Did Victorians Really Treat Headaches by Hammering Metal Helmets?
A sepia photograph circulating on Instagram, Reddit and Facebook depicts a man’s head inside a bucket‑shaped metal helmet on an anvil while another person swings a sledgehammer, billed as an 1890s "vibration therapy" for headaches. The post investigates the claim, finding no medical literature from the Victorian era that describes such a hammer‑driven treatment. While late‑19th‑century physicians did experiment with vibratory devices, they were hand‑cranked or electrically powered, not driven by a hammer. The analysis concludes the image is likely a modern staging or satire rather than a genuine historical cure.
Starfield’s New Expansion Isn’t Likely to Change Your Mind on the Game
Bethesda released the "New Horizons" expansion for Starfield, adding roughly ten new planets and side quests. The DLC arrives bundled with the Premium Edition, offering it at no extra cost to early purchasers. While the content expands the game's universe,...
How Are Crypto Games Doing in 2026?
The crypto‑gaming boom that surged in 2022‑23 has largely collapsed by 2026, with total market revenue estimated at roughly $200 million—down more than 70% from its peak. Regulatory crackdowns on unregistered securities and the fallout from high‑profile token failures have driven...
This Site Supercharges Your Library Card with Reciprocal Libraries
An emerging platform expands the utility of standard library cards by linking them to a reciprocal network of libraries nationwide. Through integration with the Libby app, users can borrow e‑books, audiobooks, and magazines from any participating library without additional fees....
Vance, Impressed with Iran’s “Economic Terrorism,” Says the U.S. Should Try It Too
Senator JD Vance, a vocal Trump supporter, denounced Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz as “economic terrorism.” He then suggested the United States should respond by employing the same tactics, effectively mirroring the behavior he condemned. The remarks were...
Thanks, Trump! — Here’s What Happens when the World Runs Low on Helium
The article explains how the United States’ decision under the Trump administration to sell off its federal helium reserve has accelerated a global helium shortage. With Qatar supplying roughly a third of the world’s supply and the U.S. reserve now...
Proton Is Letting Parents Reserve a Child’s Email Before Birth
Proton Mail now allows parents to reserve a dedicated email address for an unborn child, keeping it sealed until the child is ready to use it. The reserved address contains no inbox, activity logs, or profiling data, and can remain...
A Group of 200 Chimps Had a Civil War
Between 2018 and 2024, researchers observed a violent split among roughly 200 chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. One faction killed seven adult males and 17 infants from a rival group, while 14 additional adult males vanished without a trace....
15 Pages a Day Turns You Into a Reader of 40+ Books a Year
Programmer Jake Worth transformed from a non‑reader to finishing 44 books in a year by committing to read at least 15 pages daily. He argues that a modest, consistent target sustains momentum and prevents books from being abandoned. The approach...
The Appeal of AI Girlfriends Isn’t the AI — It’s that She Can’t Say No
Men are increasingly turning to AI chatbots as romantic and sexual partners, a trend highlighted in a recent essay by Northwestern philosophy PhD candidate Isaac Shur. Shur argues the appeal lies less in combating loneliness and more in the absolute...
Two Condors Quietly Attempt a Comeback Humans Nearly Erased
After more than a century of near‑extinction, a pair of California condors in Redwood National and State Parks appear to be incubating a nest, potentially producing the first wild‑born chick in Northern California in roughly 130 years. The birds, monitored...
Floating Bosch Parade Returns to the Netherlands in June
The annual Floating Bosch Parade is set to return to the Netherlands in June 2024, staging surreal, floating installations that pay homage to the 15th‑century painter Hieronymus Bosch. Artists construct whimsical rafts, bubble‑filled vessels and other fantastical floats that glide...
Buried CDC Report Says Vaccines Work, Funny How that Keeps Happening
A CDC‑sponsored study found COVID‑19 vaccines cut urgent‑care visits by roughly 50% and hospitalizations by 55% among healthy adults. The findings were slated for the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 19 but were postponed after a senior researcher...
What to Do if Amazon Killed Your Kindle
Amazon announced it will discontinue cloud support for its first‑generation, second‑generation Kindles and the Kindle DX, meaning owners can no longer borrow titles from Kindle Unlimited or download newly purchased books directly to the device. The change takes effect in...
Artemis Crew Safely Splashes Down Off California Coast
NASA confirmed that the Artemis II crew safely re‑entered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific off Southern California. The four‑person team—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen—completed a 10‑day lunar flyby, the first...
Girl Mice Grew Balls After a One-Letter DNA Change
Researchers at Bar‑Ilan University introduced a single‑letter mutation into a non‑coding DNA segment of female mice, causing them to develop testes. The alteration targeted a regulatory region previously considered "junk DNA," demonstrating that tiny changes can flip sexual development pathways....
UK Bans “Stepfamily” Porn by One Vote, Sets 5-Year Prison Term
The UK House of Lords approved a ban on pornography that depicts sexual acts between stepfamily members, passing the measure by a razor‑thin 144‑143 vote. The legislation, championed by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, classifies such material as a form of...
John Deere Settles Right-to-Repair Lawsuit for $99 Million
John Deere agreed to a $99 million settlement resolving a class‑action lawsuit over its right‑to‑repair policies. The deal covers customers who used Deere dealers for major equipment repairs after January 2018, offering recoveries of 26% to 53% of alleged overcharge damages—significantly higher...
NYT Investigation Names Adam Back as Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto
John Carreyrou, the Pulitzer‑winning journalist behind the Theranos expose, spent 18 months investigating Bitcoin’s creator and concluded that British cryptographer Adam Back—who invented the Hashcash proof‑of‑work system—is the most likely Satoshi Nakamoto. The New York Times published Carreyrou’s findings on April 8, giving...
A.J. Jacobs Beat a Weeks-Long Writing Block with a Two-Minute Timer
A.J. Jacobs, the bestselling author known for experimental nonfiction, broke a week‑long writing block by setting a two‑minute timer and forcing himself to write whatever came to mind. He frames the first action as "putting on your left sock," making...
This Dashboard Tracks Everything Going on with Artemis’ Orion Capsule as It Returns to Earth
NASA’s Artemis II mission is in its final phase, with the Orion capsule—nicknamed Integrity—scheduled to splash down off San Diego at 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday. The crew has already completed a historic fly‑by of the Moon’s far side and returned high‑resolution imagery...
“Catturd” Gets More X Engagement than the New York Times
A pseudonymous right‑wing account called Catturd consistently generates higher engagement on X than the New York Times, despite the newspaper’s 53 million‑follower base. Analyst Nate Silver highlighted that Catturd’s posts routinely attract thousands of likes and replies, while NYT tweets often linger at...
Terry Zwigoff and Drew Friedman in Conversation After CRUMB at Film Forum
The 1995 documentary CRUMB, directed by Terry Zwigoff, revisited its legacy during a post‑screening conversation with cartoonist Drew Friedman at New York’s Film Forum. The film, which chronicled underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and his troubled family, was famously snubbed for...
Meta Is Pulling Ads that Recruit Plaintiffs Suing Meta
Meta Platforms is removing more than a dozen paid advertisements that law firms used to recruit plaintiffs for social‑media addiction lawsuits. The move follows a California jury verdict that found Meta negligent in fostering compulsive use of its services. Axios...
Amazon to Cut Off Old Kindles in May
Amazon announced it will discontinue cloud support for its first‑generation, second‑generation, and Kindle DX e‑readers after May 20. After that date users cannot purchase, borrow, or download new titles, and any device reset or deregistration will render the hardware inoperable. The...
EFF Quits X as Posts Now Get 3% of What Tweets Once Got
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced it is quitting X after its posts now generate only about 3% of the impressions they once did. In 2018, the nonprofit posted 5‑10 times daily and earned 50‑100 million impressions each month. By 2025,...
Metal Gear Solid Movie on the Way
Hollywood has green‑lit a new Metal Gear Solid feature film, tapping directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein to translate Hideo Kojima’s 1998 PlayStation landmark into a blockbuster. The duo highlighted the game’s pioneering cinematic style as a blueprint for...
Arkanoid Played by an Orchestra
Japanese ensemble New Japan BGM Philharmonic Orchestra performed a full orchestral version of the 1986 arcade title Arkanoid’s brief original soundtrack. The performance, captured on video, transforms the game’s sub‑minute synth theme into a concert‑ready arrangement. By reimagining a classic...
Bicycle Bell Designed to Defeat Noise-Cancelling Headphones
Škoda has unveiled the DuoBell, a low‑cost bicycle bell engineered to cut through active‑noise‑cancelling (ANC) headphones. The analog device emits a 750 Hz harmonic that ANC algorithms struggle to suppress, ensuring cyclists remain audible without resorting to excessive volume. It contains...
Design of Foldable iPhone Confirmed by Dummy Sets
Tech journalist Sonny Dickson released exclusive dummy units of a foldable iPhone, confirming Apple is actively developing a folding handset. The mockups feature a squarer hinge and a horizontal flip mechanism, aligning with earlier speculative designs. The presence of production-ready...
The Doctor Who Proved Handwashing Saves Lives Was Locked in an Asylum for It
In 1847 Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician at Vienna General Hospital, introduced mandatory handwashing in a chlorinated lime solution, slashing maternity ward mortality from 18% to 2%. His data‑driven approach proved that physicians were transmitting fatal infections to patients. The medical...
China’s 3,000-Foot “Goddess Escalator” Takes 21 Minutes to Ride
Wushan County in Chongqing has unveiled the world’s longest outdoor escalator system, stretching 3,000 feet from the town up to a scenic mountain area. The complex comprises 21 linked escalators and eight elevators, delivering passengers to the summit in roughly...
“Sunshine” Is a 30-Foot-Long Animated Dachshund Sculpture
A 30-foot-long, hyperrealistic animatronic dachshund named "Sunshine" has been unveiled as a brand‑centric spectacle. The sculpture moves, wags its tail, and interacts with viewers, turning a simple dog figure into a kinetic advertising platform. Created by an unnamed production studio,...
An Artist Painted a Monster, an Occult Poet Conjured It to Life, and Now It Wants to Kill Your Mörk...
In 2023 poet‑performer Janaka Stucky launched a Kickstarter for Ekphrastic Beasts, a monster‑bestiary that starts with artwork and then invents the creature’s game stats. The project reversed the traditional workflow, letting visual art dictate the creature’s abilities for D&D 5e....
How Hackers Faked a Zombie Apocalypse Alert on Live TV
On February 11, 2013, hackers infiltrated the Emergency Alert System (EAS) of at least five U.S. television stations and aired a fabricated warning that the dead were rising and attacking the living. The fake alert first appeared on KRTV in...
What Do You Read when You’re Locked up in a Japanese Jail for 23 Days?
Playwright Jeremy O. Harris was detained in Okinawa after Japanese customs discovered MDMA in his luggage, spending 23 days in a detention facility. While incarcerated, he read 23 books, including the Japanese novel *Gifted* by Suzumi Suzuki, and used the...
The Tofu Product Marketed as “the Healthy Human Flesh Alternative”
In May 2005 Mark Nuckols, a Tuck School of Business student, launched Hufu—a tofu slab marketed as a "healthy human flesh alternative" for the cannibalism‑curious. The product mimicked raw meat in texture and flavor, using provocative branding to attract media...
USGlobal Airways: A 29-Year Airline that Never Flew
USGlobal Airways, originally launched as Baltia Air Lines in 1994, spent nearly three decades as a fully capitalized airline without ever operating a commercial flight. Founder Igor Dmitrowsky secured investor funding and acquired several Boeing 747s, yet the company never...
America Forgot How to Make a Classified Nuclear Warhead Ingredient
The U.S. Department of Energy discovered it could no longer produce Fogbank, a classified polymer used in the W76, W78 and W88 nuclear warheads, and allocated roughly $92 million to recreate the material. Fogbank’s composition and manufacturing process remain highly secret,...
Ninja Creami, the PacoJet for the Rest of Us
The Ninja Creami, a countertop frozen‑dessert maker, is being hailed as a consumer‑grade alternative to the professional‑grade PacoJet. Priced around $179, it lets users spin, freeze, and customize ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and even dairy‑free treats at home. Reviewers praise...
U.S. Hiding Troops in Hotels to Dodge Missiles May Be a War Crime
The United States has begun moving troops from exposed Gulf bases into hotels and office buildings amid a surge of Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Defense officials say the hardened compounds lack sufficient protection against the new long‑range strike...
Krypto Is in Trouble in the New Supergirl Trailer and He Had Better Be OK
The latest Supergirl trailer spotlights Krypto, Superman’s Kryptonian dog, in a perilous situation that has ignited fan discussion. The footage suggests a darker, more action‑driven tone for the upcoming series, hinting at alien threats and higher stakes. While the trailer...
Art Sculpture Blows Rainbow Smoke Donuts Using Mirrors and Prisms
Artist Adrien Miller unveiled a hand‑crafted wall sculpture that appears to exhale rainbow‑colored smoke rings. The effect relies on strategically placed mirrors and a prism that refract incense smoke into vivid arcs. Viewers initially mistake the display for a digital...
DIY Camera Inspired by Production Design of 1979’s Alien
The Saturnix is an open‑source DIY camera built around a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and an Arducam IMX519 sensor, housed in a retro‑futuristic case that mimics the iconic prop from the 1979 film Alien. Designer Yutani released full hardware schematics and software on...
More Research Links Artificial Sweetener Erythritol to Stroke Risk
A new animal study suggests that erythritol, a zero‑calorie sugar alcohol popular in low‑carb foods, may promote blood clot formation in the brain, raising concerns about stroke risk. Researchers observed increased cerebral clotting in mice fed typical dietary levels of...
Casio’s New Retro Watch Gets some Old Retro Colors
Casio has expanded its Vintage AQ-240E ana‑digi watch line with three new pastel colorways: pale blue‑green, pastel salmon, and off‑white. The AQ-240E, launched last year as a successor to the AQ-230, blends a slim digital display with a classic analog...
GM’s Shiny Tomorrow Came with a Very Dark Underside
General Motors’ 1940 Futurliners were massive Art Deco roadshow trucks that toured the United States, drawing over three million visitors and linking the GM brand to a futuristic vision. While the glossy exhibitions promoted jet engines, microwaves and television, GM...
A Puppet Show Made From Old Pianos and Mississippi River Trash
Playdoh Kolo’s newest production, Riperion Piano Creatures, will debut at this year’s Giant Puppet Festival in New Orleans. The performance features an entire cast of puppets constructed from discarded Mississippi River debris, salvaged piano parts, and other urban refuse. By...
Augmented Reality Glasses Can Aid Dementia Patients — and Their Caregivers
UK‑based health‑tech startup has been awarded the Longitude Prize, a £1 million (≈ $1.27 million) challenge prize, for developing augmented‑reality glasses designed to assist people living with dementia and ease caregiver burden. The glasses overlay contextual cues, navigation prompts and medication reminders directly...
Radio Garden Lets You Explore Local Radio From Around the World at Home
Radio Garden is an interactive web platform that maps live FM/AM stations worldwide, allowing users to spin a virtual globe and tune into local broadcasts from any location. The service revives the serendipitous, community‑driven experience of traditional radio, contrasting with...