In 2004, undercover agents from the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office set out to expose Trinity Southern University, a Dallas-based diploma mill. To do so, they submitted an application for Colby Nolan—a six-year-old house cat—claiming he had job experience and a 3.5 GPA.

Magawa, a Southern giant pouched rat, was trained not to chase cheese, but to save lives. Born in Tanzania in 2013, he became the most successful landmine-detecting rat in history, uncovering explosives in Cambodian soil for five years before retiring to a quiet life in 2021.

On February 4, 1912, a crowd assembled beneath the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Among them was Franz Reichelt, an Austrian-born tailor who had developed a wearable parachute suit. He had told officials he would drop a dummy from the first platform. Instead, he intended to jump himself.

In 2022, scientists Corrado Malanga of the University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi of the University of Strathclyde used Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) tomography to study the Khafre Pyramid on the Giza Plateau. Their findings revealed five identical subsurface structures near its base.

In the 17th century, Jan de Doot, a Dutch blacksmith, suffered from an excruciating bladder stone. At the time, bladder stone surgery was dangerous and often fatal. Having seen others suffer at the hands of surgeons, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

In January 2024, Lucasfilm announced The Mandalorian & Grogu, a feature film directed by Jon Favreau and co-written by Favreau and Dave Filoni. Originally, a fourth season of The Mandalorian was planned, but Hollywood labor disputes delayed production. Lucasfilm then prioritized a film over the season.

For 16 years, an unknown bomber terrorized New York City, planting explosives in crowded public spaces. Known only as “F.P.,” he left letters taunting the police. His bombs, initially crude, became deadlier. By 1956, after 32 bombings and 15 injuries, authorities were desperate to catch him.

In 1936, as the Spanish Civil War raged, the Republican government secretly moved 510 tonnes of gold—72.6% of Spain’s reserves—from the Bank of Spain in Madrid to the Soviet Union. The operation was ordered by Finance Minister Juan Negrín and approved by Prime Minister Francisco Largo Caballero, aiming to safeguard the reserves from advancing Nationalist forces.

Yang Kyoungjong, a Korean man born in 1920, was forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Japan controlled Korea at the time, and he was sent to fight in Manchuria against the Soviet Union in 1938.

Maison de Jeanne, located in Sévérac-le-Château, France, was constructed in 1478, making it one of the oldest houses in Aveyron. Built with timber framing and cob walls, its design features upper floors that extend beyond the lower floor, a style believed to be influenced by medieval tax laws or jettying techniques.