There are so many negative numbers and statistics flying around at the moment, it's a little overwhelming. So let me tell you an inspiring story about numbers: it will be a relief to think about ...

More than 2,200 years before satellites, GPS and space missions transformed our understanding of the planet, an ancient Greek scholar achieved something extraordinary. Using nothing more than a stick, ...

In the mid-20th century, we began launching satellites into space that would help us determine the exact circumference of the Earth: 40,030 km. But over 2000 years earlier, a man in Ancient Greece ...

Every once in a while, a hoax or claim that's so spectacularly absurd goes viral that even the most circumspect bystanders can be taken in. Yet science doesn't stop being true just because some people ...

You might have heard that the Earth was earlier believed to be flat. You might have even laughed at the thought, but if you try and empathise with those who lived thousands of years ago, it would not ...

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. In the mid-20th century, we began launching satellites into space that would ...

Born around 276 B.C. in Cyrene, Libya, Eratosthenes soon became one of the most famous mathematicians of his time. He is best known for making the first recorded measurement of the Earth’s ...

Among the many bullshit facts kids are (were?) fed about Christopher Columbus is that his voyage to the New World disproved the prevailing notion that the Earth was flat. If I remember correctly, the ...