Mangle (machine)

A mangle being used in a domestic science course during World War II

Temperature map of the cosmic microwave background measured by the Planck spacecraft

Heracles , wearing his characteristic lion-skin, club in right hand, leash in left, presenting a three-headed Cerberus, snakes coiling from his snouts, necks and front paws, to a frightened Eurystheus hiding in a giant pot. Caeretan hydria…

A bile bear in a "crush cage" on Huizhou Farm, Huizhou , China

A block of silica aerogel in a hand.

Mangle (machine)

Two steel rollers squeezed laundry dry — and de-gloved hands at the wrist without stopping. Hospitals tracked the injuries by decade. The machine outlasted every safety campaign aimed at it.

1995 Tour de France

Fabio Casartelli died on Stage 15; the peloton rolled neutralized through Stage 16 the next morning, completing the course where he was killed — the race did not stop.

Golden eagle

At 150 mph in a stoop, the golden eagle strikes with talons exerting 750 psi — roughly the grip of a hydraulic press on a soda can. Civilizations from the Mongols to Rome named themselves by this bird.

Cosmic microwave background

The faint hiss on an analog TV is partly photons from 380,000 years after the Big Bang — the CMB, discovered accidentally in 1965 by Penzias and Wilson while trying to eliminate 'noise.'

Cerberus

Greeks slipped honey cakes called meli into the mouths of their dead to bribe Cerberus at the underworld gate. Virgil's Aeneas carries one. The three-headed dog's middle head was considered the most dangerous.

Bile bear

Bears on Chinese bile farms live for up to 25 years with permanent steel catheters punched through their abdomens, draining bile used in traditional medicine. Many develop liver cancer from the constant extraction.

Aerogel

Aerogel is 99.8% air by volume, yet a thumbnail-sized block supports a 2.5 kg brick. NASA's Mars Pathfinder used it as insulation; the same material can be made from silica, carbon, or even frozen fruit juice.

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

In 9 CE, three full Roman legions — 20,000 men — walked into a German forest and never came out. Augustus reportedly roamed his palace at night crying 'Varus, give me back my legions.'

Joey Chestnut

Joey Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes at Nathan's Famous while a protestor physically tackled him mid-contest. He kept eating. He won. The hot dogs were still in his hand.