Joan of Arc was a force to be reckoned with, but she probably would have been far less intimidating without her famous sword. According to the Associated Press, National Park officials announced earlier this week that a bronze statue of the French heroine in Washington, D.C.’s Meridian Hill Park is missing its weapon.

D.C.’s Joan of Arc is a replica of a statue at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Reims, France, created by sculptor Paul DuBois in 1889. It was dedicated in 1922, and was a gift from Le Lyceum Société des Femmes de France, a French women’s society, to the women of the United States. Normally, the work depicts the warrior astride a horse, brandishing a sword. But someone vandalized the statue, and officials say its blade appears to have been broken off.

Nobody knows quite when the sword went missing, but the National Park Service thinks the theft occurred on Tuesday, September 20. A similar act of vandalism occurred in the 1970s, and the statue didn’t receive a replacement weapon until 2011. But this time around, local art lovers won’t have to wait four decades to see Joan of Arc get fixed: Park authorities are already arranging for her to receive a new blade.

[h/t Associated Press]

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When Paramount’s television division decided they needed an action hero that was both family- and advertiser-friendly, writer Lee David Zlotoff had the answer: MacGyver, an adventure series about a freelance Samaritan who uses unlikely tools (paper clips, gum, chocolate) to get out of everywhere from a locked room to the Middle East.

The series, which ran for seven seasons, turned Richard Dean Anderson into America’s favorite science geek. Here’s a look back at the show, its production, and why MacGyver wasn’t allowed to have a girlfriend.

1. THERE’S A “REAL” MACGYVER. (KIND OF.)

After Lee David Zlotoff decided his protagonist would be armed with little more than a Swiss Army knife and a formidable intellect, he stumbled upon a gemologist at Caltech named John Koivula, who seemed to have experience in everything from physics to chemistry. When MacGyver was ordered by ABC, Koivula became the show’s scientific consultant. Writers would think of a logistical problem, then call Koivula, who would come up with the “MacGyverism,” or solution. Anything deemed harmful usually omitted a step or two so that people who attempted to recreate the experiments at home wouldn’t blow themselves up.

2. HIS FIRST NAME WAS ORIGINALLY STACEY.

The seventh (and final) season of MacGyver satisfied fan curiosity by revealing the character’s first name: Angus. (In a not-very-Dickens move, Richard Dean Anderson suggested it because he saw it on a banner in Vancouver.) But prior to the show’s premiere, Paramount publicity circulated a flyer that credited Anderson as playing “Stacey MacGyver.” The name was thought to be taken from an early version of the pilot script.

3. HIS LAST NAME WAS INSPIRED BY MCDONALD’S.

Zlotoff wanted a masculine-sounding name for the character and had intended to simply call him “Guy,” but friends convinced him that it didn’t sound too compelling. Instead, Zlotoff picked up on the fact that the popularity of McDonald’s was prompting people to facetiously add a “Mc” or “Mac” in front of words. “So I suggested we call our hero MacGuy,” Zlotoff recalled. “But everyone thought it really needed to have three syllables … and we finally got MacGyver and agreed that was the one.”

4. THE PILOT WAS SO BAD THE DIRECTOR HAD HIS NAME REMOVED.

Executive producer John Rich told the Archive of American Television that the pilot for MacGyver came in at a running time of 90 minutes—and it was awful. “It was dreary,” Rich said. “It was no good … it was an hour and a half of dreadful.” Over an Easter holiday, Rich re-cut the episode, removing 30 minutes. As a result of the perceived meddling, director Jerrold Freedman wanted his name taken off. The generic pseudonym “Alan Smithee” appears in the credits.  

5. VIEWERS THOUGHT THE SHOW KILLED A RHINO.

For an episode in which MacGyver confronts poachers, the show’s effects team spent $40,000 crafting a fake rhinoceros for a key scene in which the animal is destroyed. The money made for an effective moment, but it also prompted viewers to call in condemning the producers for victimizing a helpless creature. (In fact, only Richard Dean Anderson was harmed during filming: he accidentally stepped into a ditch and injured his back in the first season, causing a nagging injury that needed surgery two years later.)   

6. POOR MAC COULDN’T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. 

While the show was popular for its clever approach to science, it didn’t hurt that Anderson was a former soap opera star and a frequent target of affection for swooning viewers. As a consequence, MacGyver getting romantically involved with a woman in the series was usually met with indignation. When a love interest was introduced for several episodes in the third season, the show’s fans voiced their displeasure over the potential of the show turning into Moonlighting.  

7. THE SHOW PAID FANS TO COME UP WITH “MACGYVERISMS.”

Getting MacGyver out of hairy situations using a variety of items within arm’s reach was a clever conceit—and one that got increasingly difficult to orchestrate as the series continued. At one point, John Rich offered viewers a cash reward if they could submit a scenario for use on the show. While all incoming letters were read, very few had plausible ideas: one successful entry described a way in which MacGyver could fix a leaking cooling system in a vehicle by cracking an egg into the radiator. As it heated and hardened, it would seal the hole.

8. MAC DID USE A GUN—TWICE. 

Among the character’s many distinctive traits, his disdain for firearms was possibly the most defining: because MacGyver couldn’t rely on weapons, he was forced to improvise alternative solutions. But in the pilot episode, Anderson (who didn’t like guns, either) is seen shooting an automatic weapon. In a later season, MacGyver used a gun, smashed out the barrel, and used the remaining piece as a makeshift hand wrench.

9. NOT EVERYONE WAS A FAN OF HIS NO-BAZOOKA POLICY.

When an episode aired in 1988 that depicted the origins of MacGyver’s aversion to guns—it turns out that a boyhood friend was killed by one accidentally—the National Rifle Association went nuclear. “Since that time, we have been on their hit list,” co-executive producer Steve Downing told the Los Angeles Times. “They have been encouraging people not to watch us and boycott our sponsors. We try to do a decent job of really saying why a gun is dangerous and they choose to boycott us and put us on their hit list.”

10. HIS FLOATING HOME ENDED UP ON CRAIGSLIST.

For most of the show’s run, MacGyver lived on a pretty cool floating home that was docked in a Vancouver boat yard. When Paramount was done using it, it was sold off, remodeled, and resold in 2012. Since then, it has apparently suffered damage due to the whole foundation-of-water thing. In late 2014, it sold for under $40,000 on Craigslist, far below the original $200,000 valuation.

11. YOUNG MACGYVER NEVER MADE IT TO AIR. 

Cool and hip are not exactly trademarks of the MacGyver franchise, but the WB still gave it a swing: in 2003, they commissioned a pilot that starred Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) as MacGyver’s equally resourceful nephew, Clay. A tepid network reception resulted in the series never getting a full order.

Now, CBS is trying again with its own MacGyver reboot, which premieres tonight.

12. FURIOUS 7‘S DIRECTOR WAS SET FOR A MACGYVER FEATURE.

James Wan directed the most recent installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, and it was obviously a wise career decision: that film made over $1 billion globally. But before he committed, Wan was deliberating over tackling a MacGyver feature film adaptation. “My initial concept was I wanted to do a young college MacGyver who went to Boston, one of the great universities, who’s really brilliant, right?” Wan told CraveOnline. “He gets blamed for something that he had designed, something really big that’s something everyone wanted, and now someone has weaponized it and everyone’s coming after him.” 

13. RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON BOTCHED HIS OWN MACGYVER MOMENT.

When Anderson was once locked out of his house, he found a way inside: The actor had gone to a cast and crew holiday party during the first season, but wasn’t having much fun. So he and a friend moved over to a gathering for Cheers instead; when Anderson made it home, he couldn’t get in. Relating the story to a TV Guide reporter, Anderson thought the most efficient solution was to pick up a nearby bench and throw it through the front window. A friend later sent him a new bench: it had the Swiss Army symbol on it.

The latest complaint Uber users have with the ride-sharing app sounds like the set-up to a horror movie: After a ride request is accepted, some passengers in China have been greeted with the profile of a “ghost driver” en route to pick them up. According to The Guardian, the spooky images are part of a new scheme used by drivers in China to score cancellation fees.

Drivers taking part in the deception will upload a picture manipulated to look like a ghost, zombie, or vampire to an otherwise normal profile. The intention is to frighten passengers into canceling their ride for a small fee the drivers then get to keep. Each cancellation amounts to 4.20 yuan, or about $.60.

That’s small enough that many would-be passengers won’t bother reporting the incident: Meanwhile, ghost drivers can spend the day scaring away customers and watch the fees add up. When brave passengers do decide to wait around for the ride, some ghost drivers will take the scam even further and accept a rider on the app as if they’ve entered the car without picking them up. The stood-up customer will eventually cancel and the driver still gets the fee.

Uber employees have plagued the ride-sharing service with scams in the past, from following unnecessary routes to charging customers for vomiting in the car when they never did. The company says they’re refunding any customers who were involved in the latest scam and introducing facial-recognition technology to crack down on further driver fraud.

The interesting story of China’s ghost Uber drivers: users scared = they cancel, driver gets cancel fee. https://t.co/fmESwT9PWa pic.twitter.com/3GyTpGOnUe

— Martyn Kelly (@martynkelly) September 21, 2016

#Uberweird#Uber #China driver scams: Ghost drivers freaking out passengers and scamming Uber for money — Quartz https://t.co/LTWloXzuba pic.twitter.com/P9V1gnf0kz

— Dave Aron (@davearon) September 22, 2016

where do u think this ghost Uber driver would take u https://t.co/OZfpP0XDki pic.twitter.com/0dL31OZ7uU

— Mary Childs (@mdc) September 22, 2016

[h/t The Guardian]

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George Washington had a thing for trees—legendary trees, that is. Remember when he cut his dad’s cherry tree down, then refused to tell a lie about his deed? The tale was a legend created by one of Washington’s first biographers, but the cherry tree has forevermore been associated with the first president’s honesty. However, it turns out that Washington consorted with another legendary tree, too: He supposedly took command of the Continental Army beneath an elm tree in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The elm itself wasn’t fake: It was one of six elm trees that lined Garden Street near Cambridge Commons. But the story that surrounded it almost certainly was. It went like this: Inspired by patriotism and inflamed by the anger of a crowd, Washington sat on a horse beneath an elm tree, pulled out his sword, and made himself an army.

Just about everything in the legend appears to be false, as Harvard arborist John George Jack noted in 1931 [PDF]. “To clinch the effect of [the legend] …” he complained, “the artists have allowed their historical imaginations to run amuck. Prancing steeds, dipping colors, dear little drummer boys, long rows of troops aligned to a hair’s breadth, gorgeously uniformed, and presenting glittering arms with fixed bayonets, thrill every youthful heart, while smack in the middle of the front rank stands the Elm, with just room for Washington, flourishing his sword, to ride between it and the immaculate warriors.”

Washington did take command of his troops in Cambridge, but the event is thought to have been anything but glamorous. His men didn’t have uniforms or enough to eat. It wasn’t even a real army: It was a random assortment of state militias with no authority of any kind. Once he took control, Washington found that his troops were dirty and unruly and had really bad manners. For the future president, assuming control of the motley mob was taking an almost laughable gamble—one that he famously won.

The legend of what became known as “the Washington Elm” may have taken root because of other famous Revolutionary War-era trees. Boston’s Liberty Tree was an elm tree where people hung their favorite effigies and met to conspire against King George. Eventually, places all over the new nation planted their own “liberty trees,” and elms became known for their Revolutionary War connotations.

By the time the 100th anniversary of Washington’s army takeover came around, the tree where he supposedly did the deed was in terrible shape. “It is not pleasant to view the decay of one of these Titans of primeval growth,” wrote one observer, who noted that its branches had been mutilated and fallen until only a bandage-swathed monster remained.

Perhaps guessing that the end was near, a group of savvy businesspeople took some of the detritus of the dying tree and had it carved into commemorative books, like the one you see above. Housed in the collection of Harvard University’s Houghton Library, the book shows scenes of the tree itself and glimpses of Revolutionary War-era soldiers doing their thing.

In 1923, the last mangy portions of the rotted Washington Elm fell down. The government of Cambridge had to rescue what remained from souvenir hunters eager to get their hands on a piece of the tree. But its legacy didn’t end there: Not only were the remnants made into gavels and sent all around the country, but other portions of the rotten wood were divvied up and sent to various notable people and everyday applicants. The tree even got its own postage stamp in 1925.

Today, descendants of the tree can be found throughout the country. But don’t confuse them with other so-called Washington Elms the president supposedly planted or chilled out under in Washington, D.C. They’re probably legends, too—although the memorabilia generated by the first president’s association with elms shows that Washington fans were anything but fake.

When hikers in the Ötztal Alps stumbled on a body melting out of a glacier in September 1991, they thought they had found an unfortunate mountaineer who had disappeared perhaps a couple decades prior. But as soon as it was revealed that the mummified remains dated back 5300 years—and that the man had been murdered by an arrow to the back—researchers knew they had to solve the most fascinating ancient forensic case ever found. Nicknamed Ötzi, the Iceman, and Frozen Fritz, the body of a man who was around 40–50 years old when he died in the Copper Age continues to generate new data about a past era and shows links to contemporary people. In honor of the 25th anniversary of his discovery, here are 13 surprising facts about Ötzi.

1. TWO COUNTRIES FOUGHT OVER HIM.

Ötzi might very well be the oldest person ever subject to a custody dispute. He was discovered in a part of the Alps mountain range that is right on the border between Austria and Italy. Complicating the find is the fact that the glacier in which he was entombed for millennia has shrunk since the official country border was established in 1919. This means that, although the find site of the mummy drains into Austria, the place Ötzi was actually resting is about 100 meters into Italian territory. Originally, Ötzi was studied at Innsbruck University in Austria, but since 1998 he has been displayed and studied at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.

2. HIS DEATH MAY HAVE BEEN RECORDED.

In 1991, an upright, carved stone was found in the town of Laces, near the Ötztal Alps where the Iceman was discovered. Although the stone was reused in modern times for the altar of a church, it dates to the Copper Age, just like Ötzi. One of the carvings on it depicts an archer shooting an arrow into the back of an unarmed man—which bears striking similarities to how scientists know Ötzi died. This circumstantial evidence, though, has not convinced most researchers.

3. HE WAS SICK BEFORE HE WAS KILLED.

Even though Ötzi was comparatively old when he died, he was not exactly healthy. Whipworm parasite eggs were found in his gut contents, so he probably suffered from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. His body also produced a full genome of H. pylori, a common stomach bug responsible for ulcers and other tummy troubles. There is also evidence that he had ingested a medicinal herb called hop hornbeam shortly before his death, possibly to help his indigestion. And one fingernail was found to have Beau’s lines, which are created when the immune system is compromised. Ötzi’s fingernail shows he was seriously ill several times in the four months prior to death.

4. HE CARRIED A FIRST AID KIT.

Since Ötzi died while going about his daily life, the artifacts found with him give us a snapshot in time. Two particularly curious objects were spheres of botanical material about the size of walnuts that were strung on leather straps. Analysis of the masses indicated they were a fungus called Piptoporus betulinus. Notably, this fungus—if eaten—both causes diarrhea and can protect against certain mycobacteria. It is likely that Ötzi was ingesting this fungus in an attempt to treat his whipworm—the diarrheal action would have helped him get rid of the parasite’s eggs, while the antibiotic properties of the fungus would have killed off other intestinal bugs. Fungi like this were used for medicinal purposes until the 20th century.

5. HE HOLDS THE RECORD FOR OLDEST TATTOOS IN THE WORLD.

The mummy boasts 61 different tattoos, and they are the oldest physical evidence of tattooing in the world. While the Iceman does not have “MOM” on his biceps or a butterfly on his lower back, his tattoos are still quite interesting. They were made by scratching his skin and rubbing charcoal in the fresh wound, resulting in groups of lines or crosses. It has also been suggested that their placement over joints may have been an attempt to treat pain. As the oldest tattooed person ever found, Ötzi holds a Guinness World Record.

6. HE WORE A VARIETY OF LEATHERS AND HIDES.

Long before Dolce & Gabbana dressed dapper Italian men, Ötzi was mixing materials to create his clothing. A study published this August finally revealed the variety of species used to make Ötzi’s outfit. He wore a loincloth of sheepskin, leggings and a coat of goat hide, and a brown bear-skin hat. Even his accessories were diverse: His shoelaces came from wild cows and his quiver from roe deer.

7. HE WAS AN EARLY ADOPTER OF TECHNOLOGY.

Ötzi’s field kit held a surprising number of different tools. There was a copper-bladed axe, which marks him as high status; a flint dagger and its tree-fiber sheath; and a bow made out of a yew tree. His quiver, fashioned out of deer hide with hazel wood supports, contained two finished arrows and a dozen unfinished shafts. He had a net for catching rabbits and birds, as well as a marble disc with a hole in the middle for hanging or carrying dead fowls. He also carried cylindrical containers made of birch bark—a kind of Copper Age Tupperware that kept charcoal embers hot for hours so he could quickly make a fire. His teeth were worn particularly on the left side, meaning he may have used his mouth to help work leather. The Iceman’s hair also revealed high levels of arsenic, suggesting he was a pro at smelting ores to make copper.

8. HE WAS A CHALCOLITHIC RAMBO.

Ötzi was short and stocky, around 5’2” tall and 135 lbs, with strong legs. In 2003, an early study of DNA from Ötzi and his belongings claimed to find blood from four different individuals—there was some on his dagger, on his goatskin coat, and on one of the arrows. This finding was never published, though, and has not been replicated since. But other evidence for combat exists in the form of two injuries. Several right-sided rib fractures had healed before death. Shortly before his death, Ötzi was struck in the head. A protein analysis of his brain reveals some healing, particularly in the form of blood clots—but those could have caused a stroke or embolism. The Iceman also suffered a long, deep stab wound to his right hand. Based on the stage of healing evident from the wound tissue, it occurred between 3 to 8 days before his death. And of course, the arrow lodged in his left shoulder was likely the ultimate cause of death. In short, Ötzi was a hunter and a fighter.

9. ÖTZI WAS NOT A VEGETARIAN.

The Iceman’s stomach contents revealed both his last meal and the meal before that. DNA analysis published in 2002 was based on samples of digested food collected from his colon. Ötzi’s second-to-last meal consisted of ibex meat along with various species of cereals and dicots (a group of flowering plants), while for his last meal, he dined on red deer meat and either grasses or cereals. The discovery of red deer in his gut is especially interesting, since depictions of that animal figure prominently in archaeological finds throughout the Alps in this time period.

10. THE ICEMAN HAD A GAP-TOOTHED SMILE AND OTHER BODILY ANOMALIES.

Between Ötzi’s top two teeth is a natural diastema, which is the anatomical term for a gap in the teeth. Among modern adults, about 10–20 percent have this gap. Researchers also saw in the Iceman’s mouth third molar agenesis—the anatomical term for lacking wisdom teeth. Around 35 percent of people today lack wisdom teeth. Ötzi was also missing some bones—the smallest of the ribs on either side. This lack of ribs is not unheard of, but it only affects about 5 percent of the population.

11. YOU COULD BE RELATED TO ÖTZI, BUT ONLY IF YOU’RE A GUY.

The Iceman’s genome was sequenced in 2012, revealing he had brown eyes and O-type blood, was lactose intolerant, and likely had Lyme disease. The mutations in Ötzi’s paternal genetic line are most commonly found in Sardinia and Corsica today, meaning those areas likely have descendants of his genetic family. Another study in 2013 tested thousands of modern men in the Alps and discovered that 19 modern men in the sample shared a genetic lineage with the Iceman. His maternal DNA line, however, appears to be extinct. So if you’re a guy and your ancestors go back to this roughly 620-mile band between Sardinia and the Alps, there’s a chance you could be related to Ötzi.

12. ÖTZI IS CURSED.

We all know that every ancient mummy is cursed, so of course the Iceman has his own story. In 2005, rumors circulated that the deaths of at least five people may have been related to a mummy’s curse. One of the tourists who initially spotted the Iceman died falling off the side of a mountain. An Alpine guide who airlifted the mummy out died in an avalanche. A journalist who filmed the recovery of the mummy died of a brain tumor. A forensic expert who touched Ötzi with his bare hands died in a car accident en route to a conference to talk about the mummy. Even the death of the head of the research team at Innsbruck University has been attributed to Ötzi’s curse, in spite of the fact it was from multiple sclerosis. There is, of course, no evidence that these deaths are related to anything other than bad luck, coincidence, or the fact that, well, everybody dies eventually.

13. HE HAS 3D SELFIES.

One of the trends in 3D scanning and printing is to make a selfie or a replica bust of yourself, and Ötzi is no stranger this trend. The mummy has been thoroughly CT scanned over the years for analysis. Earlier this year, those CT scans were meshed with digital photographs, 3D printed, and then painted to create three life-size Ötzi clones. The Iceman’s first two 3D prints are on display at the DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, along with 3D printed bones from his body. The third life-size print is being used in a traveling exhibit; its first stop, in fall 2017, will be the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. Eventually, this traveling Ötzi replica will find its way back to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology to be with the real migratory hunter-herder, whose own journey has lasted more than 50 centuries.

Mosquitos are very good at transmitting disease, whether it’s the Zika virus dominating current global health news or the age-old malaria that has killed billions of people over the course of human history.

It wasn’t known that mosquitos could be dangerous, however, until the late 1870s, when a Scotsman practicing medicine in the Far East discovered that these insects can host parasites that cause human illness. His name was Patrick Manson.

Born near Aberdeen, Scotland in 1844, as a teenager Manson was apprenticed to an ironsmith, but he didn’t have a sturdy enough build to accommodate rigorous manual labor. Instead, he began medical school at the University of Aberdeen. After graduation, he worked at a mental asylum before heading across the world in 1866 to work as a port surgeon for the Imperial Chinese Customs Service in Formosa (present-day Taiwan). He was later transferred to Amoy on China’s southeast coast, where he operated on tumors and encountered a condition that fascinated him: elephantiasis.

At the time, the disease—which can be incapacitating and severely disfiguring, swelling soft tissues to colossal proportions and thickening skin—was leading people to suicide. Aside from having their social lives ruined, many were rendered unable to work. Their families often suspected them of demonic possession, owing to their drastic, horrifying change in appearance.

In 1875 Manson went to London, where he married Henrietta Isabella Thurburn, the 18-year-old daughter of a Royal Navy captain, before bringing his new bride back to Amoy with him the following year. And during his year in London, Manson did more than get married. He also frequented the British Museum’s reading room, where he researched the elephantiasis condition that was plaguing so many people on the other side of the planet.

After returning to his post in South China, Manson investigated the life-cycle of the filarial worm that was just then being established as the cause of elephantiasis. In 1877, he conducted experiments on his gardener, who was infected with the worm. The doctor had mosquitos feed on the man while he slept, and then dissected the insects after they’d engorged themselves on the gardener’s blood.

 
Observing the mosquitos’ stomach contents under the microscope, Manson saw that the filarial parasites developed further in their life cycle than they did inside a human. Over the course of several days, the parasites beneath his microscope had transformed from “structureless filaria embryos into morphologically distinct larvae,” writes Douglas M. Haynes in his book Imperial Medicine: Patrick Manson and the Conquest of Tropical Disease.

Based on these observations, Manson arrived at the realization that mosquitos serve as an incubator for parasites and an intermediary mechanism for passing them on to humans (although he didn’t understand exactly how the parasite was passed—he thought that the mosquitoes transferred the parasite to water that was then drunk by humans).

He published his findings in medical journals both in China and in the UK. The medical communities in both places needed a wakeup call about mosquitos—a main reason why much of Asia was sometimes called, at the time, the “white man’s grave.” Of course, people from all backgrounds were and are at serious risk from mosquito-borne illnesses (malaria alone killed an estimated 438,000 people in 2015, according to the World Health Organization), since the insects are very adept at introducing themselves to the human body, often unnoticed. They’re also nifty at traveling (some species can cover multiple miles), making them particularly effective—both medically and geographically—at spreading diseases.

In 1883, Manson moved to Hong Kong, where he founded the Hong Kong College of Medicine. By the end of the 1880s, having spent most of the previous 23 years in the Far East, he returned to the UK. At that point, other doctors and scientists in the Far East were continuing his work on mosquito-borne diseases.

Manson’s breakthrough with filarial parasites—showing that mosquitos could be a disease vector for humans—formed the basis of modern tropical medicine and paved the way for the theory that mosquitos transmit malaria. The mosquito-malaria theory would be proven in 1898 by Ronald Ross, who had been mentored by Manson, and who wrote to him: “What a beautiful discovery this is. I can venture to praise it because it belongs to you, not to me.”

The relationship between the two men would eventually become difficult. When Ross won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1902, the presentation speech and Ross’s own Nobel lecture praised Manson’s influence. But soon after, Manson and Ross’s relationship soured as Ross felt that Manson wasn’t supportive enough in Ross’s disputes with other researchers. The many letters between these two ambitious, brilliant men are anthologized in The beast in the mosquito: the correspondence of Ronald Ross and Patrick Manson.

Though Manson was a Nobel nominee multiple times, he never won the prize. He was, however, knighted in 1903, if that provided any consolation. He continued his work, lecturing on tropical diseases and serving as Chief Medical Officer to the British Colonial Office. He also established the London School of Tropical Medicine, which lives on today as one of the world’s leading institutions for the study of infectious diseases.

In the opening years of the 20th century, Manson’s health began to decline as he was beset by a mix of gout and arthritis. He retired in 1912, at age 68, a self-described “permanent cripple,” whose “next attack of gout will floor [him] altogether.”

He collected honorary memberships from medical societies scattered across the globe until his death in London in 1922 at age 77. Even today, he is referred to as “The Father of Tropical Medicine.”

A new study of ancient DNA presented at the 7th International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology has revealed the secret story of cats’ spread across the globe.

Cats are mysterious creatures. They’re independent yet social, aloof yet endearing, and very good at getting what they want. Like any organism, the very first cats originated in one place, then spread. They spread, and spread, and continue to spread, becoming beloved pets and conservationists’ worst nightmare, often at the same time.

Exactly how they managed this feat of feline world domination has remained something of a puzzle. How did these small, terrestrial animals make it across the oceans? Cats have no value as livestock (like cows) or transport (like horses). They’re good workers as mousers, but only when they want to be. And we talk about the “domestic” cat, but some scientists think that may be a misnomer—maybe we haven’t really domesticated them at all.

But they may have domesticated us. Look back 12,000 years in time to the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of agriculture, when cats were buried along with people. Look to the millions of sacred cats mummified in ancient Egypt. Every time we find the carefully entombed remains of a cat, we find a clue to how they got to be who (and where) they are today.

Researchers lead by Eva-Maria Geigl, an evolutionary geneticist at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris, sequenced DNA taken from the remains of 209 cats found at more than 30 archaeological digs across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. They focused exclusively on mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited maternally. The samples represented an enormous swath of history, from our days as hunter-gatherers up through the 18th century.

The cats’ DNA painted a picture of two distinct bursts of kitty scattering (s-cat-tering, if you will). The first was in the Middle East, where farming began about 10,000 years ago. As farming communities grew out toward the Mediterranean Sea, the cats came with them. The study authors say the farms’ piles of grain likely attracted rodents, which then brought out the wild cats. And once farmers saw the value of having fierce mousers around, they likely tried to find a way to keep them.

Fast-forward several millennia to the second wave, when noble Egyptian cats began to sow their wild oats throughout Eurasia and Africa. A family line found in Egyptian mummy cats from the end of the fourth century BCE to the fourth century CE was also found in cats from Bulgaria, Turkey, and sub-Saharan Africa during roughly the same time.

Then they hit up the Vikings. Seafaring life is a tangle of dangers and threats, including the voracious mouths of rats and mice in a hold full of essential provisions. By around the 8th century, Vikings, too, had seen the value of keeping cats around, as evidenced by feline remains found in Viking settlements.

And still they spread. Cats are something of a contentious topic these days. The hunting skills that made them so attractive to our distant ancestors can today make them a serious threat to wildlife. Some places have banned cats altogether, although it might already be too late—they’ve already got us thoroughly wrapped around their little paws.

[h/t Nature]

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According to the diet industry, toxins should rank high on our list of things to worry about. Numerous health products claim to cure symptoms like headaches, sluggishness, and even chronic disease by flushing the substances from our systems. But don’t be too quick to order a pack of foot pads or drink nothing but cayenne pepper lemonade for 10 days straight: Most health experts will tell you that toxins aren’t exactly the nutritional bogeymen they’re made out to be.

One such expert is Peter Thorne, a professor at the University of Iowa, head of the College of Public Health’s Department of Occupational & Environmental Health, and director of its Environmental Health Sciences Research Center. In a conversation with mental_floss, he said that the first thing most people get wrong when talking about toxins is the basic meaning of the term. “The words toxin, venom, toxicant, xenobiotic—these all have very specific meanings in the realm of toxicology,” Thorne says.

A toxin is defined as any harmful substance produced by a living organism. Some examples are the toxic chemicals injected by animals like bees, snakes, and sea urchins (which are all technically venom, a toxin subset). Other poisons that fall under the toxin umbrella include those produced by a dart frog or the leaf of a hemlock plant.

Toxic substances added to the environment by people, on the other hand, are called toxicants. When diet commercials and health magazines use the word “toxins,” this is usually what they’re referring to. So, by definition, toxins are always “all natural”—though whether or not that label carries any weight is a different story.

Going on a juice cleanse obviously won’t do much to treat a snakebite, but is it an effective way to rid your body of toxicants like pesticides? Thorne says that’s a question most people don’t need to be asking in the first place. “We’ve evolved with a whole cadre of metabolic enzymes that process most of the toxicants to which we’re exposed,” he says. When late-night infomercials warn that toxins (a.k.a. toxicants) can’t be avoided as long you’re someone who eats, drinks, and breathes, they’re not entirely wrong. The one part they usually fail to mention, however, is that humans have evolved to become pretty good at dealing with these substances on our own.

The majority of the low-level toxicants that enter our bodies—whether through the air we breathe or the food we ingest—are metabolized and expelled by organs like the liver and kidneys. Urine, excrement, and exhalations are a few of the exit routes toxicants can take from your system. “For the vast majority of what we’re exposed to, it has no long-term effect,” Thorne says.

Complications arise when people come into contact with toxicants in high doses. If you’re the resident of a place with dangerously high arsenic levels in the water or significant amounts of air pollution, for example, then your body may be taking in too much toxic material to process. Fortunately, agencies like the FDA and EPA (Thorne is a member of the latter’s science advisory board) exist to determine safe toxicant levels and limit how much the public is exposed to.

Industry regulations are intended to ensure that toxicants are something most U.S. citizens don’t have to think twice about. But for a small percentage of the population, even limited exposure to toxicants can be detrimental to their health. People born with certain environmental sensitivities or genetic mutations, for example, aren’t as well equipped to handle toxicants as those without them. In these rare cases, doctors may suggest medication or dietary changes as treatments. What they likely won’t recommend is one of the many home “detox” remedies that can be found over the counter.

The health guidelines toxicologists like Thorne set forth are the result of years of rigorous study. Products like detoxifying teas, face masks, and colon-cleansing capsules often have no research to back up their effectiveness. “For the vast majority of people, if you’re living a healthy lifestyle and you have [a well-balanced] diet, you have no need to even think about some of these extreme measures I’ve seen advertised,” Thorne says. “I’ve seen some evidence out there to suggest they’re [in] no way valuable or effective—or needed.”

Toxicology research has brought us a long way in just the past several decades: Lead is no longer added to our gasoline and mercury is no longer a key ingredient in hat-making. As new research broadens our understanding of the area, there’s one thing we can keep in mind: More often than not, detoxing is a job best left to your organs.

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Fans of The Simpsons will really have something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. ComingSoon.net reports that FXX is airing all 600 episodes of the beloved animated sitcom beginning on November 24, and running for 13 days straight.

The massive TV marathon—appropriately entitled “Every. Simpsons. Ever.”—will run chronologically beginning with the very first episode of The Simpsons, which aired in 1989. Fans who clear their schedules and forgo sleep can spend 300 consecutive hours watching the world of Springfield evolve over the course of 27 seasons. While this certainly isn’t the first time a network has aired a Simpsons marathon (even FXX actually aired a slightly shorter version back in 2014), it’s a record-breaking one: Not only will it be the longest Simpsons marathon in TV history, but it will be the longest television marathon ever aired, according to the network.

“The first ‘Every. Simpsons. Ever.’ Marathon was truly so special and landmark in its cultural relevance and impact,” FX Networks President and COO Chuck Saftler said in a statement. “The unprecedented feat of reaching 600 episodes deserves something of that caliber to mark it and celebrate it. Doing this is an act of true fandom, honoring Jim Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, all the writers, artists, directors, people behind the scenes, and the ridiculously talented voice actors who have brought this series to life and kept it at the pinnacle of artistic excellence these past 27-plus seasons.”

[h/t ComingSoon.net]

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