Category: Culture & Society
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The mind-boggling clifftop Meteora Monasteries, Greece
It’s mind-boggling to imagine how the first monks built the monasteries of Meteora in the 14th century, most notably the one in Peneas Valley located northeast of Kalabaka, Greece. This Holy Trinity sits on top of a rocky precipe over 1300 feet, forming one of six surviving monasteries constructed on top of steep natural pillars […]
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Diver finds 900-year-old crusader sword off Israel’s Carmel coast
A scuba diver discovered an ancient sword off Israel’s Carmel coast near the port city of Haifa. The iron sword is thought to have belonged to a crusader knight 900 years ago when the Crusaders were fighting Muslim forces for control over the Holy Land. Eagle-eyed diver Shlomi Katzin stumbled upon the three-foot blade on […]
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World’s third-largest diamond discovered in Botswana
A unit of De Beers unearthed one of the world’s largest diamonds in Botswana earlier this month. The 1,098-carat diamond is believed to be the third-largest gem-quality stone ever mined. It’s worth a jaw-dropping $100+ million. 80% of the income through sales will be passed on to the state to “be used to advanced national […]
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Meet Bolivia’s powerful female wrestlers, Flying Cholitas
Photographer Todd Anthony took pictures of Bolivia’s indigenous female wrestlers for his new project, Flying Cholitas. This unique group of athletes wear more than stylish dresses and beautiful petticoats — they come together to demonstrate pride in their history. Once colonized by the Spanish and rejected as lower-class citizens, pejoratively known as “cholita,” they have since […]
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Born to dive: The Bajau sea nomads
The Bajau sea nomads are people from the Malay Archipelago (Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia). Among the world’s best divers, the sea nomads act like the real mermaids — aquatic life is literally in their DNA. According to a study from the journal Cell: They are renowned for their extraordinary abilities, diving to depths of over 70 […]
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Two ash-covered bodies from Vesuvius eruption uncovered at Pompeii
Archaeologists uncovered the body of a wealthy 40-year old man and his young slave in Pompeii, 2,000 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Excavations at the suburban villa Civita Giuliana, a suburb outside Pompeii, discovered the bodies covered in a bed of 6.5-foot ash. Researchers believe that the two men survived the initial eruption […]
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Iceland invites the world to scream out its lockdown stress
The COVID-19 pandemic got you stressed? Iceland’s government, in partnership with the country’s tourist agency Promote Island, will allow anyone in the world to scream into an app and broadcast it into the nation’s vast wilderness. Let it all out on a speaker in Iceland All one needs to record a loud scream, wail, or […]
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Oxygen in the house: Barcelona opera house reopens with performance to over 2,000 plants
No, this is not an article from The Onion. To mark Spain’s lifting of lockdown restrictions, Barcelona’s Liceu Opera House reopened for the first time in three months with a performance to 2,292 potted plants. The three classical musicians performed Puccini’s “Crisantemi” to “reaffirm the value of art, music and nature” after Covid-19 lockdowns. Even […]
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Natural light prevents myopia
A report issued in Nature reveals that staying inside is the leading cause of myopia. The finding refutes the myth that nearsightedness is the result of intense reading sessions and screen activity. Myopia is prevalent in East Asian countries, where the focus on studying means staying indoors rather than benefiting from the outside environment. According to another […]
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Neanderthals were great hunters but poor artists
Neanderthals were great hunters but poor artists. According to a study done by UC Davis psychology professor Richard Coss, Neanderthals used basic spear hunting techniques to capture tame prey. Meanwhile, Homo Sapiens developed the ability to throw spears as a result of chasing more elusive game in the open grasslands of Africa. Homo Sapiens were […]
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Time travel back to New York City, 1911
In 1911, Swedish film company Svenska Biografteatern recorded its trip to New York. Fortunately, the footage survived and most recently was speed-corrected (slowed down) and reproduced with the ambient audio of street sounds of car horns, horses, and police whistles to give us a sense of the environment back then. There’s also a color version of the […]
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The treadmill was originally a torture device
Treadmills were originally torture devices, meant to break the mind, body, and spirit of English prisoners. Two hundred years ago, the treadmill was invented in England as a prison rehabilitation device. It was meant to cause the incarcerated to suffer and learn from their sweat. Groups of prisoners were forced to walk 6 hours a […]