These electron microscope images show what life is like in the invisible world of viruses, bacteria, and pollen — and it’s both surreal and spooky.The microscopic world is an endlessly fascinating place, and thanks to technological advances over the last 90 years, we can now see things at incredibly high magnification through these electron microscope photos. Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) show us the invisible world of microorganisms by combining a variety of signals that are then scanned through a focused beam of high-energy electrons spread across a specimen.

Now we know that cigarettes are probably the worst thing an endurance cyclist could use during the race. But back in the 1920s, cyclists helped each other light a smoke. Source: Vintage Everyday While today’s Tour de France closely monitors bicyclists to prevent such blatant cheating, fair competition isn’t the only modern benefit. These days, race officials actually care about the well-being of the cyclists. In the early years of the tournament, cyclists rode on unpaved roads without wearing any protective headgear.

Found in Iraq, the tablets uncover the secrets of a "lost" Canaanite language that bears strong similarities to ancient Hebrew. David I. Owen/Cornell UniversityAncient clay tablets detailing the cryptic Amorite language. About 30 years ago, two ancient tablets were discovered in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. They eventually found their way into a collection in the United States, where they remained unstudied and mostly forgotten — until 2016, when they attracted the attention of two scholars.

Watch the one-of-a-kind marine iguana swim through the sea and learn how fascinating these bizarre, endangered creatures truly are. The Galapagos Islands, infamous for the creatures Charles Darwin witnessed as he was shaping his theory of evolution, lives up to its reputation as home to some of nature’s most mysterious inhabitants. As proof of that, look no further than this recent video of a marine iguana foraging near Cabo Marshall.

We take our calendar for granted. We generally act as if it’s fixed, infallible, one with the Sun — a true guide to what time it is. Then, every four years, February 29 comes around to remind us that not only is the calendar simply a fallible human invention, but a pretty clumsy, ultimately inaccurate one at that. From the ten days that vanished from October 1582 to the fact that leap year doesn’t actually happen every four years, this look at the origins of leap year proves time isn’t what we think it is.

For 900 years, Edinburgh Castle has stood high atop volcanic rock overlooking Scotland's capital city, bearing witness to a history rife with upheaval and violence.Even in a country that once boasted over 3,000 castles, Edinburgh Castle has always been the most iconic. It makes sense, too — Edinburgh Castle is situated atop an extinct volcano, a natural fortification in its own right that served as the perfect location for a castle meant to represent defense, control, and honor.

The “Island Of The Dolls”: One Of The Creepiest Places In Mexico PETER DAVIES/Alamy Stock PhotoDolls hanging from the trees at La Isla de las Muñecas. If the Vent Haven Museum of ventriloquist dummies sent a shiver down your spine, you certainly won’t like what comes next: Mexico’s Island of the Dolls. La Isla de las Muñecas is exactly what it sounds like — an island filled with hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of eerie dolls hanging from the trees.

Mount Mabu, Mozambique War-torn and geographically treacherous, Mozambique provides numerous obstacles for explorers. But thanks to Google Earth, a British scientist at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Julian Bayliss, stumbled upon the magnificent acres of rainforest in Mount Mabu – an area that had hitherto been uncharted. In 2008, a group of scientists embarked on an expedition and ended up finding over a hundred new species – plants, birds, butterflies, monkeys, snakes – in just three weeks.

New research adds some complexity to our understanding of human evolution.Wikimedia Commons Let’s say you skipped that salad you’ve saved for lunch today and instead chose to munch on a human leg. But swimsuit season is coming fast, so you’d obviously want to know the calorie count of said leg before you dug in. Well, now you can. A new study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports gives a fairly detailed caloric breakdown of the human body.

Originally designed to create multiple copies of a single document, the Thomas Edison electric pen would end up revolutionizing the tattoo industry. New York Historical Society Diagram of the Edison electric pen When people think Thomas Edison, they naturally think of all of his inventions. The lightbulb, the motion picture camera, the phonograph and the zoetrope are all things we can thank Edison for giving us. Another thing we can thank him for?