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
Hunger Vital Sign catches hidden malnutrition fast
The screen asks about a practical detail, not appetite: does food run out before the next paycheck? That answer can help a primary care team recognize food…
Discover more
An elephant crossed the Alps on its way to the Habsburg court
Soliman reached Vienna in 1552 after a journey from Portugal through Italy. His passage made enough of an impression that places along the route commemorated…
Discover more
How intensive care can affect the brain
Some people who survive intensive care later struggle with memory and other cognitive tasks. Delirium during the ICU stay and prolonged sedation can be part…
Discover more
How a device shakes mucus out of your lungs
With each breath out through an Acapella, resistance and vibration create pulses of pressure inside the airways. Those pulses help loosen mucus that can cling…
Discover more
Isaac Luria's midnight weeping for the Shekhinah
In 16th-century Safed, Lurianic Kabbalists practiced Tikkun Chatzot: they sat barefoot in the dark at midnight and wept for the Shekhinah, the exiled feminine…
Discover more
Cyanoacrylate bandages rip apart fragile epidermis
A surgical bandage’s adhesive can hold tighter to the epidermis than the epidermis holds together. Peeling it away can therefore lift skin cells too, which is…
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.
Dust in plasma can form floating crystals
In a plasma crystal, dust grains are large enough to see and track individually. As they shift, gaps and defects move through the pattern on camera, letting…
Discover more
A tiny magnetic device can turn thermal uncertainty into random bits
In a magnetic tunnel junction, magnetic states affect electrical resistance. Researchers can exploit unpredictable, thermally influenced switching and read…
Discover more
London taxing drivers to fund underground trains
Drivers pay a charge, and London puts the proceeds into buses and the Underground. The people paying to drive help fund alternatives to driving.
Discover more
Hajji Bektash Veli and the twelve-fluted secret
In the Bektashi order, initiates wore a crown folded into 12 flutes to represent the 12 Imams. Initiation also involved surrendering a Taslim Tash, a belt…
Discover more
Minecraft once made you discover recipes yourself
Players had to discover recipes by arranging sticks and stone in exact patterns, often through trial and error or community wikis; there was no in-game recipe…
Discover more
Why real Roquefort ages in one place
French law reserves the name Roquefort for cheese aged in the natural limestone caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. The cheese’s mold, Penicillium roqueforti, is…
Discover more
Kansas wheat farmers losing to Chicago basis risk
The hedge locks in a Chicago futures price, not the price at the farm. The gap between the two—the basis—can widen when transport is costly or silos are full,…
Discover more
Can buried grids steer earthquakes around buildings
A proposed seismic cloak would use buried patterns to scatter or redirect earthquake waves before they reach a building. Like ripples meeting a shaped…
Discover more
Days of Our Lives gave Marlena a demonic explanation
In 1995, the soap's possession storyline turned Marlena Evans's alarming behavior into a supernatural plot, complete with levitation and glowing eyes. A…
Discover more
Why city-grown vegetables may contain lead
Lead from old gasoline exhaust or peeling house paint can remain in city garden soil. Vegetables growing there may take up some lead or have contaminated soil…
Discover more
How E. coli can hide in your bladder
Some E. coli can slip inside cells lining the bladder wall and remain there as a hidden reservoir. A course of treatment may clear bacteria from the urine…
Discover more
An asthma attack doesn't always announce itself with a wheeze
Clinicians look at breathing effort, speech, symptoms, and response to treatment, not sound alone. Someone can be seriously short of breath without an obvious…
Discover more
Akbar's royal kitchen required Ganges water daily
Even when his court was hundreds of miles from the river, Akbar had Ganges water hauled in for drinking. His kitchen sealed dishes in dough and sent them…
Discover more
Why gastric bypass patients need lifelong supplements
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass changes the route food takes through the digestive system, making it harder to absorb some nutrients. That can leave the body short…
Discover more
The Office lets the silence deliver another joke
A scene can hold on a face after the spoken punch line has ended. An uncomfortable glance or a person waiting too long to respond keeps the embarrassment…
Discover more
The US oil reserve can move prices without releasing oil
Traders can react to the prospect of more oil before a single barrel leaves storage. If officials announce a possible release, traders may expect extra supply…
Discover more
The girl who spent 70,000 hours on British TV
Carole Hersee's father, a BBC engineer, needed a subject for Test Card F, a still image used to calibrate color TVs from 1967 onward. Her image aired during…
Discover more
Salt could give Martian water a brief liquid loophole
Certain salts can absorb moisture and lower the temperature at which water freezes, creating the possibility of extremely cold brines. On Mars, pressure,…
Discover more