A Rolled Car Carrier, The Skyhook And An Unsolved Disappearance

The Car Carrier cargo ship MV Golden Ray flipped on its side back in September of 2019 just off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia. It made for some pretty badass vacation photos, and an even more badass clean up operation that involved slicing the car carrier into sections via a giant chain. But what exactly happened to cause the MV Golden Ray to flip like this? - Erin Marquis Read More

The International Space Station is due for decommission in the 2030s. NASA is currently evaluating how to go about retiring the station: options include letting it burn up in the atmosphere or pushing it into a graveyard orbit. There’s another option that doesn’t involve disposing of the ISS at all, which would extend the life of the station by leveraging its considerable size and mass for future space missions. The ISS could be the ideal anchor for a skyhook that would act like a slingshot to propel people and cargo into space cheaply, as Aeon reports. - José Rodríguez Jr. Read More

Building an airplane is no easy feat, but one man spent 10 years and 10,000 hours painstakingly crafting a 1:60 scale model of Boeing’s 777-300ER using nothing but manila folders and glue in what may be the longest wait time ever for a Boeing machine. The paper airplane game has just met its match. - Elizabeth Blackstock Read More

In 1988 a famous sailing yacht went missing, leaving behind a strange final message, a mangled investigation and questions of suicide, piracy, mutiny and drug trafficking. I’ve long been fascinated by ship wrecks and disappearances and this one is one of my favorites, not only because it’s such a mysterious story, but because the ship itself was so beautiful. - Erin Marquis Read More

Cruise ships are floating ecological disasters that mostly take you from tourist trap to tourist trap, but hey, at least you get to tell people you visited multiple countries on one vacation. And while drinks packages cost more than $100 a day, you can’t even bring any weed with you. Still, people continue to go on cruises that cost more than staying at an all-inclusive resort, and apparently, some are even insane enough to pay for a Royal Caribbean cruise that is scheduled to last NINE GAT-DANG MONTHS. - Collin Woodard Read More

A flight carrying British cruise-goers from Barbados to Manchester was forced to divert to Bermuda after an incident of extreme turbulence two days before Christmas. There were 225 passengers onboard the Airbus A330-200 operated by Maleth Aero, a Maltese charter airline. When the aircraft landed, 11 people were transported to a local hospital to treat minor injuries, according to the BBC. Everyone ended up spending the holiday stranded in Bermuda, as it took days to arrange a replacement flight. - Ryan Erik King Read More

There’s not a ton going on between Christmas and New Year’s, so I’m diving back into some of my favorite weird mysteries. The story of the first supposed murder in Antartica is a little hard to track down, but it’s one my Dad would often repeat when his snotty kids pulled out the chess set. - Erin Marquis Read More

Over 300 travelers from India were stuck in the small Vatry Airport in the Champagne region of France when their charter flight was held over claims of human trafficking, the AP reports. The flight was heading to Nicaragua and contained young children, families, and 11 unaccompanied minors, according to Insider. - Elizabeth Blackstock Read More

The small town of East Palestine, Ohio, ended up in the headlines for weeks this February after a Norfolk Southern train hauling dangerous chemicals jumped its tracks and created an environmental nightmare for residents and clean-up crews alike. After almost a year, things are not much better in East Palestine. - Erin Marquis Read More

Nuclear annilhilation has become one of the quieter swords of Damocles hanging over our heads on planet Earth; but it’s still there, ready to drop at a moment’s notice. But perhaps the most terrifying part? We have a rough idea of how many nukes still exist in the world, but that number is nothing more than a well-educated guess. - Erin Marquis Read More