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Engineering
2 min read
At the end of the 19th century, engineers defied continental topography to divert waste and save the city from deadly epidemics.
Biology
2 min read
A microscopic marvel without a brain or neurons that fused mitochondria and chloroplasts to build a perfect lens and retina.
Engineering
2 min read
A masterpiece of Scottish engineering that uses Archimedes' principle to lift boats 24 meters high.
History
2 min read
The unusual military campaign that ended without firing a shot, with zero casualties, and with a new friend in the ranks.
History
2 min read
For twenty-one years, an entire metropolis played along with a throneless monarch who issued his own banknotes and decreed works ahead of his time.
History
2 min read
In 1803, before refrigeration, a medical expedition transported the live smallpox vaccine across two oceans through bodily relays in children.
Engineering
2 min read
In the 19th century, observing a tiny naval wood-borer solved the greatest dilemma in tunneling.
History
2 min read
When the rupture of a fermentation vat unleashed a wave of more than one million liters of porter through the streets of the British capital.
History
2 min read
Disguised as the captain and with his family on board, Robert Smalls slipped past five armed forts in one of the most astonishing escapes in military history.
History
2 min read
In the 1820s, Gregor MacGregor raised a fortune selling land, bonds, and official posts in a fictional Central American nation.
Engineering
2 min read
At the end of the 19th century, Chicago engineers altered the hydrography of a continent to keep the city from poisoning itself with its own waste.
History
2 min read
In 1803, before refrigeration, a doctor crossed oceans preserving the smallpox vaccine arm-to-arm across 22 orphans.