In 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays while playing around in his laboratory. The discovery made enormous contributions to physics and other sciences. Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize for Physics his work. It also triggered intense interest in rays of all kind, real or imagined.
Kirlian photography is a technique of acquiring photographic images through the use of high-voltage electricity. It was developed in the Soviet Union by Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina during the first half of the 20th Century.
From time to time, authorities in Illinois would receive a call from someone claiming to have seen a cougar. These calls were usually ignored. There were no cougars in Illinois – there were no credible reports of cougars here. That being the case, the caller didn’t really see a cougar. He must be mistaken or lying. Either way, there was no reason to take his call seriously. This state of affairs persisted for decades, right up to the time when a full-grown cougar had to be shot by Chicago police in a densely-populated neighborhood of the City. Suddenly, the possibility of cougars in Illinois became more plausible.
In 1989, chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann reported that they had achieved cold fusion. “Cold fusion” refers to a type of nuclear reaction that takes place at temperatures far below the several million degrees that are usually required for the reaction. It’s not known whether cold fusion is possible. When the report came out it garnered enormous media attention. Fusion would be a source of cheap and relatively safe energy. Any process that could generate fusion energy – cold or otherwise – is big news.
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The pyramids of Egypt – and in particular, the Great Pyramid of Giza – are among the most puzzling and contentious productions of human endeavor. In fact, one argument is whether the pyramids were built by humans or by aliens. The reasoning seems to go: “I don’t know how they could have built the pyramids. Therefore, it must have been aliens.” Such reasoning is wearisome; I’m going with “forgotten technology.”
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In 1908, a worker at a gravel pit in Piltdown, England, found pieces of a skull. The discovery attracted the attention of a collector named Charles Dawson, and paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward. These men found additional pieces of the skull at the site, as well as a jawbone apparently belonging to the same creature. The creature seemed to have a brain around two thirds the size of a human’s, while its jaw was similar to that of a chimpanzee’s. It was called “Piltdown Man.”
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The Beresovka Mammoth was found in Siberia in the early 20th Century. Its body had been relatively well preserved, frozen for about forty thousand years in the frigid tundra. There were a few mysterious facts that puzzled researchers.
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Most of us admit that we don’t know everything. However, we usually feel certain about some of our facts. We may think they’re obviously true, or that they’re so certain that everyone accepts them. I want to challenge this assumption.
Continue readingMan dies after winning roach-eating contest in Broward :
The contest was to win a python from a pet store.
You know, it’s one thing to drop dead after running a marathon. Even if you didn’t finish, if you got close to the end people will generally give you credit for trying. They figure, “well, he dropped dead, but he was doing something really hard.” At least, that’s how I figure it when I read about the annual “people dropping dead during or after marathon” stories. They always say that the guy was young, in good health, they can’t figure out why he dropped dead. I’ll tell you why: running is bad for you. But I digress…
When you drop dead after eating too many roaches, you don’t get any respect at all. This guy will be remembered long after his death, much longer than if he had survived the roach-eating contest. He’ll always be, “Isn’t he the guy who dropped dead after eating a gazillion roaches?” What a claim to fame.
And he didn’t even get the python.
I Don’t Know
“I don’t know.” Three of the hardest words to say – except maybe for:
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Many of us – probably most of us – seem to approach admitting ignorance with the same enthusiasm we approach a root canal. It is as though we are afraid to confess that we don’t know something, as though it were a moral deficiency or a crime.
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