History

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• The 1940 Time Capsule Meant to Wait Until 8113

  A huge time capsule sealed in 1940 holds books, recordings, everyday objects and a windmill-powered backup, and it is meant to stay sealed until 8113.

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• Rock Paper Scissors Traces Back to an Ancient Chinese Hand Game

  Rock Paper Scissors traces back to a Chinese hand game later carried to Japan, where the modern three-sign form developed.

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• Ancient Brewers Used Beer Foam to Make Lighter Bread

  Nearly 2,000 years ago, people used foam from brewing beer to help make lighter bread, using yeast long before anyone understood what yeast was.

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• Homer’s Iliad Found on a 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy

  A 1,600-year-old Egyptian mummy was found with a fragment of Homer’s Iliad placed on its abdomen, a rare literary text in a burial setting.

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• The $180 Billion AOL Time Warner Merger That Became a Record Loss

  In 2000, AOL agreed to merge with Time Warner for about $180 billion, but after the dot-com crash the company reported a record $98.7 billion loss for 2002.

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• Chernobyl Remains the Costliest Disaster by Estimated Economic Damage

  Chernobyl is often listed as the costliest disaster ever, with about $700 billion in estimated damage, over $2 trillion when adjusted to 2025 dollars.

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