Almost Facts

If you ever wonder how the marvel of the jet engine came to dominate the skies, it’s worth remembering that its path could have ended not in roaring triumph but in forgotten obscurity. Picture this: a revolutionary invention so groundbreaking that it could redefine air travel, only to nearly be smothered under mountains of paperwork, … Read more

It’s wild to think that the GPS system—the thing that effortlessly guides millions of people every day from one coffee shop to another—was once such a closely guarded secret it might have stayed in the shadows forever. Before Google Maps became as natural to us as breathing, GPS was a strictly military affair, buried in … Read more

Imagine if one of the most beloved sitcoms had never made it to your screen. It’s wild to think about, but The Big Bang Theory, the show that took geek culture mainstream and turned physicists into TV icons, was on the verge of rejection early on. Behind the laughter, the quirks, and Leonard and Sheldon’s … Read more

Picture the Sahara Desert as we know it today: a vast, unyielding sea of sand, scorching sun overhead, where life clings on in sparse oases and endless dunes. But rewind the clock about 10,000 years, and you’d be staring at something wildly different—a sprawling, lush jungle brimming with rivers, lakes, and all the greenery you … Read more

You know what blows my mind? The fact that the Sahara Desert, that relentlessly dry and scorching expanse most of us associate with nothing but sand, heat, and the occasional mirage, was once a sprawling jungle. Not just any jungle either—a real, lush green paradise teeming with life. Imagine walking where camels now roam, but … Read more

Imagine living in a world where flicking a switch and having light gush forth wasn’t just commonplace magic but an unexplainable miracle. The kind that makes you scratch your head and whisper, “What in the world just happened?” That’s exactly how people once viewed electricity. Not as the reliable servant of modern life, but as … Read more

Imagine if the Great Wall of China wasn’t this massive stone and brick behemoth snaking across mountains and deserts but instead, a giant wooden barricade stretching thousands of miles. It sounds almost cartoonish, doesn’t it? But here’s the twist: in the early days, the idea wasn’t as far-fetched as you might think. The possibility that … Read more

Back in the early ’90s, when the internet was still a baby taking its first uncertain steps, nobody could have predicted that tiny yellow faces squinting, winking, or blowing kisses would eventually become the lingua franca of global digital chatter. But believe it or not, the very first emoji almost never saw the light of … Read more

Imagine waking up one day to find out that the entire World Wide Web—your favorite place to scam Netflix passwords, watch cute cat videos, or dive into obscure Wikipedia rabbit holes—was hidden behind a paywall. Not just a few premium sites, but the whole shebang. The idea sounds absurd now, right? But trust me, this … Read more

It’s wild to think that for thousands of years, nearly everyone on Earth was convinced the Sun, planets, and stars all revolved around us. Not metaphorically, but literally. The idea that the Earth stood still at the center of the cosmos was so ingrained it shaped entire civilizations’ worldviews, religions, and scientific thought. The geocentric … Read more