Who knew?

Source: Flickr

This 65-feet-tall stunner is no stranger to controversy. In 2000, a nature photographer came under fire for, well, lighting one beneath the arch to demonstrate a particular photography technique and was subsequently fined over $10,000 for damages. Following that, photos surfacing of climber Dean Potter’s jaunt to the top caused authorities to forbid climbing on any named arch all year.

For a while, the black death’s etiology was uncertain. But thanks to ever-improving technology, scientists have determined that the plague originated in a Chinese rodent population in the form of the rod-shaped Yersinia pestis, which likely made its way to Europe via the Silk Road and merchant ships between 1346 and 1353. Science jargon aside, the plague took with it between 75 and 200 million people, or at least one-third of Europe’s population at the time. It took over 150 years for all of Europe to recover from a mere bacteria, but not without monumental social, political and economic upheavals.