Almost since ballooning was invented, people were talking about trans-Atlantic crossings, but it took until 1978 for a crossing to be successful.

A Brief History of Trans-Atlantic Balloon Crossings

Fifteenth time’s the charm, evidently

Alcatraz Island as it looks today.

Alcatraz Wasn’t Always ‘Uncle Sam’s Devil’s Island’

Though it was a prison for more than a century, it didn’t become the famous maximum-security penitentiary until 1934

The engraved bones found in Gough's Cave

New Research

New Analysis Indicates Early Britons Engaged in Ritualistic Cannibalism

A zigzag pattern on an arm bone indicates around 15,000 years ago, humans in Britain may have consumed others as part of a funeral rite

'Vasa' can be visited today at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Bizarre Story of ‘Vasa,’ the Ship That Keeps On Giving

‘Vasa’ sunk in front of horrified onlookers on this day in 1628, claiming 30 lives

The Louvre Pyramid was completed in 1989 and is part of the entrance to the modern Louvre art gallery.

Three Things to Know About the Louvre’s History

The home of the Mona Lisa has a history that’s almost 1000 years long

Salicylic acid, the main ingredient in aspriin, is found in a number of plants, including jasmine, beans, peas and clover as well as willow trees.

Aspirin’s Four-Thousand-Year History

It’s 2000 B.C. and you have a headache. Grab the willow bark

Students of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.

U.S. Army To Return Remains of Three Native Boys Who Died at Assimilation School

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was founded by a military officer who wanted to “kill the Indian … [and] save the man in him”

The sport of angling ("angle" is an old work for "hook") was a popular 1600s pastime that had a number of guides written about it.

This Obscure Fishing Book is One of the Most Reprinted English Books Ever

‘The Compleat Angler’ is much more than an instruction manual on fishing. It’s a Walden-like meditation on nature and friendship

Joseph Goebbels viewing the 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition.

Trending Today

Eighty Years Later, Two Exhibits Confront the “Degenerate Art” Purge

In 1937, the Nazis confiscated modernist art from museums and put it up for ridicule in an exhibit that still reverberates today

This Is What Global Dissent Sounds Like

A new project maps almost 200 recordings taken in 27 different countries over the past 26 years

One of the cats involved in the Acoustic Kitty Project was a grey-and-white female.

The CIA Experimented On Animals in the 1960s Too. Just Ask ‘Acoustic Kitty’

Turns out that cats really don’t take direction well

Joseph Moxon, author of 'Mathematicks Made Easie,' was born on this day in 1627.

Is One A Number? According to ‘Mathematicks Made Easie,’ Yes

The ancient Greeks, and people for almost 2,000 years after them, argued over whether one was a number

Zhang Zeduan, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"

This Taiwanese Museum Just Digitized Its Massive Collection of Chinese Art

70,000 images are available for download via the National Palace Museum’s website

The Sabino sailing into port in 2005. The steamboat still carries museum-goers on tours of the Mystic River.

America’s Oldest Coal-Powered Steamboat Chugs Along

After a two-year restoration, the 109-year-old Sabino is ready to sail for many years to come

William Maples holds a bone fragment during a presentation about the Romanov Investigations, circa 1992.

William R. Maples Popularized Forensic Anthropology Long Before CSI

Maples worked on a number of high-profile cases that helped to bring the field of forensic anthropology to prominence

Using stiff collars to help a guide dog user communicate with their dog has been around since the 1800s.

The Cuddly Tail of Guide Dogs

Dogs have been assisting blind humans for a very long time, but the arrangement only became formal recently

A fragmented painting of a woman bearing offerings, from the Mycenaean palace at Tiryns.

DNA Analysis Sheds Light on the Mysterious Origins of the Ancient Greeks

Scholars have long puzzled over the ancestry of the Minoans and Myceneans, two important Bronze Age cultures

In the hours before the Sun rises, Tsukiji bustles with traders buying seafood for the coming day

Fire Breaks Out at Historic Tokyo Fish Market

As Tsukiji Market faces an uncertain future, a fire torches several stores at the edge of the century-old landmark

Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, the first two commercially popular country music acts, got their national start at the Bristol Sessions.

How the Bristol Sessions Created Country Music

Ninety years ago, a yodeller named Jimmie Rodgers laid down two of the tracks he would be remembered for

Alexander Graham Bell used the money from his telephone patent to fund Volta Laboratories, which later became Bell Laboratories.

Telephones Were Silenced for One Minute After Alexander Graham Bell Died

By the time Bell died, he had moved on to other inventions. But the telephone made a huge mark on American society

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