In 1537, Sher Shah Suri assumed control of Bengal and established the Suri empire, which controlled a vast area including Afghanistan, most of what is now Pakistan, as well as northern India.

Shere Khan, Kipling’s fictional tiger, was popularised by Disney’s adaptation of The Jungle Book, which was released in 1967. But that would not be the last time that Sher Shah Suri would exert his influence on Walt Disney Pictures.

Suri’s bravery and military achievements earnt him the title of “The Lion King”, a name that Disney would use to create an entirely new franchise some 27 years after The Jungle Book was released.

This mildly disturbing information suggests that locust swarms move on to new locations so that they don’t have to eat each other… or get eaten themselves.

It might not only be desperation that drives locusts to resort to cannibalism though, with one professor involved with the research claiming that “locusts are constantly nibbling on each other”.

Umm, eww?

The crater is located beneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and has a diameter of more than 180 kilometres (that’d be around 110 miles). When the Chicxulub asteroid crashed into the Earth it released the equivalent energy of about 100,000,000 megatons of TNT, making the impact around 2 million times more powerful than the most powerful man-made explosion.

After the collision, scientists believe that a number of changes occured on the Earth. These would have included megatsunamis with waves thousands of feet high and hot clouds of dust and ash that spread across much of our planet’s surface.

Pieces of the asteroid would have been ejected out of the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up as they rose into the sky and causing the Earth to broil, igniting world-wide bushfires and causing acid rain.

Shock waves from the impact would have triggered a countless number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as the Earth watched the demise of the thunder lizards and began to prepare for the arrival of mankind.

Long-period comets that enter our solar system from deep space are deflected away from our planet by Jupiter’s immensely powerful gravitational field. One estimate claims that such comets would impact Earth as many as 1,000 times more often were it not for Jupiter’s protection.

It’s a double-edged sword, however, as Jupiter’s gravity also nudges rocks out of the asteroid belt (that Jupiter itself was responsible for creating) and towards the sun; sending chunks of space rock hurtling towards Earth.

The letter was dated May 27th, 1641 (incidentally, also the year that witchcraft was pronounced a capital crime by the English) and was written to a priest who was overseeing the publication of Descartes book “Meditations on First Philosophy”, sub-titled: “In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated”.

Some time after it was written, the notorious Count Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, who—if guilty of no other crimes—had a name too long to be sensible, got his greedy mitts on the letter (along with around 70 others by Descartes) and stole away with it to London, England (where he assumedly didn’t peform witchcraft, as it was now illegal).

Before he fled to England, Count Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja stole thousands of books, manuscripts and other documents (at least some of which must have had at least something to do with witchcraft) from French and Italian libraries.

The Count sold many stolen items, including works by Galileo and Copernicus. After his death in 1868 some of the stolen works were recovered, while many others remained missing.

Among the missing documents was the letter discovered this year by a philosophy scholar. The letter was found in the library of Haverford University, near Philadelphia, and has since been returned to France.

Vlad Tepes (or Vlad III) was the Prince of Wallachia from 1456 to 1461 and earnt a bloodthirsty reputation for submitting his enemies to unusually cruel methods of execution. Most notable of these was impaling his victims them on spears, which earnt him the title of Vlad the Impaler.

Pattinson is allegedly related to Vlad Tepes through his connection to the British royal family: Princes William and Harry, who are distant cousins of Pattinson, are also distantly related to the Impaler.

“Why, there’s simply nothing that would be so grand as a fungus resembling raw meat!” Is what I’m sure you’re thinking… and that’s a good thing because such an oddity actually exists, in the form of Fistulina hepatica, otherwise known as Beefsteak Fungus, Ox Tongue or, my personal favourite, Beefsteak Polypore.

Beefsteak Fungus can be found in Europe, North America and Australia where it grows on both living and dead trees. In Australia it’s normally seen growing from the wounds of Eucalyptus trees. Fistulina hepatica actually appears to bleed when you cut it and is said to have a slightly acidic flavour.

Mmm… I know what I’m having for dinner tonight (fried chicken).

Severe tropical storms are believed to have triggered the appearance of the 30-metre-deep (almost 100 feet) hole, which swallowed a three-storey building and left an eerily symmetrical wound in the Earth. Surprisingly, no human lives were lost, despite unsubstantiated reports by a local newspaper claiming that a security guard was killed.

Sinkholes are normally formed when there is an excess of water in the soil that makes it too heavy for empty “voids” below the surface to continue supporting. The poor quality of sewage systems in Guatemala (a sewage leak was blamed for the appearance of another sinkhole there in 2007), as well as torrential downpours from recent tropical storms are believed to have combined in the creation of the sinkhole, which some experts are predicting could grow even larger.

Conspiracy theories abound, with people claiming that everyone from aliens to demons (and probably a few human governments) are to blame. But just as a Vegas magician earns his living, might the sudden appearance of this sinkhole in Guatemala be a cunning act of misdirection—intended to draw our attention away from some of the other holes in our planet?

Keep reading to find out about a few more places that are probably teeming with tentacled horrors.

The Great Blue Hole

Surely the only thing more awesome than a sinkhole on dry land is one underwater. The Great Blue Hole can be found off the coast of Belize and is 300 metres across (almost 1,000 feet) and reaches a total depth of 125 metres (410 feet).

The hole is believed to be the largest example of such a sinkhole worldwide and forms part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System—a UNESCO protected location. It is a popular destination for scuba divers, who for some reason enjoy floating above unfathomable voids.

Dersios

Surely the only thing more awesome than an underwater sinkhole is one with a name as ominous as “Dersios”. Sounding like something ripped straight out of Greek mythology, the Dersios sinkhole is located on Mount Parnon in Arcadia, Greece.

Dersios has been known about since those ever-elusive “historical times”, but was not explored until 1974. Since then, estimates about the depth of the sinkhole have doubled to well over 150 metres (just under 500 feet). We might never know how deep Dersios actually is, but there’s a fair chance Pandora’s Box is down there somewhere.

Sima Humbolt and Sima Martel

The Venezuelan plateau of the Sarisariñama tepui is a place spoken of in fearful tones by the Ye’Kuana Indians, who tell that the forested mountain-top is home to an “Evil Spirit” who devours human flesh.

It was not until 1961 that a pilot flying above the region spotted a pair of enormous sinkholes amid the trees. As it turned out there are four related sinkholes in the location, the two largest being Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel. Both sinkholes contain living jungles at their bases… and possibly also dinosaurs.

Don’t get any ideas about Triceratops rides just yet though, as the Sarisariñama tepui remains off-limits to tourists.

Now this might not seem important to you, but with Marvel’s upcoming MMO boasting a roster of 5,000 licensed characters, it could prove useful to know something about some of the less iconic denizens of the Marvel Universe.

Everyone already knows that Spider-Man can “shot web” and Wolverine has claws, but I bet you didn’t know that Thunderclap owns a pair of hydraulic gloves that can create sonic booms.

Well now you do.

Ah, the 70’s… such a simpler time.

Anyway, Pagan Island is awesome and I want it. Plus I realised the other night that if I had a plane (and a pilot) and some armed mercenaries, I could actually have it, because there’s no human population there to stop me.

The island is home to two active volcanoes (named North and South Pagan, respectively) and beaches of black sand. A volcanic eruption in 1981 (ah, the 80’s… such a simpler time) forced the last inhabitants to leave the island and it has been deserted (at least officially) ever since.

I say we take it.