October 10, 2011

Today is Christopher Columbus Day, an annual celebration of Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas. For many centuries, Columbus was viewed as a great explorer. More recently, that reputation has come under attack. Was Christopher Columbus a hero? Or was he a villain? Was Christopher Columbus a Hero? Christopher Columbus landed somewhere in the Bahamas…

October 6, 2011

The Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman, is a mysterious cryptid said to live in the Himalaya Mountains. It’s widely considered a mythological creature. But not all scientists agree. And now, some of them are launching an expedition to search for the Yeti. So, is the Yeti a legend? Or could this new expedition possibly bear…

September 22, 2011

In Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg and his valet Passepartout attempt to circle the Earth in eighty days in order to win a £20,000 wager. Now, thanks to modern technology, you can accomplish the same trip…in the span of just one minute. Around the World in 80…

September 10, 2011

In 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin departed England on a voyage to pass through the last unexplored part of the Northwest Passage. He never returned. What happened to the lost Franklin Expedition? The Disappearance of the Franklin Expedition? By 1845, large portions of the Canadian Arctic had been explored. The last remaining section covered about…

August 25, 2011

In 1271, Marco Polo set sail for Asia, beginning a remarkable 24-year, 15,000 mile journey that led him all the way to China’s Mongol court. Scholars consider him one of history’s greatest explorers. But new evidence suggests otherwise. Was Marco Polo a conman? The Travels of Marco Polo In 1269 or 1270, Marco Polo’s father…

August 14, 2011

Although constructed around 1450, the spectacular city of Machu Picchu remained unknown to the outside world until it was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. But did he really discover Machu Picchu? Or did someone else beat him to it? Hiram Bingham’s Expedition to Machu Picchu Situated almost 8,000 feet above sea level, Machu Picchu towers over…

August 8, 2011

In 1897, Salomon August Andrée concocted a daring plan to become the first man to reach the North Pole. Along with two other men, he climbed into a giant hydrogen balloon and set sail from Sweden. But unfortunately, they never reached their destination. What happened to the lost SA Andree expedition? The SA Andree Arctic Balloon…

July 31, 2011

In 1997, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected a strange noise in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. After several repeated incidents, the sound vanished, never to be heard again. What did the bloop sound like? And what was behind the strange noise? What was the Bloop? The Bloop was a…