10Synchronous FirefliesTennessee One can find fireflies in many parts of the United States, but there are some very special ones in Tennessee. Every June, certain fireflies meet to perform their characteristic evening light show, only instead of each one lighting up whenever it feels like it, they all light up at the same time, every second or two. They’re synchronized. The best-known group of synchronous fireflies is found at Elkmont, Tennessee, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park....

However, that’s not the case. Whether we’re talking reptiles, dinosaurs, sharks, fish, flies, arthropods, or worms, nature is full of surprises. As these 10 bizarre, newly discovered animal species indicate, such discoveries also increase, alter, and sometimes contradict our understanding of biodiversity, ecological relationships, and evolution itself. 10 Triopticus Primus Dinosaurs copied body and skull shapes from earlier animals. A new species of reptile, Triopticus primus (“first of three eyes”), lived 230 million years ago, long before dinosaurs appeared....

Many times, the stories were heartbreaking. Other times, lists of injuries or deaths were reported in long columns. In-between the sadness were articles that surely must have raised a few eyebrows. The times were weird, desperate, and, oddly enough, full of hope that the great war to end all wars would bring about a positive change for each country involved in the fighting. 10 Seeking Red-Headed Soldiers For Husbands Calls for soldier husbands were popular during World War I....

10 The Disappearance Of Mel Wiley After a lengthy career in law enforcement, Mel Wiley became the police chief of Hinckley Township, Ohio, in 1982. Three years later, the 47-year-old Wiley would vanish without a trace. The last confirmed sighting of him took place on July 28, 1985. Two days later, his abandoned station wagon was found at Lakefront State Park in Cleveland. When investigators checked Wiley’s apartment, there were no signs of foul play....

10 The Last Rhodesian Before he perpetrated the massacre at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, Dylan Roof is believed to have operated a racial hate website called the Last Rhodesian. On this site, he published a manifesto of over 2,000 words and a number of disturbing images. The manifesto goes into great detail about his hatred toward other races. Roof believes black people are highly racially aware but inferior to white people....

10People Explode Perhaps one of the oldest and most common misconceptions is that we would explode if exposed unprotected to the vacuum of space. The logic here is that, since there is no pressure, we would simply bloat and pop, like a balloon that flew too high. But it may shock you to learn that humans are far more resilient than balloons. Jut like we don’t pop when jabbed with a needle, we wouldn’t pop in space—our bodies are just too tough for it....

Since the invention of the camera, hundreds of controversial pictures have been taken. This article will examine 10 images that have raised concern in the media and caused debate across the internet. The list is not attempting to display the top ten controversial photographs in history, but will examine a collection of pictures that have not been featured in similar articles. In any case, I would like to hear your opinion on the most controversial images in history....

10The Hulk Was Originally Canceled After Six Issues The Hulk has been around for 51 years. In that time, he’s become internationally famous, with “Hulk” becoming a standard word for strength and anger and a giant green guy who smashes things. But, surprisingly, the Hulk was actually originally canceled. After his debut in 1963, Marvel only managed to publish six issues before they were forced to cancel The Incredible Hulk due to a lack of enthusiasm from its readers....

Be warned, however: Some of these drugs are potentially the most dangerous and terrifying substances known to man and are best avoided if you’re not keen on gouging out your own eyeballs in a mushroom-fueled rage. With that established, here are ten drugs that you might find growing in your garden. 10 Sage Of The Diviners Salvia divinorum looks like any other normal plant. It’s in the mint family, in fact....

Much of this has taken place before the advent of a special kind of institution, a place where dead bodies are not only welcome but are the stars of the show: body farms. Nevertheless, these graveyards of science are the cornerstones of much of our forensic research into death and decay and tell long, dark, descriptive tales about both the dead and the living. 10 History The history of body farms starts with a few progressive institutions and grows from there....

10 Duong Trong Lam Duong Trong Lam was a Vietnamese-American journalist who had been living in California when he launched the Cai Dinh Lang, a pro-communist newspaper that made him many enemies in the Vietnamese-American community. Lam’s paper only lasted a year, but it caused enough outrage that he routinely received phone calls and letters threatening his life. At one point, a man even pulled a gun on Lam’s sister and told her to leave the country....

However, today’s cars are more or less uniform in terms of their style and features. So it is always fascinating to look back and see what might have been if the more curious automobile-related inventions of yesteryear had actually caught on. 10 Charvolant The Charvolant (aka the kite-carriage) was a carriage pulled solely by kites. It was invented in the 19th century by English schoolteacher George Pocock who had a great interest in kites and their ability to lift small items, light loads, and even people....

From time to time, though, a conspiracy theory that many thought to be ridiculous is shown, in fact, to be correct. In such cases, the truth can prove to be much more terrifying than fiction. The following are ten examples of such real-life conspiracies. 10 Project SUNSHINE Despite its cheery name, Project SUNSHINE was by far one of the darkest conspiracies ever conceived and the most horrifying to be proven real....

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali is remembered as much for his flamboyance as for his surrealist art. It has always been difficult to tell how much of what Dali presented to the world was real and how much was carefully crafted as part of the Dali brand. But one thing is certain: Dali had a sordid side and sexual issues that were more than just an act. 10The Dali Family Suicide In 1886, at age 36, Dali’s paternal grandfather, Gal Josep Salvador, committed suicide....

10No Jurassic Park After trying every technology available to extract ancient bee DNA from copal (a younger version of amber), scientists have concluded that whipping up a dinosaur anytime soon is impossible—at least not from the blood-gorged-mosquito-in-amber storyline made popular by the movie Jurassic Park. Despite using highly advanced methods, no DNA survived within the copal, and that is where all hope of creating a T-Rex dies. If the building blocks of life can’t survive in copal—which can be 60–10,600 years old—then there’s little chance it remains viable in amber, which is many millions of years older....

10Writing The Ending Of Viking Sagas We have two main sources of information on Viking trips to the New World: The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Erik the Red. These sagas weren’t written down until several hundred years after the trips, so a lot of the information they contain has been taken with a grain of salt. While they’re pretty descriptive of what the Vikings were after on their journey and what happened when they got there, the sagas don’t say anything about what happened after the Vikings left....

10Islam Once Accepted Pictures Of Muhammad Caricatures of Islam’s founding father have sparked massacres and riots, with even moderate Muslims finding them grossly offensive. Early Islam, however, had absolutely no problem with it. In the earliest days of the new religion, visual arts weren’t considered worthy of discussion at all. Later, Quranic passages were interpreted to suggest an absolute ban on figurative imagery, but paintings of Muhammad were thought to aid devotion....

Let’s take a look at a world where appearances were everything and safety came second. It was the 19th century, and the Victorians found some pretty weird ways of accidentally doing away with themselves. 10 Wallpaper Rather than 50 Shades of Gray, the Victorians were passionate about the color green. In fact, green wallpaper was to the home what an iPad Air is to tablets. This love of green came about because of the end of the window tax and gas lamps....

10Good ShepherdMausoleum Of Galla Placidia The image of Jesus that comes to us from the Bible is that of a simple countryman, descended from a line of kings but not an earthly king Himself. His relatively humble beginnings have given us the Jesus of unsophisticated dress, often a plain robe. In the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, there is a mosaic displaying a quite different Christ. The building, once thought to be the tomb of a Roman empress, was built around 430....

Some are secretive, some are shameful, and some are downright silly. If you’re looking for an oddball method of getting a Medal of Honor—a method that’s worked at least once—you could always try . . . 10 Writing In To Ask For One Normally, an American soldier has to be recommended for the medal by either a member of Congress or a superior officer in his or her unit. You can’t self-nominate....