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“We find that behind the shroud of anonymity, people feel pretty empowered to tell us what should happen to us, to our children, to our family,” the new dad said of the Internet’s response. “The reason why you have a kid is because you want to see more love in the world, and remembering how difficult that’s going to be, it’s hard.” Trystan Reese isn’t your average dad. On July 14, the transgender Oregon resident gave birth to his first biological child: a healthy baby boy, Leo Murray Chaplow....

The night before he was to be executed in July 1980, Troy Leon Gregg broke out of Georgia State Prison — only to die in a bar fight just a few hours later. Bettmann/Getty ImagesTroy Leon Gregg, the first man to have his death penalty upheld by the Supreme Court after the decision of Furman v. Georgia. On July 28, 1980, four men convicted of murder escaped from Georgia State Prison by disguising themselves as corrections officers....

Find out the happiest country in the world, not to mention the unhappiest country, and whether or not the world itself is actually happy. Image Source: World Happiness Report You’ll read and share plenty of stories claiming to have uncovered the happiest country in the world (or state in the U.S., and so on). By now, there’s a veritable cottage industry of such stories. But in the last few years, during which these stories became commonplace, one study stands out in terms of authority: the World Happiness Report....

The blobfish was voted the ugliest animal in the world, but its skeleton-less biology has adapted and evolved perfectly to allow it to survive at highly-pressurized depths. If you’ve been on the internet for the past couple of years, you’ve probably encountered a photo of something called a blobfish. As the name inherently connotes, this isn’t the most visually appealing species in the animal kingdom. Frankly, it barely even resembles a fish....

The Albany adder hadn’t been seen in almost a decade — until a team of scientists found four living in South Africa this spring. The Albany adder, an extremely rare reptile with distinctive eyebrows and beautifully patterned skin, hadn’t been seen in nearly a decade. The venomous snake was presumed to be extinct — until this spring, when herpetologists announced the discovery of four Albany adders happily living in the creature’s native South Africa....

These discoveries changed our understanding of the past — and some of them might even rewrite the history books. History can seem like a dry topic, frozen in the pages of musty textbooks. But as these 11 history news stories from 2022 prove, history can be breathtaking, beautiful, and even bizarre. Below, read some of the most fascinating history news stories of the year, like the examination of the centuries-old “mermaid” mummy in Japan, the allegation that George Washington had a child with an enslaved woman, the discovery of a wooden bird from Anne Boleyn’s private apartment, and more....

How well do you know the award-winning director? With Harrison Ford and George Lucas. December 18th marks Steven Spielberg’s 69th birthday. Even as one of Hollywood’s top directors, there are still many things about Spielberg that elude common knowledge. Here are 15 pieces of trivia about one of Tinseltown’s biggest names that you probably didn’t know: Image Source: Flickr Spielberg has managed to make it to the top of the directorial pack without imbibing a single cup of coffee....

School officials deemed the prom proposal “disruptive” and gave the female student who asked her girlfriend to prom an in-school suspension. Anniston Star NewsAlexandria school in Alexandria, Ala. Two female high school students have been given an in-school suspension, after one of them asked her girlfriend to prom during a school talent show. The prom proposal took place on Tuesday at Alexandria High School in Alabama. According to a student at the school named Ashley Fadely, who was uninvolved with the prom proposal, the female student who initiated the proposal was performing in the school talent show when she asked her girlfriend to prom....

Though many have urged the government to stop this “animal genocide,” feral cats are responsible for killing 377 million birds and 649 million reptiles every single year. Wikimedia CommonsCats are responsible for killing 649 million reptiles in Australia every single year. Australia is in the midst of a murderous rampage against part of its population. Luckily, it’s for the greater good. According to The Independent, the government plans on killing 2 million feral cats by 2020, as the furry felines have contributed to the extinction of around 20 mammal species since their arrival on the continent....

Even though her parents forbade her to go on the trip, Brittanee Drexel went anyway — and three days later, she vanished outside her friend’s hotel. The maddening disappearance of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in 2009 left her friends, family, and investigators in shock. In April of that year, the Rochester native had secretly left New York for a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she vanished. A cheerful teen who excelled at soccer, Drexel had reportedly grown increasingly depressed in the months leading up to her disappearance....

While these skin growths are usually found on older patients, and on body parts that regularly receive sunlight, this 50-year-old had a gigantic growth that turned out to be cancerous. BMJ Case ReportsThis cancerous growth had been swelling out of a 50-year-old man’s back for three years before he sought help. Believe it or not, the photo above indeed shows a skin growth on a man’s back. According to LiveScience, this brownish-yellow horn of hardened skin began as a rough lesion on the body of a 50-year-old British man....

How an orphaned Syrian bear named Wojtek became a Polish army hero. Amid a long journey to join forces with the British Army in World War Two, one unit of the Polish II Corps stumbled upon an unlikely, and invaluable, comrade: a Syrian brown bear they named Wojtek. A New Army And A New Mascot Wikimedia CommonsTroops of the Polish 22 Transport Artillery Company watch as one of their comrades play wrestles with Wojtek their mascot bear during the Middle Eastern campaign of World War II, circa 1942-1943....

The Lowline Lab, a prototype for the larger Lowline underground park, is now open to the public in New York City. James Ramsey and Dan Barasch were sharing drinks in 2009 when they decided to seriously consider an idea that sounded straight out of a 1950s science fiction movie. Ramsey, owner of the Raad Studio design firm in Manhattan, had recently been exposed to what lay under the Lower East Side’s bustling Delancey Street: an abandoned trolley terminal....

After becoming a Mafia boss at the age of just 26, Joseph Bonanno spent decades as the head of a crime family before retiring in 1968 and eventually exposing some of the mob’s biggest secrets. NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesJoseph Bonanno leaves a U.S. Federal Court after battling an indictment for failing to appear before a grand jury investigation in 1966. May 18, 1968. New York, New York....

John Africa co-founded the Black activist group MOVE, whose home was bombed by Philadelphia Police in 1985. MOVEJohn Africa in his recognizable dreadlocks and sunglasses. The 1985 MOVE bombing remains one of the most egregious police responses in United States history. Frustrated by the militant Black liberation group and its refusal to evacuate their headquarters, the Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on their rowhouse, killing 11 people — including MOVE founder John Africa....

Miyuki Ishikawa may have thought she was acting out of mercy when she killed over 100 babies — but she nevertheless might be history’s deadliest female serial killer. Wikimedia CommonsMiyuki Ishikawa was arrested in January 1948, after police uncovered dozens of victims’ remains. In the 1940s, Miyuki Ishikawa was working as a midwife in post-World War II Japan. On the surface, this seemed like a noble profession — one that was common for women at the time....

The Siberian permafrost preserved this 19th-century woman so well that some of her clothes remained perfectly intact. Elena Solovyova/The Siberian TimesThe mummified woman was found buried with a copper cross, leather stockings, and fur-lined boots. Siberia’s Yakutia region near the Russian Arctic is so unbearably cold, temperatures can fall below -76 degrees Fahrenheit. That bodes badly for the living, but works wonders to preserve the dead. According to The Siberian Times, that’s where Dr....

“Cases of cannibalism among polar bears are a long-established fact, but we’re worried that such cases used to be found rarely while now they are recorded quite often.” ReutersPolar bears have been known to eat each other in the past, but now this once-rare phenomenon is rampant. With climate change melting Arctic ice and humans encroaching on their habitat, polar bears have increasingly resorted to killing and eating each other. According to expert Ilya Mordvintsev, polar bear cannibalism is not a new phenomenon — but now it’s distressingly rampant....

The robot was so convincing that the mountain gorillas accepted it into their troop. John Downer ProductionsUgandan gorillas as seen from the POV of the robotic gorilla. If you thought primate behavior was remarkably human before, wait until you see a troop of mountain gorillas joyfully singing and farting while eating dinner together. Documentary filmmakers managed to capture this remarkable footage for the first time ever using a realistic robotic “spy” gorilla....

Citizens of Aswan suffered power outages, flooding, and severe hail — only for a deadly swarm of scorpions seeking shelter to invade. Leonid A. Neymark/California Academy of SciencesThe Arabian fat-tailed scorpion holds deadly neurotoxins and cardiotoxins in its stinger. Like most of its African and Middle Eastern neighbors, Egypt is famously arid. That just so happens to be the preferred climate of the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion. However, scores of the creatures were roused from their nests by record storms over the weekend and unleashed on the city of Aswan....