gnostek‹›1 / 6Original Soviet space dog environmentally controlled safety module used on sub-orbital and orbital spaceflightsSoviet space dogs1200%Greatest scientific discoveries of the Cold WarThe USSR launched at least 57 dogs into space between 1951 and 1966; strays from Moscow streets were preferred because they were deemed psychologically tougher, and most early flights were explicitly one-way.+ See More01Dezik and Tsygan became the first dogs to survive a space flight on July 22, 1951 — aboard a suborbital rocket.02Comet and Shutka were aboard a capsule lost at sea; their bodies were never recovered.03Dogs were chosen over monkeys because Soviet scientists found them easier to train to sit still in a pressurized suit.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Nuestra Señora de Atocha000%Hidden treasuresMel Fisher searched 16 years for the Nuestra Señora de Atocha; three days before his crew found 40 tons of silver, his son Kane drowned when a salvage boat capsized.+ See More01The Atocha sank in 1622 carrying 40 tons of silver, 115 gold bars, and 350 chests of unregistered contraband.02Fisher's son Kane and daughter-in-law Angel died July 19, 1975 when the salvage vessel Northwind rolled over at night.03Fisher's daily battle cry for sixteen years was 'Today's the day' — he said it the morning of the main find.
gnostek+5‹›1 / 12Duke Cunningham500%Disgraced PoliticiansRandy 'Duke' Cunningham kept a handwritten 'bribe menu' on a sheet of congressional letterhead: a sliding scale of contract values against requested yacht upgrades, antique furniture, and cash — the most literal corruption document in U.S. congressional history.+ See More01The 'menu' listed prices in hundreds of thousands: a $140,000 bribe bought $16 million in defense contracts.02Bribes included a 42-foot yacht named 'Duke-Stir,' antique commodes, and a $7,200 Victorian dresser.03Cunningham, a decorated Vietnam ace with 5 aerial kills, wept openly when entering his guilty plea in 2005.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Dawn Brancheau600%domesticated wild animals that turned on ownersDawn Brancheau, SeaWorld Orlando's most senior trainer, was pulled into the water and killed by orca Tilikum in front of an audience on February 24, 2010. She had 16 years of experience. The show had just ended.+ See More01Brancheau had 16 years at SeaWorld and was considered its most accomplished trainer at the time of her death.02OSHA fined SeaWorld $75,000 and banned trainers from entering the water with orcas — a rule SeaWorld fought in court for years.03Internal documents showed SeaWorld knew Tilikum had been involved in two prior deaths before Brancheau entered his pool.
gnostek+15‹›1 / 22Voltaire1100%Claim: The Bible is a SatireVoltaire scrawled 'absurd' across his personal Bible hundreds of times, then predicted Christianity would be extinct within a century. His Geneva house became a Bible Society depot 50 years after his death.+ See More01Voltaire predicted Christianity would collapse within 100 years; the Geneva Bible Society occupied his house by 1828.02He annotated his own copy of the Bible with the word 'absurd' in the margins, repeatedly, throughout.03Voltaire wrote over 20,000 letters in his lifetime, many mocking Scripture by quoting it back verbatim.
gnostek‹›1 / 4William Stewart Halsted200%High functioning drug addicts of historyHalsted invented modern surgical residency, the mastectomy, and rubber gloves while injecting cocaine daily — then morphine to cure the cocaine. Johns Hopkins never knew. Did his addiction sharpen him, or did he succeed despite it?+ See More01Halsted's colleagues at Johns Hopkins were never told he was a morphine addict for the last 34 years of his career.02He began injecting cocaine in 1884 while experimenting with it as the first surgical anesthetic on human patients.03William Welch, Halsted's closest friend and co-founder of Hopkins, recorded the secret in a private memo buried for decades.
gnostek‹›1 / 5Anwar al-Awlaki2810%drone strikes with civilian casualtiesAnwar al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico, was placed on a presidential kill list, denied due process in U.S. courts, and killed by CIA drone in Yemen in September 2011. His lawyers were told they needed a license to represent him.+ See More01The Treasury Department ruled that U.S. lawyers required a special license to legally represent al-Awlaki in court.02A federal judge dismissed his father's lawsuit to remove him from the kill list, citing lack of standing.03The Justice Department's legal memo authorizing the killing was classified for three years after his death.
gnostek+7‹›1 / 14Swordfish500%Fastest AnimalsThe swordfish heats its own eyes and brain to 28°C above the surrounding ocean, running a biological furnace to keep vision razor-sharp at depth and speed. It is a warm-eyed predator in a cold, dark sea.+ See More01A specialized organ behind each eye generates heat, warming the retina by up to 28°C above seawater.02Warmer retinas process light signals faster, giving swordfish a crucial reaction-speed edge over cold-blooded prey.03Swordfish can reach 60 mph, making the heated-eye system essential for tracking fast-moving targets in dim water.
gnostek‹›1 / 2Frederick Lorz900%Worst sports cheating scandalsFred Lorz crossed the 1904 Olympic marathon finish line to cheers, waved at crowds, and posed for photos before admitting he'd hitched a car ride for 11 of the 26 miles.+ See More01Lorz was photographed accepting a laurel wreath from Alice Roosevelt before the fraud was discovered.02He was initially disqualified for life, then reinstated within months and won the 1905 Boston Marathon legitimately.03The actual 1904 Olympic marathon winner, Thomas Hicks, was fed strychnine and brandy mid-race by his handlers.