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Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right side on September 3, 1967, a chaotic logistical nightmare forever known as Dagen H.
Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right side on September 3, 1967, a chaotic logistical nightmare forever known as Dagen H. At…
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Submarine sandwiches have absolutely nothing to do with naval transportation and only got their name because a grocery store owner in 1927 thought his Italian bread rolls vaguely resembled the shape of a submarine.
Submarine sandwiches have absolutely nothing to do with naval transportation and only got their name because a grocery store owner in 1927 thought his Italian…
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United States debt ceiling is an arbitrary legislative limit created in 1917 that restricts how much money the federal government can borrow to pay for expenses it has already legally authorized.
United States debt ceiling is an arbitrary legislative limit created in 1917 that restricts how much money the federal government can borrow to pay for…
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One top CEO's pay matched nearly 400 workers' in 2021.
One top CEO's pay matched nearly 400 workers' in 2021. The Economic Policy Institute estimated a 399-to-1 ratio between realized CEO compensation at 350 large…
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A diving blue whale's heartbeat can fall to just two beats a minute.
A diving blue whale's heartbeat can fall to just two beats a minute. Researchers attached a suction-cup sensor to a wild whale and recorded striking changes…
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Animals can notice an earthquake before people feel its strongest shaking.
Animals can notice an earthquake before people feel its strongest shaking. The first, faster seismic waves arrive before the more destructive waves, and…
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Dimming an aircraft cabin at night helps passengers’ eyes prepare for a dark evacuation.
Dimming an aircraft cabin at night helps passengers’ eyes prepare for a dark evacuation. Moving abruptly from a bright cabin into darkness makes it harder to…
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Polish spy Krystyna Skarbek managed to casually escape execution by the German Gestapo during World War II by deliberately biting her own tongue until it bled profusely and…
Polish spy Krystyna Skarbek managed to casually escape execution by the German Gestapo during World War II by deliberately biting her own tongue until it bled…
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A peanut plant sends its future crop into the soil.
A peanut plant sends its future crop into the soil. After fertilization, a stalk-like structure called a peg grows downward and carries the developing ovary…
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A black hole can pull harder on your feet than on your head.
A black hole can pull harder on your feet than on your head. That difference in gravity stretches a falling object lengthwise and squeezes it sideways, a…
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Yawning is contagious not just in humans, but also in dogs, chimpanzees, and even some species of birds, though scientists still do not fully understand why.
Yawning is contagious not just in humans, but also in dogs, chimpanzees, and even some species of birds, though scientists still do not fully understand why.…
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Potato plants formed tubers aboard a 1995 space shuttle.
Potato plants formed tubers aboard a 1995 space shuttle. Researchers flew plant cuttings on Columbia and compared the resulting tubers with Earth-grown…
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Music has reduced pain ratings in studies of surgical recovery.
Music has reduced pain ratings in studies of surgical recovery. A large review of trials found that music was associated with lower postoperative pain and…
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Master Chief’s visor leaves room for the player.
Master Chief’s visor leaves room for the player. Halo’s creators have described the games’ masked hero as a space for player projection. Keeping his face…
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Santorini's iconic blue and white architecture is not some deeply rooted ancient aesthetic tradition, but rather a relatively modern political mandate originally enforced by a…
Santorini's iconic blue and white architecture is not some deeply rooted ancient aesthetic tradition, but rather a relatively modern political mandate…
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Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St.
Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St. James's Gate in 1759, at £45 a year. The agreement covered a disused brewery where he would build his…
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A Lion King roar came from a voice actor and a trash can.
A Lion King roar came from a voice actor and a trash can. Behind-the-scenes footage shows Frank Welker performing a roar into a metal bin. The container…
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Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in nineteen sixty-six, dramatically shaving his head and donning a sweeping black cape to perform heavily stylized rituals in a house painted entirely black in San Francisco.
Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in nineteen sixty-six, dramatically shaving his head and donning a sweeping black cape to perform heavily stylized…
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Audio technicians for Terminator 2 created the terrifying sound of the liquid metal T-1000 robot passing through steel prison bars by recording dog food slowly sliding out of an aluminum can.
Audio technicians for Terminator 2 created the terrifying sound of the liquid metal T-1000 robot passing through steel prison bars by recording dog food…
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The space station's data takes a detour through a much higher orbit.
The space station's data takes a detour through a much higher orbit. The ISS circles roughly 400 kilometers above Earth, but much of its communication passes…
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Inventor Thomas Edison is widely credited with making the word 'hello' the standard telephone greeting, winning a weird linguistic turf war against Alexander Graham Bell.
Inventor Thomas Edison is widely credited with making the word 'hello' the standard telephone greeting, winning a weird linguistic turf war against Alexander…
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Berlin Zoo became a casualty of the bombing war.
Berlin Zoo became a casualty of the bombing war. Air raids in 1943 devastated the zoo, killing animals and wrecking enclosures. A place built to display…
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Silicon Valley got its nickname in 1971 from a journalist named Don Hoefler, who was simply writing a series of articles about the region's semiconductor industry.
Silicon Valley got its nickname in 1971 from a journalist named Don Hoefler, who was simply writing a series of articles about the region's semiconductor…
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The mouse ball disappeared, taking a cleaning chore with it.
The mouse ball disappeared, taking a cleaning chore with it. Mechanical mice tracked motion through a rolling ball and internal rollers that collected grime.…
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