Scientists have filmed for first time: A monkey trying to mate with a deer VIDEO

Photo: sciencealert

It might be time for monkeys to have an intervention with themselves, because trying to mate with an unenthusiastic, non-monkey bystander is never a good look.

And while the attempted coupling is nowhere near as violent as when that Antarctic fur seal sexually harassed king penguins before eating them alive, it’s so awkward, we just want to hand that monkey a tissue and run away.

Filmed by French scientists in the dense cedar forest of Japan’s Yakushima Island, the bizarre behaviour involves a low-ranking Japanese macaque attempting to mount two female Sika deer before sliding off in disgrace.

As The Guardian reports, this is only the second recorded example of sexual relations between these two distantly related species.

At one point in the footage below, the monkey appears to have mounted a deer and ejaculated on its back, before deciding to casually pick at itself under a nearby tree.

The deer licks away the evidence with such nonchalance, you can’t help but wonder if it’s all too familiar with the situation:

Later on in the footage, we see the monkey chasing off two other monkeys that got too close to the deer, because no one’s going to get in the way of him and his unwilling sex partner

So what exactly is going on here?

The researchers who caught the behaviour on film, led by Marie Pelé from the University of Strasbourg in France, suspect that a hormonal surge prompted the monkey to seek out the Sika deer.

Being of such low social status in his local monkey troop - the researchers refer to him as a "peripheral" male, meaning he’s only been permitted to occupy the fringe of the social circle - he probably couldn’t get a female monkey to mate with him if he tried.

"It would be interesting to continue to observe these Japanese macaque male groups in Yakushima as this species is known to display cultural behaviours and social learning," team member Sueur Cédric told New Scientist.

"As a consequence of not having access to females, these peripheral males could socially learn to have sexual interaction with Sika deer in order to decrease their sexual frustration."

The fact that the deer barely react to the behaviour suggests that either they’re used to the peripheral monkeys trying to mate with them, or that the behaviour is similar to some more 'innocent' interactions between the two species.

"It could be a manifestation of the known play behaviour between Japanese macaques and the deer they are known to sometimes ride," Pelé said.

The good news that while the monkey might have successful relieved some tension thanks to the whole affair, it wasn’t a total loss for the deer.

"[T]he licking behaviour shown by the deer seems to indicate that the sperm could be a good source of protein," the team reports.

Good job, nature. Good job.

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• The relationship between animals and their offspring: Ten extraordinary images
• It was first recorded the first conversation between two dolphins
• Giant Ape Lived Alongside Humans !

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Sciencealert. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Henry VIII: One of the most controversial figures in European history (Explosive anger, headaches, insomnia, memory problems, inability to control impulses, and even impotence)

Henry, c. 1531 photo: wikipedia

Updated 12/05/2020

He is one of the most controversial figures in European history, best remembered for executing two of his six wives and for breaking away from the Catholic Church in what became known as the Reformation. Now, a new study concluding that Henry VIII suffered brain damage caused by a jousting injury offers the strongest explanation of his erratic behaviour “short of miraculously finding his preserved brain in jar,” its lead author has claimed.

Henry VIII (1491-1547) - HistoryExtra

According to a team of US researchers led by Dr Arash Salardini, behavioural neurologist and co-director of the Yale Memory Clinic, the Tudor monarch may have suffered repeated traumatic brain injuries similar to those experienced by American Football players. This, researchers claim, would explain Henry’s explosive anger, headaches, insomnia, memory problems, inability to control impulses, and even impotence.

Published by Yale Memory Clinic, a memory and cognitive clinic at Yale School of Medicine, the study claims that “Henry suffered from many symptoms which can unambiguously be attributed to traumatic brain injury”.

Arash Salardini Yale School of Medicine - Yale University

In an interview with History Extra, Dr Salardini said: “I thought [Henry] was a man with personality disorder, possibly narcissistic with sociopathic tendencies who had some form of mood disorder later on his life and took it out on his subjects. That is not what I ended up finding.”

Dr Salardini said the researchers went into the study with an open mind, originally writing it as a case report exploring the probability of the various diseases that Henry might have suffered. However, Salardini and his team were surprised to find that “the picture was so consistent with the sequel of chronic concussion, intellectual honesty would dictate writing about traumatic brain injury in Henry.”

Taking a neurological, rather than a historical, approach, the researchers “gathered data about the patient and localised most of the symptoms to the frontosubcortical circuitry neural pathways that affect memory, organisation and behavioural control]and the pituitary the gland that controls hormones”.


From this “an anatomical and pathologically consistent medical timeline emerged which I think should be the strongest evidence in support of the concussion, short of miraculously finding [Henry VIII’s] preserved brain in a jar”, said Salardini.

King Henry VIII in a procession on his way to a tournament clad in armour and riding a horse, 1511. He is accompanied by courtiers who are holding the flaps of a tent so that the king can be seen. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the paper, researchers dismissed a number of theories that have been previously been put forward to explain Henry’s changed behaviour from 1536, after which time it is argued that Henry “became cruel, petty and tyrannical”. These include diabetes, hypothyroidism and psychosis – none of which, researchers claim, “can account for the whole picture”.

Instead the paper argues that “traumatic brain injury could have caused diffuse axonal injury a common brain injury in which the wires that connect the cells in the brain become damaged which led to a change in the psychological makeup of Henry, and traumatic brain injury may have contributed to his other medical issues by causing pituitary dysfunction and endocrinopathies (hormone problems).”

Did the "Dogs Lick Henry's Blood" After His Funeral?

The paper explains: “We know of at least three major head injuries in Henry’s life. He may have had headaches and more subtle changes to his personality after his first head injury [in March 1524, when the king was unseated after a jousting lance entered his open visor], but there is a marked stepwise change in him after 1536. It is entirely plausible, though perhaps not provable, that repeated traumatic brain injury lead to changes in Henry’s personality.”

The team examined Henry’s memory problems, headaches, insomnia and lack of impulse control. Of his memory problems, researchers said: “In July 1536, Henry’s son and possible heir Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, died of tuberculosis. He was buried in near-secret in the presence of his father-in-law the Duke of Norfolk, and two other personages, by the king’s own instructions. Yet in a few days Henry appears to have forgotten his own role in the funeral and was accusing the Duke of Norfolk of inappropriate behaviour towards FitzRoy.

Was Henry FitzRoy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, murdered? Spartacus Educational

“There is another illustrative episode which occurred in 1546: the king loved religious debates and during one acrimonious argument between Catherine Parr and [bishop and statesman] Stephen Gardiner he unreasonably ordered the transportation of the queen to the Tower of London. The next day Henry appears to have forgotten about the incident and was consoling his distraught wife. When the soldiers arrived to take her away, he could not remember the original orders he had given and had to be prompted to remember the episode. When he remembered he flew into another fit of rage.”

Armour for field and tournament of King Henry VIII, 1540 (metal), possibly intended for the May Day tournament, 15 May 1540. Decorated by Giovanni di Maiano or Francis Quelblaunce; based on designs by Hans Holbein the Younger. (Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK / Bridgeman Images)

Turning to Henry’s behaviour, the researchers claim: “The irascibility and changeability of Henry was a source of constant anxiety for Tudor courtiers. Several ambassadors noted the unpredictability of Henry, who was often furious for reasons not immediately obvious to his ministers and advisers.” Henry was also “known to suffer from bouts of ‘mal d’esprit’ or depression with ‘self-pity and more than traces of gloom’”, the paper says.

Discussing Henry’s possible impotence, the researchers cite “rumours which apparently originated with Anne Boleyn and her brother according to Chapuys, the imperial ambassador for the Holy Roman Empire. Anne and George Boleyn were accused of ridiculing the king. Anne appears to have told her sister-in-law that Henry ‘was not adept in the matter of coupling with a woman and that he had neither vertu (skill) nor puissance (vigour)’”.

Anne Boleyn - Wikipedia

A Death Warrant from King Henry VIII Stephen Liddell

The paper also draws on “the inability of Henry to consummate his marriage to Anne of Cleves in 1540. Various excuses were made from ‘misliking of her body for the hanging of her breast and the looseness of her flesh’, to the charge that the king was duped by an unnecessarily complimentary portrait of Anne.” Impotence and weight gain, Dr Salardini told History Extra, “also fit with a growth hormone and sex hormone deficiency which is a known, but less common, manifestation of traumatic brain injury.”

In our interview with Salardini we asked how Henry VIII’s brain injury would be treated were he alive today. “The best treatment for traumatic brain injury is prevention, so wearing helmets was as important then as it is now,” he said. “It was advisable for the king, who seemed particularly accident-prone, to choose a more gentle sport.  

“Secondly, early management of mood regulation appears to be a useful intervention. If St John's wort was available in Henry's time then I would put him on a gram per day. He would also need to take up the Mediterranean diet of his enemies and have complex carbohydrates, monounsaturates and low-fat diet.

“Our knowledge has come a long way since the 16th century, but much of the therapeutics that we have today could have probably be reproduced back then.”


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• Last words of King Richard III “This day I will die as a king or win” 10 facts you need to know about the battle of Bosworth

• William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066

• 1013: The year when the vikings invaded and conquered England

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Historyextra. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Human Appendix could have an important biological function and evolution of human

Updated 12/05/2020

Normally, the appendix sits in the lower right abdomen. The function of the appendix is unknown. One theory is that the appendix acts as a storehouse for good bacteria, “rebooting” the digestive system after diarrheal illnesses. Other experts believe the appendix is just a useless remnant from our evolutionary past

Illustration - Acute appendicitis, 3D illustration of human body with inflammed appendix and light micrograph, photo under microscope

One of the first things you learn about evolution in school is that the human body has a number of 
'vestigial' parts - appendix, wisdom teeth, tailbone - that gradually fell out of use as we adapted to more advanced lifestyles than our primitive ancestors.

But while our wisdom teeth are definitely causing us more pain than good right now, the human appendix could be more than just a ticking time bomb sitting in your abdomen. A new study says it could actually serve an important biological function - and one that humans aren’t ready to give up.

Researchers from Midwestern University traced the appearance, disappearance, and reemergence of the appendix in several mammal lineages over the past 11 million years, to figure out how many times it was cut and bought back due to evolutionary pressures. 

Arteries of cecum and appendix (appendix labeled as vermiform process at lower right) photo: wikipedia

They found that the organ has evolved at least 29 times - possibly as many as 41 times - throughout mammalian evolution, and has only been lost a maximum of 12 times.

"This statistically strong evidence that the appearance of the appendix is significantly more probable than its loss suggests a selective value for this structure," the team reports.

"Thus, we can confidently reject the hypothesis that the appendix is a vestigial structure with little adaptive value or function among mammals."

Appendicitis - 3D scene - Mozaik Digital Learning mozaWeb

If the appendix has been making multiple comebacks in humans and other mammals across millions of years, what exactly is it good for?


Conventional wisdom states that the human appendix is the shrunken remnant of an organ that once played an important role in a remote ancestor of humans millions of years ago.

The reason it still exists - and occasionally has to be removed due to potentially fatal inflammation and rupturing - is that it’s too 'evolutionarily expensive' to get rid of altogether. There's little evolutionary pressure to lose such a significant part of the body.

Cecal Appendix Magnificatio

In other words, the amount of effort it would take for the human species to gradually lose the appendix though thousands of years of evolution is just not worth it, because in the majority of people, it just sits there not hurting anyone.

But what if it's doing more than just sitting there?

For years now, researchers have been searching for a possible function of the human appendix, and the leading hypothesis is that it’s a haven for 'good' intestinal bacteria that help us keep certain infections at bay.

One of the best pieces of evidence we’ve had for this suggestion is a 2012 study, which found that individuals without an appendix were four times more likely to have a recurrence of Clostridium difficile colitis - a bacterial infection that causes diarrhoea, fever, nausea, and abdominal pain.

A possible function of the human appendix is a "safe house" for beneficial bacteria in the recovery from diarrhea. photo: wikipedia

As Scientific American explains, recurrence in individuals with their appendix intact occurred in 11 percent of cases reported at the Winthrop-University Hospital in New York, while recurrence in individuals without their appendix occurred in 48 percent of cases.

Now the Midwestern University team has taken a different approach to arrive at the same conclusion.

First they gathered data on the presence or absence of the appendix and other gastrointestinal and environmental traits across 533 mammal species over the past 11,244 million years.

Onto each genetic tree for these various lineages, they traced how the appendix evolved through years of evolution, and found that once the organ appeared, it was almost never lost.

"The appendix has evolved independently in several mammal lineages, over 30 separate times, and almost never disappears from a lineage once it has appeared," the team explains in a press statement.

"This suggests that the appendix likely serves an adaptive purpose."

Microscope Picture Human Appendix Stock Photo Shutterstock

Next, the researchers considered various ecological factors - the species' social behaviours, diet, habitat, and local climate - to figure out what that "adaptive purpose" could be.

They found that species that had retained or regained an appendix had higher average concentrations of lymphoid (immune) tissue in the cecum - a small pouch connected to the junction of the small and large intestines.

This suggests that the appendix could play an important role in a species' immune system, particularly as lymphatic tissue is known to stimulate the growth of certain types of beneficial gut bacteria.

"While these links between the appendix and cecal factors have been suggested before, this is the first time they have been statistically validated," the team concludes in their paper.

"The association between appendix presence and lymphoid tissue provides support for the immune hypothesis of appendix evolution."

photo: medicinenet.com

The study is far from conclusive, but offers a different perspective on the hypothesis that humans have been keeping the appendix around for its immune support this whole time.

The challenge now is to prove it, which is easier said than done, seeing as most people who have had their appendix removed don't suffer from any adverse long-term effects.

But it could be that when people get their appendix removed, immune cell-producing tissues in the cecum and elsewhere in the body step up to compensate for the loss.

One thing's for sure in all of this - while we're probably not going to regain our tails, it's too soon to write off the appendix just yet.

Other articles on the same theme:

• 6 major disadvantages of human evolution and devolution of Man

• A new organ was discovered in the human body

• A medicine that promises to treat Alzheimer has been tested on humans

• Angus Barbieri the man who survived without food for 382 days

• Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2016

• Homo galacticus colonization and how human body will be affected

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Sciencealert . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

About Berserkers and Wolfskins: The elite troops of Viking warriors and other Scandinavian myths

Updated today: 03/06/2021

Berserkers were a special group of elite Viking warriors who went into combat without traditional armor. Instead, they wore animal pelts, typically from bears or wolves. The word "berserker" derives from the Old Norse "serkr," meaning "coat" or "shirt," and "ber," the Norse word for "bear." ranker

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There were few established military institutions in Scandinavia at the start of the viking Age, about 800, but a number of such organisations gradually developed as society came increasingly under the rule of a single king. The foremost institution was the retinue, a brotherhood of warriors serving a common master. It developed to become the main source of power for the medieval kings and evolved into a noble elite in the Middle Ages.

Wallpaper Viking, armor, Berserker  GoodFon

But there was a more sinister brotherhood of warriors in Scandinavia that could not find any place in the post-heathen world of Christianity. Instead it only survived in the realm of the sagas, the art and the folklore, often becoming shield-biting demons of war and symbols of evildoing. 

Wallpaper Viking, armor, Berserker  GoodFon

But behind the myth and the shroud of history, the sources reveal the existence of men thriving on the border between life and death, fuelled by war and distinguished by their ecstatic battle fury.

Updated 09/05/2020 

The description of ‘Berserkers’ and ‘wolfskins’ in the sources is on the boundary between fantasy and reality, and it is difficult for us today to imagine that such people can have ever existed, possessed of incontrollable destructive power. 

Úlfhéðnar NORSKK

But they did. The berserkers and the wolfskins (also known as ‘heathen wolves’) were a special group of very skilled and dangerous warriors associated with the God Odin.

A 16th-century depiction of Norse gods by Olaus Magnus: from left to right, Frigg, Thor, and Odin photo: wikipedia

Coveted warriors

If there were elite troops such as berserkers and wolfskins available on the battlefield, they were put in the front of the phalanx a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry to resist the main weight of an attack, or at the front when launching an attack. But berserker troops could be a double-edged sword, as they were difficult to control in a battle and were often ill-suited to formation warfare. 

Instead, they seem to prefer to operate in smaller groups, attacking independently. 

Olav Haraldsson  (St Olav) put the berserkers in front of his own phalanx at the battle of Stiklestad in the year 1030, but instead of holding the line they attacked and thereby contributed to the king’s downfall.

This marginal illumination from the Saga of Saint Olaf shows his death at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Viking warriors looked to the God Odin to give them aggression and courage in battle, but the berserkers took this a step further. According to the sources they could rout an outnumbering force, and when they attacked they howled like mad dogs or wolves. It was said that neither iron nor fire could injure them, and they didn’t know pain. After a battle they were as weak as infants, totally spent both physically and psychologically.

Norse God, Odin Viking art Norse mythology Vikings Pinterest

It is difficult to find any clear difference between a berserker and a wolfskin. Sometimes they appear to be the same, under the general description of berserker, and at other times they are portrayed as two different types of warrior. In some contexts, the wolfskins are even more closely connected with the Odin cult than the berserkers seem to be.

Brotherhood of war

Originally berserkers developed their own brotherhood of professional warriors who travelled round and took service with different chiefs. What distinguished them was that they had bears and wolves as totem animals, and clad themselves in their skins. Irrespective of whether it was a bear or a wolf, the warriors believed they were endowed with the spirit of the animal. Designs showing warriors clad in what could be bearskins occur, among other places, on the Torslund plates from Öland, thought to date from the seventh century.

photo: Ubisoft

In the Fornalder sagas (‘Sagas of Earlier Times’) and in several other sagas, the king’s or the chieftain’s guard is described as made up of berserkers, usually 12 in number. The berserkers often comprised an elite troop in addition to the guard or the army in general. In sea battles they were usually stationed at the prow, to take the leading point of an attack. In the battle of Hafrsfjord, c872, they appear as shock troops for Harald Hårfagre (Finehair), in groups of 12.

The berserkers are spoken of as fearsome enemies to meet. They were often said to be so intoxicated by battle-lust that they bit their shields, attacked boulders and trees and even killed each other while they were waiting for battles to begin. A set of chessmen from the 12th century found on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Hebrides includes a chess piece of a warrior biting his shield.

Rampaging Vikings were fuelled by herbal tea The Times

The title of berserker is thought sometimes to have been inherited from father to son, and there are known examples of entire families of berserkers. One such family known from the sagas is Egil Skallagrimson. Egil’s father, Skallagrim (‘ugly skull’), and his grandfather Kveldulv  (‘nightwolf’) were also berserkers.


The concept of ‘berserk’ also turns up independently of ‘berserker’. The idea of ‘going berserk’ could apply to more than just the members of a warrior brotherhood. Harald Hardråde (Hardruler) “ex berserk” at the 1066 battle of Stamford Bridge, for example. 

Harald Hardrada - The Free Social Encyclopedia Alchetron

The expression is also used in relation to warriors who are not thought to have been wearing any distinctive uniform of animal skins. Olav Haraldsson’s berserkers, who wrecked the battle of Stiklestad for him, are an example of this.

Olav Haraldsson Pinterest

King Harold II, the Saxon king of Britain, beholds the body of his rebellious brother Tostig, whom he has just defeated at the battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The earliest sources

The earliest written sources of what might be berserkers are found in Roman writings from the first century AD. In his book Germania, the historian Tacitus describes correspondingly fantastic elite warriors among the German tribes in northern Europe. In the sixth century, the East Roman historian Prokopios wrote of “the wild and lawless heruli” from the north, describing how they went almost naked into battle, clad only in loincloths – this was to show disdain for their wounds. They wore neither helmet nor coat of mail, and used only a light shield to protect themselves. The people who were described as ‘heruli’ probably had their origin on Sjæland or Fyn in today’s Denmark, but they can also be traced to other parts of Scandinavia, including Norway.

Hymn for St Olav My Albion

The heruli are said to have had a kingdom on Fyn. This may have survived until into the sixth century, but more of them had previously been driven out of Scandinavia by the Danes. The heruli often took service as warrior bands in the Roman army. They appeared in the same way as the berserkers, in small groups in the service of chieftains or kings, and there is a possibility that the origins of the berserkers may be found among the mysterious heruli.

The berserkers are often mentioned in sagas, skaldic poems [composed at the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking and Middle Ages] and other literature from the Middle Ages. In the sagas, which were written in a Christian context, the memory of these warriors has been extended to become a label for those who stand out from the norms of society: thugs and freebooters, pirates and so on. In the earliest Icelandic compendium of law, Grågås, it is said that a raging berserker can either be bound or condemned to exile.


“Wolf-heathens”


The oldest known written source about berserkers is Haraldskvadet, a 9th-century skaldic poem honouring King Harald, attributed to the skaldic poet Torbjørn Hornklove. Writing about the battle of Hafrsfjord [date unknown], he writes: “Berserkers roared where the battle raged, wolf-heathens howled and iron weapons trembled”.

Battle of Hafrsfjord. (World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

In Grette’s Saga it is said of the warriors in that same battle: “… such berserkers as were called wolf-heathens; they had wolf-coverings as mail… and iron didn’t bite them; one of them… started roaring and bit the edge of his shield… and growled viciously”.

In the Volsung Saga, describing events in the sixth century, it is said that the berserkers were in Odin’s lifeguard and that they “went without armour, were as mad as dogs and wolves, they bit their shields, were as strong as bears or oxen, they killed everybody, and neither fire nor iron bit them; this is called going berserk”.

The descriptions in the sagas of violent men and killers cannot all be linked to the berserkers, however. Distinctions are made, for example, between ‘berserkers’ and ‘warriors,’ and between ‘normal’ killers and men who fought duels. And the Old Norse saga texts never call the berserkers mad or insane. They regard the berserkers as something more than just socially problematic and unusually aggressive. The sagas distinguish them from other men by ascribing to them a particular ‘nature’ that made one both scornful and fearful of them at the same time.


The mushroom theory

In 1784 a priest named Ödmann started a theory that ‘going berserk’ was the result of eating fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria). 

Amanita muscaria - Wikipedia

That explanation gradually became more popular, and remains so today. Ödmann based his hypothesis on reports about Siberian shamans, but it is important to note that he had no personal observations of the effects of eating this type of mushroom.

White agaric has also been suggested as a cause of the berserk fury, but considering how poisonous this is, it is quite unthinkable that it would be eaten. Eating agaric mushrooms can lead to depression and can make the user apathetic, in addition to its hallucinogenic effects. Berserkers are certainly never described as apathetic!

Poisoning with the fungus Claviceps purpurea has also been suggested – it contains a compound used to synthesise the hallucinogen LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). However, if mushrooms had been so important for the berserkers, they would surely have been mentioned in the sagas, which they are not.


The most probable explanation for ‘going berserk’ comes from psychiatry. The theory is that the groups of warriors, through ritual processes carried out before a battle (such as biting the edges of their shields), went into a self-induced hypnotic trance. In this dissociative state they lost conscious control of their actions, which are then directed subconsciously. People in this state seem remote, have little awareness of their surroundings and have reduced awareness of pain and increased muscle strength. Critical thinking and normal social inhibitions weaken, but the people affected are not unconscious.


Diminished responsibility

This condition of psychomotor automatism possibly resembles what in forensic psychiatry is described as ‘diminished responsibility’. The condition is followed by a major emotional catharsis in the form of tiredness and exhaustion, sometimes followed by sleep. Researchers think that the short-term aim of the trance may have been to achieve an abreaction of strong aggressive, destructive and sadistic impulses in a socially defined role.


The Old Norse social order and religion were able to accommodate this type of behaviour, and it is understandable that the phenomenon disappeared after the introduction of Christianity. A Christian society considered such rituals and actions as demonic and thought that they must have resulted from supernatural influences.

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• The siege of Paris by the Vikings. '' Without these sieges, perhaps another city would become the capital '

• Viking raids in the east: The fight for the riches of Constantinople

• 1013: The year when the vikings invaded and conquered England

• Top 8: Famous Vikings you should know about

• Top 10 Greatest Historical Warriors close to perfection and invincibility.

• Over a millennium ago, the real Ragnar Lodbrok ran a legendary battle that would ensure them a place in history

• The most famous swords in History

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Historyextra . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

The highest monument in the world will be built on an artificial island in India

The 192-metre-tall statue of the warrior king mounted on a war horse wielding a sword photo: indianexpress.com

The construction of the tallest monument in the world started in India. The gigantic statue will represent the Indian national hero Shivaji, who lived and reigned in the eighteenth century.

According to international media, the monument will have a height of 192 meters. It will exceed 76 meters statue of Buddha from Myanmar, considered the highest in the world and will be taller than the Statue of Liberty. The cost of construction was estimated at 530 million dollars.

Portrait of Maratha prince Shivaji with a detailed Dutch caption on the decorated frame image wikipedia

The monument will be built on an artificial island a few kilometers from Mumbai. Even if the statue will be worthy of the Guinness Book of Records, many people have criticized the project. They believe that their country so poor, does not require such expenditures.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Indianexpress . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

2016 WF9 An unidentified object with a width of one kilometer will pass by Earth next month. NASA scientists are confused

2016 WF9 (artist rendition) photo: wikipedia An artist’s rendition of 2016 WF9 as it passes Jupiter’s orbit inbound toward the sun. JPL manages NEOWISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

A mysterious object will fly above the earth in the next month (February 2017). His features are so unusual that researchers at NASA failed to find out what it is, according IFL Science.

The object was named WF9 2016 was observed in NEOWISE project of NASA, on November 27, 2016. Researchers say it may have at least one kilometers wide. Most will approach Earth on February 25, reaching a distance of 51 million kilometers.

Orbit of 2016 WF9 on 25 February 2017, closest approach to Earth photo: wikipedia

The object caused confusion among researchers at NASA, because they do not know whether it is an asteroid or a comet. In general, asteroids are more rocky and metallic, while comets have ice in their composition, their notes IFL Science.


,, 2016 WF9 could be a comet. This article illustrates that the boundary between asteroid and comet is very small, '' James Bauer supports NASA.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by IFL Science . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.