening corsets around themselves, with the goal of achieving the esteemed 16 inch waist. Internal organs weren’t deemed to be of that much importance. And while corsets are not in great use today, a Victorian Era practice still is: tapeworms.

The concept is as terrifying as it is disgusting. Ingest a pill containing a tapeworm egg? Sounds more like a science fiction movie than a diet routine. We wish that were true. Apparently, once hatched, “the parasite grows inside of the host, ingesting part of whatever the host eats.” What makes the tapeworm diet so appealing to many is the belief that the dieter will not have to change their lifestyle or eating habits at all. The theory holds that ingesting the tapeworm allows hosts to lose weight and eat without worrying about calorie intake. There is little to no evidence that supports these claims, but somehow, the theory still exists with even “celebrities” like Khloe Kardashian suggesting their merits.

It’s our hope that the tapeworm will join the rest of Victorian fashion in the dustbins of history.    

9. Vinegar to Keep Thin

Khloe Kardashian won’t be the first or the last celebrity to use their status to promote an unhealthy weight loss method. Celebrities have long used their platform to either shape or inadvertently promote an unwise weight loss diet. Enter Lord Byron. The Romantic era poet and politician, Byron was greatly concerned about his figure and popularized a vinegar-based diet. Although side effects included vomiting and diarrhea, Byron would drink vinegar daily and eat potatoes soaked in the pungent liquid. It was meant to cleanse his body, as Byron believed that he had a “morbid propensity to fatten.”

Soon after his habit became known, it became a craze with one critic noting, “Our young ladies live all their growing girlhood in semi-starvation.” The youth of the period were so influenced by Byron that they began diets consisting of vinegar and rice to emulate their idol’s thin and pale look. The need to be perceived as thin was so great during the time that even Queen Victoria worried about gaining weight. It seems that even as times change, some things do not.

8. Poisoned Themselves With Arsenic

A precursor to the “wonder pills” that are currently advertised were the drugs, pills, and potions that became a part of the big business of weight loss in the 19th century. However, without the FDA, the 19th century drug makers were liable to include much more dangerous ingredients – including arsenic. For those unaware, arsenic is a rat-killing poison that will kill humans if consumed in large amounts. Studies have also linked prolonged exposure or use with cancer, diabetes, and liver disease. It remains unclear why exactly dieters believed that those ingredients would help in weight loss, but some experts believe that it “was advertised as speeding up the metabolism, much like amphetamines.”

The amount of arsenic used in these drugs and pills was small, but it was still extremely dangerous for users; especially because many would consume more than the prescribed amount with the belief that they would lose weight sooner.

7.  Dieters Would Chew And Spit Out Food

Some of the greatest artists in history have had their names used to characterize other works. Works resembling Shakespeare have become Shakespearean, works similar to Kafka have become Kafkaesque. It’s not much of a leap to believe that William Fletcher must have believed his name would join the great men in history with his radical Fletcherism diet.

In the early 20th century, Horace Fletcher came up with a new weight loss program. He argued that a lot of chewing and spitting was the most effective way to lose weight. It began to be known as Fletcherism, and as it became more nuanced, Fletcher stipulated that one must chew a mouthful of food until the “goodness” was extracted, then spit out the remaining material that was left. Fletcherism became immensely popular, with proponents including the likes of Henry James and even Franz Kafka. Items such as shallots were said to be chewed more than 700 times, and dinner parties soon began to include members timing one another’s chews.

As a result of the diet, participants only defecated once every several weeks. Fletcher seemed to take this as a positive, even arguing that one’s feces would smell like “warm biscuits.” It was said that William Fletcher even carried around a bag of his own feces to demonstrate the great smell.

6. Women Tried to Wash the Fat Away With Soap

If advertisements now seem deceptive, imagine seeing an ad that claimed that with just a little of soap, you could wash away fat. A 1920 newspaper advertisement did just that, claiming the La – Mar  brand could, “wash away fat and years of age.” The promotional material makes a lot of ridiculous claims, promising users that there was no need for “dieting or exercise. Be as slim as you wish.” In a lot of ways, what the La-Mar soap promises isn’t that outrageous in comparison to many of the current dieting plans. However, the La-Mar brand did make some claims that even the most ambitious scam artists wouldn’t make.

Here are a few: acts like magic removing double chin, results quick and amazing, and reduce any parts of the body desired without affecting other parts.

The amazing and terrifying thing is La-Mar wasn’t alone: La Parle existed in the United States with the same promises of their competitors, and undoubtedly the same “results.”

5. Breatharian Diet was Like a Cult

Probably the most terrifying diet on our list is more than just a diet, and is considered a philosophy and even a spiritual movement. Proponents believe that all one needs to survive is… sunlight. That’s it. Advocates claim that human beings who demonstrate spiritual purity can live solely on water, sunlight, and the life force (Prana). While it may seem to be an ancient hoax, “breatharianism” is currently practiced in the United States.

Leaders of the American movement, Wiley Brookes and their founder Jasmuheen (born Ellen Greve), have led its growth and resurging popularity. Jasmuheen claimed to be able to survive without any more than the occasional cup of tea for months on end. However, after an interview with 60 Minutes where she consented to stay in a hotel room to demonstrate her abilities, she was unable to stay for a single day without demonstrating signs of dehydration.

Actress Michelle Pfeiffer, who admitted to participating in the movement early in her career, has called it a cult with adherents who are very controlling and manipulative.

4. Anklets Were Another Form of Corsets

It’s hard to beat the crudeness and restrictiveness of the corset, but the anklet certainly made its best effort. A rubber device that appeared like a modern ankle brace, the anklet promised to “reduce your flesh.” The advertisement claimed that weight would be lost without diet or exercise, simply by dissolving fat as a result of perspiration that will be caused by wearing the anklet.

Promotional material claimed the anklet was deemed effective by a Dr. Jeanne P.H. Walter. And we don’t think it takes Holden Caulfield to tell us that the woman’s middle initials must have stood for phony.  

3. Spot Reducer Has a Familiar Advertising Slogan

The Spot reducer makes the list because of its demonstration of the parallels between ad campaigns. The great similarity between advertisement for the Spot Reducer and La- Mar soap is quite fascinating and terrifying. A one page promotional piece placed in the 1950 Milwaukee Sentinel for the Spot Reducer encouraged readers to not to stay fat, but to “lose pounds and inches safely.” A small gadget made of aluminum and rubber, the Spot Reducer was nothing more than a small vibrator. That didn’t stop advertisers.

Wherever the reader has extra weight, the Spot Reducer will erase it “like a magic wand,” they said. Similar to earlier ad campaigns, they told consumers that they did not have to worry about diet or exercise, all the work would be done by the Spot Reducer. It’s sad that people not only believed those words then, but continue to believe them now.

2. Tongue Patch Test

A “modern” iteration of the tapeworm diet, the tongue patch test consists of a doctor sewing a patch of mesh into patients’ tongues. As a result of the patch, swallowing or eating, in general, becomes difficult – even causing pain. The tongue patch test is most prevalent in Venezuela but has also been documented in the United States.

A cosmetic surgeon in California who has begun to administer the patch charges $2,000 for the procedure while promising it will lead to 18 to 20 pounds of weight loss in 30 days.

For those who found this method appealing, “the procedure comes with an 800-calorie per day liquid diet of shakes and drinks until the patch comes off.” Buyer beware.

1. Last Chance Diet Took Lives

Like Mr. Fletcher, the Prolinn diet also bears the name of its creator: Robert Linn. The Prolinn diet was created in the 1970s as a precursor to the wonder drinks of the 1990s. Linn’s special drink was said to contain “400 calories of liquid protein.” However, after some investigation, the “protein” in Linn’s drink began to be questioned. Soon after, it was revealed that the “protein” was nothing more than the leftover of slaughterhouse byproducts like crushed animal horns, hooves, hides, tendons and bones.

Linn then used artificial flavors, enzymes, and colors to make the drinks more appealing to consumers. And it became more than appealing to consumers: they actually bought it. Millions did. In total, two to four million people used the Prolinn diet to lose weight and, sadly enough, 58 people died from heart attacks while on it.