Science · Mores · Humour

Humphry Davy tested nitrous oxide on himself, and the gas became a parlour entertainment

Laughing gas, now widely used in Western medicine as an analgesic and inhalation anaesthetic, first came into use in the 1800s precisely as a substance that provoked fits of merriment when inhaled. The British chemist Sir Humphry Davy, who was investigating the treatment of disease by gases, was the first

Science · Society · People

Gennady Yakovlevich Krasnikov, a researcher of microelectronic technologies, very-large-scale integrated circuits and complex semiconductor structures with controllable and stable electrophysical…, has been elected the new President of the Russian Academy

Archaeology · The East · Observations · Science

A 1.8-Million-Year-Old Tooth Found in Excavations at Dmanisi in Georgia

Research team leader Georgy Bidzinashvili displays a human tooth 1.8 million years old, found during excavations at Dmanisi in Georgia. This and a number of other finds make the localities of Orozmani and Dmanisi the oldest sites of human settlement in the world outside Africa. But I think we

Archaeology · Observations · Science · Nature · Humour

Human footprints from White Sands National Park in New Mexico

Human footprints from White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Left 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. But judging by the photo, it is hard to say that a barefoot way of life spared the makers of these prints from flat feet.

Diagram tracing the English words fascism and fajita back to Latin fascis through Italian and Spanish.

NB! · Observations · Science · Humour

The words fascism and fajita trace back to the Latin fascis, meaning bundle

Fascism and fajitas are relatives, derived from the very same word. I am in shock. Are you?

Archive · The East · Observations · Science · People · Saint Petersburg

Academician Abich resigned from the Academy in 1865 over his work on the geological map of the Caucasus

On the Probity of Scholars. In November 1865 Academician Abich asked to be released from the Academy and renounced the title of full member, since at that time he was unable to attend the Academy's sessions and to bear the duties of a member of the conference on

Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

The Magdeburg Unicorn: A Famous Chimera of the Seventeenth Century

The Magdeburg Unicorn is a famous chimera of the seventeenth century. In 1663 this reconstruction of the supposed appearance of its owner was made from bones found in the mountains. The author of the unicorn hypothesis was the physicist, engineer and burgomaster of Magdeburg, Otto von Guericke. A hundred years

Archaeology · Architecture · Heritage · Science

Cement from the 1960s damages Stonehenge stones and was replaced with lime mortar in 2021

The cement grout used to fill cracks in the horizontal stones of Stonehenge in the 1960s may lead to its destruction. Sixty years after the restoration, it has emerged that the airtight cement causes moisture to accumulate and the blocks to crumble as it freezes and thaws. In September 2021

Monarchies · Science · Nature · Ethnography

Queen Anne’s Lace and Daucus carota, two names for wild carrot

In the West, wild carrot is called Queen Anne's Lace, in memory of the queen's love of needlework. It is held that Anne of Denmark, wife of the English king James I, brought to England a fashion for certain kinds of lace, together with splendour and

NB! · Archive · Science · People

Albert Einstein Playing the Violin, 1941

NB! · Archive · Science · Education · People

Richard Feynman at His Famous Lectures on Physics

Science · Pop Culture

Toyota RV-2 camping estate car shown in Tokyo and New York but never put into production

Toyota RV-2 was a camping estate car that never reached series production, developed by Toyota engineers in the 1970s and shown at the Tokyo and New York motor shows. Thanks to a roof that opened at the rear, the concept car's 4.8-metre body could easily