From outsmarting the self check-out to providing options for patients with communication disorders, merging mind with machine could be the next frontier for humanity. How close are we to controlling machines with our minds?
5 Smart News Apps to Help You Avoid Fake News With More Trustworthy Reports
By Mihir Patkar, Make Use Of, 16 July 2019.
The internet has turned anyone and everyone into a news reporter. This has led to a rise in fake news, and the availability of more news than you need. Not everyone can be an expert on how to spot fake news. And sometimes you don’t even know what you should be reading.
One solution is the use of reliable journalists, passionate communities, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Here are a few developers and their smart apps that have made the news simple again.
1. Listle: Listen to News Articles Read Aloud
You can’t read the news while you’re driving, so Listle (Android, iOS) is here to fix that. Enjoy text articles turned into short audio pieces by real humans and not AI.
Listle curates articles from top sources like CNN, Vox, The Guardian, and others. Browse through the headlines, along with the audio file’s runtime and the genre or category. You can start listening to the article immediately or add it to your playlist. Try some of the pre-made playlists too. The “read-aloud” news is perfect when you’re driving or suffering a crowded commute with your headphones on.
Apart from the articles already shown in Listle, you can also convert any text article into an audio file. Copy-paste the link to the article and the app will use its AI to create an audio file. You can convert one link per day in the free account, and listen to three total articles. If you like the experience, buy the premium account.
OwlFactor (Web) is trying its hardest to battle the scourge of fake news and bad reportage on the internet. After releasing CivikOwl, one of the smartest apps to simplify important news, it has now launched a mini website for all your news needs.
Elon Musk once said news articles should be rated for accuracy and biases. OwlFactor picked up this idea. Here, you can set your political leaning, find under-reported topics or those with the most coverage, and choose a grade for the article. These grades are based on several factors like quality of sources, opinionated tone, author and outlet credibility, etc.
Once put together, OwlFactor can become your favorite news aggregator because of how it makes you think about which news you want to read. Topics and articles are easy to browse, and you can even sign up for a daily newsletter with the most credible stories. Use the iPhone version now, but Android users will have to use the website until the app is released.
3. Credder: Trustworthiness as Rated by Other Journalists
In the age of fake news and easy propaganda, trustworthiness is key. A group of frustrated consumers created Credder (Web) to address this problem, by asking journalists to rate the trustworthiness of every article, author, and news outlet.
In function, the website is for news like what Rotten Tomatoes is for movies. Credder has its own list of critics, who are journalists and other reputed individuals. The critics’ reaction to an article (which you can see through their attached tweets) determines its trustworthiness on a scale of 1 to 100.
If an article isn’t rated, it displays the author’s or outlet’s Credder rating. You can check out the leaderboard for author and outlet trustworthiness. After registering, you can also submit articles to be rated by critics.
Through this system, you can use Credder as an aggregator for the news. Along with a standard news website design, the main page has categories for world news, U.S. news, politics, business, tech, media, science, and culture.
4. Medius News: Neutral News From Reputed Publications
Andrew Ghobrial was tired of news that was less about information and more about opinion, which is a growing trend in today’s media. So he decided to do something about it and built Medius News (Web) to track neutral, information-based news in one place.
This news aggregator uses Ad Fontes Media’s Media Bias chart, which assigns a rating to all major news publications based on original reporting and how factual it is. The chart shows which news reporters focus on analysis and opinion more than just information, as well as those with clear propaganda or misleading data.
By focusing on original fact-based reporting, Medius News is for those who want news as information, and prefer making up their own minds about what they think about it and how they feel. Right now, the site delivers general news, business, sports, and health, with nine articles in each section, updated regularly.
5. Trimmed News: News Summaries in Stories Format
Trimmed News (Android, iOS) is using artificial intelligence to tackle multiple problems with the news today. The aim is to build a news-reading app for today’s youth, in a format that is more appealing to mobile users who like snack-sized news bites.
With any news item, the AI tracks reportage about it from multiple sources, such as Reuters, The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, etc. The AI then analyzes and summarizes the article to give you only the information you need.
The new article is presented in the format of a social media story, i.e. using short slides that you swipe to read. It’s actually pretty fun and I found myself enjoying this style of reading news more than a regular article. There are also features like group chat and submitting your news, but forget about those and just use the app to read the news.
One of the culprits in the rise of fake news is Google. In its quest to be a neutral platform for discovering websites, the search engine and its Google News off-shoot aren’t running fact-checks. And shady publishers have figured out how to game the system and trick Google into pushing their name higher in the results.
Even with some recent changes to tackle the scourge of fake news and earn some credibility, Google has not yet figured out a foolproof plan to tackle the problem. Hopefully, the above apps should help you move away to a better source of news. If not, try these other Google News alternatives to get your news fix.
10 Weird And Wonderful Libraries
By Geanie Roake, Listverse, 20 July 2019.
Think libraries are boring?
Well, think again. Today’s libraries are a delightful combination of old school and high tech. Of course, libraries will always have great books waiting to be plucked from the shelves, but at many locations, you can also find free Internet, downloadable media, 3-D printing, and more.
Unfortunately, there are some parts of the world with no libraries at all. These people have little access to books, and you can forget about high-tech add-ons. So, what to do if you’re a bibliophile who lives in Burundi or on the plains of Mongolia?
To solve this problem, people had to think outside the box and some of their solutions will knock your socks off!
10. Books By Elephant
Some of the biggest library heroes are really big. Elephants are known for their size, memory, and excellent circus stunts, but who knew they could also be librarians? In the mountainous regions of Omkoi, Thailand, there are no schools or libraries and many people cannot read or write. The Books-by-Elephant program hopes to change that.
Many of these remote villages can only be reached by foot. In the rainy season, even that is difficult - but not for elephants. In Thailand, elephants are already used in rice paddy fields and the logging industry. It just took a little imagination to see that they could also carry books.
With specially built frames on their backs, these ponderous public servants can carry huge boxes of books along with video equipment and satellite dishes - whatever it takes to teach people to read.
There are currently 20 elephants involved in the program. Each team is made up of two elephants, their trainers, and at least two teachers. These groups cover different areas and are able to reach out to more villagers every year.
Eccentric artist Raul Lemesoff created this particular weapon to battle ignorance and spread knowledge through the streets of Buenos Aires. His tank look-alike is made from a remodeled 1979 Ford Falcon.
The realistic-looking gun barrel and rotating turret ensure that people sit up and take notice wherever he goes. That’s fine with Lemesoff. The bigger the crowd, the more free books he can hand out. His only request: Read it, and pass it on.
His friends say he is one of those great crazy people that society needs. A poet, inventor, and artist, Lemesoff likes to combine these skills whenever possible. When he first started work on his weapon of mass instruction, no one was sure what he was making. Was it a spaceship or submarine, or was he just fixing his car? The end result was a delightful surprise.
With room for 900 books, Lemesoff can supply lots of readers, but his prime target is young people. He believes a young reader will be a lifelong reader. “I don’t do this for money or fame,” he said. “I do it because it’s fun. I attack people with knowledge but in a nice and funny way.”
When Lemesoff’s weapon of mass instruction rolls into view, the shocked and ultimately smiling faces make his day. “The weapon of mass instruction is a peace tank,” he said, “a symbol of protest against real weapons of mass destruction.”
“Bibliomu-u-u-u-las,” the kids shout as their four-legged library approaches. The mules snort and stamp. But while they can be a little cranky, they seem to enjoy their job of spreading the love of reading.
Donkeys have always been used as pack animals, but now they have a special job - bringing books to the mountainous regions of Venezuela. Sponsored by the University of Momboy, an institution known for its community service, the biblioburros have changed the lives of countless villagers. These people reside in the Andes Mountains, and the climb to their homes is rugged.
The journey starts in the Valley of Momboy in Trujillo where the mules are loaded with books. For the next two hours, dedicated volunteers scramble up rutted paths in the sweltering sun.
Photojournalist James Ingham said, “These are just the foothills of the Andes, but they are high enough, especially when you’re walking.”
According to the volunteers, the delighted faces of the children make it all worthwhile. In addition to bringing books to people, the university would like to provide Internet service. Their goal of installing wireless modems under the banana trees may sound far-fetched, but at one time so did biblioburros.
The Levinski library is located near the Tel Aviv central bus station in a community populated by refugees and migrant workers. Many of these people are not legal citizens, but the love of reading transcends the complexities of social status.
This is a simple library - no walls, just two shelves built against the side of a public shelter. Yet it is a place of learning and security, a designated safe house where no one is allowed to interrogate or intimidate.
The collection of 3,500 books comes in 15 languages from Mandarin Chinese and Amharic to Romanian. This outdoor facility is fitted with a canopy that swings out to protect books from the elements. There is a tall shelf for adults and a special reading area for children with panels that fold down to sit on. The facility is also lighted so that people stopping by after a hard day’s work can browse in the evenings.
The most unusual thing about this library is the filing system. Don’t look for the Dewey Decimal System here. These books are filed by the emotions they evoke in their readers.
Each book contains a file card where the reader notes his feelings about the book. Although one person may think it’s a nail-biter, the next reader may find it reassuring or inspiring. It’s a unique approach, but library patrons think the notes make each book more interesting.
Librarians at the Levinski project say it’s important for people to have a place to come and escape the hard realities of their lives. And as we all know, a good book is the perfect getaway vehicle.
Have you ever been to a Human Library? Here you can check out living books. These books are interesting people with stories to share. Readers check them out for 30-minute time periods, and that’s when the magic happens. At a Human Library, you can chat with people from all walks of life. Think former stripper, LGBTQ activist, or a journalist who was forced to flee his country.
The Living Books festival originated in Denmark in 1993. Due to a large number of immigrants, the social structure had changed and the old and new members of the community were not getting along. The first Human Library was aimed at giving people a chance to get to know each other, to sit down as neighbors, and break down barriers. It was a great success, and the concept of the Human Library has caught on.
“This type of library gives people a chance to talk with someone they wouldn’t ordinarily meet,” said the Imam of an Islamic society. “When you bring people from opposite ends of the social and political spectrum together in a nonjudgmental setting, a lot of good can come of it.”
Human Library events are usually sponsored by library systems and community outreach programs. The whole idea is to get people talking and - most importantly - listening to each other.
The motto of the Human Library? Don’t judge a book by its cover.
It’s 3:00 AM, and you can’t sleep. If only you had a good book to read. With library vending machines, you can hop into the car no matter what time it is and go check out a book. Similar to Red Box DVD dispensers, these self-service libraries are gaining in popularity. While they provide reading material to populations who can’t afford a regular library, they serve the public in other ways as well.
Vending libraries are popping up in high-traffic areas like park-and-ride lots, hospitals, and shopping malls. They’re also on busy street corners. Got a long layover at the airport? Get a book from the vending machine. Too time-crunched to stop at a regular library? Check out a title in the grocery store parking lot.
There are positives and negatives to this new technology. On the downside, vending machines have small collections and must be monitored carefully to make sure they are always full. Also, some people predict that downloadable options will make vending libraries obsolete.
On the positive side, vending libraries are much cheaper than brick-and-mortar sites. They are mobile and can service remote populations. Many also provide Wi-Fi hot spots.
The first year after Contra Costa, California, rolled out their book vending devices, library circulation increased by 8 percent, which translates to 600,000 books. Bottom line for now, vending libraries get more books to more people.
It was the year 2000 when Hernando “Nanie” Guanlao’s parents died. He wanted to honor them and soon realized the most cherished thing they had given him was his love of reading. As a legacy to his parents, he vowed to pass that love along to others in his community. So he started a library.
At that time, he had about 100 books in his home and wondered how he might share these with his less fortunate neighbors. To begin, he set his books outside with a sign indicating that they were for public use. He had no idea how people would react. Would the books be stolen? Would people even notice his fledgling library?
They did.
The books quickly disappeared and soon reappeared, along with donations of more books. Since then, his collection has multiplied. Guanlao now has 2,000–3,000 books and has become a middleman of sorts, donating books to other needy libraries when his collection grows too large.
In this library, there are no memberships, no due dates, and no late fees. If you can’t part with a particular book, you can keep it. The Reading Club 2000 currently offers everything from magazines and romance novels to philosophy books. Every day, a steady stream of people go home with a new book.
If you’ve ever dropped your book in the bathtub, you know books and water don’t mix. But there is one exception. A book boat called the Epos traverses the rocky fjords of Norway, bringing light and learning during the dark Scandinavian winter.
The Epos is a 24-meter (80 ft) cutter that has been refurbished to hold 6,000 books along with a kitchen and living quarters for the crew. The book boat operates from September through April and makes two runs each year. During this time, it visits 150 coastal hamlets which are difficult to reach by traditional methods.
Norwegian winters are brutal, with dark days and howling blizzards. When the storms become too harsh, the book boat must hide out in a safe harbor. But this is a rare occurrence as there is great disappointment when the book boat fails to arrive. One of the requirements for the crew is immunity to seasickness.
The book boat keeps to a strict schedule. They arrive at a set time and stay for two hours at each location during which they receive up to 150 visitors. According to librarian Joep Aarts, the most eager borrowers are children and elderly people. Along with people’s selections, the book boat leaves a large package of books for people to enjoy until the next visit.
The Norwegian government wants library services to be free of charge and available to everyone. The Epos makes that possible.
“The walls of this reading room are made of mountains covered with forest, the roof is blue sky, the floor is a flower-covered steppe, and the reading light bulb is the Sun,” said Jambyn Dashdondog, the proprietor of the Camelback Library in Mongolia.
Over the course of 20 years, he covered 80,000 kilometers (50,000 mi) through rain and blistering sun. His employees were his wife and son, and transportation consisted of camels, oxcarts, and a cherished van.
In the early 1900s, the Mongolian government broke away from communism and subsequently lost funding for their libraries. Dealing in books and literature was not a profitable business, and in the new free-market economy, private investors were scarce.
An award-winning author himself, Dashdondog hated the idea of a society with no libraries. He decided if there was no place for children to get books, he would take books to the children.
When the library camel visited an area, Dashdondog would stay for a few days so that villagers had time to read their selections. Then everything was packed up and moved to the next outdoor reading room where children anxiously awaited his arrival.
The camelback library and Dashdondog’s other literacy efforts were funded through the sale of his books and poems, some of which have been made into movies and songs. Sadly, Dashdondog passed away in 2017. He’ll not soon be forgotten, especially by the children.
Do you love libraries? Now you can have one of your own just like 75,000 other people in 88 countries across the world. The popularity of this stripped-down version of Andrew Carnegie’s grand idea is growing by leaps and bounds.
Many tiny libraries are just for fun and manned by book lovers who want to share their love of literature. Others serve a vital purpose in inner-city neighborhoods and far-flung outposts.
When Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, saw a mini library in Portland, Oregon, in 2009, he decided to build one of his own. Modeled after a schoolhouse, the container was filled with books and placed on his front lawn as a tribute to his late mother. He went on to place several more around the city, and before long, the Little Free Library program was born.
Today, when people register their micro libraries at his website, they are included on the map of tiny libraries throughout the world. Also available are step-by-step instructions on how to operate your library. If you’re not a construction whiz, you can even buy premade boxes complete with Little Free Library signs.
If you’d rather strike out on your own, go for it. All you need to do is fill your box with books, set it in a public place, and begin sharing the love of reading with the rest of the world.
Top image: Little Free Library. Credit: kwhitt/Pixabay.
Seen the Seven Wonders of Old? Meet Their Younger Siblings!
By Kashyap Vyas, Interesting Engineering, 17 July 2019.
Civil engineering has continued to astound and intrigue people through the ages. With recent technological advancements, we see a sharp increase in architectural marvels, including breathtaking bridges and previously-unfathomable buildings around the world.
The accomplishments of creative civil engineers can be seen all throughout human history. The Seven Wonders of the World have captivated people of all kinds for centuries.
Let’s check out some of the engineering marvels of the modern world that have not failed to capture the minds and hearts of humanity, while upholding and pushing forward all that we knew civil engineers could do!
Famously known as the Leaning Tower of Abu-Dhabi, this skyscraper holds the title ‘World’s furthest leaning man-made tower’ in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Capital Gate building is 160 meters tall and has 35 stories, but the major highlight is that the tower leans at an impressive 18 degrees to the west, which is four times more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Construction of this civil engineering marvel was started in 2007 and took five years to complete. Beyond being a unique tourist attraction, the tower has 16,000 square meters of usable office space as well and hosts the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center.
Structurally, the foundation of this building has a dense mesh of reinforced steel, 490 pilings dug 30 meters into the ground, and the building sits on top of a 7-foot deep concrete base. The core of the building uses a special design to counter the immense force created by the leaning angle of the building.
The central core basically slants to the direction opposite to that of the lean, and it straightens out towards the top. Furthermore, the structure has a unique funnel shape that, together with the central core, can handle the lean.
Because of the innovative funnel shape, each of the hotel rooms in the building is different in size and shape, and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows let the hotel guests enjoy the spectacular view from their individual rooms.
2. Laerdal Tunnel
Smooth-flowing and speedy transport arteries are a must in modern society to keep up with the pace of economic growth and development in urban areas, and the need for creativity in road construction has never been greater. In this sense, western Norway was poorly connected to the rest of the country via its narrow roads that were originally designed for the simple purpose of navigating fjords and mountain crossings, especially during the harsh winters.
When the government decided to improve the overall connectivity to western Norway to ensure shorter, safer, and cheaper journey routes for businesses, constructing futuristic tunnels became a hip and ergonomic answer to a common problem.
Under this initiative, the 24.5-kilometer tunnel road connecting Aurland and Laerdal was constructed as the world’s largest current road tunnel and is now considered a civil engineering marvel for many of its extraordinary features. Laerdal Tunnel was constructed over a period of 5 years between 1995 and 2000, at the cost of 1.1 billion Euros and has become a major trading route with over 1000 vehicles crossing through the tunnel on a daily basis.
The excavation aspect of this build was a major challenge for civil engineers. They shouldered the added burden of considering the fact that long and monotonous driving along a stretch like this can cause 'highway hypnosis,' wherein the driver tends to fall asleep and represents a major cause for accidents.
To avoid this phenomenon, and to keep drivers engaged during their 20-minute journey through this tunnel, Laerdal boasts special design features, such as small bends and gentle curves. It also divides easily into four sections called ‘mountain caves’ wherein each section is equipped with eye-catching lighting.
This amazing piece of civil engineering connects Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark to Malmö, a city in Sweden. In this 16 km stretch, there is an 8km cable-stayed bridge, which transitions into a tunnel at an artificial island named Paberholm, and this tunnel continues for another 4km.
This double-track railway and roadway is a result of the collaboration between both of the neighboring states and is jointly operated by them. Travelers must pay a standard toll in order to enjoy a jaunt across this bridge.
When utilizing this remarkable bridge, the train journey between Copenhagen and Malmö takes only 35 minutes.
The bridge has two 204-meter-tall pylons supporting the 490-meter bridge across the Flinte Channel. While the bridge structures were built on land and towed to their resident locations by large floating cranes, the pylons were built ‘in-situ.’
The intersecting point between the bridge and tunnel is a human-made island constructed entirely from the material dredged from the seabed, and the tunnel opens up on the other end at the artificial peninsula, Kastrup. The dredged trench was created to make space for the tunnel, and it was built using concrete elements cast into the land.
Another interesting feature about this bridge is that it was built with consideration for the flora and fauna of the island and with an effort toward minimizing any disturbance to their natural existence. The island has become a gold-mine for biologists since it serves as a breeding ground for some 500 species of birds and is also host to a rare breed of green toad.
4. The Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is one of the most stellar examples of the importance of civil engineering in achieving scientific progress. In our fundamental quest to explain reality scientifically, we have broken down matter to the most granular level and, ironically, effectively studying the smallest of the particles that constitute matter requires one gigantic tool.
The structure is built around 100 meters underground near Geneva, and this scientific instrument is gargantuan enough to span between both Switzerland and France. The tunnel that houses the instrument is 27km in circumference and weighs about 50,000 tons, equivalent to six times the weight of the Eiffel tower.
5. Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is an undersea tunnel of 50.5 kilometers that links the UK with France.
This is simultaneously one of the world's most impressive and pragmatic civil engineering feats as the Channel Tunnel links Britain and France via train under the ocean across the English Channel. The Channel Tunnel was a massive project that was taken up by five major construction companies from France and the UK.
In addition to the engineering manpower, a total of five banks worked together to fund the undertaking.
6. Delta Works
Delta Works is another mammoth project that demonstrates the skills and ingenuity of the engineers who worked on it. It is a group of dams, storm barriers, sluices, levees, dikes and locks that protect all the low-lying areas of the Netherlands.
These areas that are below the sea level need considerable protection from inundation. Delta Works protects these regions from the sea and is a project that is both amazing to behold as well as timely due to the ever-rising concerns of global warming.
Finally, the Panama Canal is a feat of structural brilliance that must be mentioned because of its sheer gumption. This canal joins the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, cutting short the distance between New York and San Francisco by almost 4000 miles.
This civil engineering project was concluded in 1914 and is still considered to be one of the best engineering projects in history. The Panama Canal has significantly eased the journey of ships between New York and San Francisco, making trade and travel possible at a level that never could have been thought of before.
Initially, ships had to go around Cape Horn and travel 12,000 miles over a period of 67 days to reach San Francisco.
In summation, these modern examples of the adroit and applicable genius of civil engineers serve as daily reminders of the necessity and artistry of the human minds populating that field. Whether you are looking up in awe at a skyscraper in Dubai or enjoying the view from a suspension bridge in Greenville, South Carolina, civil engineering exists at the heart of some of the world's most incredible human accomplishments.
More than 300 million people around the world suffer from asthma, and around 250,000 people die from it each year. But why do people get asthma, and how can this disease be deadly? In this video by TED-Ed, Christopher E. Gaw describes the main symptoms and treatments of asthma.
The Strange Places People Keep Finding Dead Bodies
By Christopher Stephens, Toptenz, 17 July 2019.
Many places around the world are eerily distinguished by the presence of dead bodies laid to rest, or sometimes, unrest for one reason or another. In this list, we profile the spots where the bodies are in abundance - sometimes in the strangest places, and sometimes for the strangest reasons.
10. El Conchalito Beach (Baja California Sur, Mexico)
El Conchalito Beach is not just any beach. This beach of the dead makes waves against the idea that beaches are fresh, airy, non-spooky places thanks to its abundance of painted skeletons. Deposited by indigenous tribe members, the skeletons were not only placed in the sand but later unearthed and painted red, ceremonially. Watch your sunbathing and sand walking plans! Ancient indigenous cultures in the area of El Conchalito Beach, located along La Paz Bay in Baja California Sur in peninsular western Mexico, offer archeologists a fascinating series of complex insights into ancient cultural practices in a type of landscape more often associated with vacations than grisly finds of human remains. Here, skeletons from cultural groups dating back 3,000 years are found.
A total of 57 bodies were found at El Conchalito Beach, consisting of 23 adult males, 15 adult females, seven adults who were not identifiable by gender, three youths of various ages, and eight children. 30 of these deceased people were classified as representing primary burials (buried for the first time), while others had been disturbed in what are known as secondary burials. Perhaps most disturbing was the variety of ways in which bodies were arranged. Some were bent into an L-shape, others stretched out full length, some flexed, and most unsettling, others dismembered and buried in sectional pieces. Decorations placed with the dead included palm fronds, seashell mounds and shark teeth.
9. The Skeletons of Hurricane Sandy
Bodies were discovered entangled with the roots of a large tree some time after Hurricane Sandy struck, but these were not remains arising from hurricane fatalities. The bones dated back to 18th century burials. The landscape setting was the town of New Haven, Connecticut, a place soon to reveal ancient and gruesome secrets thanks to the falling of the huge Lincoln Oak when Hurricane Sandy felled the tree, bringing to light an ancient skeleton, with more to come shortly. Soon after Halloween in 2012, resident Katie Carbo notified the police when she saw a skeleton tangled in the roots of the collapsed oak tree. The mouth was open, and the ribs and spinal column remained attached.
The tree had grown through the remains, revealing them in modern times. Upon investigation, yet more bodies were discovered, enmeshed in the tree roots. Also of interest, a historic time capsule was found, having been placed in the spot in 1909. Archeological assessment indicated that the time capsule placement would have previously disturbed the bodies due to their proximity. The total number of bodies in the roots of the Lincoln Oak came to seven individuals, including the adult male that had surprised finder Katie Carbo, as well as another adult and children, one of whom had been laid to rest with a toy marble. Some remains were complete skeletons, while others had been reduced to fragments.
8. Mexico’s Ancient Human Sacrifice Pool
Yucatan, Mexico is home to the Chichen Itza archeological site, close to which lie a series of cenote pools. One of these pools is a historic site worthy of notoriety, Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote), known locally as Chen Ku. The site is of importance in studying Mayan history given its exceptionally eerie past. Human sacrifices were performed here in this deep pool, resulting in an abundance of skeletons being present for modern visitors to discover. Skulls, bones, you name it - they are all here. The few survivors who got past being thrown into the pools would have been recognized as divine beings in their communities.
A surprising twist in the story is the mysterious blue ink that was part of the ritual, coloring the pool an azure shade to this very day. Pleasing Chac, the rain god responsible for life sustenance and agricultural success, was the reason for the human sacrifices, who were tossed into the cenote. The pool of water is surrounded by sheer circular walls, which make unaided escape exceptionally challenging (if not impossible) in normal circumstances. As modern exploration increases in capability, more ancient secrets have been revealed. Now, at least 50 warrior remains have been discovered buried in the bottom of the cenote.
7. Mount Everest
Mount Everest is famous as the Earth’s highest land peak, but it is also something of a macabre vertical graveyard. Approximately 5,000 people have climbed the mountain, with a significant number of explorers, totaling around 300, failing to return. Numerous human bodies have been left on the mountain, entombed in the harsh conditions that cause ice to accumulate on the slopes. However, climatic changes are accelerating rates of ice melt in a de-glaciation process. Thus, extremely gruesome finds are now being revealed by the recession of ice.
Arms, legs, heads, and entire bodies are becoming exposed to the elements and easily found by current explorers. The challenge of removing the bodies has previously been such that attempts to recover remains and take them off the mountain just meant there might be more bodies left on the slopes at the end of the mission. Instead of the world’s tallest land peak being an ethereal destination, it is more of a somber “graveyard in the clouds,” as the BBC has dubbed the great mountain. Many of the bodies have turned up at Khumbu Icefall, a place so dangerous that 16 people were killed in one ice fall incident in 2014. Certain bodies on Everest have become famous as macabre makeshift trail markers, known by the gear they wore.
6. Antarctica
Antarctica, the frozen continent, is not just a remote wilderness destination. It is also a natural morgue, a storehouse of frozen bodies of explorers who failed to survive the harsh and changing elements of the Antarctic ice-scape. Antarctic conditions have claimed many lives, not just from exposure to the cold but also from entrapment, starvation and the risk of falling into crevasses, some hundreds of feet in depth and concealed by snow. As in many extreme environments, a significant portion of the bodies of those deceased in Antarctica have been left behind.
Furthermore, the shifting nature of the icy Antarctic landscape means that bodies often end up far from where they originated. Such is the case of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who attempted to be the first to get to the South Pole in 1912. They reached their destination, but had been beaten by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The bodies of Scott and two explorers were found (left behind, but later moved with the ice), while two others were never found. Mysterious Antarctic body discoveries include that of the 175-year-old remains of a young woman of Indigenous Chilean origin on Livingston Island. As with Everest, climatic changes and shifting ice should reveal many more bodies in the years to come.
5. The Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is home to one of Europe’s most chilling ancient boneyards, thanks to a strange twist in church history that created a bizarre spectacle, the likes of which exist nowhere else in the world. The Sedlec Ossuary contains the skeletons of between 40,000 to 70,00 individuals, collecting skeletons since being constructed in the 1400s. People desiring the honor of burial in the church’s cemetery wanted to be laid here to rest given the historic scattering of soil from the tomb of the Grave of the Lord in Jerusalem in the 13th century by Abbot Henry, the Abbot of the Sedlec Monastery.
Once over 30,000 people had been placed onsite, room began to run scarce, prompting remains to be placed into a crypt. The year 1870 saw local woodcarver Frantisek Rint hired to turn the massive collection of bones into artwork, which he did. An intricate range of displays are present, made of the bones of the deceased, including the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family and even a chandelier made entirely from dead people’s bones. While the church is quite small, the array of bones and the artwork fashioned out of them remain a grand attraction to visitors looking for a darker experience of travel in Europe.
4. The Detroit Funeral Home Bodies
Two funeral homes in Detroit became the center of a disturbing scandal when the remains of infants were found stashed on premises for multiple years. Initially, the Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit was forced to close down on account of its terrible operational conditions. Six months after the shuttering, the building was found to contain the remains of no less than 11 infants, all gruesomely stashed in the ceiling. Clearly, cutting corners with body disposal in bizarre ways does not pay.
As if that grotesque find was not enough, the Perry Funeral Home in Detroit became the next epicenter of funeral home misconduct in the area, also leading to a slew of bodies being found. Just one week after the Cantrell scandal, the remains of 63 infants and fetuses were found stuffed away, some in boxes and others placed in freezers. A number of the bodies were from infants deceased since 2015, resulting from improper disposal and failure to create proper records, as noted by the Detroit Police Department and inspectors from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. This resulted in Perry Funeral Home being shut down as well.
3. Joshua Tree National Monument Discoveries
Joshua Tree National Monument falls within the Mohave Desert and is located in Southern California. Known for its bizarre ancient drought-resisting trees, the site is also a place where bodies have been found with uncanny frequency. The same is true for the surrounding arid landscape of the Mohave lying outside the monument. A variety of reasons for the continual discoveries of bodies in the desert around the monument (as well as those found within) has included accidental deaths as well as those resulting from criminal activity.
Dumping bodies in the desert has become the modus operandi for certain criminals, while those unprepared for travel in the desert are tempting fate should they become disoriented in the hot and bleak landscape. The number of people who end up missing on public land in the United States is a matter of growing concern, but the distinguishing characteristic of Joshua Tree National Monument is the number of times that bodies of missing people have resurfaced. The shifting sands means that bodies concealed may once again be visible. Despite many bone pile discoveries, one man was lucky enough to be found close to death, thanks to the vultures that were circling him as he lay against a rock.
2. The US-Mexico Border Bodies
Much talk has occurred regarding illegal immigration between the United States and Mexico, but a stark reality of the situation is the sheer number of dead bodies being discovered in the border regions. The effort made by those undertaking illegal immigration attempts poses a significant threat to personal safety given the harshness of climatic conditions, numerous wilderness related natural hazards, and rampant violence associated with illegal activity in the area. Brooks County, Texas is one of the worst hotspots for discoveries of human bodies, often those of people who died from exposure. This one area is responsible for around 33% of all bodies found in Texas since 2009.
Ranch owners patrolling expansive grasslands at the border between Texas and Mexico have been particularly shocked by the finds of skeletons in the dirt, having failed to survive the crossing. Brooks County may be a hotspot, but the problem of border crossing deaths extends all across the Southern United States where the Mexican border is met. Between 1998 and 2018, there were 7,505 deaths recorded along the border, according to U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, with 2,773 turning up along the border between 2011 and 2018, including 1,641 being found in Texas.
1. Roopkund Lake, Nandi Devi National Park
India is not all tropics and jungle. The north of India contains many frozen heights, including Nanda Devi, India’s second highest mountain, located in the state of Uttarakhand and forming part of the Garhwal Himalayas. Nanda Devi National Park commemorates this 25,643-foot peak and also contains the mysterious and eerie Roopkund Lake. In this nearly permanently frozen Indian lake that thaws out for a just a month each summer, a British forest guard patrolling in 1942 made a strange find: human remains, reduced to skeletons, situated in the lake and at the edges. By summer, a significantly higher number of skeletons materialized. Some of the skeletons were floating, while more washed up on shore. Eventually, the total number of skeletons found grew to around 300.
Yet more unsettling were the findings that some of the skeletons still bore a degree of flesh. However, these skeletons were not those of the recently deceased. National Geographic team members recovered 30 skeletons and worked with geneticists from the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology at Hyderabad, finding around 70% of the skeletons were of Iranian relation, the remainder being of locally associated Indian descent. In an intersection of archeology, forensic analysis, and meteorology, injuries on the bodies (including damage to heads as well as shoulders) were found to indicate a lethal hailstorm as the cause of the mass mortality.
Top image: Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic. Credit: Dsch67/Wikimedia Commons.
