They saw the future

Incredible Prophecies: He predicted the Titanic 14 years before it sank

What if we told you someone described the Titanic disaster 14 years before it happened? Or that a famous American writer predicted the exact day of his own death? And decades before the first iPad or smartphone existed, some people had already imagined them with astonishing precision. Coincidence? Genius? Or something else entirely? From the sinking of the Titanic to the Moon landing and the rise of social media, here are 10 predictions so accurate that they'll make you wonder whether the future can sometimes be seen before it happens.

We all know the story of the RMS Titanic, the "unsinkable" ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 people. But here's a lesser-known and shocking fact: 14 years before the disaster, someone had already written an incredibly similar story.

In 1898, American author Morgan Robertson published the novella Futility (later retitled The Wreck of the Titan). It tells the story of the Titan, a gigantic, supposedly "unsinkable" luxury liner that strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks. 14 years later, the Titanic met almost the same fate. The parallels are so striking that Robertson's novel is still regarded as one of history's most astonishing coincidences.

The Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla didn't just revolutionize electricity; he also made one of the most amazing technological predictions in history.

In 1926, 68 years before the first smartphone, Tesla gave an interview to Collier's magazine in which he described what sounds remarkably like today's connected world. He predicted that wireless technology would eliminate distance, saying the Earth would one day be "converted into a huge brain." Then he added an even more startling prediction: "The instruments with which we shall be able to do this will be incredibly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket."

Today, finding an answer takes just a few seconds. But before Google, before Wikipedia, and even before the internet reached most homes, someone had already described almost exactly how we would search for information.

That someone was Isaac Asimov, the American science fiction writer and professor. In a 1988 interview on PBS's A World of Ideas with Bill Moyers, Asimov predicted that every home would one day have a computer connected to "enormous libraries," where anyone could ask a question and instantly receive an answer. He also described an "interconnected encyclopedia" that many people now compare to Wikipedia.

More than five decades later, the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing remains one of the greatest feats in human history. But as if the incredible achievement of reaching the moon wasn't enough, there's something that makes it even more spectacular: Someone described key parts of the lunar mission more than 100 years before it happened.

In 1865, French writer Jules Verne published From the Earth to the Moon, a science fiction classic that turned out to be prophetic. In it, Verne placed the launch in Florida, the same state NASA would later use for its missions. He also chose aluminum for his spacecraft because it was lightweight and durable, decades before it became the backbone of the aerospace industry. And, just like Apollo 11, his spacecraft carried three crew members. For a novel written more than a century before, the similarities are hard to ignore.

Today, video calls are such a normal part of life that we take them for granted. But not long ago, the only option was a landline, and seeing the person you were talking to sounded like something out of a science fiction movie.

But some writers didn't just imagine the future; they came incredibly close to predicting it. One of them was Hugo Gernsback, the Luxembourgish-American inventor, writer, and publisher often called the "Father of Science Fiction." In his 1911 novel Ralph 124C 41+, Gernsback described a device called the "Telephot," a combination telephone and television that let callers see both the face and surroundings of the person on the other end of the line. More than a century later, it's hard not to compare that with FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype.

Love it or hate it, social media has become one of the biggest forces in modern life. Today, we use it to get news, find jobs, stay in touch with family, and organize our lives. But just a few decades ago, the idea that billions of people would do all of that online seemed almost impossible.

Bill Gates, however, imagined it perfectly. In 1999, just a year after Google launched, Gates published Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy, where he made a series of predictions that would later come true. He wrote that "private websites for your friends and family will be common, allowing you to chat and plan events," an unsettlingly accurate description of Facebook, which wouldn't launch until 2004. He also predicted that people would find jobs online by sharing their interests, skills, and qualifications, a couple of years before LinkedIn debuted in 2002.

For millions of people in the world, one of the first things to do each morning is check the news on their phones or tablets. Today, that's completely normal; in the 1960s, however, it seemed unimaginable.

While it’s hard to believe, that's exactly what Arthur C. Clarke described in his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this story, the English author introduced a device called the "Newspad," on which astronauts read news from Earth. But Clarke didn't just predict a tablet-like device; he also described how users would tap headlines to expand articles and read them comfortably on a screen. In other words, he was able to envision much of today’s experience more than 40 years before the iPad debuted in 2010.

We've already seen predictions that came true years, and even decades later. But this next one was written about 300 years before the technology it described existed.

Who did it? Robert Boyle, the Irish chemist known as the father of modern chemistry and the scientist behind Boyle's Law. In the 1660s, Boyle wrote a private scientific wish list that has been preserved by the Royal Society for its importance. Among its 24 visionary goals was "The Art of Flying," based on his belief that air obeyed physical laws humans could eventually master, something accomplished with the airplane more than two centuries later. He also described "a practicable and certain way of determining longitudes," a problem that wouldn't truly be solved worldwide until the age of satellite navigation and GPS, almost three centuries after Boyle first imagined it.

For more than 2,000 years, astronomers have tracked Halley's Comet, and thanks to that work, today we know it returns about every 75 to 76 years. The last time it appeared was in 1986, and it's expected back in 2061. Predicting a comet's return is science, but predicting your own death is something else.

And that's exactly what Mark Twain, the "father of American literature," did. Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, the year when Halley's Comet lit up our sky. 74 years later, in 1909, he famously said, "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it." On April 21, 1910, the day after the comet reached its brightest point, Mark Twain died.

The Cold War lasted more than 44 years, pitting the United States and the Soviet Union against each other in a global struggle for power. But astonishingly, one thinker foresaw this rivalry more than a century before it began.

While traveling through the United States, French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville published an impressive prediction in Democracy in America (1835–1840): "There are at the present time two great nations in the world... I allude to the Russians and the Americans... Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world." More than 100 years later, those two nations would fight to dominate the second half of the 20th century almost exactly as he had anticipated.

What science says

It was false after all: 10 health myths that sound true—but aren't

Image: Alicja Gancarz

Health myths are everywhere! These ideas were simply passed down for so long that they became part of what we believed. But now science has stepped in to clear things up. Does cold weather make you sick? Can lemon detox your body? Is reading in low light really harmful? Let's uncover the truth behind 10 common health myths!

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Have you ever been told that cutting your hair will make it grow faster? We're sorry to say that's just a myth. Hair grows from the root, not the ends. So, trimming it won't boost growth, though it does help remove split ends that can make your hair look dry or unhealthy.

Image: Thom Holmes

This is one of the most common health myths. Cold weather often gets blamed, but it's not the temperature that makes you catch a cold. During winter, we tend to stay indoors with others and keep the windows closed, an environment that makes it easier for viruses to spread. That's why colds tend to be more common in winter!

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The idea that eating before bed automatically leads to weight gain is a myth. In reality, it has more to do with what you eat and how much, rather than the time of day. Often, when we eat very late at night, we're tired and more likely to reach for quick, high-calorie, heavy foods. This can disrupt sleep and lead to consuming more calories than we burn, both of which may affect weight. If it's close to bedtime, it's better to have something light and healthy in a moderate portion than to skip a meal altogether.

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Does wearing glasses weaken your vision? Myth! If an eye doctor prescribes glasses, wearing them as directed helps correct your vision; it won't make it worse. Additionally, the right glasses can help prevent or reduce headaches caused by reading or spending long hours in front of a screen.

Image: Amir Balam

This myth is closely related to the previous one. If you love reading and sometimes have to do it in low light because of the situation, don't worry. According to experts, reading in low light doesn't cause permanent or irreversible eye damage. However, it's not recommended because it can make your eyes feel tired or strained, leading to discomfort or headaches.

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We're all different, and so are our bodies. The idea that everyone should drink exactly eight glasses of water a day is more of a general guideline than a rule. Staying well hydrated throughout the day is extremely important, but how much water you need depends on factors like your weight, age, climate, and overall health. We should prioritize staying consistently hydrated instead of obsessing over the number of glasses we drink.

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Some people say drinking lemon water helps eliminate toxins and cleanse the body. While adding a slice of lemon to your water is a refreshing way to stay hydrated, it doesn't have any special "detoxifying" powers. The vitamin C in citrus fruits is beneficial, but the body has its own natural detox system. The liver and kidneys are the main organs that filter waste and eliminate toxins.

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Not all fats are bad! Just like other food groups, your body needs fats to function properly. The important thing is knowing the difference between healthy fats and those that can be harmful. Foods like avocados, seeds, olive oil, fish, and nuts are rich in healthy fats. On the other hand, the fats found in processed or fried foods are the ones that can have a negative impact on your body.

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Liver diseases can be serious. While heavy and frequent consumption of alcohol and fats is a major contributor, it's not the only cause. Liver problems can also result from many other factors. These include viral infections, autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders, high blood pressure, and exposure to certain chemicals.

Image: Brooke Lark

There's some truth to it: breakfast is important because it replenishes our glucose and energy levels and supports proper metabolism. However, the idea that it's the most important meal of the day might be an exaggeration. Everyone's body has different needs, and all meals are important, so we shouldn't skip any of them!