Dancing plagues
Sudden bouts of contagious dancing plagued pre-modern Europe – afflicting up to a thousand people at a time.
Month: August 2020
Iron currency
In the late 19th century CE Sierra Leone and surrounds, high quality iron needles tied into bundles served as currency.
Bee mummies
Worker bees will eject waste to keep the hive clean. But if the waste is too big to carry out, say a dead mouse, it will instead be mummified.
The town of no appendices
Before you move into Villa Las Estrellas you must have your appendix removed.
Piano as violin
Hey, let’s turn a grand piano on its side and play it like a violin! Sure, why not?
Wine immolation
King Charles II of Navarre died when, wrapped in alcohol-soaked linen, he caught on fire.
Sequences in pi
Within the first thousand digits of pi there are six nines in a row. This should not be a surprise.
This chariot always points south
Around 255 CE, a Chinese inventor named Ma Jun created a chariot that could always point south – without using magnets.
Tied to the tracks
The first film to feature a woman tied to train tracks starred one of the earliest female directors and producers, Mabel Normand. She may also have been the recipient of the first pie-in-the-face film gag.
Automatic ant
The cellular automaton Langton’s Ant follows just two simple commands, and in doing so moves in turn from symmetry to chaos to implacable order.
Three games of men
The festival Naadam is like the Mongolian equivalent of the Olympics, with just three sports: wrestling, archery, and horse racing.
Cities at the bottom of the sea
423,000 people live in Flevoland, a province of the Netherlands. Before 1957, the entire area did not exist.
The sun after sunset
Where can you see sunlight after the sun has set? In the zodiac or sometimes directly opposite the sun in the night sky.
Brelian crescendo
Jacques Brel, the famed Belgian singer, began some songs slowly and then sped up. A lot.
Sixth to ninth senses
The human senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste. Also balance, pain, proprioception, and interoception.
Genetic hitchhikers
A mutated gene that improves reproductive success spreads widely – this is one of the principles of evolution. But sometimes other genes come along for the ride.