2,228 years ago today, the Gaozu Emperor (given name Liu Bang) claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Han Dynasty—one of the three great dynasties of a unified Imperial China. Among the hundreds of Chinese emperors, Liu Bang was among the few born to a peasant family. Though he ruled briefly—just 7 years—it was enough to usher in the historical era known in the West as the first Pax Sinica, from as far south as the Pearl River to as far north as the Mongolian steps, and as far west as Xinjiang. In the last years of his reign, he instituted free-market reforms including privatized coinage and lower taxes. READ more about his life and the founding of the Han Dynasty… (202 BCE)

A neat feat of calculation and deduction may have solved one of our solar system’s greatest mysteries.

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is bigger than Mercury, yet for all its conspicuousness, scientists don’t know exactly how it came to be so large that it’s gravitational influence causes Saturn to tilt and wobble.

The UK’s first geothermal power plant has just begun operations, using hot water from deep underground to create renewable electricity.

A snow plow driver was crawling through near-white out conditions on Long Island when he saw something strange.

Kenny McGowan has had to stop his snow plow in the past for all manner of hidden obstacles and hazards, from buried cars to fallen branches.

In January, GNN reported on how the brain-disabling cold of the Norwegian winter couldn’t affect the performance of an all-electric ferryboat plying the waters in the country’s far northern district of Finmark.

30 years ago today, the world of Pokémon went public, emerging from the mind of game designer Satoshi Tajiri onto Nintendo Gameboy systems. In the six years it took to create the game and its first three “pocket monsters” (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander), Tajiri’s Game Freak studio nearly went out of business, but the little creatures—some disarmingly cute, like, Pikachu—would take the world by storm and handheld Gameboys would assume a second life. READ more about the franchise… (1996)

From the charming British countryside of Salisbury comes an equally-charming story of a roll of lost film found lodged in a thrift shop camera.

Developed by Ian Scott of Salisbury Photo Center, he and the new owner of the antique camera were suddenly looking at crisp memories of a skiing trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Capable of undergoing 120,000 charge cycles and being disposed of anywhere, an experimental new battery design might be thought of as truly state-of-the-art.

To the contrary, the magnesium chloride or calcium chloride electrolytes used to carry the charge between the negative and positive electrodes were quite familiar to the Hong Kong-scientists that designed the battery for a very good reason.

Thai conservationists were delighted with the news that a sighting of an Asian golden cat had been recorded by camera traps.

The legendary “fire tiger” of Thai folklore and mythology, the Asian golden cat is one of the most scarcely seen of all wildcats.

250 million years ago, the giant ancestors of today’s salamanders swam from the area of today’s Norwegian Arctic to the west coast of Australia.

This monumental trip placed it, many years later, under the brushes and picks of paleontologists who incorrectly identified it. The fossils would later travel all over the world much like the animal did in life, before being placed in storage and forgotten about.

94 years ago today, Johnny Cash was born. The American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and author was widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash a rare honor: multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. WATCH Cash perform in San Quentin Prison… (1932)

Reprinted with permission from World at Large News

In South Africa, a strategy 6 years in the making to protect rhinos from poaching, as ingenious as it is dramatic, is now being implemented on the ground in the country’s game reserves and parks.