Nauru: A Tiny Island Nation Devastated By Phosphate Mining

 0°31'29.45"S 166°55'55.65"E

(from Wikimedia Commons)

   Small nations or territories are often rich paradisaical tax havens, such as Bermuda, Monaco or the Cayman Islands. Some years ago, the world's third smallest country in both size and population ---an offbeat Pacific atoll called Nauru (or Naoero)--- was also on that list. Yet, it suddenly suffered one of the worst environmental, economic and medical declines in modern history: the once tropical landscape is completely stripped, the poverty and disease rate is abnormally high and the government absolutely desperate. In today's episode, how uncontrollable human greed and bird poop have first enriched and later ruined a whole country.

The Catacombs of Paris: France's Subterranean Bone Collection

48°50'09.43"N 2°19'51.70"E

(from Wikimedia Commons)

   Paris is renowned worldwide as the "City of Love" with an estimated number of 9000 marriages registered every year. Some reasons for it are the charming boulevards, the expressive mimes and the imposing Gothic architecture. But beneath the surface, the Parisian atmosphere disappears completely: instead of love pairs and mimes, a shocking amount of millions of lost souls lays there. Welcome to the Catacombs of Paris, the hidden side of the French capital.