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Insane asylums were once seen as symbols of progress for people with mental health issues. But by the 19th and 20th centuries, these institutions had become overcrowded torture chambers. Stock Montage/Getty ImagesAn engraving depicts a scene at Bedlam, the first asylum in England founded in 1247. Insane asylums have a long, unsavory history — but they weren’t originally intended as sites of horror. The origins of mental asylums — an antiquated and loaded term that is now retired from the field of mental health medicine — came from a wave of reforms that professionals tried to enact in the 19th century....

Also known as La Doncella, the Llullaillaco Maiden was discovered at the summit of an Andean volcano in 1999 — approximately five centuries after she was ritually sacrificed by the Inca. Wikimedia CommonsThe Llullaillaco Maiden is the world’s best-preserved mummy, looking eerily lifelike even after more than 500 years. Discovered at the border of Chile and Argentina by scientists in 1999, the 500-year-old Inca girl known as the Llullaillaco Maiden was is one of three Inca children who were sacrificed as part of a practice known as capacocha or qhapaq hucha....

The Godfather of the Guadalajara Cartel, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo spent 18 years growing his empire. But the brutal murder of an undercover DEA agent who infiltrated his cartel would be his downfall. He’s been hailed as “El Padrino” and he’s fascinated many thanks to his complex portrayal in Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico. But Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo is far from innocent. The Godfather of the Guadalajara Cartel has written as much in his own prison diary, published by Gatopardo magazine in 2009 under the headline “Diaries of the Boss of Bosses....

The class sparked outrage, prompting critics to send the professor hundreds of “malicious and vile” emails and phone calls. CNNTed Thornhill, who gave the sociology class its controversial name. A new class at Florida Gulf Coast University has caused so much backlash that campus police officers are now stationed outside the building where the class is taught. When Ted Thornhill, a professor of sociology at FGCU, began his class, titled “White Racism,” his intention was to push the boundaries of how racism is defined and explore the faction of racism that is based on white supremacy....

The birds would normally have migrated south by now, but milder temperatures have kept them in town. Wikimedia CommonsThese vultures can have wingspans up to five feet and sometimes accidentally drop their prey from 300 feet in the air. The quiet Pennsylvania town of Marietta has been overrun by hundreds of destructive black vultures. While these birds typically migrate this time of year, climate change has forced them to stay in the northeast much longer than usual, and their presence has wrought thousands of dollars in property damage, fear of disease, and has left a town helpless....

The boy smuggling the liquid meth told the agents that it was merely “juice.” Soon after they asked him to prove it by taking a drink, he died. NBCCruz Marcelino Velazquez Acevedo drinks liquid methamphetamine at the San Ysidro Port of Entry from Mexico into the United States on November 18, 2013. On November 18, 2013, 16-year-old Cruz Marcelino Velazquez Acevedo crossed the border from Tijuana, Mexico into the United States....

From the nun who stole $800K to the “ninja” who took on the U.S. Army, go inside the craziest crime stories from this past year that you may have missed. As virtually everyone might admit, 2021 only continued last year’s trend of being utterly bizarre. And these crime stories are no exception. Though this year’s news was largely dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and political strife, the 13 incidents below were still shocking enough to capture our attention....

Believe it or not, the selfie is not unique to our times–it’s just become more democratized. Portraiture saw its artistic heyday in the 18th century when royalty enlisted the world’s greatest artists to convey their monarchial power and immortalize themselves on canvas. Nowadays, self-portraiture and its associated egoism aren’t just for the wealthy; they’re owned by the people. With advances in technology and changes in social norms, the common man grasps at immortality using the self-portrait or selfie—this time not shared through the royal courts but social media....

Bernhard Goetz made history when he shot four black men who tried to rob him, and opened the door for a nationwide debate about race, crime, and how much power civilian vigilantes have. Bettman/Getty ImagesSubway gunman Bernhard Goetz arrives at court for the third day of his trial for attempted murder. In the early afternoon on December 22, 1984, the seventh car on a ten-car 2 subway train headed downtown was bustling with people....

On September 11, 2001, Tom Burnett helped lead the passenger revolt against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93 — and saved untold lives in the process. Tom Burnett was as playful as he was bookish and often joked that he was one of the last renaissance men alive. He was a well-read history buff who couldn’t shake an illogical sense of doom that began to plague him in 2001. After sharing it with his wife, he boarded United Airlines Flight 93....

When Aimée du Buc de Rivéry disappeared at the end of the 18th century, people speculated that she may have somehow become the Sultana Valide of the Ottoman Empire. But could this be true? Wikimedia CommonsThe french planter-heiress has been conflated with a sultana of the Ottoman Empire named Nakşîdil. When Aimée du Buc de Rivéry went missing at sea, legend filled the gaps in her story. It was rumored that she was captured by pirates, sold into slavery, and chosen as a sultan’s favorite concubine....

Hundreds are killed each year for their meat alone, and recent reports show that the species will go extinct if current population trends don’t change. Pixabay The critically endangered orangutan may be our closest genetic relative and one of the animals most in need of our help in terms of rainforest conservation. But it turns out that we’ve long been harming the species’ chances of survival more so than we even thought — and in ways we didn’t even realize....

June 2019 was the hottest month on record — so hot that it caused the Arctic Circle to catch on fire. Pierre MarkuseA wildfire rages near Verkhoyansk, Russia, in the Arctic Circle. June 16, 2019. A new horrifying chapter has been added to the never-ending cycle of climate doom. The typically cool Arctic region has been engulfed by a heat wave, causing temperatures in parts of the Arctic to get so hot that it is igniting wildfires, as reported by Gizmodo’s Earther....

It’s so easy to get bogged down by day-to-day sameness: here are 17 unbelievable places to remind you of the world’s incredible diversity. Moraine Lake, Canada The turquoise color of Canada’s Moraine Lake changes hue throughout the summer, as the melting glaciers feed the water. Flickr/james_wheeler Another view of Moraine Lake.Flickr/dianasch Meteora, Greece The Meteora in Greece is a formation of immense monolithic pillars and hill-like huge rounded boulders associated with one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece....

Coffee Pot & Cup and Saucer Water Towers – Stanton, Iowa Stanton, Iowa was home to the actress Virginia Christine, who played Folgers’ Mrs. Olson on television commercials, so the town’s natural choice for water tower design was obviously coffee related. Both water towers reside within city limits and are certainly two-of-a-kind. The coffee pot design holds 40,000 gallons of coffee, while the cup and saucer design holds 2,400,000 cups of coffee or 150,000 gallons....

After Jimmy Savile’s death in 2011, an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the TV personality revealed at least 500 victims — some of whom were just two years old. When British TV and radio personality Jimmy Savile received his knighthood in 1990, many asked: What took so long? A beloved DJ and BBC presenter, there was something about Savile’s cigar-chomping, eccentric on-air personality that put audiences in the United Kingdom at ease....

The experiment is intended to test whether life can be sustained on the moon in the long term. Chongqing UniversityThe first sprouts of a cotton seed onboard China’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe. China’s Chang’e-4 lander made ground on the far side of the moon on Jan. 2 and has now made history yet again after having successfully grown a small plant onboard. However, no sooner than the plant flourished did it wither and die....

On October 12, 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell was killed by a German firing squad for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium. Wikimedia CommonsEdith Cavell was working as a nurse in Belgium when World War I started. On the morning of October 12, 1915, German soldiers marched a small group of prisoners to Tir National, a former Belgian Army rifle range. The German military chaplain, Pfarrer Le Soeur, took the hand of the only woman among them — a British nurse named Edith Cavell....

Source: Wired Amazing Human Endurance Feats: Felix Baumgartner Breaks The Sound Barrier The first in the series of incredible human endurance feats is Felix Baumgartner, a daredevil from Austria, was billed as Fearless Felix after he became the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power on October 14th, 2012. His incredible 24.2-mile skydive in a space suit saw him plummet to earth at a bone shattering estimated speed of 843 miles per hour (faster than the typical cruise speed of a Boeing 747); demonstrating the human form’s sheer capacity for endurance....

Fritz Haber prevented many from starving and developed chemical gases that would kill many. Wikimedia CommonsFritz Haber Good or bad, ethical or unethical, right or wrong. It makes things easy when we can put events or people in a box. But Fritz Haber serves a reminder that things aren’t always black and white and that reality is inconveniently complex. Fritz Haber was a German chemist, born in Breslau, Prussia in 1868 to a respected Jewish family....