Why is this? It’s partly because any time these people in uniform show up with their foreboding demeanor and guns raised, the aftermath is never pretty. While that might be the case, what do you expect? After all, the military is tasked with defending the nation’s interests and policies, sometimes involving war. But the military does more than that. They often do a lot of good that goes unnoticed. So we’re going to shed light on some of the best things the military has done....

This fictional figure is one of the most famous symbols of Christmas, especially for children. They believe he is watching their behavior all year. They leave out milk and cookies for him on Christmas Eve in hopes that once he has completed his visit, everything they have asked for will be wrapped and waiting under the tree for them come Christmas morning. While children are led to believe that they must stay off the naughty list to ensure they receive presents during the Christmas season, what happens when Old Saint Nick himself veers off course and finds himself on the wrong side of Christmas?...

With technology consistently getting better at answering these questions and more, however, we’re gradually getting closer to experiencing history precisely as the people living in those times did. Here are ten times we were able to recreate the past with the help of good old science. 10 Ancient Greek Face We tend to assume that people in various parts of the world have always looked pretty much the same throughout history, though that’s not really true....

10The Okapi’s Bizarre Tongue The Okapi, native to remote African forests, resembles a horse with zebra stripes, but this elusive animal is actually a close relative of the giraffe. It’s usually found at elevations greater than 500 meters (1,640 ft), where its oily fur helps it stay dry in the constant drizzle. The tongue of the okapi is prehensile and shaped like a tube, and it measures an impressive 30–36 centimeters (12–14 in)....

10 The Great Depression The Three Stooges rose to fame during the Great Depression, some of the darkest years in US history. As the country and the world were falling deeper into despair, the Stooges forced a smile in the hopeless with their dim-witted antics, their relating to the common man, and their refusal to give up in the face of economic adversity. A recurring theme in the acts of the Stooges was that of anti-aristocracy and anti-wealth, which was popular in Depression-era films of the time....

Even more interesting, these mass disappearance events are on record going back hundreds or thousands of years. What’s more, they continue today. In the age of the Internet and “eyes” everywhere, perhaps the mystery of such disappearances will soon be solved. Until then, however, the morbid intrigue and theories about these bizarre events will continue. 10 The Anjikuni Lake Incident1930 While seeking somewhere to rest for the night in November 1930, fur trapper Joe Labelle came across an Inuit settlement near Anjikuni Lake in Nunavut, Canada....

One such man who slipped through the cracks was Keith Jesperson, a Canadian-born man who would eventually become a serial killer. Jesperson killed in the early to mid-1990s, the final days of the golden age of the serial killer, though neither his name nor even his moniker, the Happy Face Killer, ever gained much traction. Here are ten twisted, unbelievable facts about Keith Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer. 10 Troubled Childhood Like all too many other serial killers in this world, as well as people who suffer from a variety of other behavioral and lifestyle problems, Keith Jesperson had it rough as a kid growing up....

Competitive eating, as it is known, has grown in recent years and has spread across the globe. There are contests for almost any food imaginable—and some things that shouldn’t be considered food. Here are ten of the weirdest, grossest, and frankly most dangerous eating contests. 10 Garlic Garlic munching may be a stereotypical French habit, but the World Garlic Eating Contest is held in the little English village of Chideock, which is also home to a garlic farm....

Ninety percent of those who join undertake this task with all the seriousness you’d expect. The remaining 10 percent, on the other hand, seem to use it as an excuse to raise hell. Sometimes, that raising hell leads to serious consequences. 10 Abducting And Beating A Pregnant WomanItaly The Pentagon maintains roughly 800 US military installations abroad. Of those, the biggest in Europe are in Germany and Italy. But while Germans tend to be fairly neutral about the US military presence in their country, the same can’t be said of Italians....

Note: While correlations can sometimes point future scientific study in the right direction, it’s always important to remember that correlation does not imply causation. In some of the entries below, studies have so far only discovered correlations or possible links, not direct causes. 10Flipping Solar Poles And Space Exploration Cycle 24, our current solar cycle, has been unexpectedly quiet. According to NASA, one big event has been the switch of the Sun’s magnetic poles....

Venice is completely surrounded by water. People use boats as the main form of transport as the city is made up of many small islands. Everywhere you look, there are breathtaking buildings. But you have to look closer to uncover the ancient secrets that are etched into the walls and foundations of the floating city. Venice is notorious for its masked balls and elegant parades but less known for the mysteries, legends, and inexplicable events that have taken place there....

Like some of us learned in Chemistry class, fat is supposed to be more healthy the more liquid it is, therefore it’s commonly believed that all vegetable oils are healthy. And hey, they’re from plants, too! So this sounds about right. It is actually a general rule that the fat is more healthy the more liquid it is, since the “healthy” double bonds in the unsaturated (or good, if you will) kind of fat will decrease the melting point....

10 Polyandry The counterpoint to polygyny is polyandry, wherein a single woman is married to multiple men. This system has historically been extremely rare. Polyandry is practiced in the modern world in a few isolated villages on the Tibetan plateau. For those cultures, polyandry has served as a way to keep family property together in regions with limited amounts of arable land and high birth rates. It’s a form of family planning....

Social, religious, and cultural norms often decide how individuals are placed, whether they have burial goods, and what they are buried in (e.g., stone tombs or wooden coffins). Even with all the different burials that have been found in the archaeological record, there are still some ancient burials that are unique and eye-catching. 10 Infant-Encircled Tomb In Pachacamac, a site near modern-day Lima, Peru, a tomb was found containing roughly 80 individuals buried around AD 1000....

We have quite a few touching animal stories this week. There’s talk of a hero pit bull, an elusive black leopard, and the adorable pairing of a beagle and a possum. Then there’s also the oldest-known wild bird in the world which became a mom for the 30-something time. 10 Happy Little Impersonators Texas students organized a Bob Ross flash mob to pay homage to the late art instructor and television host....

We have a few inspiring animal tales this week involving a unicorn sheep, good news about the rising population of kakapo, and a dog rescue in the middle of the ocean. There are also stories that praise human tenacity, such as saving someone’s life on top of Everest or running an entire marathon in heels. Lastly, we look at some of the positive stories to come out of the fire that ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral....

This week, we have two stories about awesome grandmas. There are also a few heartwarming tales about children fighting to overcome adversities and the people in their lives who are helping them to achieve their goals. 10 One Good Deed Deserves Another After receiving an electric bike as a gift from various veterans organizations, a former soldier set off on a 64-kilometer (40 mi) ride to help raise money for her benefactors....

In video games, some secrets are just ordinary, while others are creepy. These creepy video game secrets will leave you wishing you never embarked on the adventure to find them in the first place. These are ten video game secrets we wish we never found. 10 The Forgotten Crypt: World of Warcraft World of Warcraft is a video game with great diversity regarding its locations. This is why we are quite surprised and terrified that the Forgotten Crypt would be in this game....

It turns out, some aspects of our modern life found their start in Egypt. 10Mathematics The Egyptians were remarkable at mathematics. The earliest records of geometry come from Egypt, as their geometry specialists were called “arpedonapti.” The arpedonapti used ropes to calculate the area of lands, eventually passing this knowledge to Greece. Watch this video on YouTube Egyptians also worked out efficient ways of performing multiplication and division. While we have various ways to perform such calculations, Egyptians used a more computation-friendly method that involved doubling numbers, a technique we still use in modern-day computing....

However, it is not always the scientists who inspire nerd culture to provide the elements to create wonderful worlds of fantasy. Sometimes, the influence travels in the opposite direction and inspires scientists to examine fictional worlds to understand our own natural world. Regardless of the direction from which ideas flow, an incredible symbiotic relationship exists between both spheres. 10 Moving Atoms In September 1989, IBM physicist Don Eigler managed to arrange 35 Xenon atoms to spell out “IBM....