William Sidis was a child prodigy but later chose obscurity
From NPR's All Things Considered: "Born in Boston in 1898, William James Sidis made the headlines in the early 20th
The strange but true saga of a mutiny by Carmelite nuns
From Molly Olmstead at Slate: "There’s a strange saga unfolding in Texas. It involves allegations and accusations of illicit
The secret life of the world's best war-crimes investigator
From Ben Taub for The New Yorker: "For more than decade, a man named Mustafa quietly served as the deputy
In 1859, a massive solar flare took out the global telegraph network
From Jasna Hodžić for JSTOR Daily: "A little after midnight in the late summer of 1859, campers dozing beneath the
Everything we know about the origins of barbecue is wrong
From Daniel Vaughn for Texas Monthly: "The origins of barbecue are murky. Both the transformation from the word “barbacoa” and
Bach loved puzzles so much he worked them into his music
From Milton Mermikides for Aeon magazine: "Bach was crafty both in his music and life, and he adored puzzles, games
Some helpful tips if you plan to fake your own death
From Elizabeth Greenwood at LinkedIn: "The biggest challenge of faking your death is that teensy problem of your body. So
Why do some birds glow under fluorescent light?
From Cara Giaimo for Atlas Obscura: "Tony Diamond can’t remember exactly why he first shone a blacklight on a
She discovered how to split the atom but was denied a Nobel Prize
From Katie Hafner and Ashraya Gupta for Scientific American: "Meitner's realization drew upon recent work that Niels Bohr and other
Scientists try to figure out why German wild boars are radioactive
From Molly Rains for Science.org: "What has tusks, bristly hair, and is contaminated with dangerous levels of radiation? Visit