The Story Reading Ape

Visual FX Bring an Ancient Holy Land Back to Life

Filmmaker and animator Kieran Baxter uses aerial photography and digital techniques to reconstruct a prehistoric fort.<p>Situated in the Grampian Mountains in Angus, Scotland lies the former sites of two prehistoric Iron Age hillforts. Known as the Caterthuns, it's thought they were holy monuments …

Liuzhou Forest City

Liuzhou Forest City is a new green masterplanned city that fights air pollution. The completed project will be a city where offices, houses, hotels, hospitals and schools are entirely covered by plants and trees.

Superluminous Supernova Brighter Than Milky Way Detected 10 Billion Light-Years Away

A massive star 10 billion light-years from Earth exploded in a supernova and its brightness was more than three times that of all the 100 billion …

Amazing Pictures Of 2200 Year Old Ancient Greek Mosaics Discovered In Turkey in 2014

Imagine how it felt discovering three ancient Greek mosaics which date back 2,220 years ago. In 2014, Professor Kutalmış Görkay of Ankara University …

Masks, Sex, Laughter, and Tears: The Exciting Evolution of Ancient Greek Theater

The city of theater was Athens. Athens birthed drama, bred drama, and ultimately was responsible for cultivating it into the premiere art of the …

The Cold Case of Alexander the Great: Have Toxicologists Finally Explained His Untimely Death?

It might be a surprise to learn that Alexander the Great was only 32 when he died in Babylon in June 323 BC. In a short period of 12 years as ruler …

How Many Rings Does Saturn Have? | Mental Floss

Of all the planets surrounded by rings, Saturn is the most famous. These planetary rings are massive enough that Galileo was able to see them using a …

On This Day In History: Godfrey Of Bouillon Elected The First Ruler Of The Kingdom Of Jerusalem - On July 22, 1099

<b>AncientPages.com –</b> <b>On July 22, 1099</b>, Godfrey of Bouillon (c. 1060-1100) was elected as the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.<p>Godfrey of Bouillon …

What Caused The Kuiper Belt To Get Warped?

Astronomers have known about the Kuiper Belt for decades, and were postulating about its existence long before it was even observed. Since that time, …

Google’s DeepMind AI Teaches Itself to Walk, and the Results Are Kooky, No Wait, Chilling

In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind, a company which soon made news when its artificial intelligence software defeated the world's best player of the …

Amazing Pictures Of 2200 Year Old Ancient Greek Mosaics Discovered In Turkey In 2014

Imagine how it felt discovering three ancient Greek mosaics which date back 2,220 years ago. In 2014, Professor Kutalmış Görkay of Ankara University …

Something Strange in Usain Bolt’s Stride

DALLAS — Usain Bolt of Jamaica appeared on a video screen in a white singlet and black tights, sprinting in slow motion through the final half of a 100-meter race. Each stride covered nine feet, his upper body moving up and down almost imperceptibly, his feet striking the track and rising so …

Why You Need Emoji - Issue 50: Emergence

The use of emojis has become a global phenomenon. By 2015, over 6 billion emojis1 were being sent every day by over 90 percent of the world’s online …

Police in Ancient Egypt

In any society, members of the community recognize they are required to restrain certain impulses in order to participate in the community. Every …

One weird thing about eclipses you’ve probably never noticed

Some drawings to explain the August eclipse's trajectory.<p>This summer, for the first time since 1918, a total solar eclipse will cut a path across the mainland United States. On August 21, everyone in North America will be able to watch the moon pass in front of the sun, blotting out some or all of …

‘Graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum give insight into groups marginalized by history books’

Not far away lies Herculaneum; buried in the same eruption, it is less well known among tourists but just as much of a treasure trove for …

What to do if you break your leg in the middle of nowhere

Know how to improvise, but try to be prepared.<p>So you’re out in the wilderness, enjoying the fresh air and leaving civilization far behind, when suddenly your friend slips and—crack! Maybe he falls onto his outstretched hand, or she lands on her leg. Either way, you have a bad feeling a bone might …

How houses were cooled before air conditioning

It’s too darn hot<p><i>Welcome back to</i> <i>Period Dramas</i><i>, a weekly column that alternates between rounding up historic homes on the market and answering questions we’ve always had about older structures.</i><p>On these sweltering midsummer days, it’s natural to want nothing more than to sit in front of an air …

All hell breaks loose as the tundra thaws

A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosions<p>Strange things have been happening in the frozen tundra of northern Siberia. Last August a boy died of anthrax in the remote Yamal Peninsula, and 20 other infected people were …

Where did the antimatter go?

<b>(CNN) —</b> You've no doubt heard of Einstein's famous equation E = mc2, and you may well have heard that it means that matter can be converted to energy and back again. That statement is true but incomplete.<p>What is more correct is that energy can be converted not only into matter, but also antimatter …

Massive Two-Ton Fish Species Discovered

It took scientists four years to find the newest species of the world’s largest bony fish.<p>A new species of enormous ocean sunfish was discovered after an intensive search, making it the first species of this type of fish to be identified in 130 years.<p>Despite being the largest bony fish in the world …

EDITING 101: 47 – Dangling Modifiers…

Originally posted as the <i>Dun Writin’—Now Whut?</i> series on this blog, <i>EDITING 101</i> is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for</b> …

Sere, seer or sear?

This Troublesome Trio was suggested to me by the ever-helpful Linda from Linda Proofreads – thank you! Those among you with good memories will recall …

17 Outstanding Bookshops in Australia

1.Sappho Books & Cafe, Sydney<p><b>Possibly the closest you can get to Paris’ Shakespeare & Co. here in Australia. This second hand bookshop in Glebe is</b> …

Hmmm

The Pros and Cons of Considering Ghostwriting

As I look both in the past and in the future of my writing career, hopes and dreams and reality are mixing together like oil and water. Eight books …

Truth

9 Luxurious Listed Loos

(OK they might not be that luxurious…)<p>Our public facilities – toilets, bath-houses, drinking troughs – embody a proud civic heritage of social …

8 Great Bookshops to Visit in Berlin

<i>Berlin’s urban</i> <i>metropolis</i> <i>is one of great history and rich culture, and a veritable paradise for bibliophiles besides. Rare and old second-hand books</i> …

Amazon’s Kindle in Motion

<b>In case you are wondering how to activate Kindle in Motion on your device or app:</b><p><b>Tap the centre of the screen and then tap the Aa icon to turn on the</b> …