Catherine the Great

(Newser) - An 18th-century letter going up for auction in London Wednesday has very modern relevance, thanks to its subject: inoculations. As the New York Times reports, the scourge of the time was smallpox, and in the 1787 letter, Catherine the Great pushes for variolation, an early inoculation process. "Such inoculation...

(Newser) - Taking into account sheer numbers, global impact, and inventiveness, James Brady Ryan counts down the history’s top sex lives for Nerve . Some highlights:

• Genghis Khan: When 8% of the population of Central Asia (which includes 17 million males) are your direct descendants, you did something right.
• Madonna: “No

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