Topic

Technology & Innovation

A collection of 100 issues

5,000 Meters Deep: The Cold War's Lost Thermonuclear Bomb in the Philippine Sea

In 1965, a US Navy A-4E Skyhawk carrying a B43 thermonuclear bomb rolled off the USS Ticonderoga and sank in the Philippine Sea. The pilot, plane, and bomb were never recovered and now rest 16,000 feet deep, a secret held from the public until 1989.

Beyond Conquest: The Surprising Bilingual First Book Printed in the New World

The first book printed in the Americas (1539) wasn't just in Spanish. "Breve y...doctrina Christiana" was a bilingual catechism in Spanish and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, revealing a complex story of cultural interaction, not just simple conquest, at the dawn of New World printing.

ThrustSSC: The Jet-Powered Car That Made the Desert Roar and Broke the Sound Barrier

The ThrustSSC is the only land vehicle to officially break the sound barrier. Piloted by Andy Green in 1997, it used two jet engines to achieve a still-unbeaten record of 1,227.986 km/h (763.035 mph) in the Black Rock Desert, a monumental feat of engineering.

The Day the Sky Fell: When China's Air Force Bombed the Forbidden City

In July 1917, the fledgling Chinese Air Force bombed the Forbidden City to crush a coup restoring 11-year-old Emperor Puyi. The raid, using a Caudron biplane, caused minimal damage but effectively ended the last attempt to reinstate the Qing Dynasty.

The Guano Empires: How 17th-Century Persia Built Palaces for Pigeons

In 17th-century Persia, thousands of massive, ornate mud-brick towers were built around Isfahan. Their sole purpose: to house wild pigeons and harvest their nitrogen-rich droppings, creating an enormous and highly valuable supply of fertilizer for the region's prized melon crops.

Rethinking the Void: Could Gravastars Replace the Black Hole?

Gravastars are theoretical objects proposed as an alternative to black holes. They avoid a singularity by having a core of 'dark energy' spacetime, contained by a thin, ultra-dense shell of matter, making them observationally distinct yet incredibly difficult to prove.

The Secret Fortress of Knowledge: Uncovering the Massive Library Hidden Beneath Bryant Park

Beneath NYC's bustling Bryant Park lies the Milstein Research Stacks, a massive, two-level underground facility. This climate-controlled "bunker" holds over 4 million books on 84 miles of shelving, delivered to readers above by a sophisticated conveyor system known as the "book train."

Riding the Waves: The Glorious, Doomed Story of Brighton's Seagoing 'Daddy Long Legs' Railway

In 1896, Victorian inventor Magnus Volk launched the 'Daddy Long Legs,' a remarkable electric train on 23-foot stilts that traveled through the sea off Brighton's coast. This audacious feat of engineering was a popular attraction but was ultimately defeated by storms and coastal defenses.

The 'Wow!' Signal: The 72-Second Cosmic Message That Still Haunts Astronomers

On August 15, 1977, a powerful, unexplained radio signal was detected from space. Dubbed the "Wow!" signal, it remains the most compelling candidate for an extraterrestrial broadcast ever received, and its origin is still a profound mystery.

Your Heartbeat Betrays the Machine: The Dutch Secret to Spotting Early Deepfakes

The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) pioneered a method to unmask deepfakes by detecting subtle facial color shifts caused by a person's heartbeat. This invisible biological signature, a detail early AI couldn't replicate, offered a unique way to distinguish real people from forgeries.