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Inside the Colosseum's Passage of Commodus, where emperors once walked

Popular Science

Inside the Colosseum's Passage of Commodus, where emperors once walked One theory suggests the infamous Roman emperor survived an assassination attempt in the tunnel now open to the public. From October 2024 to September 2025, a team of experts restored part of the tunnel that's open to visitors for the first time. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. They say all roads lead to Rome . But in the Eternal City, all of the major roads were thought to lead somewhere very specific--a single column called the Milliarium Auereum, or the golden milestone.








Bidets Are Confusing Visitors at the 2026 Winter Olympics

WIRED

Bidets are extremely common in northern Italy, where the Milano Cortina Games are being played. One of the first bidets in Italy was installed at the Palace of Caserta for Queen Maria Carolina in the late 1700s. Bidets are now, once again, having a moment. As international athletes and journalists descend on northern Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, certain participants have wondered about the additional piece of equipment in their bathrooms. Europeans, quite familiar with the oval basins, have found themselves similarly perplexed by their confusion.



What next for Iran's Supreme Leader?

BBC News

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his secret hideout these days, knows he is now a marked man. He will not be sitting on his veranda anytime soon. When discussing what the United States might do next to help the protesters in Iran, US President Trump has mentioned Qassem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The former, Iran's all-important military strategist in the Middle East, was killed on 3 January 2020 in a drone strike just outside Baghdad's international airport on the president's order. The latter, who was the leader of IS, killed himself and two children by detonating a suicide vest on 27 October 2019 when US forces raided his hideout in northern Syria after the approval of the president.