What is the most impressive thing engineers have ever created?

One of the most impressive structures of recent decades is certainly the Three Gorges Dam in China:

Construction of this enormous dam began in 1992 and lasted more than 15 years.
Located in Hubei province, it is the second largest dam in the world after Itaipu, situated between Paraguay and Brazil.
It supplies water to a 22.5-gigawatt hydroelectric power plant,
generating 98.8 terawatt-hours of electricity annually – making it the most powerful dam in the world.

The Three Gorges Dam is 185 meters high and 2,310 meters long.
The dam creates a lake with an area of ​​over 1,000 square kilometers, a length of over 600 km, and a capacity of 39 billion cubic meters of water.

The power plant is equipped with 32 giant Francis turbines.
Its output is sufficient to cover 3% of China's electricity consumption.

Many environmental groups have protested and continue to protest vehemently against the dam.
It's important to know that during its construction and to fill the reservoir, 1,300 archaeological sites, 3 cities, 140 towns, and 1,352 villages were flooded; 2 million residents have had to be relocated so far – and by 2023, it is expected that just as many Chinese will have to leave their homes and move again.
Even some animal and plant species have disappeared as a result of this mammoth project.

NASA scientists have calculated that the incredibly large mass of water behind the dam is enough to change the Earth's rotational speed – increasing the length of a day by 60 billionths of a second. While this is a vanishingly small value, it is measurable.

What would be the most terrifying extinct animal if it were still alive? These are the terrifying animals that are thankfully extinct:

Titanoboa:

This snake was colossal, enormous. Essentially, after the dinosaurs became extinct, this giant thing took their place as the largest, most vicious predator on earth.

They were 15 meters long, weighed 1 ton, and killed their prey by constriction. Pretty scary, huh?

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Dunkleosteus:

Dunkleosteus lived 360 million years ago. It was a heavily armored fish that exceeded 10 meters in length. Its beak-like mouth was specifically designed to penetrate thick, similar armor, suggesting it may have been a cannibalistic species.

Its jaws were so efficient that it could open and close them in milliseconds.

It's still unclear what the entire body of a Dunkleosteus looked like, but we imagine that very few other ancient animals ever lived after it was discovered.

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Deinosuchus:

Deinosuchus means "terrible crocodile," and these creatures truly were. Fossils of T. rex and other dangerous dinosaurs show teeth marks from Deinosuchus . This means that ancient crocodiles regularly fought the king of the dinosaurs. Deinosuchus measured up to 10 meters long and was found in North America... in the same places where modern humans evade crocodiles a quarter of their size.

Deinosuchus

fought

T. rexes (and won).

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Arcdotus:

A name like "short-faced bear" sounds cute. Arcdotus was anything but. Native to California until about 11,000 years ago, they were almost entirely carnivorous, needing about 35 pounds of meat a day to survive. They were 50% larger than the largest polar bears in recorded history . A bear twice your height.

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Megalodon:

The Megalodon makes the great white shark look like a goldfish. (In this photo, the scientist is holding a modern shark's jaw for comparison.) Nearly 20 meters long, these extinct ocean predators are still considered "the most formidable carnivore that ever lived."

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Phorusrhacidae:

Scientists call Phorusrhacidae " terror birds ," a name that is quite self-explanatory.

No? OK: They lived in North and South America until about 2 million years ago; they could grow up to 3 meters tall; and their beaks were so strong and sharp that they could kill other animals by hitting their heads downward, fatally cracking their skulls.

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Meganeura:

What's so scary about a dragonfly? If you were a smaller insect, or one of the amphibians or other vertebrates milling around a pond hundreds of millions of years ago, you absolutely wouldn't want to be spotted by a Meganeura, the largest known flying insect, which had a wingspan of about 1 meter. They lived at the same time as the Arthropleura, a period known as the Carboniferous. "This experiment in gigantism probably only lasted maybe 30 million years or so," says Labandeira. The enormous arthropods either became extinct or evolved to become smaller, and again, no one is exactly sure why. The oxygen content of the atmosphere decreased, but large amphibians were also developing: "One theory is that it gave rise to much larger vertebrates that were able to consume these things, so size was no longer an adaptive trait," says Labandeira.

What are the most chilling things found under the ice?

 Due to global warming, climatic conditions have changed alarmingly, with temperatures reaching extremely low levels. But can you imagine the secrets buried under the ice for thousands of years? From ancient artifacts and clothing to bodies that appear to have died just hours before. These are some of the most interesting:

1. A huge virus

Russian scientists recently discovered a 30,000-year-old virus in a layer of frozen soil near the Kolyma River in Russia. According to experts, the discovery is not dangerous to humans, but they fear that a virus capable of wiping out the human race may exist deep underground, along with microbes and bacteria resistant to medication. Due to global warming, these viruses could rise to the surface, with potentially fatal consequences.

2. Frozen Inca Girl

In 1999, the body of a girl between 13 and 15 years old was found on the summit of a volcano in the Andes Mountains of Chile. She had been killed by a blow to the head 500 years ago. The girl belonged to the Inca people. Alongside her were found plates of food, statues, and the bodies of two children between 6 and 7 years old. Experts determined that the girl died from a blow to the head and that the two children found with her were part of a ritual.

3. Frozen Mammoth

Yuka is the name of a mammoth found in Russia that lived 39,000 years ago in Siberia. It is a baby mammoth measuring 3 meters long. Because it remained under the ice, its body is well preserved, and its fur is visible. It is believed that this prehistoric animal became trapped in a swamp. Thanks to the temperature, blood could be extracted. For science, this is a major breakthrough because with DNA, the possibility of cloning a mammoth is now a reality.

4. The Ötzi Mummy

This is the story of a man who lived around 3300 BC and whose frozen body was discovered by two mountaineers in 1991. He was named after the Ötz Valley where he was found. His remains are considered unique, as the extreme cold of the area allowed for mummification. He had undigested food in his stomach, and a thorough DNA analysis determined that he still has 19 living relatives.

5. Made in India

A French mountaineer had the good fortune to find an incredible treasure protruding from the ice on one of the routes up Mont Blanc. When he opened it, he discovered around 100 precious stones: rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. The find was valued at $337,000, but the man, who preferred to remain anonymous, turned the box over to the authorities. An investigation revealed that there had been two plane crashes in the area, leading them to believe the precious stones belonged to a jewelry dealer who died in one of the accidents.

6. Vintage clothing

The garment is a tunic made over 1,500 years ago, during the pre-Viking era. It was found next to a glacier in southern Norway. Brown with gray undertones, it was typical Iron Age attire, suitable for someone approximately 1.75 meters tall.

Scientists consider the melting ice due to global warming worrying, but it has uncovered key pieces of history. 1,600 pieces to be exact, including gloves, walking sticks, bows, and arrowheads from the Viking Age.

7. Wreckage of an airplane

In 1952, a military plane carrying 41 passengers and 11 crew members crashed in Alaska. Sixty years later, the wreckage was found atop a glacier. In 2012, National Guard personnel spotted parts of the plane while training in a helicopter in the Gannett Mountain area. Seventeen soldiers' bodies have been recovered, and the search for the remaining victims continues, hampered by challenging weather conditions.

8. Hanging soldiers

It happened in the Italian province of Trento, a town of approximately 1,900 inhabitants, who have witnessed the discovery of the bodies of soldiers found in the mountains, combatants from the First World War. Around 750,000 Italian soldiers died in the battle; they lay buried for 100 years, mummified by the extremely low temperatures. However, with the thaw, the bodies began to emerge.

9. Ancient Forest

According to scientists, approximately 2,000 years ago a tsunami devastated a forest in Alaska. With the arrival of the Ice Age, the Mendenhall Glacier formed, eventually burying the ecosystem under kilometers of ice. In 2014, tree trunks began to emerge due to the melting of Arctic ice.

10. Woolly rhinoceros

What are some of the most interesting, little-known things?

 1. On men's shirts, the buttons are on the right side; on women's shirts, they are on the left side.

When buttons first appeared in the 17th century, they were only seen on the clothing of the wealthy. At that time, it was customary for rich men to dress themselves and for women to be dressed by servants.

The fact that women's shirts were buttoned on the left made it easier for the mostly right-handed servants to dress them. The fact that men's shirts were buttoned on the right was not only practical because most men dressed themselves, but also because a sword drawn from the left hip with the right hand was less likely to get caught in the shirt.

2. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great Pharaoh Ramses II, who is said to have fathered over 160 children.

3. Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world, is made from coffee beans obtained from the dried secretions of palm civets - small, cat-like animals that live in Southeast Asia.

The animal eats only the select berries, which gives the coffee its distinctive flavor. While it does consume the coffee cherries needed for this unusual delicacy, it doesn't digest them. The animal passes the beans through its digestive tract so they can be consumed by the waiting people.

Kopi Luwak has spread from Indonesia to the USA and Europe. Last year, a London branch announced that it would charge its customers 70 pounds for a cup.

4. Most shopping malls now have perfumes at the entrance. There's a reason for this:

Before cars existed, commuters relied on horses, which left a lot of manure on the roads. To ensure that the stench/bad smell didn't permeate the shop, perfumes and fragrances were always kept near the entrance. This was done so that customers would have a pleasant experience upon entering the store.

5. A honeybee must tap two million flowers to produce one pound of honey.

6. Potato chips were invented in 1853 in Saratoga Springs by cook George Crum as a mocking response to a guest who complained that his French fries were too thick.

7. To determine the percentage of alcohol in a bottle of liquor, divide the alcohol content by two.

8. American Airlines saved $40,000 a year by removing ONE olive from every salad.

9. Jeans are sewn with orange thread to match the copper rivets on the pockets.

10. The first product to have a barcode on its packaging was Wrigley's chewing gum.

11. The first cloned animal, "Dolly," was named in honor of Dolly Parton because it was cloned from a "mother" cell.

12. It takes 43 muscles to frown, but only 17 to smile.

13. If a statue of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died from wounds in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

14. The liquid in tender coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma in emergencies.

15. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil. It was even found in edible form in the pyramids. If you call someone "Honey," you bless them with a long life.

16. Only one McDonald's in the world has turquoise arches. It's in Sedona, Arizona. Government officials felt that the yellow wouldn't match the city's natural red rock.

17. The black box, the flight recorder, is colored orange so that it is easily recognizable in the event of a plane crash.

18. "A Persian carpet is perfectly imperfect and precisely imprecise. Carpet weavers in Iran intentionally add a flaw to their work so that it is not perfect. The reason for this is that, according to Islam, only Allah is perfect."

19. It is generally accepted that sailors' flared trousers were introduced in 1817 to allow men to roll them down over their knees when washing the decks and to remove them more easily if they were forced to abandon ship or were washed overboard. Furthermore, the trousers could be used as a lifebuoy by knotting the legs and swinging them over the head to inflate the legs.

20. The pilot and co-pilot of an aircraft must eat separate meals to minimize the risk of food poisoning. Even if one meal is contaminated, it is highly unlikely that the other is as well, thus ensuring the safety of at least one pilot!

21. For more than fifty years after the founding of the Indian railways, a crucial element was missing from the country's trains: toilets.

What is the world's most dangerous animal to humans?

 If you just want to know the world's most dangerous, it's enough to read NUMBER 1, but if you want to know the 5 most dangerous in the world, you can continue reading!

1. Mosquitoes
   1 million deaths per year. It is classified as the most dangerous animal on earth. Around 400,000 die from malaria every year, the rest are other different diseases you can get from mosquitoes, such as... Dengue fever.
2. Human
   If you want to classify humans as an animal, they actually end up in second place with 437,000 deaths due to murder per year according to UN statistics in 2012.
3. Cabinet
   100,000 deaths per year. If you think about animal groups, snakes are the most dangerous group of animals.
4. Dogs
   Man's best friend, the dog, comes in 4th place with 59,000 deaths per year. It is mostly due to the infection rabies that people die. 99% of all dog deaths are due to rabies according to the WHO.
5. Freshwater snails
   20,000 deaths AT LEAST. They may carry a parasitic worm that can cause a horrible disease calledschistosomiasis.

Who is the most evil person in history?

 Countess Elisabeth Báthory de Echedo

Elizabeth Báthory, known as "Blood Countess" and "Countess Dracula," is considered the most prolific serial killer in history, with over 650 murders directly related to her name.

Báthory's coat of arms

Báthory, who held the title of Count, was born into a highly influential Hungarian noble family. Known as an intellectual and learned woman, she was initially very popular among her subjects. At the age of 15, in 1575, she married Ferenc Nádasdy, the son of a baron. The wedding took place in Vallenno and was attended by over 4,500 guests.

Her husband spent much of his time studying in Vienna, leaving Elisabeth to live alone. She made Čavutice Castle, located in what is now Slovakia, her home.

Years later, as she approached middle age, Elisabeth began to experience tantrums and fits of rage. She would attack her young female servants. Legend has it that she punched a clumsy servant who was brushing her hair, and when she pulled a little too hard, blood dripped from the girl's nose, and she realized that she could maintain her youth with the blood of virgins.

Thus began a 20-year-long ordeal of terror. Hundreds of girls hired to work in Elisabeth's castle disappeared one after another, their whereabouts never to be heard again. The villagers grew suspicious, but because of Elisabeth's position, they could do nothing.

Eventually, suspicions about the disappearance reached the King of Hungary, who demanded an investigation. The king's followers arrived at the castle in Transylvania and demanded to see the secret chamber beneath Elisabeth's residence. What they discovered was horrifying.

Beneath her castle lay a vast and intricate torture chamber run by Elisabeth. With the help of several key accomplices, she imprisoned her female servants and extracted their blood through horrific surgeries.

Báthory's first victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were abducted to Čachtice with offers of lucrative servant jobs at the castle. Later, she began killing daughters of nobles, who were sent by their parents to her palace school to learn court etiquette. Abductions are also said to have taken place. The most consistently described atrocities included brutal beatings, burning hands, biting off flesh from faces and arms, and death by freezing or starvation. Among the testimonies of her accomplices in court were mentions of the use of needles. The longest-lasting accusation is that Elisabeth bathed in the blood of young virgins at court to maintain her youthful appearance, which is the origin of her name.

Some reports claim that Elisabeth was captured while being tortured by inspectors who visited her, but there is little evidence to support this.

Needless to say, the king was not impressed. Elisabeth did not receive a severe punishment because of her position, but she was immediately placed under house arrest. At her trial that followed, more than 300 witnesses testified to the atrocities she had committed, some claiming to have seen her bathing in blood. Numerous bones were discovered, which served as evidence of the crime. Three of her accomplices were sentenced to death, and Báthory was imprisoned in Čachtice Castle, where she was confined in solitude. She died there in 1614.

Today, Elisabeth Báthory is one of the most (infamous) Hungarians in history, and many books, television shows, and films have been made about her twisted life. Because of her ruthlessness and vampire-like tendencies, she is to me the most evil person of all time.

What is the most dangerous planet?

 The richest and most dangerous planet.

This planet is renowned for its valuable mineral resources. It is also known as the diamond planet, as almost all of the rocks that make up the planet are diamonds.

The planet 55 Cancri e has been my interest since I was 10 years old. With a mass eight times greater than Earth, it was only discovered by scientists in 2004. It's quite intriguing because it's believed to be a carbon planet, containing more carbon than oxygen. Interestingly, the side exposed to the planet's "sun" can reach temperatures of 1,700 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt iron.

Although this is a "rich" planet whose rocks are diamonds that could be very profitable if sold on Earth, it is also very dangerous to visit. The diamonds there are not only found on the surface, but also fall from above like rain. Of course, the diamonds that fall there are not polished diamonds like those found in jewelry stores; they are raw, sharp, and capable of ripping through your skin.

I think that's all I can answer. It's been 7 years since I've been introduced to that planet, so explaining it is difficult because I've forgotten a bit.

What is the most ingenious "tourist trap" you have ever fallen into?

 During our holiday to celebrate our 20th birthday in Italy (in Amalfi, near Naples), we took a trip to Capri (which is a small island off the western end of a peninsula) by water taxi (like a bus, on the water - nothing to do with a boat cruise).

Upon arrival in Capri, there were monumental queues for boats offering tours of Capri – visiting various caves (including the Blue Grotto).

We had considered taking a boat tour around the island (my wife loves boats - she never misses an opportunity) and while we were considering our options, we were approached by a charming local (named Mario, I think) who offered to take us around the island on his private boat.

A tourist trap indeed. It might have been a scam...

But we were feeling adventurous, so we went for it.

And we were right because… it was magnificent!

A private boat took us to visit every little cave around the island. Privately, just for us. It was fantastic!

A selection of photos:

Mario - our adorable pilot and cameraman!

If you ever find yourself visiting Capri, I recommend avoiding the main commercial routes and talking to the friendly private boat owners.

A wonderful experience, and a truly triumphant moment (in the middle of a week of enchantment).