The picture dated May 14, 2025 shows the RAF Typhoon display pilot, Squadron Leader Nathan Shawyer, who has now completed his Public Display Authorisation, rehearsing over RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, UK ahead of this year's airshows. The RAF Typhoon display team will be participating in several airshows this year, including the Midlands Air Festival on May 30 and the English Riviera Airshow in Paignton Devon on May 31. (Photo by Claire Hartley/Bav Media)

M42 Subtle V1 cropped. One of the most well-known astronomical objects in our universe is the Orion Nebula and this image depicts the wider region of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that is its home. This complex also includes another popular target for astrophotographers, the Horsehead Nebula, as well as Barnard’s Loop and the Running Man Nebula, which can be seen to the left of this photograph. (Photo by Patrick Gilliland)

Chinese aids activists hand out condoms in a subway train in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on December 1, 2014. The World Health Organization issued a call to action to China on December 1, 2014 over HIV/AIDS as government figures said nearly half a million people are living with the disease or its precursor, with hundreds of thousands more thought to be undiagnosed. (Photo by AFP Photo)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Thor Teigen poses in a fur jacket next to a thermometer displaying a temperature of 131 degrees Fahrenheit / 55 degrees Celsius at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center, in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters said a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S., including at Death Valley. (Photo by Ty ONeil/AP Photo)

People line up to pay inside a Makro supermarket in Caracas, January 9, 2015. Venezuela's socialist government decreed an “economic emergency” on Friday that will expand its powers and published the first data in a year that shows the depth of a recession fueled by low oil prices and a sputtering state-led model. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

These horses are pictured in the Khentii province in eastern Mongolia during the Winter Horse Festival – where skillful horsemen gather to challenge the strength of their horses and show off their riding skills. Pictures were taken by Batzaya Choijiljav, a travel company director from Mongolia. Here: The fur of a horse ices up in the –40 cold of Mongolia. (Photo by Batzaya Choijiljav/Caters News)

These tiny insects are so well camouflaged it is nearly impossible to make out their cleverly disguised forms. Canadian photographer and adventurer Paul Bertner attempted to catch the bugs in their natural habitats as part of a hide-and-seek game to show biodiversity in nature. Here: Stick insects. (Photo by Paul Bertner/Caters News)