The world is more interesting than you think.
Unexpected facts, big ideas, and little discoveries. Find something that sparks your curiosity today.
A little more wonder
Early Betamax could run out of tape before your movie ended.
Early Betamax could run out of tape before your movie ended. Sony's first Betamax machines offered about an hour of recording time, while VHS arrived with a…
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Psychiatrists found patients who believed life was a reality show.
Psychiatrists found patients who believed life was a reality show. In a 2012 paper, Joel and Ian Gold described patients who believed their daily lives were…
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Konami released an anonymous, terrifying demo called P.T.
Konami released an anonymous, terrifying demo called P.T. on the PlayStation 4 in 2014, which players eventually discovered was a brilliant interactive teaser…
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Energy from the Sun's core takes an enormous detour before reaching daylight.
Energy from the Sun's core takes an enormous detour before reaching daylight. Inside the dense Sun, radiation is repeatedly absorbed and re-emitted, so energy…
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New England towns pass ceremonial canes from one oldest resident to the next.
New England towns pass ceremonial canes from one oldest resident to the next. The Boston Post started the tradition in 1909 by distributing hundreds of…
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The upgrade list cares more about your ticket than your outfit.
The upgrade list cares more about your ticket than your outfit. Airlines publish priority rules for complimentary upgrades rather than simply choosing the…
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One character can change how much text fits in an SMS.
One character can change how much text fits in an SMS. A single message segment holds up to 160 characters in the basic GSM-7 encoding, but only 70 with UCS-2…
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Pulp Fiction hides 4:20 on clocks in the pawnshop.
Pulp Fiction hides 4:20 on clocks in the pawnshop. The clocks in that scene provide a small visual reference to the number associated with cannabis culture.…
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Blimps offer a great view but make demanding vehicles.
Blimps offer a great view but make demanding vehicles. Their large bodies catch the wind, they travel slowly, and ground handling needs substantial space and…
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Olympic medal biting is largely a photo opportunity.
Olympic medal biting is largely a photo opportunity. Photographers encourage the pose because it produces an instantly recognizable celebration. The modern…
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Catan’s creator made teeth before making game nights.
Catan’s creator made teeth before making game nights. Klaus Teuber worked as a dental technician and designed games in his spare time. Catan arrived in 1995,…
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Framing effect is a cognitive bias where people decide on options based strictly on whether the options are presented with positive or negative connotations, such as a loss or a…
Framing effect is a cognitive bias where people decide on options based strictly on whether the options are presented with positive or negative connotations,…
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Cards Against Humanity turned a potato into a parody of Super Bowl advertising.
Cards Against Humanity turned a potato into a parody of Super Bowl advertising. The company published a deliberately absurd ad and a fake postmortem…
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Federal law establishes strict no-fly zones directly over Walt Disney World and Disneyland, prohibiting any aircraft from flying below 3,000 feet within a three-mile radius of the parks.
Federal law establishes strict no-fly zones directly over Walt Disney World and Disneyland, prohibiting any aircraft from flying below 3,000 feet within a…
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Contracts signed by the creators of The Simpsons in 1989 contain a very specific clause that legally prevents Fox network executives from giving any notes, cutting scenes, or…
Contracts signed by the creators of The Simpsons in 1989 contain a very specific clause that legally prevents Fox network executives from giving any notes,…
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Ostrich effect is the cognitive bias that causes people to completely avoid information they perceive as negative by physically or metaphorically ignoring it, much like the…
Ostrich effect is the cognitive bias that causes people to completely avoid information they perceive as negative by physically or metaphorically ignoring it,…
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Chaos magic is a highly postmodern occult practice developed in the 1970s that strips away all the traditional religious dogma of mysticism and treats belief as an active tool rather than an absolute truth.
Chaos magic is a highly postmodern occult practice developed in the 1970s that strips away all the traditional religious dogma of mysticism and treats belief…
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Horn effect is a cognitive bias that causes one's perception of another person to be unduly influenced by a single negative trait, leading to an unfairly harsh assessment of…
Horn effect is a cognitive bias that causes one's perception of another person to be unduly influenced by a single negative trait, leading to an unfairly…
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Your body spends energy on much more than workouts.
Your body spends energy on much more than workouts. Standing, pacing, housework, and small movements all contribute to non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or…
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Bertha Benz's road trip needed a pharmacy and a shoemaker.
Bertha Benz's road trip needed a pharmacy and a shoemaker. During her 1888 journey, fuel came from a pharmacy and repairs relied on local trades rather than a…
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A signature is no longer required for many card payments, yet some shops still hand over a receipt and a pen.
A signature is no longer required for many card payments, yet some shops still hand over a receipt and a pen. Payment networks relaxed their rules as other…
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Richard Shaver convinced thousands of magazine readers in the 1940s that a sadistic, mystical race of ancient beings called the Deros lived in caverns beneath the Earth.
Richard Shaver convinced thousands of magazine readers in the 1940s that a sadistic, mystical race of ancient beings called the Deros lived in caverns beneath…
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Spacewalk gloves can injure the fingers they are protecting.
Spacewalk gloves can injure the fingers they are protecting. Internal pressure makes the gloves resist bending, while repeated work creates pressure points…
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Railway engineers working on the incredibly fast bullet train networks scattered across modern China had to invent a highly specialized, optical-grade coating for all the…
Railway engineers working on the incredibly fast bullet train networks scattered across modern China had to invent a highly specialized, optical-grade coating…
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