Here is some of the coolest research on DNA from our human past from 2020 and 2021. 10 Native Americans and Australasians Share Common Ancestry in Asia Before we started analyzing ancient DNA, we used to think that early human migrations were way simpler. But discoveries in the last few years have shown just how wrong we were. We’re still learning how and when people first arrived in the Americas....
Born in an obscure Siberian peasant village in 1869, a religious conversion and career as a traveling holy man and healer led Rasputin to the court of the Russian royal family, where he became their closest confidant, chief advisor, and one of the most powerful men in the empire. But as mysterious a man as Rasputin was, there was something about him that fascinated and repulsed, even during his lifetime....
10 Fireworks Boxing Boxing is a sport that has been practiced since ancient times, so it’s no surprise that we have tried various methods to spice it up a bit. In 1937, people thought they found a real winner—fireworks. But this wasn’t simply a light show after the match. Instead, the fireworks happened throughout the bout because they were attached to the fighters. A metal framework in the shape of a person held the fireworks and was attached to each boxer....
Now, at first glance, there’s nothing too ‘outlandish’ about a Kappa. It’s a little goblin-like creature, frequently referred to as a water monkey. A Kappa has a dent in its head that is full of water from its native spring. If the water spills out of its head, it looses its magical powers. Kappas generally drink blood but can be either good or evil. Kappas love to eat cucumbers and a family wishing to gain the favor of a kappa, or at least avoid its wrath, writes their names on a cucumber and throws it into the Kappa’s pond....
Some plaintiffs drop their suits when the press reports on their strange complaints. But in other cases, organizations will continue the fight until a judge laughs them out of court. 10 William Faulkner Feuds With Woody Allen William Faulkner is well-known for his literary works like The Sound and The Fury and As I Lay Dying. When he died in 1962, his legacy seemed set. Besides becoming a fixture in classrooms and libraries, Faulkner’s work has been referenced by other artists....
10 Safety Coffins Declaring people in prolonged coma to be dead was quite common during the Victorian era. The lucky ones often woke up at their funerals, while the unluckier and unfortunate ones woke up in their graves, where they probably later died. This led to the introduction of “waiting mortuaries,” where the bodies of dead people were taken until they began to decay. Waiting mortuaries didn’t help much, since more dead people ended up there than living, so “safety coffins” were introduced....
10 Wells Fargo’s Fake Accounts In 2016, several customers of Wells Fargo reported that they were being charged bank fees for seemingly no reason. When bank regulators began to investigate the claims, they made a shocking discovery: over two million ghost accounts. These accounts were opened without the knowledge of customers and charged with all the same fees as regular accounts. Many ghost accounts were opened secretly by employees so that they could boost their sales figures and receive bonuses....
When we think about the past, we don’t expect to come upon any outrageous or strange love traditions. However, there are plenty. Below are 10 bizarre love customs from the past. Would you like any of them to return? 10 Vinegar Valentines Mean Valentine’s Day cards, also known as “Vinegar Valentines,” emerged in the 1800s and were used for humiliation purposes. A complete opposite to the ordinary Valentine’s card, a Vinegar Valentine was a cheaply made card with a satirical image as well as a four- or six-line verse which described and mocked the personality of the recipient....
When thinking about urban legends, we can only conclude that the internet age has not helped things. In the past, you could only spread an urban legend by word of mouth or by dial-up telephones, but now, you can spread an urban legend all over the world with just a few clicks on your computer or smartphone. Video games have also had their fair share of urban legends—we find some of these stories funny, while others are strange....
10Selling Passports To Rich People With a population of just 48,000 and a failing sugar industry, the tiny Caribbean country of Saint Kitts and Nevis was in a bad state in 2006. It turned to the one resource it had left—its passports. Teaming up with a Swiss lawyer named Christian Kalin, the country revamped an existing citizenship-by-investment program into a money-spinning sensation. For just $250,000 or a $400,000 investment in local real estate, anyone in the world could become a full-fledged citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, even if they had never set foot in the country and never intended to....
10 Have Sex In Front Of A Priest In the 16th century, divorce was seen an offense against God. Women couldn’t leave their husbands no matter what happened—except in France. There, a woman had the right to divorce her husband if he was impotent. If the man wanted to save his marriage, he’d have to prove that he wasn’t impotent—in front of a court. First, the man stripped for a team of inspectors, who pinched his package to test its “elastic tension [and] natural motion....
10 Having Lots Of Sex Having a great sex life is supposed to be the high score bonus on the game of life. Not only are you obviously charming, attractive, and witty enough to be bedding a string of supermodels, you’re also having lots of really good sex. So let’s say you looked at the psychological makeup of a modern Casanova, what would you expect to find? How about a seething mass of anxiety and depression?...
10Pinochet’s Regime Augusto Pinochet was one bad dude. After overthrowing Chile’s elected government in a coup, he proceeded to set up one of the most feared regimes in Latin American history. Over the course of 15 years, his secret police engaged in an open campaign of mass rape, torture and disappearances. Special camps were set up deep in the Atacama Desert where inmates were electrocuted, beaten with chains and sexually assaulted....
SEE ALSO: 10 Good Things Done By Evil Dictators 10 East Germany Encouraged Nudism If you were over 16 in 2003, you might remember a little film called The Lives of Others. It was about a spy in East Germany who was tasked with snooping into every aspect of a citizen’s life. The film won an Oscar for its gritty, realistic portrayal of life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), but it missed out one important point....
10 Skinny-Dipping With A Corpse Swimming at night is a cliche that’s been used in horror flicks since at least 1957 when The Monster That Challenged the World snacked on a sailor and his girl while taking a midnight swim. When you subtract swimsuits, you also add a bit of vulnerability (and titillation) to create genuine tension. Steven Spielberg used it in the opening sequence of Jaws (1975), and Joe Dante used it in Piranha (1978)....
Some, however, would argue that such gut reactions are just a natural aversion to be overcome. Plenty of people work with corpses day in and day out, such as nurses, mortuary assistants, and people of science . . . and that’s where cadavers come in. Science needs bodies to study so that we can progressively learn more about anatomy. It’s never been an easy job, staring mortality in the face and cutting it open in the name of knowledge and its fruitful pursuits....
10 The Dekekuoi Mass Vampire Attack In Bulgaria, vampires were said to start out as ghostlike creatures before they could physically rise from their graves. In its early stage, the vampire could only be seen faintly by the human eye. During the night, however, their forms gave off easily noticeable sparks. In 1863, the village of Dekekuoi was reportedly plagued by a mob of young sparkling vampires. The vampires attacked villagers, screamed outside their homes, and threw cow poop at pictures of saints....
10 The Mummy That Wasn’t Back in 2000, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan battled for ownership of what they believed to be the mummified remains of a 2,600-year-old Persian princess. Police found the mummy during a raid of a Baluchistan chieftain home in Kharan, Pakistan and was to be sold on the black market for millions. When she was discovered, the mummy’s head was adorned with a golden crown, and there were gold ornaments in her coffin, which truly made it seem that an archaeological wonder had been found....
Local touches are often added to the legend—but strangely enough, you will often hear the exact same story in different versions throughout the world. Urban legends often carry a warning or have some significance that motivates the community to preserve and propagate them. The only sure thing is that some of these creepy urban legends have been the cause of many a sleepless night. Here are ten of the best:...
10The Disappearance Of The Tarkington Children Over the years, there have been numerous armed standoffs between law enforcement and fanatical religious cults, and they have often ended in violence. Believe it or not, one of these standoffs has been going on in Trinidad, Texas for 15 straight years. John Joe Gray is the zealot leader of a religious militant sect known as the Embassy of Heaven Church, an organization which rejects government authority....
