The Earth does not always announce danger with a smoking volcano, a darkening funnel cloud, or an approaching hurricane. Some threats develop beneath ordinary streets, inside peaceful mountain lakes, or within soil that appears perfectly solid. By the time the landscape visibly changes, the process responsible may already be well underway. Many of these phenomena […]

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Dark fiction is filled with warrior princesses, violent encounters with beasts, gruesome executions, and bodies that refuse to surrender their secrets. Archaeology shows that history can produce stories every bit as unsettling. These remains include a prehistoric shark-attack victim, infants buried in a disused latrine, a religious ascetic encircled by iron, and one “skeleton” assembled […]

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Some historians and researchers argue that humanity is living through an unusually peaceful period. Yet that claim can overlook the many conflicts the world has experienced since 2000. Some of these wars began during the twentieth century but continued to shape the twenty-first. Others erupted more recently and remain unresolved. Together, they have produced mass […]

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If you commit a crime, then you must pay for it. That’s the way the law should work in every situation, so many storytellers hammer it home in their work. Books, movies, TV shows, and video games often craft a suitable comeuppance for each character’s mistakes. Not only does this choice provide satisfying closure for […]

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America’s Interstate Highway System looks almost inevitable today: a vast web of pavement carrying commuters, vacationers, truckers, and billions of dollars in freight. Follow the blue-and-red shields long enough, and the roads seem capable of leading almost anywhere. But this network did not emerge naturally from the landscape. It took decades of federal planning, political […]

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No person today has seen a living woolly mammoth. And unless a big tech company produces a clone, nobody ever will. But extinction did not shut the door on every elusive creature. Once in a while, one pops up and poses for a photograph. Some are huge, like the ghost elephants that survived decades of […]

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Some places seem designed to tempt people. A narrow trail clings to a cliff. A cave disappears into the earth. A ruined monument offers one more staircase to climb. An underground tunnel continues beyond the official route. Everything about them seems to whisper, “Keep going.” Authorities sometimes have other ideas. Around the world, remarkable places […]

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