Lost Curiosities: The Disappearing Death Ray
Did Tesla have a death ray? Did the FBI take the plans?
Lost Curiosities: Babies on Display
In 1909, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition would put babies on display, going so far as to raffle off Ernest, a one-month old orphaned child.
Lost Curiosities: Painters’ Tragedy
Radium was ‘cool’ – until people’s lips started falling off
Lost Curiosities: The Romance of Radium
Pete Smith’s ‘filler’ was nominated for an Academy Award and highlights the interesting and casual relationship the Curies brought to their research.
Lost Curiosities: Torpedoes and Player Pianos
Ever wonder what ‘frequency hopping’ is? A better wonder is to ask where the concept came from.
Lost Curiosities: Bringing Dogs Back from the Dead
During the Lazarus experiments, Cornish excited much interest in Hollywood. Boris Karloff starred in two films inspired by Cornish’s work, The Man they Could Not Hang (1939) and The Man with Nine Lives (1940). The scientist actually served as consultant to the former film. These movies sparked a “mad scientist” craze in science fiction, and were also among the first to conceptualize open-heart surgery.
