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
The Shining's snow was salt and polystyrene.
The Shining's snow was salt and polystyrene. Cinematographer John Alcott recalled a layer about a foot deep in the maze. Running through it was difficult…
Discover more
A smuggling boat can hide most of itself underwater.
A smuggling boat can hide most of itself underwater. Many so-called narco-subs are low-profile or semi-submersible craft rather than deep-diving submarines.…
Discover more
A Maine town built an industry from tiny wooden picks.
A Maine town built an industry from tiny wooden picks. Strong earned the nickname 'Toothpick Capital of the World' as Maine became a center of American…
Discover more
Sony's introduction of the Walkman in 1979 sparked a massive social panic among commentators who firmly believed that portable music would completely destroy human interaction…
Sony's introduction of the Walkman in 1979 sparked a massive social panic among commentators who firmly believed that portable music would completely destroy…
Discover more
Even black holes are predicted to lose mass.
Even black holes are predicted to lose mass. Hawking radiation arises from quantum effects associated with a black hole's horizon. Losing energy would…
Discover more
Hollywood's iconic hillside sign originally read Hollywoodland when it was erected in the nineteen twenties as a massive, illuminated billboard to promote a segregated upscale real estate development.
Hollywood's iconic hillside sign originally read Hollywoodland when it was erected in the nineteen twenties as a massive, illuminated billboard to promote a…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Some Channel Tunnel machinery was buried beneath the route.
Some Channel Tunnel machinery was buried beneath the route. When opposing tunneling teams approached one another, British machines on the rail-tunnel drives…
Discover more
A space explosion can be visible without bringing its own soundtrack.
A space explosion can be visible without bringing its own soundtrack. Sound is a pressure disturbance passed between particles. Across a vacuum, there is no…
Discover more
Los Angeles engineers spent over four hundred million dollars to fully synchronize every single one of the four thousand five hundred traffic signals across the city in a desperate bid to alleviate infamous gridlock.
Los Angeles engineers spent over four hundred million dollars to fully synchronize every single one of the four thousand five hundred traffic signals across…
Discover more
A higher clock really does tick faster.
A higher clock really does tick faster. Gravity slows the passage of time, so a clock farther from Earth’s center runs slightly faster than one below it. In…
Discover more
Shrek's effects team needed mud to behave differently from water.
Shrek's effects team needed mud to behave differently from water. The production developed a fluid system whose settings could create liquids with different…
Discover more
Ancient Egyptian women genuinely utilized fermented crocodile feces as a primary form of birth control, mixing the horrific reptile dung with honey and sour milk to create a…
Ancient Egyptian women genuinely utilized fermented crocodile feces as a primary form of birth control, mixing the horrific reptile dung with honey and sour…
Discover more
Bitcoin mining operations currently consume more electrical energy on an annual basis than entire industrialized nations, including Argentina and the Netherlands; millions of…
Bitcoin mining operations currently consume more electrical energy on an annual basis than entire industrialized nations, including Argentina and the…
Discover more
A stuck soda prompted a warning campaign about falling vending machines.
A stuck soda prompted a warning campaign about falling vending machines. In 1995, US safety officials reported 37 deaths since 1978 involving people rocking…
Discover more
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro developed a massive, borderline unhealthy obsession with dairy production, investing millions of state dollars into creating the ultimate breed of…
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro developed a massive, borderline unhealthy obsession with dairy production, investing millions of state dollars into creating the…
Discover more
Men in Black's director talked an actor out of starring in it.
Men in Black's director talked an actor out of starring in it. Barry Sonnenfeld says he was asked to persuade Chris O'Donnell to take the role that ultimately…
Discover more
Reading website privacy policies could amount to weeks of work.
Reading website privacy policies could amount to weeks of work. A 2008 study estimated about 244 hours per person per year under its assumptions about new…
Discover more
Bryan Cranston managed to throw that legendary party-sized pizza onto the roof of Walter White's house in Breaking Bad in exactly one single, miraculous take.
Bryan Cranston managed to throw that legendary party-sized pizza onto the roof of Walter White's house in Breaking Bad in exactly one single, miraculous take.…
Discover more
James Cameron sold The Terminator for a dollar to keep the director's chair.
James Cameron sold The Terminator for a dollar to keep the director's chair. He told an interviewer that buyers wanted the script but not him as director.…
Discover more
Saving a digital document has been universally represented by a floppy disk icon for decades, creating a hilarious generational divide where millions of younger users have no…
Saving a digital document has been universally represented by a floppy disk icon for decades, creating a hilarious generational divide where millions of…
Discover more
Resident Evil 4's textures sent fans looking for real buildings.
Resident Evil 4's textures sent fans looking for real buildings. Capcom had photographed real locations, especially in Spain and Wales, to build surfaces in…
Discover more
Your smartphone screen is a horrifying biological wasteland, harboring roughly ten times more bacteria than an average public toilet seat; because we drag these warm, glass…
Your smartphone screen is a horrifying biological wasteland, harboring roughly ten times more bacteria than an average public toilet seat; because we drag…
Discover more
Your body runs on just a few grams of iron.
Your body runs on just a few grams of iron. An adult typically contains about 3–4 grams of iron, much of it held inside hemoglobin in red blood cells. There…
Discover more
Washington State operates the largest fleet of passenger and automobile ferries in the United States, effectively running a massive aquatic highway system through the notoriously tricky waters of the Puget Sound.
Washington State operates the largest fleet of passenger and automobile ferries in the United States, effectively running a massive aquatic highway system…
Discover more