Utterly interesting

In the 1960s, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories explored the “Man Amplifier,” an early exoskeleton concept designed to boost human strength. Decades before modern robotics, their visionary work laid the foundation for today’s powered suits.

In the late 1960s, hijacking an American airliner and demanding to fly to Cuba became so common that the U.S. government considered building a fake Havana in Florida. Federal officials planned to disguise a runway with palm trees, Spanish signs, and Cuban music so hijackers could be tricked into surrendering — a bizarre but revealing episode from the Cold War’s golden age of skyjacking.

The 1904 St. Louis Olympics were unlike anything before or since. A chaotic marathon of dust, poison, wild dogs and cheating that almost ended the event for good. Discover the unbelievable story of America’s first and strangest Olympic Games.

In 1954, Marilyn Monroe left her honeymoon in Japan to perform for American troops in freezing Korea. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. For the soldiers, her warmth and laughter brought home to a war-torn land.

From battered sand at Daytona to blinding white salt at Bonneville, Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird fused Rolls Royce power and Railton craft to shatter three hundred miles per hour in 1935. How a cool head, a smarter nose, and twin rear wheels made history.

A broke writer, a fiery producer, and a word the Mob wanted erased. Discover how The Godfather was made — the deals, the threats, the casting fights, and the brilliance that made it a masterpiece.