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
A submarine's outer hatch is part of its pressure barrier
An opening through the pressure hull needs a strong closure, seal, and reinforced structure to resist the sea outside. Keeping that opening compact helps make…
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Elvis's last Ed Sullivan appearance kept his hips off camera
For his January 1957 appearance, the broadcast famously framed him from the waist up. The restriction turned a camera choice into a way of controlling what…
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D&D was funded by a shoe-repair shop
Brian Blume joined as a third partner and used money from his shoe-repair work to pay for the first 1,000 D&D manuals.
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Free love was championed by 19th-century mediums
19th-century Spiritualist mediums argued that spiritual “higher laws” outweighed earthly marriage contracts, giving women a way to challenge Victorian…
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ZIP codes were created to make mail transport manageable
ZIP codes give mail sorters a quick geographic clue, grouping letters by delivery area so they move through the right facilities and routes. Five digits turn…
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Your credit card has to fit machines around the world
Bank cards use a standardized physical format, covering dimensions as well as properties such as construction. That lets a card from one issuer work with…
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A blank space can change what computer code means
In many languages, extra spaces mostly make code easier for humans to read. In Python, indentation also tells the computer which instructions belong together.…
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Any legally scrambled Rubik's Cube is at most 20 moves from solved
The result covers positions reachable by turning a normal cube, counting a half-turn as one move. There are more than 43 quintillion such arrangements, but…
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Samsung’s name means three stars
In Korean, Samsung combines sam, meaning “three,” and seong, meaning “stars.” Its founder chose the name to evoke a powerful, lasting company like the stars.
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Clooney kept Batman in his office as a warning
In a 2013 interview, George Clooney said his Batman photo reminded him of the danger of choosing a film for commercial reasons alone. Most actors might…
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One Cayman Islands building has 18,000 company addresses
More than 18,000 companies use one five-story building, Ugland House, as their registered address. They are legal entries on paper, not thousands of…
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Uri Geller sued Nintendo over a spoon-bending Pokémon
Geller argued that Kadabra—a spoon-bending Pokémon whose Japanese name is Yungerer—parodied him; he sued Nintendo in 2000 and lost.
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A story can align the listener's brain activity with the teller's
A good storyteller doesn’t just send you words; they give your mind a sequence to predict. As you follow the plot, your brain activity can line up with the…
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The Bulgarian ruler who drank from an emperor's skull
After defeating Byzantine forces in 811, Krum had Emperor Nikephoros I's skull hollowed out and lined with silver for use as a drinking cup.
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Auto-rickshaws have their top speeds restricted for safety
A speed limit gives a light, three-wheeled rickshaw more time to stop and less reason to tip in a sharp maneuver. Its job is carrying passengers through…
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GPS satellites do not have to pass directly overhead to locate you
A receiver compares signals from several satellites visible across the sky. Their arrangement affects positioning accuracy, including at high latitudes, but…
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Duck Hunt's second player can be the duck
Plug a standard controller into the NES’s second port, and another player can control the duck’s flight path.
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You can win Uno without saying Uno
The official rules require a player with one card to call “Uno,” but there’s no penalty if nobody catches the slip before the next player’s turn begins. An…
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Sleeping during takeoff leaves your ears vulnerable
Swallowing helps equalize pressure in your ears as cabin pressure changes. If you’re asleep, you may swallow less often, making ear pressure or pain more…
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Amazing Kreskin lost his own hidden performance fee
At a 2002 performance in New Zealand, he failed to find the hidden fee, forfeited his payment, and needed a donation from the promoter to get home.
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The Nintendo 64 logo hides a perfect 64
The Nintendo 64's 3D “N” logo was modeled with exactly 64 vertices—the points where edges meet—and 64 faces.
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Alaska's giant dunes can reach 100°F
Kobuk Valley National Park contains about 25 square miles of dunes, with summer temperatures on the sand reaching 100°F. Glaciers helped create the landscape…
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The world's tallest arcade machine is over 14 feet high
Jason Camberis spent two years building the functional Guinness-record cabinet, which plays more than 200 classic games.
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Thieves stole a gold coin too heavy to carry away by hand
Berlin's Bode Museum lost the 100-kilogram Big Maple Leaf in 2017. Its face value was one million Canadian dollars, but the gold itself was worth much more.…
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