mystery

Stories 161 - 180 | << Prev   Next >>

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
new study
Jul 8, 2014 5:31 PM CDT

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew

Study: Before it was jungle, it was savannah

(Newser) - Some 3,000 years ago, the Bolivian Amazon didn’t look like a jungle at all—it was more like an African savannah. A new study reveals how the ancient landscape took shape, and sheds new light on the mysterious ditches the early Amazonians built there for purposes unknown. The...

Mystery in Centuries-Old Copy of Odyssey Solved

Italian computer engineer claims $1K prize

(Newser) - An Italian computer engineer has produced fresh insight into Homer's The Odyssey—or, more specifically, one long-intriguing copy of it. In 2007, the University of Chicago Library was given a copy of the book dating to 1504. But alongside about 20 of the pages making up Book 11 were...

Historians Closer to Learning Lost Colony&#39;s Fate
Historians Closer to
Learning Lost Colony's Fate
in case you missed it
Dec 14, 2013 5:15 PM CST

Historians Closer to Learning Lost Colony's Fate

Ground-penetrating radar may help solve mystery of Roanoke Island

(Newser) - New research has shed a little more light on one of America's longstanding mysteries: the disappearance of more than 100 colonists on North Carolina's Roanoke Island. The British settlers disappeared in 1590, three years after their arrival. Two hints persisted as to their fates: The word "Croatoan"...

Mystery of Odd Mounds Solved

 Mystery of Odd Mounds Solved 
in case you missed it
Dec 14, 2013 10:04 AM CST

Mystery of Odd Mounds Solved

'Mima mounds' formed by pocket gophers, researchers believe

(Newser) - Since 1841, many have wondered what might have created "Mima mounds," the mysterious (and quite numerous) large, ancient bumps emerging from the ground in Washington state's Mima Prairie. Earthquakes? Floods? Glaciers? Aliens? Nope. Most likely, it was ... gophers. Researchers think they've finally figured it out, LiveScience...

Inside the Internet&#39;s Most Mysterious Puzzle
Inside the Internet's Most Mysterious Puzzle
in case you missed it
Dec 1, 2013 6:00 PM CST

Inside the Internet's Most Mysterious Puzzle

Cicada 3301 is ... well, no one is entirely sure

(Newser) - It's a mystery cloaked in ... mystery. The Telegraph digs into Cicada 3301, but struggles a bit to describe exactly what it is—because no one is really sure. It's a sort of Internet challenge that's pretty unbelievable in its scope, designed to reel in and test the...

Why JFK Conspiracy Theories Don&#39;t Hold Up
 Why JFK Conspiracy 
 Theories Don't Hold Up 
OPINION
Nov 15, 2013 11:36 AM CST

Why JFK Conspiracy Theories Don't Hold Up

Fred Kaplan debunks long-held suspicions of a second shooter

(Newser) - The majority of Americans believe a conspiracy surrounds John F. Kennedy's assassination. Fred Kaplan used to, too—before he debunked the theories. While they offer a bit of fantasy and comfort, the JFK conspiracy theories just don't hold up, Kaplan writes for Slate . First up: Some claimed Lee...

Town Plagued by Mystery Hum
 Town Plagued by Mystery Hum 
in case you missed it
Nov 2, 2013 7:15 AM CDT

Town Plagued by Mystery Hum

Possible culprit: mating fish

(Newser) - "It's a really low pitched sound that literally pulsates through the house." If that sounds like the kind of noise that would drive you crazy, be glad you don't live in Southampton. The British town is collectively pulling out its hair over an unexplained hum that...

Could DNA Finally Explain 98 Reform School Deaths?

Dozens of children died at Florida school between 1914 and 1973

(Newser) - Between 1914 and 1973, a Florida reform school—once the nation's largest—saw 98 deaths, of which 96 were children between ages 6 and 18, researchers have confirmed. But the deaths remain cloaked in mystery, and many of the bodies have never been recovered. Now, researchers at the University...

China Wants US Help With 19-Year-Old Poisoning Mystery

Zhu Ling's poisoning was never solved

(Newser) - An unsolved poisoning case has enthralled China, 19 years after the fact, and now more than 112,000 people have signed a petition asking the White House to investigate and deport a former suspect who is said to have moved to the US. Zhu Ling was a chemistry student at...

UChicago&#39;s Indiana Jones Mystery Solved
 UChicago's 
 Indiana Jones 
 Mystery Solved 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 23, 2012 7:43 AM CST

UChicago's Indiana Jones Mystery Solved

Journal was en route to Italy from Guam

(Newser) - The University of Chicago has cracked its Indiana Jones mystery —and it involves an international route that wouldn't have been out of place in a Jones movie. The copy of Jones mentor Abner Ravenwood's journal that turned up in a weatherbeaten envelope was the misplaced creation of...

Indiana Jones Journal Stumps UChicago

Is it a clue in a game, or something else entirely?

(Newser) - Call this one Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Higher Learning: The latest Jones-themed mystery is taking place not on the silver screen but in the University of Chicago's mail room. Its admissions office's Tumblr explains that late last week a package addressed to "Henry Walton Jones,...

Mystery Disease Kills 61 Children in Cambodia

World Health Organization is investigating

(Newser) - A World Health Organization expert says it's too early to know whether a mixture of known diseases or something new is responsible for the deaths of more than 60 children in Cambodia. The mystery disease has killed 61 of the 62 children hospitalized since April, but there's no...

Mysterious 'Forest Boy' Identified as a Fraud

Robin Van Helsum admits he made it all up

(Newser) - The mysterious "Forest Boy" who showed up in Berlin last year with (so he said) no idea who he was is actually Robin Van Helsum, a 20-year-old from the Netherlands who had been reported missing by his family days before his appearance in Germany. Authorities identified Van Helsum—who...

Civil War Photos: Help Museum Solve Old Mystery

Museum of the Confederacy seeks public's help in identifying photos

(Newser) - The names of the two little girls are an enduring mystery, their images found among crumpled bodies on Civil War battlefields. Each is posed primly on chairs, ringlets cascading past the rouged cheeks of one, the other dressed in a frilly hoop dress. But no one knows their identities of...

Discover New Jersey&#39;s &#39;Bermuda Triangle&#39;


 Discover New Jersey's 
 'Bermuda Triangle' 
in case you missed it
Jun 9, 2012 7:00 AM CDT

Discover New Jersey's 'Bermuda Triangle'

Round Valley Reservoir home to mystery

(Newser) - Conspiracy theorists, rejoice! There is no need to travel all the way to the Florida/Bermuda/Puerto Rico area to dig into a triangular mystery. The Star-Ledger dives into the tale of the mysterious "Bermuda Triangle of New Jersey": the Round Valley Reservoir, whose 2,000 acres come stocked with trout...

Mystery Donor Hiding Envelopes of Cash in Town

Secret philanthropist has given out more than $250K

(Newser) - One man in the small German town of Braunschweig was slipped an envelope filled with cash after he lost thousands of euros in a burglary. Another family, whose son was disabled in an accident, discovered a similar envelope. A hospice worker found yet another white envelope with $13,218 under...

10 Most Nagging Mysteries of 2011
 10 Most Nagging 
 Mysteries of 2011 
year in review
Dec 31, 2011 10:19 AM CST

10 Most Nagging Mysteries of 2011

From murder mysteries to murky maladies

(Newser) - A lot of big news happened in 2011 ... and some of it only half-happened. The Atlantic Wire took a look at the most frustrating unanswered questions of the year, and keeps its fingers crossed that 2012 will bring new details. Highlights from its list of the year's 10 most...

Tourist Finds Human Leg on Florida Beach

Police mystified by cleanly cut limb

(Newser) - A family visiting St. Petersburg, Florida, got a nasty surprise yesterday, when they stumbled upon a severed human leg that had washed ashore on a small beach tucked behind a waterfront neighborhood. The leg was pale, white, and shaven, bent at the knee and cut with eerie cleanness at the...

English-Speaking Teen From Forest Stumps Berlin Cops

'Ray' says he recently buried his father and is all alone

(Newser) - He says he's been living in the forest for years, his parents are gone, and he doesn’t know where he came from. Identified only as “Ray,” a teenage boy arrived in Berlin’s City Hall two weeks ago and remains a mystery to police. On arrival,...

Hubby Found in Widow's Carefully Tended Garden

Police think he died 14 years ago and was secretly buried

(Newser) - On her rundown, dilapidated property, troubled Ruth Huber Bostic for years cared only for her small flower garden, tending to the violets and hosta plants with great care while talking to herself. Now, more than a year after Bostic passed away at the age of 78, police have found the...

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