Perhaps no animal in the world has been misunderstood as much as the elephant. These giant herbivores are the largest land animals alive today, but what do we actually know about elephants? Surprisingly little. To begin with, many people mistakenly consider the mammoth to be an ancestor of the elephant. But this is not quite […]
The world’s most expensive bottle of wine has sold at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Such rare bottles are often treated as collectibles and investments, and some may never be opened. Large wine cellars, however, are more than stores of valuable bottles: they are living collections th...
The Krupp-built Bagger 288, one of the world’s largest bucket-wheel excavators, made headlines when it was transported across Germany to the Hambach open-cast coal mine. This enormous machine was designed to remove overburden—the soil and rock covering a coal deposit—before mining could begin. The B...
Anyone who thinks cats are merely decorative animals, suitable only for cat shows-or that their only duty is catching mice-is missing a lot. Cats have lived alongside humans for thousands of years, but in the modern era of urban life, people have found them some unusual “jobs.” And cats, for their p...
Holding your breath underwater for as long as possible is a discipline in freediving known as static apnea. In a standard static-apnea attempt, the diver remains still with their face submerged, trying to stay relaxed while holding their breath. Some widely publicized records, however, have been set...
Mount Kailash, also known as Kangrinboqê or Gang Rinpoche, is one of the most sacred mountains in Asia. Revered in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and the Tibetan Bon tradition, it has inspired centuries of pilgrimage, stories, and speculation. Its summit has no confirmed recorded ascent, and climbing...
Sailing ship — a vessel that uses sails and wind power as a significant means of propulsion. Sailing vessels have existed for thousands of years, from the ships of ancient civilizations to the enormous windjammers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the tradition continues with modern...
The English Channel separates Great Britain from continental Europe — and for centuries it has been much more than a stretch of water on a map. It has been a playground, a challenge and an irresistible invitation to inventors, adventurers and people who apparently looked at a perfectly good boat and...
The Concorde was more than an airliner. It was a technological statement: a passenger aircraft that could cross the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound, fly at around 60,000 feet and turn a seven- to eight-hour London–New York journey into roughly three and a half hours. For 27 years, Concorde was...
Mushrooms are a fascinating group of organisms with characteristics that distinguish them from both plants and animals. There are thousands of mushroom species, but the following ten are particularly interesting for their appearance, growth, culinary value, toxicity, or unusual biology. 1Porcini The...
What makes a drug dangerous? Is it the chance of overdose, the risk of addiction, the damage it causes to the body, or the harm it can cause to families and society? There is no single answer. In fact, one of the most famous scientific attempts to answer this question produced some surprisingly cont...
If small cars exist, why shouldn’t there be small 4x4s? They deserve just as much love as large SUVs and off-roaders, while their compact dimensions can make them surprisingly capable on narrow, muddy or snowy roads. And there is another obvious advantage: smaller vehicles can be more economic...
The use of alternative energy sources is an important part of the global effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Wind power has become one of the world’s major renewable energy technologies, with countries across every continent investing in new wind farms. This ranking is based on **tota...
Throughout history, people have collected almost everything imaginable. Some collections have eventually grown into museums devoted to subjects that are anything but ordinary. Here is our selection of ten of the world’s most unusual museums. 1 Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments Located in...
The basketball hoop is 3.05 meters (10 feet) above the floor. For some players, reaching it requires a tremendous jump. For others, simply raising their arms is enough to put the ball within easy reach. Throughout basketball history, the sport has produced some truly extraordinary giants. Here are t...
The press is often called the “fourth estate.” Newspapers report the news, announce events and campaigns, and keep the public informed. They can be just a single sheet of paper or run to hundreds of pages. Some are virtually unknown, while others are recognized around the world. This article looks a...
You can’t surprise anyone with citrus anymore — we add lemon to our tea almost every day, and mandarins are now a year-round fruit rather than something we buy only for New Year’s celebrations. Yet the citrus family includes far more than these familiar fruits. I previously wrote about c...
Some giant dogs can weigh as much as an adult human and, when standing on their hind legs, can even tower over one. The breeds featured in our top 10 are among the largest dogs in the world, with some reaching dimensions that can seem closer to those of a small horse than an ordinary […]
“Bread and circuses!” — two timeless things that people have sought throughout the ages. Although this expression belonged to the ancient Roman satirical poet Juvenal, who lived in the 1st century AD, it has not lost its relevance even in the 21st century. Among the main attractions for...
Private military and security companies are commercial organizations that provide specialized services related to military operations, security, intelligence, military training, logistics, and defense. Some of the organizations on this list are traditional private military or security companies, whi...