The myth of Rasputin, the Mad Monk, is well-known: He was a scheming sexual predator who insinuated himself into court life with devastating effects on Russia’s royal family. The reality — what we know of it — is much more nuanced. Most of what we know about Rasputin is thanks to Douglas Smith, historian and translator, who in 2016 published an exhaustively researched biography, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. According to Smith, if the Rasputin you know is the ch ...read more
Lions may be the kings of the jungle, but they can face threats themselves – especially lion cubs. Young lions are often vulnerable to male lions from other coalitions that can kill clubs so they can mate with the female lions. Spotted hyenas and other large carnivores also present a threat to lion cubs.New research in a study published recently in the Journal of Animal Ecology, revealed that male lions have a certain way of defending their territory from danger – from either rival male coal ...read more
In March of 1942, the U.S. was only a few months into the Second World War. Already, German submarines lurked near the Atlantic coast, hunting for supply freighters and battleships. Late in the month, a U-71 detected the Dixie Arrow, an oil tanker carrying more than 86,000 barrels of crude oil from Texas to New Jersey.The submarine fired two torpedoes at the target. Within a minute, the tanker was ablaze and sinking. Twenty-two crew members made it to safety; 11 died in the attack.The tanker san ...read more
On a Wednesday morning in late January 1896, at a small light bulb factory in Chicago, a middle-aged woman named Rose Lee found herself at the heart of a groundbreaking medical endeavor. With an X-ray tube positioned above the tumor in her left breast, Lee was treated with a torrent of high-energy particles that penetrated into the malignant mass.“And so,” as her treating clinician later wrote, “without the blaring of trumpets or the beating of drums, X-ray therapy was born.”Radiation th ...read more
Like many of the researchers who study how people find their way from place to place, David Uttal is a poor navigator. “When I was 13 years old, I got lost on a Boy Scout hike, and I was lost for two and a half days,” recalls the Northwestern University cognitive scientist. And he’s still bad at finding his way around.The world is full of people like Uttal — and their opposites, the folks who always seem to know exactly where they are and how to get where they want to go. Scientists some ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine