Stories

The Big Wind firefighting tank started as a Soviet T-34 tank, originally used in World War II. In the 1990s, Hungarian engineers modified it by replacing its turret with twin jet engines from a MiG-21 fighter jet, transforming it into a high-powered firefighting machine.

Between August and October 1984, over 750 people in The Dalles, Oregon, suffered from food poisoning after eating at salad bars across ten restaurants.

A lithopedion, or stone baby, occurs when a fetus dies in an abdominal pregnancy and becomes calcified. Instead of being absorbed, the body encases it in calcium to prevent infection. This rare event can remain undetected for decades, often found accidentally during medical scans.

Ron Mueck began his career in the world of puppetry and special effects, working on films like Labyrinth (1986). His experience in model-making led him to create sculptures with extreme detail.

In the early 1860s, William Mumler shocked the world by producing photographs that seemed to show spirits alongside the living. His eerie images drew believers and skeptics alike to his Boston studio.

In 2008, Kenichi Mamitsuka from Japan introduced SpoGomi, blending “sport” and “gomi” (Japanese for “trash”). Teams of three to five participants compete to collect litter within a designated area and time frame.

Gaza’s history dates back over 4,000 years, beginning as a Canaanite settlement before falling under Egyptian rule for 350 years. The Philistines later made it one of their main cities.

In January 1918, an unusual influenza outbreak struck Haskell County, Kansas. Dr. Loring Miner, concerned by the severity, alerted the U.S. Public Health Service, marking the first recorded report of the virus. Local newspapers listed numerous cases of pneumonia and “la grippe,” suggesting a widespread illness.

In the 1920s, heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post built Mar-a-Lago on 17 acres in Palm Beach, Florida. Completed in 1927, the estate featured 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, and an 1,800-square-foot living room. Post spent $7 million—now worth over $90 million—on its construction.

In 2016, Dutch artist Margriet van Breevoort created a sculpture named Homunculus Loxodontus for the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands.