Science, Technology & Medicine

3+ day, 22+ hour ago   (144+ words) July 3, 2012 by Vicky Alvear Shecter 2 Comments This story may give a clue as to why we cover our mouths when yawning: So, according to St. Theodore of Sykeon (600s CE), an unprotected yawning mouth gave access to sickness and demons who…...

2+ hour, 26+ min ago   (237+ words) Jostlestones prevented damage to the wheels of carriages and traps in days gone by Frank McNally solves the mystery of columns Jostlestones prevented damage to the wheels of carriages and traps in days gone by Sir, – Frank McNally is…...

6+ hour, 5+ min ago   (249+ words) In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue—and transformed the Western Hemisphere... right? Didn’t he permanently link the Old and New Worlds, unlike anyone else before him, including the Vikings? Eight years ago, my answers to these questions began to change....

2+ week, 4+ hour ago   (193+ words) Documents collated in a new book challenge five centuries of history by identifying Columbus as a prince born on the Portuguese island of Madeira. What if Christopher Columbus was not Christopher Columbus? A 35-year investigation drawing on archival material from…...

10+ hour, 40+ min ago   (1303+ words) include the Columbia, Colorado, Snake, and Missouri, where dams power cities, water farms, and reshape river ecosystems. During the 19th and 20th centuries, America's rivers were harnessed to help power a growing nation. Engineers, often from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and…...

18+ hour, 39+ min ago   (222+ words) From 1976: The Spokane County Health District began swine flu immunizations “for persons 57 or older, diabetics and those with heart, lung or kidney conditions.” This was the beginning of a nationwide push for swine flu vaccinations. However, questions about the program…...

14+ hour, 32+ min ago   (1311+ words) Want more Life's Little Mysteries? Archaeologists and geographers have been trying to estimate the pre-1492 population of the Americas for decades. But it's difficult. When Christopher Columbus made landfall in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492, he encountered Indigenous Lucayans living on…...

1+ day, 4+ hour ago   (954+ words) So why does the world remember one Otis and forget the other? The forgotten one is generally credited with building the first working steam shovel. Every excavator on a building site today still does the two things his machine did: it…...

2+ day, 5+ hour ago   (208+ words) Dr. John Handwerker, Key Biscayne's first doctor. When Dr. John Handwerker and his wife Dr. Alma Trappolini announced their plans to move to Key Biscayne in 1951, their medical colleagues thought they were crazy. Only 350 families lived on the island at…...

1+ day, 15+ hour ago   (968+ words) Harriet Martineau was one of the first people to write about economics in a popular way One of the world's first professional female journalists deserves far greater recognition, especially in her home town of Norwich, according to a historian. Harriet…...