The group, known as “COBS” (“consortium of behavioral scientists”), was tasked with applying the latest in behavioral science to persuade—or manipulate—voters. Here are 10 ways politicians use psychology to manipulate your vote. 10 Telling You There Will Be High Turnout Here’s a common misconception: Telling voters that an upcoming election is going to have low turnout will make them more likely to head to the polls since their votes will “count more....

Editor’s note: A sexually transmitted infection (STI) occurs when a person becomes a carrier; a sexually transmitted disease (STD) occurs when the infection progresses to the stage where symptoms occur. 10The STDs Of The Great Wars Many of us think of bombs, flying bullets, and battle wounds when we look back at the damage done during war, but there was much more to fear than metal and chemical gas during World War I....

The Maori, before colonialism, were brutal warriors. They were cannibals. They were head hunters and slavers. Above all, they believed in “utu”—that every kind and cruel deed should be repaid in kind. And, when the British colonialists took over New Zealand, they were ferocious enough to make sure they paid for it. 10First Contact with the Maori Ended in Four European Deaths When the Maori met their first Europeans, they did not shake hands and welcome them in....

10Adolf Beck When Adolf Beck left his London flat on December 16, 1895, he was surprised to find a woman named Ottilie Meissonier accusing him of stealing from her. After Meissonier notified a policeman, the confused Beck was taken to the nearest station for questioning. Meissonier claimed that Beck was a con artist who’d identified himself as “Lord Willoughby.” Three weeks earlier, he had used his charms to swindle her out of £30 worth of jewelry....

Despite this, there are still many plagues and pandemics, both from centuries ago and from the modern era, that confuse or frustrate our understanding of medicine. Some can only be explained as outbreaks of hysteria or mass hallucinations brought on by intense social pressures. Others are even more mysterious, lacking any sort of logic or reason. Here is a list of 10 such plagues, which have baffled and bewildered the doctors of the past and present alike....

10He Doesn’t Know What Drugs Are For characters as old as Captain America, it’s a challenge to come up with a foe that Cap has not fought before. Since Cap is such a powerful symbol of America itself, writer Mark Gruenwald came up with a foe new to Cap but very familiar to America: drugs. After Captain America finds out the Avengers’ handyman, Fabian, is tripping hard on some unspecified drug, he insists that Fabian get treatment....

10Owens-Blevins Shoot-OutPerry Owens Between 1882 and 1892, the Tonto Basin in Arizona was the stage for a bloody feud known as the Pleasant Valley War. Two families, the Grahams and the Tewksburys, were feuding over land—and race, as the Tewksburys were half Native American. The war only ended when the last Graham died. By this time, both sides had lost dozens of members. The bloodiest event of the whole feud happened in 1887, when the Grahams killed two Tewksbury members at the same time....

At a height of 979m, Angel Falls is the world’s highest waterfall. Found in the Canaima National Park in Venezuela, which has been a UNESCO World heritage site since 1994. The waterfall drops over the edge of Mt Auyantepui and plummets into the Korep River almost a kilometer below. This spectacular waterfall was named after Jimmie Angel, who was the first U.S. pilot to fly over the falls. The falls makes for one of Venezuela’s most popular tourist attractions, even though reaching it proves to be rather difficult, as visitors will need to fly to the Canaima camp before trekking through the jungle and taking boats up the river....

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then there’s a good chance that you’re turning into a dictator. Hitler, Saddam, Stalin, Castro… and now, you. Here are five simple signs to look out for if you’re worried you might be turning into a dictator. Power is a seductive mistress, an addictive thrill, one taste and you’re left thirsting for more. And with power comes the urge to conform the world to your whim, to bend reality to your designs, to forge your own heaven!...

SEE ALSO: 10 Interesting Facts About Falling In Love From Modern Science 8 Black Day Plenty of evidence supports the existence of happy singles.[1] However, there are many lonely hearts who yearn for their soul mates and the day when they can also get married. While most people do so privately, South Korea has a special day set aside for the unattached to support each other. Called Black Day, single people get together on April 14....

9Sonderkommanden Simply put, a Sonderkommando was someone tasked with disposing of the dead. Their more gruesome duties included ripping out the gold teeth of the dead and sweeping away the ashes of the corpses. Because Sonderkommanden weren’t Nazis, they were prisoners. Their misery was only compounded by the fact that they were considered “Geheimnisträger” (secret-keepers) and as such, were considered too dangerous to be kept alive for too long. They were killed and replaced every few months without warning....

JFrater, in red, with the List Universe users So, please use the comments to tell me what you want. You, the users, make a huge contribution already through the comments, and we constantly see new users saying that they love the comments. I have a few idea of my own for ways to improve the site, but before I spend money on developing these ideas, I need to know what you want; that is, after all, the most important thing....

By the end of this month we will have moved the site to WordPress VIP which is a special hosting set up that WordPress (the people who wrote the software this site runs on) run for high traffic blogs. Some of their current customers are FoxNews blogs, Flickr Blogs, Failblog, ICanHasCheezburger, and the Time Magazine blogs. The new setup will not change much on the site, but it will give us the stability that we have been longing for since day one....

Just prior to going away I did an interview on CBC – one of Canada’s largest broadcasting networks. It was a thirty minute interview and it went very well. You can listen to the interview here – I am in part one. It is great for the site to be recognized by the mainstream media. I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and a happy New Year. We are not far from our third year of existence and this year will be our best I am sure!...

To help me get a better idea of what you all like on the site, I would really appreciate it if you would answer the following poll. It will help me to hone the future lists to the tastes of our readers. You simply select the three topics (you can choose fewer than three if you prefer) you love the most and click “Vote”. You won’t be taken away from the page – the poll will update in front of you and show you what other people have selected....

10 Garnet Ginn Garnet Ginn was a popular home economics teacher in the small town of Portland, Indiana. So when she didn’t show up to school one day in February 1950, students were alarmed, and the district superintendent went to her home to check on her. In the garage, Ginn’s lifeless body was found hanging with a sewing machine belt around her neck. Police determined she’d died by suicide. The beloved teacher’s body was released to a funeral home, and she was buried....

10 Captain Richardson And His Jaguar Pants Captain Samuel J. Richardson fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. We’d like to go into more detail about what exactly Richardson got up to during the war, but his pants have rather eclipsed the rest of his exploits. All we know for sure is that he led a volunteer company of soldiers called the W.P. Lane Rangers. Captain Richardson rode into battle wearing a pair of jaguar-hide pants, with a set of matching holsters, presumably made from either the same jaguar’s cubs or another, smaller jaguar....

Researchers at Princess Grace Hospital in London have been developing a system for destroying cancer cells with sound. Using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), they have successfully destroyed prostate cancer cells in their test patients, using only sound waves to heat up and kill the targeted cells. This technology was applied to 159 men with prostate cancer, and after one year, 92% of them did not have a recurrence cancer....

Gudit (also known as Judit) was a non-Christian queen who ruled D?mt around 960 AD. She laid waste to Axum (the then-Sacred capital of Ethiopia – image above) and its countryside. She destroyed monuments and churches and attempted to wipe out all of the members of the ruling dynasty (descendants of the Queen of Sheba). Her activities are recorded in oral tradition and in various historical records. It is believed that she killed the emperor and took over his throne where she reigned for 40 years....

Chandragupta Maurya, born in Bihar, Eastern India, was an orphaned commoner who changed the face of India and forever altered its history, by clawing his way from the slums to forging one of the most expansive Empires in India’s history. Not only did he command nine thousand war elephants, fifty million people and an army of thirty-six thousand – he also had one of the most badass (and awesome) bodyguard units ever....