Wonders & MarvelsAn independent publication of researched, sourced essays on the history of science, medicine, invention, archaeology and culture.https://wondersandmarvels.com/Blown Away? What the Evidence Says About the Mongol Invasions of Japanhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2015/06/blown-away-the-mongol-invasions-of-japan.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2015/06/blown-away-the-mongol-invasions-of-japan.htmlKublai Khan's fleets attacked Japan in 1274 and 1281. Scrolls, a stone wall, lake mud, and wrecks off Takashima show how much of the 'divine wind' story holds up.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTCatherine de' Medici and the Making of a Poisoner Legendhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2010/06/history%E2%80%99s-black-widow-the-legend-of-catherine-de-medici.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2010/06/history%E2%80%99s-black-widow-the-legend-of-catherine-de-medici.htmlThe queen mother of France wore black for thirty years and was blamed for poisonings and a massacre. What the record shows, what it does not, and where the legend began.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTDid Ancient Greek Women Use Tampons? Testing the Hippocratic Tampon Claimhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2014/11/the-history-of-tampons-in-ancient-greece.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2014/11/the-history-of-tampons-in-ancient-greece.htmlA popular story says Hippocrates described lint-wrapped wooden tampons. Classicist Helen King traced it to modern marketing and a misread Greek word. Here is what the evidence supports.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTFialka: How the Soviet M-125 Cipher Machine Rebuilt the Rotor Ideahttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2014/11/fialka-the-bigger-better-russian-enigma.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2014/11/fialka-the-bigger-better-russian-enigma.htmlThe Soviet M-125 Fialka used ten counter-rotating rotors, a punched key card, and a deliberate fix for Enigma's best-known flaw. What is documented about it, and what is still unknown.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTSkull, Mummy, and Blood: Corpse Medicine in Early Modern Englandhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2011/12/drinking-blood-and-eating-flesh-corpse-medicine-in-early-modern-england.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2011/12/drinking-blood-and-eating-flesh-corpse-medicine-in-early-modern-england.htmlFrom powdered Egyptian mummy to the skull tincture given to a dying Charles II, how European physicians made the human body into medicine, and why the practice faded.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTWalter Freeman and the "Lobotomobile": What the Record Showshttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2016/03/fighting-the-legend-of-the-lobotomobile.htmlhttps://wondersandmarvels.com/2016/03/fighting-the-legend-of-the-lobotomobile.htmlWalter Freeman really did travel the country promoting lobotomy. The van he supposedly called the "lobotomobile" is another matter. Here is where the word came from.Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT