Joseph Bell, The Real Sherlock Holmes

Mar 28, 2020

An illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that appeared in a stamp printed in Alderney, circa 2009. Photo: Olga Popova/Shutterstoc...

The Quarantine Quarters of Dubrovnik

Mar 26, 2020

Social distancing and quarantine are not new concepts. During the Middle Ages, when Europe and Asia were devastated by deadly outbreaks of p...

Run Out of Toilet Paper? Use a Stick

Mar 25, 2020

Hoarding toilet paper. Photo: DigitalMammoth/Shutterstock.com Chances are, you’ve run out of toilet paper, unless you are the type who b...

Fatal Familial Insomnia: The Disease That Kills by Sleep Deprivation

Mar 25, 2020

Everybody suffers from a little insomnia once in a while, but what if you were unable to sleep for months? Early studies conducted on do...

How Coronavirus Emptied The World’s Streets

Mar 22, 2020

As millions of people around the world lock themselves indoors in order to prevent transmission of the dreaded coronavirus, the world outsid...

The Mulberry Harbours of Normandy

Mar 22, 2020

When the sea goes out in Arromanches-les-Bains, a small village on the coast of Normandy in northwestern France, the large concrete pontoons...

Barnacle Goose: The Bird That Was Believed to Grow on Trees

Mar 18, 2020

In the days before it was realized that birds migrate, ancient scholars struggled to explain why some species of birds appeared and disapp...

The Kettle War

Mar 17, 2020

Photo: B toy Anucha/Shutterstock.com The Kettle War of 1784 was a quintessential David versus Goliath story. A formidable naval fleet of...

The Earliest Depiction of Jesus Was a Mocking Tribute to Christianity

Mar 13, 2020

In the Palatine museum in Rome there is a collection of ancient graffiti etched on slabs of marble and limestone that once defaced the wal...

The Hanging Cages of St. Lambert's Church in Münster

Mar 12, 2020

If you crane your neck and look up while standing in front of St Lambert's Church in Münster, Germany, you can make out three iron cages...