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British military forces stationed along the coastline right before the invention of radar built massive, incredibly bizarre concrete structures known as acoustic mirrors to…
British military forces stationed along the coastline right before the invention of radar built massive, incredibly bizarre concrete structures known as…
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Blue eyes don't actually contain any blue pigment, they are simply brown eyes with a lack of melanin in the front layer of the iris, causing light to scatter and reflect back as…
Blue eyes don't actually contain any blue pigment, they are simply brown eyes with a lack of melanin in the front layer of the iris, causing light to scatter…
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Samuel Pepys buried Parmesan cheese during the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Samuel Pepys buried Parmesan cheese during the Great Fire of London in 1666. His diary records putting it in a garden pit along with wine and other things,…
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Danish government officials painstakingly built a massive, fully interactive replica of their entire country inside Minecraft to teach children about geography, only for American…
Danish government officials painstakingly built a massive, fully interactive replica of their entire country inside Minecraft to teach children about…
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Magic: The Gathering can simulate a computer using its card rules.
Magic: The Gathering can simulate a computer using its card rules. In a 2019 paper, researchers built a game state in which every move was forced, yet…
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Biblical scholars believe the mystical number of the beast, 666, was not a magical demonic code but actually just a cryptographic political jab at the Roman Emperor Nero.
Biblical scholars believe the mystical number of the beast, 666, was not a magical demonic code but actually just a cryptographic political jab at the Roman…
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Your sleeping brain still notices unfamiliar voices.
Your sleeping brain still notices unfamiliar voices. In a study of 17 sleepers, unfamiliar voices produced more brief arousals and characteristic bursts of…
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Horror director Wes Craven and his location scouting crew randomly discovered the legendary Ghostface mask draped over a chair inside an abandoned California house they were touring for the movie Scream.
Horror director Wes Craven and his location scouting crew randomly discovered the legendary Ghostface mask draped over a chair inside an abandoned California…
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Apple III computers shipped with a catastrophic design flaw in 1980 because Steve Jobs insisted on not including a cooling fan to keep the machine quiet, which caused the…
Apple III computers shipped with a catastrophic design flaw in 1980 because Steve Jobs insisted on not including a cooling fan to keep the machine quiet,…
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An opossum-inspired peptide neutralized venom in a mouse experiment.
An opossum-inspired peptide neutralized venom in a mouse experiment. Researchers tested a short protein fragment related to opossum venom resistance. When…
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A banker reopened after an earthquake with a plank and barrels.
A banker reopened after an earthquake with a plank and barrels. After San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, A. P. Giannini operated a makeshift banking station and…
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Aviation safety protocols strictly forbid standard helicopters from attempting to take off during periods of extreme, blistering summer heat, completely grounding rescue fleets…
Aviation safety protocols strictly forbid standard helicopters from attempting to take off during periods of extreme, blistering summer heat, completely…
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Mediterranean cultures have believed in the mystical curse of the evil eye for centuries, often countering it by pretending to spit on babies or loved ones to ward off the negative energy.
Mediterranean cultures have believed in the mystical curse of the evil eye for centuries, often countering it by pretending to spit on babies or loved ones to…
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Romani folklore contains a mystical belief that pumpkins and watermelons left out too long or kept during a full moon will become vampiric and start moving around on their own.
Romani folklore contains a mystical belief that pumpkins and watermelons left out too long or kept during a full moon will become vampiric and start moving…
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The Veyron needed road tires tested beyond 400 km/h.
The Veyron needed road tires tested beyond 400 km/h. Michelin developed special tires for a production car expected to travel at speeds normally associated…
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The Bahamas' swimming pigs have learned that boats can mean food.
The Bahamas' swimming pigs have learned that boats can mean food. At Big Major Cay, pigs wade or swim toward visiting boats and associate people with feeding.…
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A bridge can decide who gets to use a road.
A bridge can decide who gets to use a road. Long Island's parkways were built for passenger cars, and low clearances still exclude tall vehicles. Robert Caro…
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Email gave an old accounting symbol a new address.
Email gave an old accounting symbol a new address. In 1971, Ray Tomlinson used @ to separate a user’s name from the computer receiving the message. The…
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A presidential alligator legend made it into White House Christmas decor.
A presidential alligator legend made it into White House Christmas decor. In 2002, the White House's presidential-pets display included an alligator said to…
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Samsung's business empire reaches far beyond phones.
Samsung's business empire reaches far beyond phones. The wider group includes businesses in insurance, shipbuilding, and construction as well as electronics.…
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Roller coasters were initially introduced to American society in the eighteen eighties as a morally upright distraction designed to keep people away from the sinful temptations of saloons and brothels.
Roller coasters were initially introduced to American society in the eighteen eighties as a morally upright distraction designed to keep people away from the…
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The chess bishop inherited a place once occupied by an elephant.
The chess bishop inherited a place once occupied by an elephant. Indian and Persian chess included a war elephant; medieval European sets eventually gave the…
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Doom turned heavy-metal energy into a computer soundtrack.
Doom turned heavy-metal energy into a computer soundtrack. Bobby Prince's 1993 score used synthesized instruments to give demon-filled corridors the drive of…
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Major Hollywood film studios aggressively sued the creators of the videocassette recorder in the 1970s, terrified that giving consumers the ability to record television shows…
Major Hollywood film studios aggressively sued the creators of the videocassette recorder in the 1970s, terrified that giving consumers the ability to record…
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