The Strange—and Deadly—History of Lipstick

Sarah A. | Monday, Sep 21, 2015

If you wear red lipstick today, the bad news is you’ve probably been smearing pulverized insect carcasses and fish scales across your lips without even knowing it. The good news is that i...

Ned Ludd: The Mythical Man Behind the Luddite Movement Who Never Really Existed

Josh H. | Monday, Sep 21, 2015

During Britain’s industrial revolution in the early 1800s, people across the country suddenly found themselves out of work because machines could do the same job faster and cheaper. With...

Can You Still Claim Sanctuary in a Church?

Mark H. | Friday, Sep 18, 2015

Last month, a bizarre criminal-legal odyssey in Vancouver drew to a close. Mikhail Lennikov, an ex-KGB agent facing deportation from Canada back to Russia, where he feared persecution and...

What Ever Happened to Japan's Most Famous Samurai Sword?

Josh H. | Friday, Sep 18, 2015

Most of the time, legendary swords are the stuff of video games and fantasy novels. However, the real-world has its fair share of mysterious blades, and one of the most famous, the Japane...

The Badass Origin Story of the Phrase 'Turn a Blind Eye'

Josh H. | Wednesday, Sep 16, 2015

Today, “to turn a blind eye” means to deliberatly ignore a rule or someone breaking a rule. In a way, the meaning behind the modern phrase hasn’t changed much since its origins in the ear...

How Lala, a Pet Penguin with a Backpack, Came to Live (and Die) in Japan

Mark H. | Monday, Sep 14, 2015

Back in 1996, the astounding footage clip show that was RealTV (1996-2001) aired a segment that managed to capture the hearts and minds of the world: the story of Lala the King Penguin. T...

What Lawrence of Arabia and Motorcycle Helmet Laws Have to Do with Each Other

Jes G. | Monday, Sep 14, 2015

When T.E. Lawrence, famously known as Lawrence of Arabia, died from head injuries sustained in a 1935 motorcycle accident, one of his doctors wondered if wearing a helmet could have saved...

People Can’t Agree on What Happened to Van Gogh’s Ear

Erin B. | Thursday, Sep 10, 2015

Some artists are better-known for their private lives than their paintings. Vincent Van Gogh straddles that line: His work was famously almost completely unknown during his own lifetime,...

The Journalists Who Exposed Whitey Bulger's Darkest Secret

Emma M. | Friday, Sep 4, 2015

Dick Lehr was an investigative journalist at The Boston Globe in the 1980s, and Gerard O’Neill was his editor. The Globe decided to have an investigative team do a story on the Bulger bro...

India Solves One Crazy Border Dispute; Many Remain

Mark H. | Friday, Sep 4, 2015

At a minute past midnight on August 1, 2015, about 11.1 square miles of India became par of Bangladesh while about 26.8 square miles of Bangladesh became part of India. Meanwhile an estim...

The Chernobyl 'Elephant's Foot' Is Still Burning and Still Deadly

Josh H. | Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor melted down at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. The accident, which, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was caused by unauth...

Why Did the British Army Hire a Magician During World War II?

Emma B. | Tuesday, Aug 18, 2015

You would think that in the midst of a war, armies would have little time for such frivolities as a magic trick—but think again. In fact, during the World War II, the Allied forces became...