World Mysteries

ADVERTISEMENTS ADVERTISEMENTS It’s recently been reported that scientists have managed to create a test to measure how much urine is in a swimming pool. It seems that peeing in the pool has become commonplace, and even high-profile swimmers have admitted to doing it during rigorous training sessions, arguing that the chlorine “kills it”. Not only […]

Meet Squalus clarkae. A member of the pre-existing Squalus genus – famed, rather sadly, for their very slow reproductive rates and low genetic diversity typified by other deepwater sharks – this new critter was found swimming around in the Gulf of Mexico, with its range extending to the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. Discover […]

Cannabis has a well-known range of side effects: a feeling of being chilled out, prone to giggling, more intense colors, time feeling like it slowed down and, of course, the famous “munchies”. A new paper, presented at a recent Florida gathering of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, takes an inventive look at […]

A 2,000-year-old papyrus covered in inscrutable mirrored text has finally been deciphered – more than 500 years after it was first brought to the University of Basel’s esteemed library for study by Renaissance scholars. Discover more: Mysterious Ancient Greek Papyrus

Scientists have identified human remains as belonging to Russia’s last tsar Nicholas II and his family, dating back a century. Bones thought to belong to the family, including the Tsar, his German-born wife, and some of their five children, were first discovered in 1979. But the authenticity of them had remained in question ever since. […]

Archaeologists have made an astonishing discovery of a 5,500-year-old megalithic tomb in County Meath, Ireland. The discovery was made by an agri-technology company called Devenish in partnership with the University College Dublin (UCD). They had been digging at the site for more than a year, and have now revealed their latest exciting finding in the […]

On his World Cup tour of Russia, explorer Sergey Gordeev visits Siberia to learn about the world’s oldest, largest, and deepest lake – Lake Baikal.

After nearly 20 minutes of nail biting bidding on Wednesday night, Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi, shattered the world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Including fees, the 500 year old rare masterpiece sold for $450.3 million.

What is it that’s so beguiling about this particular portrait? What made it “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world”? Why this painting above all others, let alone all others in the impressive and sizeable oeuvre of literal renaissance […]

The more we learn about great art and its creators, the more mysteries we uncover. Sometimes, these mysteries are more convoluted and salacious than any soap opera on TV.