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Tod Cutler investigates a medieval hack for increasing arrow distance during archery. Using a calibrated crossbow to ensure repeatable test conditions, the experiment examines how removing bindings and altering fletchings impacts the flight performance of arrows compared to standard configurations. Archers Hack Could Have Revealed Archery's BIGGEST LIE!!! | 13:35 Tod's Workshop | 571K subscribers | 504,113 views | April 17, 2026

Ibiza became part of the Islamic world in the year 902, when it was conquered by the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba. Settlement followed rapidly, taking place within little more than a generation, and by the twelfth century the island had developed into a modest but active urban centre within al-Andalus.Positioned along key maritime routes, Ibiza was not an isolated outpost but part of a dynamic network linking Iberia, North Africa, and the wider Mediterranean. This broader context helps explain the striking diversity uncovered in the new study, published in Nature Communications.The research team analysed 13 individuals buried between the tenth...

New examination of artifacts recovered from a tomb discovered in 1927 near the Etruscan site of Bisenzio suggests that luxury materials from the western Mediterranean were traded in the interior of the Italian peninsula, according to a report in La Brújula Verde. Located in central Italy's necropolis of Olmo Bello, the rectangular stone cist contained cremated remains, weapons, and ceramics dated to between 750 and 725 B.C. Andrea Babbi of Italy's Institute of Heritage Science said that one of these artifacts, a bronze brooch, had been wrapped with a thin, ornamental silver wire shaped by a series of grooved rollers....

It was more than it was Kraken-ed up to be. An octopus the size of the Hollywood Sign might seem like a monster from Greek mythology. However, new fossil evidence reveals that massive “kraken”-like cephalopods ruled the seas during the Cretaceous period, possibly preying on massive sea reptiles and other so-called apex predators, per a study published Thursday in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This massive mollusk “had among the largest body sizes of all organisms in the Cretaceous oceans,” wrote the researchers, who hailed from Hokkaido University. Indeed, at 62-feet-long, this colossal octopus could grow up...

According to a Greek Reporter article, a collection of Bronze Age jewelry was discovered in northern Germany during the construction of a wind farm. The cache was lifted with surrounding soil from the site for excavation under laboratory conditions by researchers from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation. The 3,000-year-old neck collars, arm spirals, sheet metal ornaments, and disc pins are thought to have belonged to at least three women. One necklace was made with more than 150 amber beads. The valuable deposit, which is known as the Ahlum Hoard, is thought to have been buried by local...

On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, exploded—a combination of poor reactor design and serious mismanagement had caused the worst nuclear disaster in human history. Fast forward 40 years, and things have changed. While the horrific death, illness, and environmental degradation caused by the meltdown will never be completely forgotten, the area surrounding Chernobyl has come to provide a rare scientific opportunity. Today, it is a living laboratory for scientists exploring questions (many of them genetic) regarding long-term exposure to high levels of radiation. Frogs, for example, have adapted darker skin colors to protect against radiation....

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker was quietly investigated by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly pursuing an “inappropriate relationship” with a staffer — but the probe never substantiated the claims and was closed without releasing any public findings. Rep. Alma Adams, a 79-year-old North Carolina pol who has served the state’s 12th District comprising Charlotte since 2014, was slapped with the ethics complaint in 2022 for getting “extremely close” to her aide Sandra Brown, NOTUS first reported. Aides who spoke with ethics investigators were questioned about Brown’s visits to Adams at a one-bedroom apartment in DC — and her self-published...

WASHINGTON — Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei hasn’t released an audio or video message since assuming power because his face was badly burned in Israeli airstrikes on Feb, 28, according to a report — as President Trump says peace talks are inhibited by a lack of clear leadership in Tehran. Khamenei, 56, “does not want to appear vulnerable or sound weak,” four Iranian officials told the New York Times, adding that one of the ayatollah’s legs has been “operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic,” while he also has had surgery on one of his hands. “His...

According to a statement released by the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies, genetic material from Streptococcus pyogenes, the bacterium that causes throat infections, scarlet fever, and toxic shock syndrome, has been detected in a 700-year-old tooth in the collection of Bolivia's National Museum of Archaeology. It had been previously thought that the bacterium arrived in South America with Europeans. "We weren't looking for this pathogen specifically," said Frank Maizner of the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies. The tooth came from the skull of a young man who lived between A.D. 1100 and 1450 in the arid Bolivian highlands....

The Finance Ministry said Tuesday it will issue commemorative ¥1,000 [US$6.25] coins marking the 100th anniversary of the 1926 start of the Showa Era. The coins will be priced at ¥34,800 [US$218] apiece. The obverse design features a Shinkansen bullet train, Tokyo Tower and expressways in color, symbolizing postwar reconstruction and rapid economic growth. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms and doves. A total of 40,000 coins will be issued. Japan Mint will accept applications for about three weeks starting Aug. 20. This marks the first coin honoring a Japanese era since silver coins were issued in 2018 to...

Ilhan Omar is claiming the $30 million “error” on her congressional financial disclosures was a simple mistake — but lawmakers aren’t buying it. They point to the Democratic firebrand and her current husband’s curious history of making money conveniently appear and disappear when it suits them, at least on paper. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Omar could be hit with felony charges if she is found to have lied about the cash. Minnesota Rep. Omar’s financial disclosures for 2024, filed last year, initially valued her husband Tim Mynett’s businesses at between $6 million and $30 million. This...

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been funded by big name businesses and philanthropists including George Soros, JPMorgan, ex-Apple CEO Tim Cook and George Clooney. The group — indicted Tuesday for allegedly funneling millions to the hate groups it says it is ideologically against — also holds over $786 million in assets, yet still solicits donations. In fact, it took in $106 million in donated cash 2024, according to its latest available financial disclosures, yet still ran “urgent” appeals for “emergency” cash. Over the years, donations have been made by big name donors, many of whom pledged to the...

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is facing a fresh ethics complaint urging the Justice Department to investigate whether he leveraged his position in Congress to promote a startup business he was running on the side with his chief of staff. The complaint comes as Swalwell has also been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct in recent weeks, allegations he has denied despite conceding he has made poor choices in his past with women. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative ethics watchdog, filed a complaint Wednesday calling on the Justice Department's Office of Congressional Conduct to...

On April 26, 1986, Soviet engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were conducting a safety test. Doomed by a fatal design flaw and pushed to the limit by human negligence, reactor 4 exploded amid an attempted shutdown during a routine procedure, setting off a chain of events that ultimately released radioactive material hundreds of times greater than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima... While science has allowed us to understand the circumstances of the explosion itself, it has taken much more work to uncover the layers of mismanagement, negligence and misinformation that resulted in human suffering, ecological...

With all the excitement over sending scientists back to the moon, it’s easy to forget we’ve already got a pair of talented chemists on Mars: the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. Although they beam back plenty of breathtaking images, these two robots are more than just cameras on wheels. Their primary mission is to search for signs of ancient life, and they’re equipped with a suite of onboard scientific instruments and chemical reagents to carry that mission out. Now, new research published in Nature Communications details Curiosity’s latest find—never-before-seen organic compounds, including one with a structure similar to DNA precursors. “We...

The excavation of the Via Alessandrina, along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, continues. We can look together at some stunning results in April 2026 as the dig has arrived at the pavement level of the Forum of Augustus. It's an exciting moment, and Darius walks you through the newly revealed monuments. Excavating the Forum of Augustus: Under Via Alessandrina | 8:43 Darius Arya Digs | 37.5K subscribers | 2,892 views | April 22, 2026

President Trump is replacing his Secretary of the Navy as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues as a key chokepoint in the war against Iran. John Phelan is leaving, effective immediately, and Undersecretary Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy, the Pentagon said Wednesday in a surprise announcement. No reason was given for his departure. “Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.” Cao, a Navy veteran and failed Virginia Senate candidate, is well-liked by the president. The...

In 1846, a third of the District of Columbia was stolen by Virginia to appease slaveholders. It is time to right that wrong and return to the borders laid down by George Washington himself. The One-Way Ratchet The Constitution gave Congress a one-way ratchet: the power to create a permanent seat of government by accepting cessions from states. Once that ratchet clicked forward in 1790, it was locked. The Constitution provides no mechanism to pull it back. Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to "exercise exclusive Legislation" over a district "not exceeding ten Miles square" that becomes "the...

A NASA nuclear scientist died after a fiery crash in a rural Alabama town last year, which at the time caused suspicion among family members. Joshua LeBlanc, 29, died in a fiery crash in his Tesla on July 22, 2025. The crash happened in Huntsville, Alabama where his Tesla was found burned beyond recognition at about 2:45 in the afternoon, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency told Fox News Digital. The vehicle collided with a guardrail, then several trees, before the vehicle burst into flames. At 4:32 a.m. on the same day, LeBlanc's family reported him missing, according to KLFY. He...

In this year of America’s 250th anniversary, archaeologists and college students recently discovered artifacts dating back to the American Revolution — including one infamous 18th-century robbery. The dig took place in Newtown, Pennsylvania, some 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia, as local outlet WFMZ reported. Students from Bucks County Community College worked alongside employees from the Mercer Museum during the excavation. **SNIP** The gang, many of whom were part of the Doan family, robbed the Bucks County treasury of a large sum — 1,200 silver Spanish dollars and 400 silver French crowns, as well as other cash. “The robbery began at...