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This medicinal plant was so coveted, it was worth its weight in gold. But this ultimately brought its downfall.
Republican ideals have evolved over millennia, shaping governance across the globe. Modern republics continue to adapt, but face challenges in upholding their foundational principles.
Executioners upheld law and order, but their grim profession came with a heavy price.
Sometimes, you just need an icebreaker and some classical music to make your day better.
These kitchen dogs were no ordinary pets, but served a special purpose. They ran a wheel that helped their owners cook meat.
The dark story of a 17th-century Hungarian countess and her torturous escapades.
We love carving pumpkins... but why do we do it?
Halloween season is upon us, and this holiday has never been more popular.
Luckily for the Allies, this formidable jet plane wasn't fully completed before the war ended.
Rare historical photos of a mind-bending telephone line hub.
During the Great Emu War, Australian soldiers attempted to control the emu population but were ultimately defeated.
Christ was most likely born a few years Before Christ (BC). Which is definitely impressive.
The history of a powerful Christmas symbol.
Ah, Christmas is just around the corner. There’s so much going on with gifts and celebrations and meeting up with loved ones that it’s hard to keep up. Then, of course, there’s Santa Claus. The embodiment of the Christmas spirit, Santa Claus, has undergone quite the metamorphosis over the years, and much of it is […]
How a famous opera proliferated one of the most enduring myths in popular culture.
The unbelievable story of a Bavarian knight who lost a hand in battle but gained a mechanical prosthetic hand that was way ahead of its time.
One of the world's most famous scripts is also one of its most mysterious.
There's a reason why the saying 'All roads lead to Rome' is still a thing.
The sinister uniform represents a fascinating trip into history, during a time when humans were still struggling to understand infectious diseases.
This spirit had a very busy history.
The condom is more important and storied than most of us realize.
One of the most unique among all ancient empires.
A look at what really happened at Chernobyl, what it looks like now, and what the effects of this tragedy were.
The scale of the Roman Empire during its heyday was unprecedented in the Ancient World.
A staple in some parts of the world, completely unknown in others -- polenta is truly a historic food.
Falafel? I'll take two, please.
We're all walking around with an invisible gun constantly pointed at the back of our heads.
Spoiler: It wasn't Edison.
It's one of the world's largest running conflicts. But why is it happening?
You've heard of hummus, but have you heard of the Hummus Wars? Come, let's dip in.
One of the most advanced civilizations on Earth at its time, the Harappans tragically never made it out of Antiquity.
Everything you learned in the history books is wrong. Christopher Columbus did not "discover" the Americas.
Eating sins for a living is a rough job.
Chocolate is… who am I kidding — we all know what chocolate is. It’s sweet, delicious pleasure. But chocolate, this seemingly simple product has a rich and complex history which stems for almost 4,000 years. Before it took the beloved form we know today, chocolate had medicinal and ritualistic uses. The Early Mesoamerican days The Aztecs […]
Science has progressed amazingly in recent years, but a handful of spectacular inventions have remained lost to knowledge.
It's very easy to get tricked into believing something that's just not true - here we'll be taking a look at this type of thing.
"Don't mount your horse in the hall" and "Do not attack your enemy while he is squatting to defecate." Good tips right here.
Reality is more amazing than the myths.
We all feel like drilling a hole inside our skulls sometimes, but the Inca literally meant it.
How Polish scholars started an underground movement in the late 1800s for their education.
Having their troops and secret agents infiltrated through half of Europe all the way to Germany, the Soviet Union as a matter of convenience decided to keep control of all of these regions it had "liberated" during the war. The spoils of war go the victor, and the Soviet Union took this very, very seriously.
Music etched in clay tablets more than 3,400 years ago in Syria marks oldest song thus far.
The Tudor period started in 1485 and ended in 1603. Many people idealize Tudor England, but life in those Medieval times was rough — and oftentimes brutal. In fact, in some regards, it seems almost impossible to believe how people lived at the time. Here are just some of these strange facets of the medieval […]
“High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants,” the rock slab says. “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.” Stones with messages like this one are surprisingly common on Japan’s coast; they tell a long forgotten story, a story of danger, tragedy and tsunamis. They […]
The black and white cat was originally named Oscar but then became known as Unsinkable Sam. He started his “career” in the fleet of the Nazi regime, the Kriegsmarine, and ended it in the Royal Navy. He was onboard Bismarck, the HMS Cossack, and the HMS Ark Royal, but here comes the cool part: while […]
WWII was the largest conflict known to mankind, responsible for 50 to 80 million fatalities, involving most of the countries in the world. Historians are still fascinated by this tragic event to this day, and while we here at ZME Science are not big gun fans nor do we support technology that’s built to kill, we […]
This is a series of articles about Christmas we here at ZME Science will be doing all December. Our goal is to present interesting, little-known facts about the origins and history of Christmas. Curious to read more? Here’s something about the dreaded Yule Cat or the Catalonian tradition of the pooping nativity man. Christmas – […]
The impact of the first World War is felt everywhere – on a social level, an economic level, and even on the landscape (and don’t even get me started on WWII). The Smithsonian recently published a collection of some pictures depicting this damage, which we will be sharing here. You can see the full exhibition in […]
The genocide had major consequences for the entire planet.
Writing on walls is one of the oldest things humans did – people drew on walls in the stone age, and they still do so now (well, some do, anyway). But I’d dare say that no one has taken the art of writing on walls to the same level as romans – sometimes poetic, sometimes […]
