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Some U.S. prisons have restricted Dungeons & Dragons as a security risk. Officials have cited group hierarchies and organized role-playing, and a federal…
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Liquid oxygen is blue—and a magnet can attract it.
Liquid oxygen is blue—and a magnet can attract it. Oxygen molecules have unpaired electrons, which give them a magnetic response. In liquid form, that…
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Herodotus wrote that Egyptian households shaved their eyebrows when a cat died.
Herodotus wrote that Egyptian households shaved their eyebrows when a cat died. His account describes mourning made visible on people's faces, alongside…
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Professional cyclists competing in the grueling early days of the Tour de France would routinely chain-smoke cigarettes and drink copious amounts of wine while actively pedaling up treacherous alpine mountain passes.
Professional cyclists competing in the grueling early days of the Tour de France would routinely chain-smoke cigarettes and drink copious amounts of wine…
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Britain’s compensation for slave owners left a debt trail that reached 2015.
Britain’s compensation for slave owners left a debt trail that reached 2015. The government borrowed to fund payments after abolition, while the formerly…
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Russian railway engineers intentionally designed their national train tracks to be significantly wider than the standard gauge used by almost every other country in Western Europe.
Russian railway engineers intentionally designed their national train tracks to be significantly wider than the standard gauge used by almost every other…
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Napoleon's army helped turn the ambulance into a battlefield service.
Napoleon's army helped turn the ambulance into a battlefield service. Surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey developed fast-moving 'flying ambulances' to collect…
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Ricky Gervais watched as NBC executives forced the writers of the American adaptation of The Office to shamelessly plagiarize the original British pilot script rather than risk an original thought.
Ricky Gervais watched as NBC executives forced the writers of the American adaptation of The Office to shamelessly plagiarize the original British pilot…
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Early chain saws were surgical tools before they became logging machines.
Early chain saws were surgical tools before they became logging machines. Eighteenth-century surgeons developed a flexible chain of cutting teeth for bone…
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A Dreamcast fishing rod could double as a Soulcalibur controller.
A Dreamcast fishing rod could double as a Soulcalibur controller. The accessory’s movement inputs also registered in the fighting game, letting players swing…
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European witches in the Middle Ages were supposedly flying on broomsticks, but historians now believe they were actually applying hallucinogenic flying ointments to their broom…
European witches in the Middle Ages were supposedly flying on broomsticks, but historians now believe they were actually applying hallucinogenic flying…
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A polar bear looks white without white pigment in its hair.
A polar bear looks white without white pigment in its hair. Its unpigmented hairs scatter light, creating the pale appearance of the coat, while the skin…
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San Marino has recorded more registered cars than residents.
San Marino has recorded more registered cars than residents. A World Bank comparison using 2010 figures listed about 1,139 passenger cars per thousand people…
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San Francisco's self-declared emperor issued money people actually accepted.
San Francisco's self-declared emperor issued money people actually accepted. Joshua Norton proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States in 1859. He later…
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The Vatican's wine statistic comes with a tiny denominator.
The Vatican's wine statistic comes with a tiny denominator. Per-person rankings have placed Vatican City exceptionally high for wine consumption. But dividing…
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An early network program announced itself and moved on.
An early network program announced itself and moved on. Bob Thomas's 1971 Creeper experiment traveled between computers and displayed 'I'm the creeper, catch…
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Japanese communities invented a localized currency called fureai kippu that is earned entirely by volunteering to care for elderly citizens.
Japanese communities invented a localized currency called fureai kippu that is earned entirely by volunteering to care for elderly citizens. The hours can be…
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Retired school buses get a brightly painted second career.
Retired school buses get a brightly painted second career. Many buses exported from North America carry passengers on routes in Central America, with new…
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Mickey Mouse entered the public domain one version at a time.
Mickey Mouse entered the public domain one version at a time. The 1928 Mickey from Steamboat Willie entered the U.S. public domain in 2024. That opened the…
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Pamela Colman Smith is the artist who actually illustrated the world-famous Rider-Waite tarot deck, but she died entirely penniless and obscure because the guy who commissioned…
Pamela Colman Smith is the artist who actually illustrated the world-famous Rider-Waite tarot deck, but she died entirely penniless and obscure because the…
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A company can buy life insurance on an employee and collect the payout itself.
A company can buy life insurance on an employee and collect the payout itself. The employer pays the premiums and is the beneficiary, so the money need not go…
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An aging brain is not simply losing a fixed quota of cells.
An aging brain is not simply losing a fixed quota of cells. Healthy aging can change brain volume, connections and processing speed without the large-scale…
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Scarcity principle dictates that humans place a higher value on an object that is scarce, and a lower value on those that are abundant, which directly overrides all rational…
Scarcity principle dictates that humans place a higher value on an object that is scarce, and a lower value on those that are abundant, which directly…
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Austin Osman Spare was a British artist who developed the technique of sigil magic, which essentially involves writing down a desire, scrambling the letters into a weird symbol,…
Austin Osman Spare was a British artist who developed the technique of sigil magic, which essentially involves writing down a desire, scrambling the letters…
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