Rome Crushes Carthage at the Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BCE)

The Roman navy’s decisive victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of the Aegates Islands brought about the end of the decades-long First Punic War. The Carthaginian fleet involved in the battle had come to deliver supplies to besieged forces in Sicily. Overloaded with provisions, the Carthaginian vessels were easily overtaken by the Romans despite winds favoring the former. What bold tactical decision allowed the Romans to overcome this obstacle and defeat the Carthaginians? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Kate Sheppard (1847)

The most prominent member of New Zealand’s suffrage movement, Sheppard helped make her country the first nation to grant women the right to vote. She was also active in the temperance movement, which sought to achieve its goals by promoting woman’s suffrage. Today, Sheppard’s image appears on New Zealand’s 10-pound note, and she is honored in a monument at Christchurch. Immediately after women’s suffrage was granted in 1893, Sheppard embarked on a frantic, 10-week effort to do what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mortsafes

In the early 19th century, a sharp rise in the number of anatomy schools in Scotland was followed by a marked increase in the incidence of grave robbing, which filled the growing need for dissection subjects. Revelations about the practice led to public outrage, and, around 1816, to the invention of mortsafes—heavy, iron contraptions placed over the graves of the newly deceased to deter body snatchers. What was one of the only ways these anatomy schools could obtain cadavers legitimately? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The moon’s formation may have been far more violent than we thought

Our understanding of the moon’s formation is violent enough — but the story of how Earth acquired its satellite may be a tale of even greater destruction, according to a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. In the traditional moon-formation … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Notorious B.I.G. Shot and Killed in Los Angeles (1997)

Seven months after rival rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Christopher Wallace—better known as the Notorious B.I.G.—was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. Although it has been widely speculated that Wallace was shot in retaliation for Shakur’s murder in the culmination of a feud between members of East Coast and West Coast hip-hop record companies, both murders remain unsolved. Just weeks after Wallace’s death, his new album was released. What was it called? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Tom Roberts (1856)

Roberts was born in England and immigrated to Australia as a teen. By day, he worked as a photographer’s assistant and a picture-frame maker, but by night, he studied art and painted. His scenes of rural Australian life, often with humorous touches, earned disapproval from conventional art critics, yet they are now recognized as prime examples of the so-called Heidelberg school of art. One unusually large Roberts painting, appropriately entitled The Big Picture, depicts what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Tylenol Crisis of 1982

The Tylenol Crisis, as it is now known, took place in the fall of 1982, when seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Extra Strength Tylenol capsules laced with the poison potassium cyanide. Their deaths, the first known to have been caused by deliberate product tampering, led to packaging reforms and federal anti-tampering laws. Despite a $100,000 reward offered by Johnson & Johnson, the perpetrator was never caught. How did Tylenol recover after the collapse of its market share? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Human brain still active minutes after heart stops beating, new research finds

Neurologists studying the brains of nine patients as they died have found surprising information about what happens to your brain after it dies. According to the new study, death is marked by a final wave of electrical activity in our brains called … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary