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The study suggests that the regrowth of abandoned Native American land reduced CO2 so much that it actually caused the Little Ice Age, a period of global cooling. PixabayAn oil painting by John Stanley depicting Native Americans hunting, 2013. Scientists from University College London posited that the European colonization of America that resulted in the mass death of Native Americans actually caused the Little Ice Age. According to the study, the Native American genocide, often referred to as “The Great Dying,” not only reduced the continent’s population by countless millions but subsequently made global temperatures fall drastically....

Source: Deviant Art To the parents who proudly smack their child’s “Student of the Month” sticker on their car bumpers for others’ admiration, prepare to be amazed. While most kids spend their childhoods playing with friends and wreaking havoc on the home, some truly exceptional ones skipped those steps and have created businesses, written symphonies and solved complex mathematical problems instead. Check out this list of some of the world’s most brilliant and gifted individuals who have made enormous strides and accomplishments all before becoming a teenager....

From physical abuse and disease to severe overcrowding and gang violence, the following five terrifying pits of chaos and despair are the worst prisons in the world. The aftermath of a prison riot inside the California Institution for Men prison, August 19, 2009. (Photo by Michal Czerwonka/Getty Images) When it comes to criminal justice, we’d all like to think that the punishment fits the crime. After all, knowing that the worst offenders are locked away somewhere gives us all a sense of comfort....

Joachim Kroll, the “Ruhr Cannibal,” terrorized West Germany for over 20 years, eating the flesh of his victims because “meat was expensive.” Michael Dahlke / WAZ FotoPoolJoachim Kroll reenacts one of his murders for police, demonstrating how he overpowered his victim. While not nearly as well known as Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, Joachim Kroll’s crimes are equally, if not more, disturbing. Known as the Ruhr Cannibal, the Ruhr Hunter, or the Duisburg Man-Eater, Kroll’s macabre killing spree took the lives of 14 known victims — and authorities believe he killed even more....

The tragic murder of Julie Ward spawned a decades-long search for the truth that’s still ongoing. YouTubeJulie Ward in Kenya. In 1988, Julie Ward set out on the trip of a lifetime. Taking a long break from her job in England, she was going to Africa to photograph wildlife in Kenya. A week before she was set to return home, she made one last journey into the Maasai Mara game reserve to photograph an annual wildebeest migration....

U.S. census maps to topple your assumptions and beautifully illustrate who we are, how we live, where we came from, and where we’re going. In 1874, the U.S. Census Bureau published the Statistical Atlas of the United States. For the first time, essential information about who we were, where we lived and how we lived was available in the form of user-friendly U.S. census maps that could be accessed by all....

The diary also lists 10 other locations across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic where Nazis hid their loot. Śląski Pomost QuedlinburgThe 75-year-old diary belonged to an SS officer named Egon Ollenhauer. The hunt continues for a massive stash of gold treasure that belonged to the Nazis. A newly-discovered diary that belonged to an SS officer points to one of the possible hidden locations of the Nazi gold: an old castle in Poland....

From a strip of land that cost just 25 cents to one of the nations most important cities, see vintage Portland in all its glory. Source: Human and Natural These days, Oregon’s most populous city is best known for its oddball residents, abundance of craft breweries, fiercely liberal agenda and, of course, Portlandia. Yet in 1843, Portland was little more than a chunk of land claimed by William Overton and Asa Lovejoy for just a 25-cent filing fee....

The city in ‘Man In High Castle’ may seem like a dystopian nightmare, but Hitler had plans to make it very real. Wikimedia CommonsThe Grand Hall, the monstrous centerpiece of the planned Nazi super-city Welthauptstadt Germania. But rather than springing from the mind of filmmakers, this Nazi super-city is based on real plans conceived by Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer, the “General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital.” The project was started in 1937....

Whether practicing with grenades or shooting Germans, the Young Pioneers of the World War II era were forced to grow up all too fast. The haunting photo above has, in recent years, taken on a new life thanks to the internet. However, few seem to know the story behind it. The image shows members of the Young Pioneers youth group in Soviet Russia donning their gas masks during a civil defense drill near Leningrad in 1937....

Archaeologists speculate that the seventh-century cemetery was once a part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia. Suffolk County CouncilThe skeletons were reduced to an ashy stain due to the highly acidic soil they were buried in. Construction workers in Suffolk, England, were shocked to discover 200 seventh-century graves eerily marked by ghostly shapes while preparing to build a housing development. According to BBC News, the 1,400-year-old cemetery in Oulton near Lowestoft in Suffolk was once an Anglo-Saxon burial ground containing the remains of 200 men, women, and children, all believed to have been a part of the same farming community....

History often gets condensed to bite-sized pieces. In fact, some of history’s most significant people and events are often remembered through a snappy one-liner. The problem is that, even when reduced to a quick little aphorism, we don’t always get the quotes quite right. After being repeated thousands of times for hundreds of years, that’s quite understandable, but you might be surprised to find out that some of the most famous quotes of all time are wrong....

A decade has passed since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. What has – and hasn’t – changed in the Big Easy since? Hurricane Katrina as seen from space. Source: SMS Ranjish Ten years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina swept over the Gulf Coast and shredded communities from Louisiana to Florida. Emergency response to the crisis was badly bungled, and the post-storm recovery has had some unexpected effects on the area....

Based on a 34-million-year-old skull, researchers have discovered that those gentle baleen whales likely used to be much more predatory. Wikimedia CommonsOnce upon a time, baleen whales like this humpback could have had rows of teeth instead of baleen. A new study revealed that Ancient baleen whales were actually hardly baleen whales at all, and in fact had an entire mouth full of teeth, suggesting they were much more predatory than their modern-day relatives....

“As scientists, we recognize the special nature of the impact crater, but it was also recognized by ancient inhabitants of the area,” a geologist said of the discovery at Vredefort. University of the Free StateGeologists and archaeologists are working to examine ancient drawings found in the world’s largest impact crater, Vredefort Crater, in South Africa. A number of ancient animal carvings were miraculously discovered inside South Africa’s Vredefort Crater, which is the largest confirmed impact crater on earth at 55 miles wide....

The president was attending a state event at the Japanese prime minister’s home when he came down with a case of stomach flu. Wikimedia CommonsA still from a Japanese news reel, which captured Barbara Bush tending to her ill husband as he bushusuru-ed. On Jan. 8, 1992, President George H.W. Bush caused a commotion when he passed out at a state event in Japan. Though not quite on par with the political scandals that the United State is used to now, Bush’s mishap left quite a mark on the Japanese people....

“This woman had all the supplies she needed to cause mass destruction at her disposal.” JJBers/FlickrA Florida woman was arrested after trying to make a bomb inside a Walmart. Last weekend, a security guard at a Walmart store in Tampa, Florida was canvassing the outlet when he noticed something suspicious: a woman with a child had been walking around aimlessly for an hour opening up unpaid items. Among the items she collected were denatured alcohol, nails, and a mason jar....

While she was principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper embezzled funds intended for her school’s tuition, fees, and charitable donations to finance her personal expenses. Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesSister Mary Kreuper served as the principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. When Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was 18 years old, she vowed to dedicate her life to the education of children and helping those in need....

Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina to venture into space in 1993 — then became director of NASA mission control in 2012. NASAOchoa in her space suit, ready for her last mission in 2002. In 1961, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin made history as the first person to travel into space and complete one full orbit of the Earth. A full two decades later, Ellen Ochoa added her name to that same history book as the first Hispanic woman to complete a nine-day space mission as a member of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993....

Known as the “Swamp Fox,” Francis Marion spent the American Revolution showing the British just how uncomfortable he could make them by refusing to “fight fairly.” Wikimedia CommonsFrancis Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox.” There are a lot of myths surrounding the American Revolution. One of the most enduring ones is that the Americans won because they refused to fight the British the way they were expected to. While the British would line up in the field and dare the enemy to come meet them, the Americans would slither through the woods to take pot shots at their officers....