History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
Chestnut blight killed the canopy without always killing the roots
The fungus devastated billions of American chestnuts, removing great trees from eastern forests. Many surviving roots still send up shoots, which often…
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Massive waterfalls divide two countries
They stretch across the Argentina-Brazil border in hundreds of separate cascades, whose roar carries through the surrounding jungle.
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The earthquake that spawned tornadoes of fire
The 1923 Great Kanto earthquake set off fires that merged with high winds, creating towering vortexes of flame that swept through the region.
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Giant Canadian valley spans a long distance
The Rocky Mountain Trench stretches nearly 1,000 miles through British Columbia, dividing major mountain ranges in a remarkably straight line.
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The invisible line that divides Indonesia's wildlife
Deep ocean channels kept many land animals from crossing between the island groups. That left monkeys and tigers on one side of the invisible line, and…
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The world's tallest tree is being kept secret
Park officials keep Hyperion's exact location secret to prevent visitors from trampling the roots of the towering coast redwood.
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Guam's introduced snakes helped erase its forest birds
Brown tree snakes arrived after World War II and preyed on birds that had not evolved with this predator. Native bird populations collapsed across much of the…
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The last passenger pigeon died alone in a zoo
Martha, the last passenger pigeon, lived alone in an Ohio zoo until her death in 1914. The species had once formed flocks so vast they darkened the sky.
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Mauna Kea is taller than Everest from base to summit
Measured from its base on the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is taller than Everest, though most of the volcano lies underwater.
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Thin clay layer marks a mass extinction
Iridium is rare in Earth’s crust but more common in asteroids. Its sudden appearance in the boundary layer gave scientists a chemical fingerprint of the…
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A researcher cut down a nearly 5,000-year-old tree
In 1964, Donald Currey had a bristlecone pine in Nevada cut down while studying ancient trees. Counting its rings revealed that Prometheus was nearly 5,000…
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Why Methuselah's location is a secret
Forest officials keep the California bristlecone pine's exact location secret because crowds of curious visitors could damage it. For a tree that has survived…
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Aggressive ants invaded the United States
Red imported fire ants arrived at an Alabama port in the 1930s and spread across the South. Their large mounds and painful stings turned an arrival most…
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Argentina holds highest non-Asian peak
Loose scree makes Aconcagua less technical than many climbs, but the high-altitude route is no easy walk. Thin air and extreme cold turn its summit into a…
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A volcano suddenly grew in a Mexican farmer's field
A crack opened in a farmer’s pasture in 1943, and the volcano grew about 1,000 feet over the next nine years.
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Highest active volcano sits in the Andes
High elevation often means lasting snow, but the Andes' dry air leaves this volcano without a permanent ice cap. Height alone can't make a glacier; moisture…
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A rainbow eucalyptus reveals its colors by peeling
Strips of outer bark fall away to expose fresh green tissue. As that exposed surface ages, its color changes, leaving neighboring patches at different stages.…
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Scientists sailed to Sandy Island and found deep ocean
In 2012, a research team checked a South Pacific island shown on several maps and online services. Their ship found water where the land was supposed to be,…
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The tsunami that surged 1,700 feet uphill
A 1958 rockslide plunged into Alaska’s Lituya Bay and shoved water 1,700 feet up the mountainside—higher than a 150-story building. The confined bay turned…
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Yucatan peninsula hides underwater caves
When the Yucatán’s limestone bedrock collapsed, it exposed flooded sinkholes called cenotes. Beneath the jungle, those clear pools connect into an underground…
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A honey-production experiment helped unleash Africanized bees
Researchers brought African honeybees to Brazil hoping to breed bees suited to tropical honey production. After queens escaped in 1957, they bred with local…
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A lake released a cloud that suffocated nearby villages
In 1986, carbon dioxide that had accumulated in the deep water of Cameroon's Lake Nyos escaped in a sudden release. The dense gas spread through low ground…
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The world's highest unclimbed peak is in Bhutan
Bhutan bars mountaineering above a certain altitude out of respect for local spiritual beliefs, leaving Gangkhar Puensum the world's highest unclimbed peak.…
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A president born in 1790 had a grandson alive in 2025
John Tyler was 63 when his son Lyon was born; Lyon was 75 when Harrison arrived. Those two late fatherhoods stretched three generations across more than two…
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