Leprosy Culture Club/Getty Images Leprosy is perhaps one of the most tragically misunderstood diseases in history. Like many diseases before it, medical professionals originally believed it was either something inherited or a form of punishment made manifest with disfigurement. In either case, leper patients were shunned, quarantined and sent to “leper colonies,” such as the most famous one on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where they would live out the remainder of their lives in isolation.

A map of the New York City subway system created by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine highlights where the most bacteria was found. Pathomap.org The NYC subway: A series of infamously crowded, noisy, filthy underground tunnels that transport about 5.7 million people every weekday — and, apparently, disease. Last year, a team of researchers and volunteers at Weill Cornell Medicine swabbed benches, poles, and seats in all 466 open NYC subway stations on their hunt for bacteria.

Originating in Seattle, grunge took America by storm in the late '80s and early '90s — and became just as much a lifestyle as it was a music genre. The first Pearl Jam show ever, with the band calling itself Mookie Blaylock, at the Off Ramp Cafe. "I will always remember when I heard 'Alive,' 'Once,' 'Evenflow,' and 'Black,' in that order, for the first time ever that night," recalled photographer Karen Mason-Blair.

Beheading has a long history, and it might have a long future. Find out the who, when, why, where, and how of one of humanity's worst execution methods.On the morning of February 8, 1587, the condemned sovereign Mary Queen of Scots mounted a public block and was put to death on the orders of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, marking the end of one of history’s most famous disputes.

Saloman was initially rejected for the Medal of Honor because medical professionals aren't supposed to bear arms against the enemy. Left: Congressional Medal of Honor Society / Right: USC Library Benjamin Lewis Salomon In 1942, Benjamin Lewis Salomon joined the US Army. Hailing from humble beginnings in Milwaukee, and eventually going on to own his own dental practice, Benjamin Salomon never could have imagined he would one day be one of only three dental officers in the U.