Missed chronicles

Was the Kraken real? Scientists prove it was!

Between political updates, economic shifts, and the relentless speed of the modern news cycle, it’s incredibly easy for fascinating breakthroughs and heartwarming stories to slip through the cracks. While the world was looking elsewhere, scientists were rewriting history, and everyday heroes were quietly accomplishing the extraordinary. If you need a break from the usual headlines, here are 10 amazing, recent news stories that you probably missed.

For centuries, the Kraken was a terrifying myth spread by sailors. However, a groundbreaking paleontological study published by scientists at Hokkaido University in Japan changed everything. By analyzing well-preserved fossilized jaws from Late Cretaceous sediments, researchers identified a colossal, prehistoric finned octopus species named Nanaimoteuthis haggarti. Scientists estimate this ancient cephalopod reached a staggering length of up to 62 feet, making it the largest invertebrate ever discovered.

Robots are no longer those chunky machines we used to watch in films and TV shows. At the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, a humanoid robot named "Lightning" shocked sports and tech enthusiasts alike. Competing autonomously alongside 12,000 human runners, Lightning completed the 13.1-mile race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. Not only did it win its category, but it also ran faster than the official human men's half-marathon world record of 57:31. The event was designed to test advanced robotic cooling systems and structural endurance under real-world conditions.

In a huge leap for neuroscience, researchers at Eon Systems—a San Francisco-based neurotechnology startup—successfully built a digital brain emulation of an adult fruit fly. Scientists uploaded this computational brain into a simulated environment called NeuroMechFly v2, thanks to the "FlyWire" project, a Princeton-led connectome that mapped all 140,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections of the insect.

The result? The digital fly began moving its virtual body, grooming itself, and seeking out food. This marks the world's first embodiment of a brain emulation producing multi-behavioral actions without direct programming.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has been roaming Gale Crater since 2012, but it just pulled off one of its most historic achievements. Using an onboard chemical asset known as TMAH, the rover conducted an unprecedented experiment on Martian clay.

The analysis uncovered more than 20 organic compounds. Most notably, Curiosity detected a nitrogen-bearing molecule with a chemical architecture similar to the precursors of Earthly DNA. While scientists cannot yet confirm if these molecules stem from ancient alien life or unique geological processes, it proves Mars has the fundamental building blocks of life.

If you are looking for the fountain of youth, you might want to look across the dinner table. A study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) analyzed biological age acceleration using "epigenetic clocks".

The study revealed a fascinating link between marital status and aging. It found that never-married males exhibited significantly accelerated biological aging compared to their married peers. The data for females showed that experiencing a stressor, like widowhood, drastically accelerated biological age markers due to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.

Frustrated by bureaucratic delays after a close friend went missing, an 18-year-old high school student from Oaxaca, Mexico, took matters into his own hands. Jesús Alejandro Jiménez López developed a facial recognition prototype called Encuéntrame 72 (Find Me 72).

The AI maps unique facial markers and scans real-time security feeds and databases to generate instant alerts. The technology is optimized to exploit the critical first 72 hours of a disappearance. The project recently won first place in a prestigious international engineering competition in Peru.

In the southern city of Tarnów, Poland, a 50-year-old resident finally passed the written theory portion of his driver's license exam on his 139th attempt. The man had been stubbornly taking the test since 2017, spending roughly €1,800 in exam fees over nine years.

Testing center officials eventually discovered the reason behind his historic losing streak: the man had been studying using a limited demo version of the practice software. Once he finally switched to the full version covering all the questions, his scores skyrocketed.

We have always known that dogs are man’s best friend, but an international genetic investigation led by the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool proved the bond goes back much further than we believed.

By analyzing ancient DNA and 3D scans of over 600 canid skulls spanning 50,000 years, scientists established clear genetic and structural evidence of domestication dating back 14,000 to 16,000 years ago. This places the origin of domestic dogs in the last Ice Age, thousands of years before human societies transitioned into agriculture.

In most major cities, losing your wallet or smartphone on a subway means it’s gone forever. Not in Tokyo. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department operates a specialized Lost and Found Center in Bunkyo City to manage the millions of items turned in by honest citizens every year.

Driven by deeply ingrained cultural values of civic duty and integrity, the center processes everything from umbrellas to wallets full of cash. Thanks to an incredibly organized database, the return rate for high-value items like electronics and official documents is around 80% to 90%.

In the vast agricultural plains of the Argentine Pampas, a spectacular aerial image can be seen from space: a perfectly manicured, third-of-a-mile-long forest in the precise shape of an acoustic guitar.

The living masterpiece was created by a local farmer named Pedro Martin Ureta. In 1977, his 25-year-old wife, Graciela, tragically passed away from a sudden brain aneurysm. Years before, she had mentioned wanting to design their ranch into her favorite musical instrument. To fulfill her wish, Pedro and his four children spent years planting over 7,000 trees: dark cypresses to outline the body and soundhole, and vibrant eucalyptus trees to represent the strings.

Rare jobs from distant times

Do you know what a costermonger is? 10 obsolete occupations explained

Image: Howard R. Hollem, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From milliners and stevedores to knocker-ups and fletchers, time has taken away a good number of trades. Social, economic, and technological changes, along with the emergence of new consumer habits, have led to the disappearance of certain jobs that were once popular and profitable. Here is a list of 10 English words describing occupations and professions that are rare or have become obsolete but will certainly leave you speechless.

Image: Patrick Fore

Did you know that women were in charge of the ale brewing process before industrialization? And they even had a special name for their profession: alewife. An alewife was a woman who kept an ale-house, that is, a brewster. There are records of the use of the word in England dating back to 1393.

Throughout the Middle Ages, before the Black Death struck Europe, it was considered a female profession that helped women earn extra income. Although this job was later taken over by men, until about the 17th century some women still continued to brew for both domestic and commercial use.

Image: José Ramírez

Long before fast fashion and industrial mass production, people used to take care of their shoes as if they were gold. If something happened to them and they had to fix them, they would go to a cobbler. The word derives from Middle English cobeler, cobelere which meant "mender of shoes."

Originally, the term cobbler was used pejoratively to refer to those who were not very good at their trade. Over time, it came to be used for those who only mended shoes to differentiate them from shoemakers.

Image: Lia Den

You probably know what a fishmonger is, but what about a costermonger? In medieval London, costermongers were street apple sellers. The term appeared in written English for the first time in the 16th century. It is derived from the words costard —an apple variety— and monger, meaning seller. Over time the term was extended to any fruit and vegetable vendor who roamed the towns pushing carts or carrying baskets.

Costermongers were especially popular during the Victorian era. It is believed that at the time there were between 30,000 and 45,000 costermongers in London. Unfortunately, in the second half of the 20th century, they began to decline and their famous melodic sales poems and chants disappeared from the streets.

Image: RDNE Stock project

Ok, this is not a profession that is necessarily extinct, but you may know it by another name: Hatter or hat maker. The word milliner dates back to the 16th century and originally meant someone from Milan. It referred to Italian merchants who sold everything from hats to gloves and jewelry.

Over time, the term expanded, and starting in the 18th century it was more closely related to women who made bonnets and other accessories. By the early 20th century it is believed that there were more than 80,000 people, mostly women, working as milliners in New York alone.

Image: Ales Krivec

During the Industrial Revolution, in countries like Britain, Ireland, and the Netherlands, a large mass of workers had to report to work at specific times. But there was a problem: Clocks were expensive and inaccessible to the working class. Luckily, a new profession emerged, the knocker-up or knocker-upper, who was in charge of waking people up every morning so they could get to work on time.

This job was usually done by pregnant women and older men. Knocker-uppers used a cane or stick to bang on their customers’ doors. Others used pea shooters. It was a fairly profitable profession until the mid-20th century, although in some towns of industrial England, you could still see knockers-up walking the streets in the 1970s.

Image: Lewis Hine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a stevedore is "one who works at or is responsible for loading and unloading ships in port." The term was borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish and introduced into English by sailors. In the United States, the words longshoreman or dockworker are more common.

Stevedores have existed since ancient times but their role has evolved through time. In the Medieval period, dockworkers played a crucial role, but they were especially important during the Industrial Revolution when trade volumes increased exponentially. Nowadays, this job is close to extinction, and the few stevedores remaining mostly move around big containers through heavy machinery.

Image: The New York Public Library

It seems that taxes have always been a touchy subject. Do you know what tax collectors were called in medieval England? Catchpoles. The word is a combination of Old English cace, "catch" and medieval Latin pullus, meaning _"_chicken." It turns out that in popular belief, tax debtors were as difficult to catch as a cheeky hen on a farm.

In the early days of this profession, chatchpoles were freelancers who charged a commission on the debt they managed to collect. And for that, they used any method they considered necessary. Later, their job became official and they began to work directly for the bailiff, leaving behind their more violent ways.

Image: Markus Winkler

This profession is now a bit different and has a different name, however, it was an important trade during the Middle Ages. A draper was a seller of cloth, especially fabric that was used to make garments. The first known use of the term in English is from the 14th century and derives from Old French draper, "to weave, make cloth."

Some historians regard this period as the birth of fashion due to the increase in fabric production. Clothing was no longer considered a mere utilitarian good but began to carry a symbolic capital. In this sense, it is no coincidence that the profession of draper became so popular and profitable around this time.

Image: Carl Tronders

Although today it may be hard to believe that this was a profession, it was very popular in England during the 18th and 19th centuries. If you read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein you probably know what we are talking about. In those days, resurrectionists were commonly employed by anatomists to exhume the bodies of the recently dead for research.

Due to advances in science, corpses were a commodity in high demand. While this job was not well regarded, technically the resurrectionists were not doing anything illegal because the bodies were not considered anyone's property. However, the rise of gangs and the increase in murders meant that the trade began to disappear, and by the 1850s it no longer existed.

Image: Gioele Fazzeri

The first recorded use of the term fletcher dates back to the 14th century. It derives from the French word flèche, which means "arrow". In the Middle Ages, fletchers were in charge of making arrows, which were the number one chosen battlefield weapon at the time.

Perhaps pursuing a career as a fletcher today doesn't make much sense, but back then they were in high demand. An army going to war might have needed to take hundreds of thousands of arrows with them, so they needed trained men who could make them of good quality. By all accounts, a talented fletcher could produce up to 10 arrows per hour. Sounds like a lot, don’t you think?