Wooly mammoths are one of the quintessential animals of the Ice Age, and they died out about 10,000 years ago - or so that is what most people think. In reality, not all of them did. In fact a few pockets of mammoths hung on for thousands of years, and didn't die out until after writing was invented and the pyramids were built. This is the story of the last of the mammoths.

Sources

https://www.science.org/content/article/last-lonely-woolly-mammoths-faced-genomic-meltdown

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00577-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867424005774%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangel_Island File:Woolly_mammoth_model_Royal_BC_Museum_in_Victoria.jpg

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In August of 1969, the festering discontent felt by Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland would erupt into three days of fighting in the city of Derry - in an area called the Bogside. When the rioting was done, the British army was deployed for the first time in more than 40 years - and the Troubles had officially begun. This is the story of the Battle of the Bogside.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2X3Gm7bFdE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bogside

https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/3407/battle-of-the-bogside

https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/battle-of-the-bogside/

Image: By Adreanna Robson - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Free_Derry_Corner_in_1969.jpg

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Mary Mallon was a simple cook - no one special. At least until she was identified as the very first asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. In her life she unknowingly infected hundreds of people. As a result, she was quarantined against her will for decades. This is the story of Typhoid Mary.

Sources

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3959940/

https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/micrograph/index.cfm/posts/2020/typhoid_mary_mary_mallon_salmonella

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon#/media/File:Mallon-Mary_01.jpg

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Near the town of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic is a gothic chapel that many say resembles something out of a horror film. The chapel holds the bones of upwards of 70,000 people. And the bones are the chapel’s furnishings and decorations, including things such as a wreath of skulls, and a chandelier made up of every bone in the human body. This is the story of the Sedlec Ossuary - the Church of Bones.

Sources

https://horror-world.com/czech-republic-church-of-bones/

https://sedlecossuary.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary

https://www.sedlec.info/en/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bones_and_skulls_in_Sedlec_Ossuary_02.jpg

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The film industry loves a good war movie. It’s usually a way to put action and heroics on the big screen. As we observe Memorial Day in the United States - which is to honor those who died in the military - we share with you some of our favorite war movies.

Sources

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wings_poster.jpg

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On Jan. 27, 1967, three astronauts boarded Apollo 1 to conduct a launch simulation test. What followed next was one of the most devastating moments in NASA's history. This is the story of the Apollo 1 Disaster.

Sources

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-1/

https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/apollo-missions/apollo-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo1-Crew_01.jpg

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Hygiene is a critical component to one's health. But our understanding of hygiene goes back only to the mid-19th century, where a Bavarian chemist, Max von Pettenkofer, turned hygiene principals from a series of old wives tales to a hard science. This is the story of Max von Pettenkofer, the father of modern hygiene.

Sources

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2723483/pdf/12199_2008_Article_BF02898030.pdf

https://www.mvp.uni-muenchen.de/en/institute/geschichte/

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Joseph_von_Pettenkofer#/media/File:Max_von_Pettenkofer2.jpg

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In 1970, a 45 foot long, eight ton whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Oregon. Local officials weren’t sure what to do with the stinking, decomposing whale - so they decided to get rid of it by blowing it up with half a ton of dynamite. This is the story of the Exploding Whale of Florence.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale

https://www.xplodingwhale.com/

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/florence_whale_explosion/

https://davebarry.substack.com/p/the-exploding-whale

Watch the whale blow up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CLumsir34

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In the early morning hours of April 29, 1903, an enormous landslide in the mining town of Frank, Alberta, swept down the mountainside, killing dozens of people, and leaving half of the town buried. The worst part, if the town had listened to local lore, it could have been preventable.

Sources

https://www.geoinstitute.org/news/case-study-frank-slide

https://ags.aer.ca/our-science/turtle-mountain/frank-slide

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide#/media/File:News03a.jpg

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In late 1775, British and American forces were locked in a stalemate around Boston. The British were dug in, and the Americans lacked the heavy artillery to unseat them. And that’s when a Boston bookseller - 25 year old Henry Knox - suggested that artillery recently captured at Fort Ticonderoga be hauled overland to Boston. The only problem was that Fort Ticonderoga was more than 300 miles away, and many said bringing 60 tons of artillery over lakes, rivers and mountains - in the winter - was impossible. This is the story of Henry Knox and the Guns of Fort Ticonderoga.

Sources

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/guns-ticonderoga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_train_of_artillery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Knox

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siegeofbostonartillery.jpg

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Military units often have mascots, but not many are as impactful as Sgt. Gander, a massive Newfoundland dog donated to the Royal Rifles of Canada. Sgt. Gander was the quintessential military dog - and his actions during World War II saved many lives during the Battle of Hong Kong.

Sources

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canada/sergeant-gander-and-his-handler-memorial

https://www.hkvca.ca/cforcedata/indivreport/indivdetailed.php?regtno=X200#gsc.tab=0

Image: Canada. Dept. of National Defense / Library and Archives Canada - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/fra/accueil/notice?idnumber=3241498&app=FonAndCol&resource=folderlist&ecopy=a116791-v6

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