Historic Events
Wars, important political and economic occasions, catastrophes and social movements of the past
Going Nuclear Over the Pacific
A half-century ago, a U.S. military test lit up the skies and upped the ante with the Soviets.
August 15, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Archaeologists Excavate Death Pit, Finding Hundreds of Sacrificed Soldiers in Denmark
Archaeologists are excavating hundreds of skeletons from the boggy swamps, and the remains belong to men who all sacrificed around the time of Christ
August 15, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
What Caused the Deadly Iranian Earthquakes?
Straddling the seam between the Eurasian and Arabian tectonic plates, Iran has a history plagued with earthquakes
August 15, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
In 2010 $600 Million in Guns and Ammo Were Exported from the US
In 2010, $607 million dollars worth of small and light arms left the United States, headed to buyers around the world
August 07, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Italian Supervolcano Could End Eurozone Crisis the Easy Way
Deep underground in southern Italy, just outside the city of Naples, the Campi Flegrei supervolcano has been resting for the past 500 years.
August 06, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
For Soldiers, Sperm Banking Could Be the New Flack Jacket
Soldiers arriving home with missing or mutilated genitals have drown attention to the lack of government support for in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination using donated sperm, which costs up to $7,000 per procedure.
July 31, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
"The Flying Housewife" of the 1948 London Games
Voted female athlete of the 20th century, Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals while pregnant with her third child
July 31, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Document Deep Dive: A Peek at the Last Time London Hosted the Olympics
Records at the National Archives in London show how organizers cobbled together the 1948 "Austerity" Games
July 31, 2012 |
By Megan Gambino
Army Women To Get New (Non-Comic Book) Armor
The Army has announced that they are designing body armor specifically tailored to women's bodies.
July 26, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
If Syria Uses Chemical Weapons, Here’s How They’ll Work
Amidst the turmoil of an ongoing civil war, Syrian President al-Assad has been threatening to use chemical weapons if faced with international intervention.
July 26, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
New Study Suggests Humans, Not Climate, Killed Off Neanderthals
Roughly 40,000 years ago, the Neanderthals that lived in the Mediterranean disappeared. Whether they simply up and left, or died off, is anybody’s guess. They were still a common sight in western Europe for another 10,000 years, so outright extinction is off the table. In trying to understand what lead to the Neanderthal’s decline, archaeologists [...]
July 24, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Six Guys Stood At Nuclear Ground Zero And Lived To Tell The Tale
In 1957, five Air Force officers volunteered (and one cameraman was voluntold) to stand directly below a mid-air detonation of a 2-kiloton nuclear warhead.
July 19, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Navy’s Plan To Go Green Is Falling Apart
The US Navy had a bold plan to redesign its fleet to operate on renewable energy, a plan that may be falling apart.
July 18, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
U.S. Faces Worst Drought Since 1956
Drought grips 55% of the US mainland causing a shortfall in crop production, with very low chances of it ending any time soon.
July 17, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed
The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America
July 17, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
3 Ways Emergency Preparedness Is Like Wedding Planning
Last week, the CDC released its Wedding Day Survival Plan, a document which reads like a natural disaster preparedness checklist.
July 16, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Daughters of Wealth, Sisters in Revolt
The Gore-Booth sisters, Constance and Eva, forsook their places amid Ireland's Protestant gentry to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised and the poor
July 10, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Here’s What $110 Million in Fire Damage Looks Like
The Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado was the most destructive in the state's history.
July 06, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
Germans un-Kampf-ortable With Reissue of Hitler’s Tome
Starting in 2015, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf will once again be available to German readers.
July 05, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Where Are the Great Revolutionary War Films?
You'd think the 4th of July would inspire filmmakers to great works, but for the most part, they have been unable to recreate the events that led to the founding of America
July 03, 2012 |
By Daniel Eagan
