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For thousands of years, smallpox ravaged populations around the world, killing 30 percent of those it infected — until Edward Jenner discovered a vaccine in 1796 that eventually helped lead to the disease’s eradication in the 1970s. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Devastating Photos Of The Deadliest Nightclub Disaster In History Devastating Photos Of Hiroshima Before And After The Atomic Bombing That Changed History Forever...

Steve Dennis was left inside a phone booth by his parents in 1954. But now, thanks to an at-home DNA test kit, he has some answers. Cheryl Evans/The RepublicSteve Dennis holding a photo of himself as a child. The 64-year-old mystery surrounding a baby left in an Ohio phone booth has finally been solved thanks to the help of an at-home DNA testing kit. Early one morning in Jan. 1954, two bread delivery men just outside of Lancaster, Ohio made the startling discovery of the two-month-old baby boy....

Trees form complex relationships with one another to survive — and may offer lessons for us on how we can do the same. It’s a question many vegetarians fear fully exploring: can plants feel? While they may not possess the capacity to emote like people or certain animals do, research has shown that plants, specifically trees, are capable of more than many have previously assumed. In forester Peter Wohlleben’s 2015 book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World, the author invites readers to understand the capabilities of trees as social beings who rely on a network to communicate amongst themselves, much in the same way as any group of people or animals might....

The tree flickers brightest when Wattson is being fed. Miguel Wattson TNAQ/TwitterAn electric eel named Miguel Wattson is generating attention with his naturally-powered Christmas tree. ‘Tis the season for Christmas decorations. But no place is shocking visitors with its festive display more than the Tennessee Aquarium where an eel named Miguel Wattson powers a Christmas tree beside his tank. According to the Washington Post, engineers at the aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have built a system which harnesses the power Wattson produces and transmits it to a nearby Christmas tree and soundsystem....

Go inside the true story of Lana Clarkson’s death at the hands of music producer Phil Spector — and the tumultuous trial that ensued. Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events. Known for starring in Barbarian Queen and other B-movies, actress Lana Clarkson once dreamt of making it big in Hollywood. But these dreams came to a tragic halt on February 3, 2003....

Far from signifying the end of slavery and racism, the Civil War’s finish only initiated a new wave of discrimination: Jim Crow. Mom and apple pie are like baseball and the Cuban blockade—traditional American institutions that define us as a people and give our history much of its unique look and feel. But America has other, less savory traditions, and one of the worst—sadly, not the worst—was segregation. The name “Jim Crow” was first used for a stock character in depressingly popular minstrel shows from around 1830 to the 1940s....

In June of 1940, the vibrant City of Lights turned overcast for four years while occupied by the Nazis, but all that would change with the liberation of Paris. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 31 Rousing Photos Of The French Resistance In Action Was Nazi General Dietrich Von Choltitz Actually The Savior Of Paris?...

Ancient Egyptian lust spell uncovered, mystery of Alexander the Great’s tomb closer to being solved, last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade identified. 1,800-Year-Old Egyptian Lust Spell Uncovered On A Piece Of Ancient Papyrus University of MichiganThe ancient papyrus containing the lust spell of an Egyptian woman named Taromeway. Researchers just uncovered an ancient Egyptian lust spell cast by a woman to drive her would-be lover mad with desire. The spell, written on an 1,800-year-old piece of papyrus, comes complete with explicit drawings and descriptions of the man’s anatomy....

Shortly after publishing her manifesto, titled “Society for Cutting Up Men,” Valerie Solanas’ feminism spiraled out of control, and she attempted to assassinate famed artist Andy Warhol. Bettmann/Getty ImagesValerie Solanas being arrested after shooting Andy Warhol. Valerie Solanas’ story may be the closest link between a play and an assassination since Lincoln’s fateful day at the theater. She was unsuccessful in her attempt, but on June 3, 1968, Solanas came close to assassinating famed artist Andy Warhol after she shot him with a ....

Though many still believe that George Washington had wooden teeth, America’s first president actually wore dentures made of ivory, animal bones, and even human teeth that may have belonged to enslaved people. Mount Vernon Ladies’ AssociationFor most of his life, George Washington’s teeth were really a set of dentures. There are a couple of things that most Americans know about George Washington: he fought in the Revolutionary War, he was the first president of the United States, and he had bad teeth....

Known as lingua villosa nigra or “black hairy tongue,” the condition is caused by a failure to scrape away the dead skin cells from the top of the tongue. JAMA Network/American Medical AssociationThe patient suffered from a condition where the papillae on the tongue are allowed to grow uncontrolled, causing the appearance of black hair. Two and a half months after a man in India suffered a stroke, he and his caregivers began noticing a dark discoloration on his tongue....

Though scientists have long sought to figure out what yawns are and why they’re contagious, the answers remain fuzzy as leading theories have been debunked. Library of CongressScientists have yet to crack the mystery behind what causes yawning. The act of yawning feels so unremarkable that humans do it all the time without thinking. However, the science behind this everyday act remains a mystery. We yawn in a variety of situations, as a sort of biological reaction to our body’s needs, which scientists initially believed had to do with the supply of oxygen present in our bloodstream....

“The mere fact that he buried her right under their home and continued to live there with his two children is almost unbelievable.” KDKA TVMary Arcuri with her daughter. When a Pittsburgh woman mysteriously disappeared one day in 1964, her husband told police that she had left him. The family was devastated, but it sure seemed like the truth — her clothes and belongings were missing, too, and husband Albert Alcuri seemed overcome with grief....

For 130 years, Algeria was ruled by France. But after the end of World War II, a group of young Algerian Muslims decided to rise up against the colonial government. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 34A group of Algerian prisoners huddle against a wall as French troops look on. Photo by REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images 2 of 34Over the course of the conflict, hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Algeria would die....

The decade that declared “I want my MTV” leaves us full of nostalgia for its fashion, full hair, and killer music. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Relive The Magic With These Vintage Disneyland Pictures Nostalgia-Inducing ’70s Pictures That Show What Real Life Was Like In The Decade Of Disco These 55 Pictures From The 1990s Perfectly Capture The End Of The 20th Century...

Alice Roosevelt was just as strong-willed and outspoken as her father Theodore Roosevelt, who admitted even he could not control her. Alice Roosevelt Longworth — Teddy Roosevelt’s oldest child — was the most eccentric first daughter to ever enter the White House and became the strong-willed and unbridled face of the New Woman movement of the early 1900s. She danced on the rooftops of millionaires, wore a pet garter snake as an accessory, and needle-pointed “If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anyone, come and sit here by me” on a pillow in her home....

A new fossil reveals that spiders have actually been toned down from the scream-worthy monsters they used to be. BBC/Bo WangA recreation of what the Chimerarachne would have looked like. If spiders aren’t your thing, we have good news – though they’re creepy now, they actually look a lot better than they used to. Thanks to a tiny bug trapped in amber Jurassic Park style for the past 100 million years, scientists have been able to learn more about the modern-day spider’s terrifying ancestors....

Known as balut, this popular dish from Southeast Asia is made by incubating a fertilized bird egg for weeks, then steaming and eating the undeveloped chick right from the shell. If you thought bird’s nest soup was weird, wait until you try unhatched baby duck. Balut eggs are considered a delicacy in some places around the world, but it’s definitely not something everyone is willing to give a try. Considered a street food since you can eat it while on the go, balut is said to be worth looking past the way this looks because the taste is like nothing else....

Carlos Lehder, a German-Colombian Neo-Nazi, helped Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel make billions by revolutionizing their smuggling methods. Getty Images/Wikimedia CommonsCarlos Lehder and Pablo Escobar. Carlos Lehder rose from a petty criminal to become one of the major players in the Medellin Cartel. Compared to Pablo Escobar, he is one of the lesser known members of the cartel, but if it was not for him, the cartel’s cocaine smuggling may never have really got off the ground....

Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 32Children Play in Yard of Ruston Home, While Tacoma Smelter Stack Showers Area with Arsenic and Lead Residue, 08/1972.U.S. National Archives/Gene Daniels 2 of 32Stacked Cars In City Junkyard Will Be Used For Scrap, August 1973U.S. National Archives 3 of 32Walt Whitman Bridge Crosses The Delaware River At South Philadelphia, Leads To New Jersey Suburbs, August 1973U....