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Known as “The Godfather” of the New Orleans Mafia for four decades, Carlos Marcello was a key opponent of Robert and John F. Kennedy’s 1960s anti-mob crusade. Bettmann/Getty ImagesCarlos Marcello (center) was known as Louisiana’s “most sinister racketeer boss” and single-handedly ran the New Orleans crime family from the 1940s through the 1980s. In the history of New Orleans, few mobsters are as mythologized as Carlos Marcello. Beginning in 1947, he ruled the New Orleans Mafia as “The Little Man” out of a small office at the Town and Country Motel in nearby Metairie along Airline Highway, where he became a powerful political dealmaker, multi-millionaire real estate developer, and cultural icon of Louisiana....

Charles Darwin, the world’s most famous biologist and researcher of exciting species had a habit of indulging in the new species he discovered. Charles Darwin is well known for his study and appreciation of the animals he discovered throughout his lifetime. But, it turns out, besides appreciating them for what they brought to the scientific table, he appreciated them for what they brought to another kind of table — the kitchen table, specifically....

Known as “The Enforcer,” Frank Nitti ruthlessly orchestrated untold murders for Capone — but always had the smarts to keep his own fingerprints off the gun. Bettmann/GettyA 1943 photo of Chicago gangster Frank Nitti. When legendary Chicago mob boss Al Capone was imprisoned on income tax charges, he hand-picked his first cousin, Frank Nitti, as the new gangland boss. Already Capone’s most ruthless enforcer, Nitti would go on to survive at least one attempt on his life and extort millions from Hollywood movie studios — but was forever haunted by the claustrophobic prospect of a prison cell....

On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace left his Miami mansion to make a trip to a newsstand. When he returned home, a deranged serial killer was waiting for him outside his front door. Photo by Angelo Deligio/Mondadori via Getty ImagesItalian fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1985, pictured 12 years before his murder. The day that Gianni Versace died started like any other. The fashion designer woke up early, went for a stroll in his South Beach, Florida neighborhood, and returned home....

Archaeologists say that the vandals’ metal detectors may have been triggered by pyrite, otherwise known as fool’s gold. AFPIllegal miners excavated a trench that was 55 feet deep and 65 feet long at the site of a 2,000-year-old settlement. In the the eastern Sahara desert lies the ancient remains of Jabal Maragha, which was once a small settlement in the ancient Nubian Kingdom of Kush. Recently, however, this 2,000-year-old historic site was destroyed by a gang of illegal treasure hunters who dug a massive trench there in search of gold....

Algae, bacteria, and coronavirus lockdowns have all been cited as possible reasons why the Lonar Crater Lake turned pink. Santosh Jadhav/AFP via Getty ImagesThe normally green water inside India’s Lonar Crater Lake, which was formed 50,000 years ago by a meteorite, suddenly turned pink. A 50,000-year-old crater lake in India stunned scientists after its normally green-hued water suddenly turned pink. Experts believe the bizarre color change was likely spawned by the changing salinity of the lake though others suspect alternative explanations behind the change....

“The coffin is in a very bad condition, very deteriorated. We found many cracks, we found many missing parts, missing layers.” PAKing Tutankhamun’s outer coffin is being restored for the Grand Egyptian Museum’s opening in late 2020. The outermost coffin that once held the body of King Tutankhamun had never left the 3,300-year-old tomb since the time he was first laid to rest. Even after archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb in 1922, the wooden coffin remained in the Valley of the Kings — until now....

Elephant birds stood a towering 10 feet tall and weighed up to 1,700 pounds, but they were gentle giants who disappeared completely about 1,000 years ago. t the peak of its time, the elephant bird was certainly a sight to behold. Thriving on the African island of Madagascar, Aepyornis maximus is believed to be the heaviest bird to walk the planet. But for the longest time, many people doubted the very existence of the elephant bird, as they were often the subject of tales that seemed too fanciful to believe....

Using a new method, researchers found mysterious “ghost” DNA in West African Yoruba population. Wikimedia CommonsYoruba men playing instruments. Way before homo sapiens were the only human species walking the earth, other protohuman species existed. While several studies have found the DNA of ancient populations in modern humans, primarily Neanderthals and Denisovans, we lack findings of DNA from African-dwelling ancient hominids in modern humans. That’s because we haven’t been able to access archaic genomes of African populations....

Dating back 3,600 years, the Nebra Sky Disk may be the oldest representation of the cosmos ever committed to a material object. Wikimedia CommonsThe Nebra Sky Disk has been dated to approximately 1,600 B.C. The Nebra Sky Disk is thought to be the oldest depiction of the night sky ever made by human hands. It dates back 3,600 years to Late Bronze Age Europe, and it can still be used to measure the angle of the sun at the solstices....

Reinhard Heydrich had many nicknames: “the Blond Beast,” “the Hangman,” and “the Butcher of Prague” — but none of them quite captured just how ruthless he was. As chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich was the man who orchestrated some of the Nazi’s worst atrocities. He was the commanding voice behind Kristallnacht, the German pogrom against Jews in 1938 that foretold the Holocaust. Heydrich unleashed the death squads known as Einsatzgruppen that marched across Europe to murder every Jewish man, woman, and child they could get their hands on....

Abul Bajandar finally had surgery to remove his infamous bark-like lesions. He’s now in recovery (right) and awaiting future operations. Image Sources: YouTube (left), CNN (right). Abul Bajandar, the 25-year-old Bangladeshi man known around the world as “Tree Man,” has successfully undergone his first surgery to trim back some of the bark-like warts on his hands and feet. Bajandar went under the knife on February 20 at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for three hours....

During the Mexican Revolution, soldaderas fought valiantly and sometimes even outranked men on the battlefield. But their story was almost forgotten. Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty ImagesA group of rebel women and girls practice their shooting skills during the Mexican Revolution. 1911. During the Mexican Revolution, some of the strongest warriors were women. Known as the soldaderas, many of these female fighters joined revolutionary groups that were trying to help Mexico break free from the oppressive regime of Porfirio Díaz in the early 20th century....

Learn about the Habsburg jaw and the debilitating costs of rampant, decades-long incest among Europe’s most powerful royal families. While marriages between biological relatives were common in the ruling houses of Europe well up until the last century (Queen Elizabeth II actually married her own third cousin), the Spanish Habsburgs engaged in the practice with particularly dangerous abandon. In fact, nine out of the 11 total marriages that occurred among them during the 184 years they ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700 were incestuous....

The bat bomb was designed to terrorize the people of Japan in the most unexpected way. Wikimedia CommonsErrant bats from the experimental bat bomb set the Army Air Base in Carlsbad, New Mexico on fire. 1942. When one thinks of modern military strategy, they think of terms like guerrilla warfare or planes dropping bombs. You know, weapons that cause maximum damage and mass destruction. They don’t usually assume bats. However, it may shock you to believe that that’s exactly what the White House signed off on in World War II....

In spring, green fields and trees transform into bright, colorful expanses of tulips, wildflowers and cherry blossoms. Savor these beautiful spring blooms. There are few times of the year more beautiful than spring. As the weather warms up, green fields and budding trees transform into bright, colorful expanses of daisies, wildflowers and roses. Scientists even estimate that there are between 250,000 and 400,000 flowers plant species covering the globe, many of which have yet to be discovered....

Head from a 2,000-year-old Hercules statue found in a Greek shipwreck, submerged WWII barge reappears in Italy, ancient Roman temples unearthed in the Netherlands. Divers In The Mediterranean Just Uncovered A 2,000-Year-Old Head Of Hercules Inside A Greek Shipwreck Greek Ministry Of CultureIn addition to the head of Hercules as well as a group of assorted copper and wood artifacts, researchers also uncovered two human teeth, perfectly preserved in hardened marine deposits even after 2,000 years....

Hidden letters on Dead Sea Scrolls revealed, mass Romanian plague grave uncovered, earliest evidence of modern humans in Europe found. “Blank” Dead Sea Scrolls Found To Contain Hidden Writing Invisible To The Naked Eye University of ManchesterA piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls in question with text revealed by multispectral imaging. Ever since the Dead Sea Scrolls were first uncovered in the Qumran Caves of the Judaean Desert starting in the 1940s, they’ve unlocked untold mysteries for researchers....

Ancient Roman mosaic found under English farmer’s field, prehistoric footprint linked to unknown human ancestor, Roman soldier’s face mask unearthed. Astonishing Roman Mosaic From The Third Century Found In The Middle Of An English Farmer’s Field Historic EnglandThe mosaic measures in at 23 feet wide and 36 feet long, and is believed to have served as the floor of a massive dining or entertaining area in a Roman elite’s sprawling villa....

After Walter Yeo lost both eyelids in WWI, he underwent one of the world’s first plastic surgeries. But was the horrifying treatment worse than the injury? Walter Yeo, a sailor injured in battle, was the first modern plastic surgery patient. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Our medical science is a pretty good measure of how much we’ve evolved. Whereas historical cures for mental illness once involved drilling holes into human skulls, we can now do things like re-engineer the polio vaccine that we ourselves created to also attack certain types of brain cancer....