Greetings From the Frozen North

“Stars and stripes nailed to the North Pole” — so came the telegraphed revelation from explorer Robert Peary to The New York Times on September 6, 1909, trumpeting a successful effort to reach the top of the world. However, Perry’s message arrived five days after a less emphatically worded telegram from explorer Robert Cook. His message — “Reached North Pole. April 21, 1908. Discovered land far north” — announced similar news to The New York Herald. 

The dueling telegrams encapsulated the thrill of the race that gripped the public imagination at the time, and the drama that was to unfold over which explorer garnered the glory for reaching the finish line first. Although Cook’s claim was soon discredited due to a lack of proper documentation of the discovery, Peary’s “proof” was also dismissed several decades later, and to this day, it’s unclear if either man ever reached his elusive destination.

The World War I-Altering Zimmerman Telegram

In the early weeks of 1917, the United States government was still maintaining a neutral stance in the war that raged on the other side of the Atlantic. However, British code breakers in January intercepted a telegram sent from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the country’s minister to Mexico, which proposed an alliance and an offer to help America’s southern neighbor “reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” 

After waiting until tensions were inflamed by Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, British intelligence unveiled the Zimmermann telegram to U.S. officials in late February. The revelation had the desired effect, as calls for Germany’s punishment echoed throughout the American press over the next few weeks, until the United States formally entered World War I in April.

The Cold War-Igniting “Long Telegram”

Two weeks after Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin delivered a jarring election speech about the evils of capitalism, the acting U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, George F. Kennan, weighed in on the matter with an unusually lengthy telegram to the U.S. Department of State on February 22, 1946. 

Often mistakenly said to total more than 8,000 words — although still a whopper at something closer to the 5,500-word mark — the so-called “Long Telegram” outlined its author’s views of USSR leadership as “impervious to logic of reason” and “highly sensitive to logic of force,” from which “no permanent peaceful coexistence” could be forged. 

Coupled with the follow-up explanations in his 1947 article “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” for Foreign Affairs magazine, Kennan’s analysis became the basis for a decisive American policy stance that ignited the Cold War and shaped geopolitics for the next half-century.

The H-Bomb Creator’s Announcement

Even while helping to build the atomic bomb as a member of the Manhattan Project, Hungary-born physicist Edward Teller was obsessed with the idea of developing an even more potent explosive. He received the go-ahead from the White House in the wake of the Kennan-inspired shift toward a strategy of combating Soviet aggression, as well as an assist from Polish American mathematician Stanisław Ulam on the problem of introducing enough heat to trigger the immense energy-producing process of nuclear fusion. 

On October 31, 1952, knowing that a secret test of the hydrogen bomb was underway some 4,700 miles across the Pacific Ocean in the Marshall Islands, Teller carefully watched a seismograph from a basement laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon seeing a telltale flicker, Teller reached out to his former colleagues at the Los Alamos facility in New Mexico with a succinct telegram announcing the arrival of the most powerful weapon yet created by human hands: “It’s a boy.”

June 18, 1815: Napoleon Loses the Battle of Waterloo

Making a triumphant return from exile in March 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte embarked on what became his Hundred Days campaign to reestablish dominance over mainland Europe. His renewed military ambitions commenced in Belgium, where a split French army separately engaged forces under Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher and England’s Duke of Wellington on June 16. 

Two days later, Napoleon advanced on the duke’s men stationed outside the village of Waterloo, Belgium. However, the combination of superior defensive positioning and questionable tactical decisions by the attackers enabled the opposing force to hold steady until Prussian reinforcements arrived. By nightfall, not even Napoleon’s feared French Imperial Guard could stem the losing tide. Napoleon is said to have fled from the battlefield in tears, and he soon followed with his abdication and surrender to the British, resulting in another exile — this one permanent.

June 19, 1865: Federal Troops Enforce Emancipation in Texas, Inspiring Juneteenth

Although General Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865, is generally considered the end of the American Civil War, many Confederate-controlled areas continued resisting the inevitable defeat and lifestyle changes as long as possible. As such, emancipation of enslaved people was not actually enforced in Texas until June 19 that year, when Major General Gordon Granger and a federal force descended on Galveston with an order declaring an end to the institution of slavery once and for all. 

Although many enslavers delayed relaying the news to their enslaved workers, or refused to comply until forced, members of Texas’ newly freed community marked the first commemoration of the date the following year. The regional celebrations gradually spread as Black people in the South established new roots throughout the country, although it was more than a century before Texas became the first of the 50 states to make Juneteenth a holiday in 1979, and it took another four decades from there for the day to become a federal holiday in 2021.

June 3, 1937: The Duke of Windsor Marries Wallis Simpson  

When King George V died in January 1936, his eldest son followed long-standing tradition in the United Kingdom by assuming the crown as Edward VIII. However, Edward was romantically involved with American socialite Wallis Simpson, who had divorced her first husband and was still married to her second, and the new king refused to end their relationship despite warnings that the Church of England and Parliament would never accept her as queen. 

Edward subsequently — to the shock of the nation — abdicated the throne on December 10, passing the kingdom to his younger brother George VI. The following day, he famously announced over the airwaves, “I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love.” Simpson and Edward cemented their controversial union with a wedding at France’s Chateau de Cande on June 3, 1937, and they remained largely out of the limelight as George VI, followed by his daughter, Elizabeth II, carried on the royal line.

June 6, 1944: D-Day Commences on the Beaches of Normandy

Following a brief postponement due to bad weather, the Allied armies of World War II embarked on their long-planned crossing of the English Channel with the largest amphibious assault in history on June 6, 1944. The opening round of Operation Overlord, remembered simply as D-Day, brought more than 130,000 troops across 7,000 ships and landing craft to five beaches along the coastline of Normandy, France. 

Despite a deception campaign designed to point German defenses toward other landing spots, resistance proved fierce at the section dubbed Omaha Beach, where U.S. forces faced a torrent of machine-gun fire raining down from steep cliffs. But Omaha and the other four beaches — Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword — were secure by the end of the day, providing a base for some 850,000 troops to reach Normandy by the end of June, and generating the crucial momentum needed to help bring the war to a close within a year’s time.

June 17, 1972: The Arrest of Five Burglars at DNC Headquarters Ignites the Watergate Scandal

In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., summoned police to apprehend five men who were poking around the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Thus commenced perhaps the most consequential political scandal in U.S. history, which culminated with the imprisonment of several White House staffers and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. 

The Nixon campaign’s links to the break-in were uncovered by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (with an able assist from their insider informant, “Deep Throat”), and the dominoes began to fall with the convening of a Senate committee and appointment of a special prosecutor to probe the links in the spring of 1973. Despite Nixon’s repeated denials, it was his own words that provided the “smoking gun” for investigators by way of taped conversations in the Oval Office. After the Supreme Court rejected Nixon’s attempts to withhold all the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee passed three articles of impeachment, the embattled president acknowledged the writing on the wall and announced he was stepping down on August 8, 1974.

June 18, 1983: Sally Ride Becomes the First American Woman in Space

Shortly before earning her doctorate in physics from Stanford University in 1978, Sally Ride came across a newspaper advertisement seeking recruits for NASA’s astronaut program; she soon became one of six women and 35 overall candidates accepted from a pool of 8,000 applicants, setting her on course for a historic space flight. The big moment came on June 18, 1983, when Ride blasted off with four crew members aboard the space shuttle Challenger to become the first American woman in space. 

Following the successful six-day mission, which involved the use of the shuttle’s robot arm to deploy and retrieve a satellite, Ride returned to orbit the following October. She was even named to a crew for a third mission, before being diverted to an investigation team in the wake of the tragic Challenger explosion in January 1986. Ride went on to serve as a physics professor and director of the University of California’s Space Institute, before launching the Sally Ride Science outreach program for students. While she wasn’t the first woman to lift off from Earth — two Soviet cosmonauts, Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya, preceded her — Ride’s journey nevertheless stands as a seminal moment in the American space program and an inspiration to those who dare to reach for the stars.

The Secret Conclave System

Nowadays, after the death or resignation of a pope, the designated cardinals — including bishops and other church officials — are summoned to the Vatican. When all confirmed electors are accounted for, the conclave commences with the sequestering of cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. All phones, televisions, and communications with the outside world are removed, with only two doctors and select members of the Vatican staff permitted to enter the secure premises.

On the first day of the conclave, the cardinals celebrate Mass in the morning before proceeding to the chapel, where they have the option of holding a single round of voting in the afternoon. For this process, the most junior elector randomly selects the names of nine colleagues: three “scrutineers” to record the votes, three “infirmarii” to collect the ballots from any sick cardinals confined to their quarters, and three “revisers” to check the work of the others.

Each of the voters receives a ballot with the printed words Eligio in Summum Pontificem ("I elect as Supreme Pontiff") and a space to enter their choice. Instructed to write in a manner that does not clearly identify the voter, and forbidden from casting a vote for themselves, the electors then fold the paper twice so the name is concealed. Any baptized Roman Catholic man can be elected pope, although it's been a cardinal every time since 1379.

Each cardinal brings his ballot to an urn at the altar, and repeats the oath in Latin, which translates to, "I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected."

After all the cardinals have taken their turn, the designated scrutineers count the ballots to make sure the number corresponds with the known number of electors. One of them then reads the names on each ballot out loud, and pierces each page with a needle through the word Eligio (“I elect”) to collect the ballots on a single thread.

On all but the first day, when voting begins in the afternoon, a failure to elect a pope in one round of voting is immediately followed by a second round. From that point forward, two successive rounds can be held during the morning session, with up to two more held in the afternoon.

If no winner emerges after successive rounds, the ballots are burned in a stove in the back of the chapel with a chimney that reveals the results to the outside world. Except for on the first day when there's just one round of voting, the burning happens after the conclusion of two voting rounds in the morning, and again after two rounds in the afternoon. The activation of a cartridge releases chemicals that produce black smoke, a signal that the election remains ongoing.

The Winner Adopts His New Name

On the other hand, if a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote, that outcome will be signaled with white smoke from the burning ballots. 

Once a two-thirds vote is achieved, the winner is asked whether he accepts the results, and what name he wishes to adopt as pope. He then receives the homage of his former fellow cardinals and is taken to be fitted for his papal robes in the Vatican’s Room of Tears, a small chamber next to the Sistine Chapel.

The new pontiff is then introduced to the world with an appearance on the balcony over St. Peter’s Basilica, a continuation of the chain of command that began when the building’s namesake was said to have accepted the enormous responsibility some two millennia ago.

India’s Kama Sutra Provided Instructions for Reeling in Lovers

The Greeks and Romans weren't the only ancients to encourage the common use of love-inducing ingredients. The Kama Sutra, composed in North India around the third century BCE, is famed as an erotic how-to manual, but also includes instructions for how to win over a mate. One such entry describes how a man who plays a reed pipe treated with the juices of various plants could ignite the passions of his love interest.

The Islamic cultures that flourished in the Middle East and Africa devised their own methods of romantic inducements culled from local specialties. The 11th-century physician and philosopher Ibn Sina (known in the West as Avicenna) wrote of a love brew composed of honey, pepper, and ginger.

Honey was also a prime ingredient cited in Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefzawi's The Perfumed Garden, a 15th-century Arabic erotic manual. One fail-proof recipe for summoning a lover, according to Nefzawi, involved heating purified honey with onion juices, before adding water and pounded chickpeas. The resulting broth was to be taken in small doses, just before going to bed, during a spell of cold weather.

Things Took a Turn Toward the Bizarre in the Middle Ages

The European Middle Ages marked a culmination of centuries of potion-making on the continent. Easily found in marketplaces, these philtres included many traditional plants and foods, but also crossed into the realm of the bizarre by incorporating human and animal body parts and fluids.

The 13th-century German polymath Albertus Magnus, known as Doctor Universalis, wrote of one such recipe: "If thou wilt that a woman bee not visious nor desire men, take the private members of a Woolfe, and the haires which doe grow on the cheekes or eyebrowes of him, and the haires which bee under his beard, and burne it all, and give it to her to drinke, when she knoweth not, and she shal desire no other man."

By the Elizabethan era in late-16th-century England, William Shakespeare was among those who dramatized the appeal of love potions among the populace. One such spell appears to comedic effect in A Midsummer Night's Dream, when petals are laid on the eyes of the sleeping fairy queen Titania, enchanting her to fall in love with the hapless weaver Nick Bottom.

Yet love potions remained very much in existence beyond the fictional realm of the stage and printed page. King Louis XIV of France, who was known to partake in pleasures of the flesh at the Palace of Versailles, was famously administered such mind-warping tonics by a cunning mistress, Madame de Montespan. Supplied by alleged sorceress Catherine Monvoisin, Montespan treated the Sun King's meat and wine with mixtures made of "blood, bones, intestines, along with parts of toads and bats," binding Louis XIV to her wiles long enough to produce seven children.

Future Drugs May Replace Archaic Potions

While many cultures continue to rely on local dishes designed to stimulate amorous feelings, the old-fashioned love potion comprised of roots and hairs and crafted to win over a longed-for mate primarily endures among the tropes of popular culture. "Love Potion No. 9" was a hit song for the Clovers in 1959, as well as the title of a 1992 Sandra Bullock film. And Harry Potter fans might recall that the dreaded Lord Voldemort's parents were brought together by a philtre.

Of course, pharmaceuticals serve as something of a replacement for these traditional mixtures, from the libidinous inducements of Viagra to the warm and fuzzy feelings ignited by MDMA. Along those lines, scientists have teased the unveiling of new drugs that trigger the release of the "love hormone" oxytocin among affection-seeking users.

The difference is that these stimulants would be geared toward couples who are looking to rekindle a spark, as opposed to the old (and problematic) method of eliminating the autonomy of a would-be lover. It remains to be seen how effective such doses would be, but given the long history of love potions as a remedy for unrequited lovers, it’s a good bet that people will be willing to find out.

Oversized Doors Also Reflected Wealth

Beyond their symbolic role, large doors served as tangible displays of wealth and prestige. Only the richest individuals and institutions could afford the materials, labor, and craftsmanship required to create these grand entrances. One of the most famous examples is at the Palace of Versailles in France, built for King Louis XIV in the 17th century. The large gilded doors in the Hall of Mirrors and royal apartments were designed to reflect the king’s immense wealth and absolute power. Intricately adorned, these doors reinforced the exclusivity of the spaces they guarded, permitting only the most privileged individuals to pass through.

Another impressive example of large doors reflecting the owner’s wealth is at Hearst Castle in California, constructed by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in the early 20th century. The estate features enormous bronze and carved wooden doors, many imported from Europe. By incorporating historic architectural elements, Hearst not only put his wealth on display, but also aligned himself with the grandeur of European aristocracy.

But it wasn’t just those with vast wealth who favored oversized doors for their homes. Historical townhouses in both Paris and London often featured oversized entryways, reflecting the architectural styles of certain periods. In Paris, during the Haussmannian era of the mid-19th century, buildings were designed with impressively large, ornately decorated entrances. Similarly, London’s Georgian-era townhouses of the 18th and early 19th centuries often featured oversized front doors with decorative moldings and fanlights. These architectural features were symbolic representations of the wealth and status of those who lived there.

Big Doors Served Practical Purposes, Too

Beyond their symbolic and aesthetic roles, large doors also met important practical needs in historical architecture. In medieval castles and fortified cities, oversized doors allowed for the passage of horses, carriages, and large groups of people. These grand entryways balanced accessibility with security, often reinforced with heavy wood, iron, or bronze to withstand sieges while still permitting the movement of goods and troops. Religious structures, such as cathedrals and mosques, also required large doors to manage the flow of congregations and accommodate ceremonial entrances. Their scale complemented the grand architecture, creating visual harmony while inspiring awe and reverence.

A notable example is the Florence Baptistery in Italy, famous for its massive bronze doors, particularly the Gates of Paradise by sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. Standing more than 15 feet tall, these doors allowed for large crowds to enter during baptisms in the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. Similarly, the Pantheon in Rome features enormous bronze entrance doors, nearly 24 feet high, which facilitated the movement of worshippers and religious statues during ceremonies. Their durability and scale also showcased Roman engineering mastery.

Why Doors Shrunk to a Standard Size

The shift toward smaller doors began at the turn of the 19th century, as advancements in construction made oversized entrances less necessary. Earlier architecture relied on heavy pivots and iron strap hinges, requiring oversized doors for structural support. But the development of newer materials and designs allowed for more practical, durable doors without the need for excessive size.

Urbanization and industrialization further reinforced this downsizing trend. As cities became denser and streets narrower, space constraints made large doorways impractical. In the 20th century, standardized building materials and construction techniques led to more compact, functional doors in residential and commercial buildings. And as societies grew more egalitarian, the rise of the middle class and private homeownership reduced the appeal of large and imposing entryways.

The skull whistles are capable of producing sounds that are unsettling and even frightening to the listener. They make a chilling sound often compared to a high-pitch human scream or shriek. In 2024, a team of researchers at the University of Zurich led by neuroscience professor Sascha Frühholz conducted a study to analyze the whistles, including their psychological impact, and published the findings in the journal Communications Psychology. 

Participants were asked to listen to recordings of original and replica skull whistles (without being told what the sound was), identify what they were hearing, and rate their feelings about the sound. Researchers also recorded the brain activity of the participants while they were listening to the recordings. 

The study resulted in listeners identifying the skull whistle recordings as the sound of a human scream and rating it, according to a press release issued by the researchers, as “extremely chilling and frightening.” Brain activity indicated that regions belonging to the affective neural system were activated during listening, confirming the unsettling nature of the sound.

Consider that fair warning, then, before listening to the sound of the skull whistle, though for anyone who’s curious, a selection of sound samples from the University of Zurich study can be found here. The variety of samples includes recordings of the whistles being blown with different air pressures; lower pressures result in a more windlike tone, while higher air pressures are more screamlike. A longer clip, played in a more varied style, is available here. And a popular video (below) features a demonstration by Indigenous instrument maker Xavier Yxayotl.

To learn what causes the skull whistle’s distinctive sound, Frühholz’s team used CT scans and 3D imaging to visualize the inner mechanisms of the instrument. The scans revealed a cylindrical duct leading from the top opening, tapering to a point of constriction along three opposing chambers, known as the counter pressure chamber, collision chamber, and bell cavity. 

The design results in an unusual, turbulent airflow that creates a Venturi effect — a drop in pressure that occurs when air (or liquid) flows through a constricted point, and results in increased velocity. (An everyday example of the Venturi effect is how placing your thumb over the opening of a garden hose results in a faster stream.) In the case of the skull whistle, the increased air velocity results in acoustic distortions, which become all the more pronounced the harder the whistle is played. To quantify the sound, the researchers ran a spectrum analysis, which showed elements of pink noise and, not surprisingly, a great deal of high frequencies. The whistles also corresponded to a distinctive pitch associated with primate screams.

The result was something truly unique. The skull whistle, as Ars Technica pointed out, “doesn’t fit into any existing Western classification for wind instruments.” In the study, Frühholz similarly expressed the prevailing, almost supernatural mysteriousness of the skull whistle, noting, “We don’t know of any comparable musical instrument… from [any] other historical [or] contemporary contexts.”