This portable instrument of torture was popular in England and Scotland during the 1500’s, but was seen as late as the nineteenth century. The scold’s bridle (also known as branks) was a cage that was locked around a woman’s head as punishment for nagging and gossiping too often. Attached to this iron muzzle was a curb-plate inserted into a woman’s mouth to, literally, subdue her treacherous tongue. Most of these metal curb-plates were spiked, averaging in length of about half an inch to an inch....

10An Ant With A Parasite Still Stuck To Its Head Somewhere in what is now the Baltic region, around 44–49 million years ago, an ant was parasitized by a species of mite and then wandered into a pool of resin, preserving both forever. They ended up in the hands of a German amateur amber collector named Jorg Wunderlich, who passed the chunk of amber on to Jason Dunlop, an arachnologist at the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science in Berlin....

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Hidden Features Of Everyday Things 10One-Way Bulletproof Glass The problems of the ultra-rich are different than yours or mine. Going by the market forces that gave us this entry, the ultra-rich worry about the fact that the bulletproof glass that may save their lives would also stop them from shooting back. Enter one way ballistic glass: it stops bullets from one side only, allowing return fire....

By reconstructing the faces of people from the past, we can bring them back to life, at least in terms of how we perceive them. Here are ten of the most breathtaking facial reconstructions, each of them providing a fascinating glimpse into history. 10 Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa The Etruscans were the masters of Italy for centuries before the Romans conquered them. Today, little remains of their world, as the Romans were so thorough in absorbing them....

Top 10 Horrific Ways Animals Were Used For Entertainment 10 Chimpanzees with better memory than humans? The intelligence of chimpanzees is relatively well known, and as such they are common target for study by scientists. One way a chimp’s memory has been studied is through hiding food under colored boxes in front of them. The chimps then had to point at a box, and if it contained food, they received it....

10 Karpen’s Pile In the 1950s, Romanian engineer Nicolae Vasilescu-Karpen invented a battery. Now housed (though not on display) at the National Technical Museum of Romania, the battery is still working, but no one has been able to figure out how and why it’s still running. The actual battery in the machine is the same, simple, one-volt battery that Karpen installed in the 1950s. The machine itself has been in storage for some time, with the museum unable to afford the proper display and security for such an oddity....

We hear a lot about the dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago, but the world was far more diverse than Jurassic Park. There were all kinds of bizarre and amazing animals, each one looking like something torn right out of a fantasy novel. 10 LivyatanThe Whale That Ate Other Whales Twelve million years ago, a species of sperm whales called Livyatan melvillei lived off the coast of Peru. They were about as big as the modern sperm whale, with some growing up to 18....

10 Margaret Cochran CorbinAmerican War For Independence Margaret Corbin was the first woman to receive a pension for military service from the US Congress. During the Battle of Fort Washington in 1776, her husband was killed while operating one of the two cannons providing defense against a charge of 4,000 Hessian troops. Instead of grieving, Margaret took his place on the cannon crew and fired at the enemy. She was seriously injured in the jaw, arm, and chest before she was finally unable to continue....

But thousands of years ago in some of the earliest civilizations on the planet, these basic foods were believed to be a sort of magic. At one time, they were worshiped and revered. Besides being used to heal specific physical and emotional conditions, certain foods were believed to bring loved ones back from the dead, protect people from evil, and more. 10 Amaranth We are probably all familiar with ancient grains....

This list reveals interesting behind-the-scenes facts about some of the best films from the 1980s, including childhood classics, teen flicks, and action movies. 10 Real Tears in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Working with child actors is notoriously difficult, so Steven Spielberg had his hands full when directing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), but he had a trick up his sleeve. Spielberg shot the film in chronological order, a rarity in Hollywood. He did this because it meant “the kids knew, emotionally, where they had been the day before, and they pretty much didn’t have any idea of where they were going the next day....

10Craig Ferguson Craig Ferguson made it in the US by acting on The Drew Carey Show, but what really made him famous was hosting The Late Late Show. He was widely acclaimed as a host and built a sizable fan base. However, he didn’t always have his life quite so together. A skilled drummer, Ferguson once made a living with various punk bands in his youth, and the culture which he performed in caused him to develop a drug and alcohol habit....

10Japan’s Sex Clock Japan has an impending population problem. Couples are so interested in their work, they are not having enough sex. The result? The nationwide birth rate is dwindling, and the working class is getting older. This means that years from now, Japan will be left with a higher number of retirees and a smaller number of children. This made two economists from the Tohoku University devise an online clock to calculate the year and time Japan would be left with only one child....

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Clues That Solved Or Deepened Old Mysteries Shamanistic practices were once much more prevalent in the world, and considered a profound foundation of the tribes that believed in them. These spiritually based rituals are still found today and are revered as legitimate procedures. In the Philippines, an entrancing healer, allegedly, has the ability to materialize and dematerialize matter. The shaman will enter a mild trance, where they gain the supernatural ability to perform surgeries with little to no contact with the patient....

People protest because they believe something is wrong and feel that a protest may make others listen. Hopefully, the protest reaches those in authority, but the ability to protest shows that democracy is alive and well. Here are ten bizarre protests you didn’t know about. 10 It’s Laundry Day Alberto Fujimori, a Peruvian of Japanese origin, became president of Peru in 1990. He was always a controversial figure—left-wingers described him as a dictator—but many ordinary citizens supported him even when evidence that he was corrupt started to surface....

Among all the chatter about lunar phases affecting your third dates and the moon being the literal devil, we forget about the real, bizarre effects it has on life on Earth. Many creatures – including us – respond to the lunar cycle in weird ways. While some of them are learned responses over millennia of evolution, we simply have no explanation for the others. See Also: 10 Changes The Earth Would Suffer If It Had No Moon...

Provided they survive. Unfortunately, books are fragile and the world is a rough place. Below are just 10 examples of some of the greatest books that have failed the test of time. 10 Inventio FortunataArctic Logs In the middle of the 14th century, an unknown monk made a bold and pioneering journey. Setting off from Oxford, England, the monk traveled to the Arctic Circle and became one of the first Europeans to document the area....

Although the firefly uses its glow for communication and finding sexual partners, bioluminescence isn’t always an invitation. Sometimes, it is used as a diversion or as camouflage. The natural world is a fierce place, and any advantage can mean the difference between life and death. These 10 examples of biological light are used by animals as a way to defend and deceive. 10 The Glowing Squirts Of The Pocket Shark In a happy accident in 2010, researchers in the Gulf of Mexico were collecting samples for a study of sperm whale feeding and happened to capture a specimen of an entirely new species of pocket shark....

Megan Fox was born with a condition called “brachydactyly” thumbs, which means that her thumbs are slightly clubbed or misshapen. Both digits are short and have a very wide nail, though they are perfectly functional. This condition is usually hereditary, though it can also be caused by an injury in childhood. Lily Allen is no shrinking violet, so it comes as no surprise that she is extremely open and up-front about her extraneous nipple....

SEE ALSO: 10 People Who Give Atheism a Bad Name 10 Atheism Is A Religion The term “religion” is difficult to define. In the United States, a religion is defined as an institution that has a recognized creed, form and place of worship, congregation, and ordained ministers. This definition has nothing to do with a god, but most religions that do worship a god fit this definition. Because atheism is a lack of belief in something, there are no places to worship (or anything to worship), no creed, no congregation, and no ministers....

Misconception: French Fries originate in France. French Fries are incredibly popular all over the world, but the origin really wasn’t French. While the French have tried to claim them in the past, the truth is that they were invented by the Belgians. While they were invented in Belgium, and still quite popular there, some of the folklore around them is a little fantastic. The stories say that some Belgians would often fry very small fish, and when they had no fish, they would make potatoes in the shape of small fish instead....