Footprints frozen in time: Human tracks preserved in ancient mud at White Sands National Park, New Mexic. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons There is a part of the desert in New Mexico that, at first glance, looks like nothing. White dunes, dry air, the kind of landscape that makes a man squint. Buried beneath the sands…
This armoured dinosaur sat undisturbed in an Alberta rock layer for 110 million years until a mine worker noticed something odd. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons In 2011, a heavy equipment operator at an oil sands mine in northern Alberta was having a pretty normal work day when he spotted something unusual in the rock. What…
A routine construction project in Snowmass Village, Colorado, uncovered a remarkable Ice Age fossil site. The discovery of a juvenile Columbian mammoth tusk marked the beginning of the Snowmastodon story. Image Credits: via Wikimedia Commons It began like any other day of moving earth around in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The weather was a typical October…
New research indicates early Australians were not just hunters but possibly the world’s first palaeontologists, collecting and valuing fossilized bones, transforming the cave from an ‘abattoir’ into a source of ancient narratives. Image Credits: Via Wikimedia Commons Buried within the limestone formations in the far south-western reaches of Western Australia is a place where one…
Art Fry built the foundation for Post-it notes from Spenser Silver’s glue. Image credit – Wikimedia When scientist Spencer Silver was working on making a strong adhesive in 1968, his creation turned out to be quite different. His glue adhered only weakly, meaning that it did not form a permanent connection. For any laboratory work,…
This discovery, spearheaded by George McJunkin, dramatically reshaped our understanding of the continent’s first inhabitants. Image Credits: Via Wikimedia Commons The past is not necessarily unearthed in dusty libraries by academics; sometimes, it comes to light through those who know how to interpret the landscape. On a sweltering August afternoon in 1908, a massive flash…
In 1909, Charles Doolittle Walcott (first from left) discovered the Burgess Shale formation in British Columbia, revealing exceptionally preserved soft-bodied ancient life. Image Credits: via Wikimedia Commons Imagine the last day of your mountain trip, the sun setting, the packs packed, your thoughts turning to your journey home. It was at such a time that…
An unusual coin hinted at an 11th-century journey across the Atlantic. Image credit – Wikimedia A small discovery that sparked big questions later in the history of America. In 1957, a local resident discovered an odd-looking coin while digging at a nearby shell midden on the coast of Maine. While it initially seemed like nothing…
The digging at the quiet Suffolk Mound changed what we know about early England. Image credit – Gemini What begins with a simple dig many times results in incredible discoveries. A similar mundane excavation incident in 1939 yielded one of the greatest discoveries made within European archaeology. This was seemingly carried out privately on a…
Airlines love Arctic routes but avoid flying over Antarctica. Image credit – Gemini Ever followed a long-haul flight and observed some interesting phenomenon in your observations? The routes taken by the planes tend to deviate far up north, approaching the Arctic. However, planes practically never go south, even near the Antarctica.There is no randomness involved…
