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A new national study, the first in 15 years on the topic, found that over half of gun owners weren’t storing their guns safely at home. Minot Air Force BaseSafely storing guns significantly decreases the risk of suicide and homicide by firearms. The tragic school shooting that took place in Parkland, Fla. on Feb 14, 2018, reignited the national debate on gun control measures. A sense of urgency that comes with the gun control conversation is often contrasted by slow and stubborn bureaucracies....

A brutal look at how Nyaope (a.k.a. Whoonga) – the devastating drug made with rat poison and HIV meds – is wreaking havoc in South Africa. One day last July, South African photographer Mujahid Safodien followed a few local addicts as they scored their dose, injected it, crashed, started a fire to stay warm in the abandoned building they were squatting in, then finally got up and walked off, out to do the same thing all over again....

In 1981, a crew of American and Canadian neo-Nazis and KKK members plotted a violent overthrow of the Dominican government, but their ship never made it out of New Orleans. ATFATF agent John Osburg with weapons and a Nazi flag seized from the Operation Red Dog conspirators. New Orleans was unusually calm and dry on the night of April 27, 1981. In spite of the balmy breeze that stirred the evening air, a political storm was brewing in The Big Easy....

One of the handlers has since defended his actions, saying that “the cub bit my hand really hard. Its teeth cut into my flesh and my hand started bleeding.” Outrage began spreading across the internet earlier this month following the release of a video showing handlers abusing panda cubs at a Chinese research facility. In the recent footage captured within The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, handlers can be seen throwing panda cubs violently, dragging them across the floor, grabbing at their fur and skin, and yelling at them....

A 19-year-old rugby player from Sydney, Sam Ballard contracted rat lungworm disease and spent eight long years paralyzed before dying in November 2018 FacebookSam Ballard was popular in Sydney and described as a “larrikin” by his mother before he contracted rat lungworm disease. Sam Ballard was a promising 19-year-old rugby player from Sydney, Australia, enjoying a weekend get-together with friends in 2010 when he made a random decision that would prove fatal....

Why everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Led Zeppelin to The Rolling Stones sang the Butter Queen’s praises, sometimes literally. Barbara Cope/FacebookBarbara Cope, the “Butter Queen,” in 1968. In the song “Rip This Joint,” The Rolling Stones include the lines, “Down to New Orleans with the Dixie Dean / ‘Cross to Dallas, Texas with the Butter Queen.” The queen in question was Barbara Cope. Part of the legendary groupie scene of the late 1960s and early ’70s, Cope was reportedly intimate with scores of rock stars, including The Rolling Stones’ own Mick Jagger as well as men like Joe Cocker, David Cassidy, and Jimi Hendrix....

Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump were the only three U.S. presidents to ever be impeached — although Richard Nixon came close. In January 2021, Donald J. Trump became the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. The last impeachment in U.S. history had been in the late 1990s against Bill Clinton, over statements he made to investigators about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But how many presidents have been impeached?...

Fault lines would have provided the Incas with loads of pre-fractured rock — perfect for building. Rualdo MenegatThe reasoning for choosing this extreme location was three-fold (protection against earthquakes, a water supply, and readily available building materials), but all resulted from one factor: fault lines. The Incan citadel of Machu Picchu is one of the most stunning yet confounding pieces of architecture known to man, lasting for 600 years high atop the Peruvian Andes....

On March 21, 1973, the British Patent Office issued Patent No. 1,310,990 – British Rail’s own design for a flying saucer with artificial gravity, a laser-induced fusion engine, and space on board for dozens of passengers. We’ve all had projects get away from us from time to time. In the late 1960s, British Rail commissioned an engineer named Charles Osmond Frederick to design a “lifting platform.” By 1973, his design had evolved into a fusion-powered spinning disc intended to boost both passengers and payloads into space....

The true story of the original Annabelle doll began when she terrorized her first owner in 1970, forcing Ed and Lorraine Warren to take her to their Occult Museum for safekeeping. She sits in a glass case bearing a hand-carved inscription of the Lord’s Prayer while a pleasant smile rests on her happy face sitting under a mop of red hair. But beneath the case is a sign that reads: “Warning, positively do not open....

The Russian Revolution that led to the formation of the Soviet Union is a long story of relatively fast social change in a short amount of time. Because Russia was still using the Julian calendar at the time, they are known as the February and October Revolutions. Following the Bolshevik uprising in November, a four-year civil war would break out between the communist Red Army and the conglomeration of loosely affiliated anti-Bolsheviks, ending with the cementing of the Communist state and the formal founding of the USSR:...

Scientists have long struggled to unlock the mysteries of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek computer used to study the secrets of the universe. In 1901, a group of Greek sponge divers made an astounding discovery off the island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea — a Roman-era shipwreck filled with riches. Dive after thrilling dive revealed statues, gold jewelry, and coins. But the divers also surfaced a few lumps of bronze....

Scientists used scans to determine that the Venus of Willendorf’s limestone is “virtually indistinguishable” from limestone found in Italy. In 1908, an archaeologist digging along the banks of the Danube River near Willendorf, Austria made a striking find: a 30,000-year-old limestone statue of a voluptuous woman, since dubbed the “Venus of Willendorf.” Now, scans of the statue have revealed that it likely originated in northern Italy, nearly 600 miles away....

Learn more about the amazing world with these interesting facts about life that are guaranteed to tantalize your mind. Did you know that the smallest penguin on the planet is only 16 inches tall? Or that Mammoths roamed the Earth when the Great Pyramids were being constructed? Satiate your curiosity for the world around you with these fascinating, hilarious, and downright interesting facts: Madame Curie’s notebooks are still radioactive. Researchers wishing to study them must sign a waiver in order to do so....

Freaky hybrid fish, a mummy’s reconstructed voice, and a prehistoric megapredator are a few of the most illuminating scientific breakthroughs that defined this year. PixabayFrom polar bear cannibalism to the largest photograph ever taken, 2020 had no shortage of astounding science articles. This year was full of fascinating science articles that both stunned and enlightened us — and proved that we, as humans, still have a lot to learn about the world around us....

When we think of nuclear disasters, our minds typically jump right to the horrific incidents at Chernobyl or Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As devastating as those incidents were, during the Cold War competing global powers conducted nuclear tests whose results were on par with — if not worse than — the nuclear meltdowns and detonations that dominate the history books: Nuclear Testing Sites: Bikini Atoll Between 1946 and 1958, the United States performed 23 nuclear tests in the remote Pacific island of Bikini Atoll....

While the social changes of the 1960s are often associated with California, New York was undergoing its own change. While the late 1960s are often associated with the cultural shift spurred by the cities of California, New York City was undergoing its own significant and rapid transformation. With Greenwich Village becoming the hippie enclave of the East Coast and New York experiencing an accelerated white flight, the demographics and make-up of the city quickly changed....

When the young couple phoned in their discovery, police, fire, and local EOD teams swarmed the beach fearing the cannonballs were still live. WCSCOne of the cannonballs weighed eight pounds and the other three. Strong hurricanes often leave destruction in their wake and sometimes, they uncover a bit of history too. This was the case for a young couple visiting South Carolina’s Folly beach when they came across two Civil War-era cannonballs exposed on the sand....

“Please nominate this man for a Nobel Prize,” said one Twitter user in response to Sgt. Stephen Wheeles pulling over a car that was driving too slowly in the passing lane. FOX 13 NewsIndiana trooper Stephen Wheeles and the picture he took of the car he pulled over. On a highway in Indiana, about 20 cars were trailing behind a slow driver in the passing lane who wouldn’t change lanes. When Indiana State Trooper Sgt....

On August 14, 1980, Playmate of the Year and budding actress Dorothy Stratten was gunned down by her estranged husband. She was just 20 years old. Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events. “Dorothy looked at the world with love, and believed that all people were good down deep,” said Peter Bogdanovich, one of the men who loved Dorothy Stratten, after her death....