Got around 40 free weekends in the near future? Possess a 3D printer, extensive knowledge of vintage computer coding, soldering techniques, and near-superhuman patience? Then you, too, could be the proud owner of a “Brewintosh Plus,” a maddeningly accurate, completely working clone of Apple’s iconic Macintosh Plus computer system. It might be hard to imagine, […]
Damaged ancient papyrus scrolls dating back to the 1st century CE are finally being deciphered by the Vesuvius Challenge contest winners using computer vision and AI machine learning programs. The scrolls were carbonized during the eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and have been all-but-inaccessible using normal restoration methods, as they have been […]
In the age of omnipresent high-tech digital gadgetry, mechanical clocks are often (mistakenly) taken for granted. It’s sometimes easy to forget these everyday devices were once considered state-of-the-art technological wonders. Beginning in the mid-17th century, for example, European missionaries visiting China’s Qing dynasty regularly presented intricately engineered, astonishingly ornate musical timepieces to emperors as gifts […]
It’s relatively easy to trace a written linguistic history—there’s generally a lot of written documentation and records to study. Things get trickier, however, when attempting to examine a sign language’s evolution. Most transformations within the currently over 300 known sign languages (or SLs) around the world occurred sans text over generations of learners. Add in […]
Although long-abandoned for far more advanced successors, MS-DOS remains a pivotal piece of computer history. Released to the public on the very first IBM Personal Computers back in 1980, MS-DOS quickly became a standard operating system within the growing PC market throughout the ensuing decade. While many versions are still preserved on their original floppy […]
The iconic logo failed to meet its owners’ minimum bid requirement. Meanwhile, someone bought a first-gen iPhone for $20,450.
Nearly 30,000 Roman bronze coins were discovered off the Italian coast in almost mint condition.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE is one of the most dramatic natural disasters in recorded history, yet so many of the actual records from that moment in time are inaccessible. Papyrus scrolls located in nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum, for example, were almost instantly scorched by the volcanic blast, then promptly buried under […]
Millions of years after an asteroid wiped dinosaurs off the Earth, people are still talking about the Age of the Dinosaurs. And boy, do we have it all wrong.
Museums commission the experts at Gaston Studios to fix, cast, and reassemble dinosaur fossils for lifelike displays.
