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
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai spent all night decorating the divine feminine for a cosmic wedding
In the Zohar, staying awake through Shavuot to study mystical texts is described as preparing the Shekhinah for reunion with God’s masculine aspect. The text…
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Traversing swaying suspended rope bridges above the massive Danum Valley rainforest canopy
The walkway hangs about 130 feet above the ground and is bolted to towering dipterocarp trees in a 130-million-year-old primary rainforest. Hikers may spot…
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Evangelion's iconic opening was made at the last minute
The network wanted something catchier than the classical piece director Hideaki Anno had in mind, so a lyricist who hadn't seen the show wrote the song in a…
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A meteorite carried dust older than the Sun
Researchers studying grains in the Murchison meteorite found some estimated to be around seven billion years old. Those grains formed around earlier stars,…
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A cartoon death-metal band reached No. 21 on Billboard
Dethklok began as the fictional band in Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, but its 2007 debut album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 21. Brendon Small's music…
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Japan's sleeper train offers a bed without a bedroom
The Sunrise Seto and Izumo include nobi nobi spaces where passengers lie on raised, carpeted platforms with partial dividers. They trade a private compartment…
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The lab where you can run experiments from a laptop
Emerald Cloud Lab lets researchers run experiments remotely using automated lab equipment. A researcher in Paris can program an experiment on a laptop and…
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A magnet can make a liquid grow spikes
Ferrofluid contains tiny magnetic particles suspended in a liquid. A magnetic field pulls the surface into peaks, while surface tension resists and helps set…
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When a chess match became a Cold War spy thriller
Fischer objected to the lighting and camera noise, while Soviet officials X-rayed the players’ chairs for devices they feared could beam distracting…
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A tattoo can trigger an allergy years later
Ink stays in your skin long after the needle leaves, so an immune reaction does not have to start on tattoo day. Red ink is a frequent culprit: itching,…
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The Office eventually put its documentary crew on screen
For years, characters glanced at the lens and spoke to unseen interviewers while the people filming mostly stayed outside the story. The final season brought…
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How Delhi is replacing noisy auto rickshaws with electric ones
Electric motors replace the rickshaw’s noisy combustion engine, cutting street-level exhaust and engine rattle. In a crowded city, that means cleaner air and…
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Why Strava can make your best run feel inadequate
A run can feel like an achievement until an app shows you a faster stranger's route. That comparison shifts the question from “How did I do?” to “How do I…
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How a bacterial toxin can read your DNA
The toxin punches a tiny pore through a membrane, then DNA passes through it one stretch at a time. Each DNA base nudges the electrical current in a slightly…
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This hotel's winter rooms return to the river
At Sweden's Icehotel, artists build a new seasonal hotel from ice and snow, then spring melts it away. Guests sleep inside rooms whose architecture has an…
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Mortal Kombat turned an error log into a fighter
Ermac began with the abbreviation for an error macro in the original arcade game's diagnostic system. Fans interpreted it as evidence of a hidden character,…
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Cosmic rays can see inside a volcano
A detector placed near a volcano counts cosmic-ray muons that pass through it. Dense regions absorb more, leaving fewer particles to arrive from that…
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Venice kept records of its poisonings
The Council of Ten recorded which poisons to use, what assassins were paid, and whether each plot succeeded. Even murder had paperwork in Venice.
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Some iPhones measure a room by timing returning light
LiDAR-equipped Pro models send out light and measure its reflections to estimate depth. That helps software understand where surfaces are, so virtual objects…
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The Star Wars prequel edit Topher Grace made for fun
Topher Grace taught himself Adobe Premiere by cutting all three prequels into an 85-minute action thriller, trimming Jake Lloyd, Jar Jar Binks, and the…
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Why telenovelas can rewrite a plot overnight
Traditional telenovelas are filmed close to broadcast, so producers can use daily ratings to reshape storylines—sometimes writing a character out almost…
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How lightning can create glowing balls
One proposed explanation starts with the ground, not a bolt trapped in midair. Lightning could vaporize silicon-rich soil, and as the hot material cools, its…
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Facebook changed feeds—and the words users posted
In a 2012 experiment published in 2014, Facebook reduced positive or negative content in the feeds of nearly 700,000 users. Small changes then appeared in the…
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Why some delivery rooms are being redesigned for trauma survivors
For someone with a history of sexual trauma, bright lights, exams, and having decisions made for them can bring back the feeling of being unsafe.…
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