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 Lone Ranger actor fought to keep his mask
When Jack Wrather bought the Lone Ranger rights and planned a 1981 reboot, he obtained a restraining order against Clayton Moore, who had played the character…
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The exile who changed how Europe ate
After settling in Islamic Spain, ninth-century Iraqi exile Ziryab was credited with introducing toothpaste, underarm deodorant, seasonal fashion, and…
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A penguin study was written in Greek to hide its findings
During an Antarctic expedition, George Murray Levick recorded Adélie penguin sexual behavior that he thought unsuitable for general readers. He used Greek for…
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A psychiatrist tried to remove mental illness with patients' teeth
Henry Cotton believed hidden infections were poisoning the brain, so his treatment program at Trenton included removing teeth and later other organs. His…
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This flying car could tow its own wings home
Moulton Taylor's Aerocar converted between a road vehicle and an aircraft. Its detached wings and tail assembly could be folded and towed behind the car, so…
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Bideford killed three women for turning into a magpie
The court heard claims that Temperance Lloyd and two other women consorted with the devil, including stories that they turned into magpies and stared at cows…
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British Rail converted passenger trains for cargo
Passenger trains already had the wheels and rail access; British Rail repurposed their carriage space to move cargo. A people-mover became a freight train…
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The brain tumor survivor building a brain-scanning hat
After surviving a brain tumor, engineer Mary Lou Jepsen founded Openwater to develop a wearable device that uses light to measure blood flow in the brain. The…
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Annemarie Schimmel decoded the mystic meaning of cats
Her work traced cats in Islamic lore beyond their practical role as rat-catchers, interpreting them as symbols of divine grace and contemplation.
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Why Phillips screws strip so easily
If the driver doesn’t fit snugly, it can slip out of a Phillips screw’s cross-shaped slot. The slipping chews up the recess until the screw is hard to turn.
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A Scottish TV party became a national New Year's ritual
The White Heather Club brought songs, dancing, and performers such as Andy Stewart into BBC viewers' homes. Its regular series ran from 1958 to 1968,…
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Spain preserves a road network built for migrating livestock
The country's traditional livestock routes extend roughly 125,000 kilometers. Their history includes the Mesta, the powerful sheep owners' association that…
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Pentecostals thought babbling bypassed learning languages
At the Azusa Street revival, some believers thought their ecstatic speech was real foreign languages and expected to preach abroad without studying them.…
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Why ancient Maya threw offerings into sinkholes
The ancient Maya saw cenotes as portals to Xibalba, the underworld, and as stops on pilgrimage routes. During droughts, offerings to the gods included jade,…
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People mapped Wi-Fi networks by driving past them
Wardrivers carried wireless equipment and GPS receivers to record where networks could be detected. A connection intended for a home or office spilled beyond…
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Victorian engineers sent passenger trains through loops
The line loops around the landscape to climb without making the rails too steep for the train. Victorian engineers gave the locomotive extra distance,…
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A South African siege put a young bicycle messenger on a stamp
During the 1900 siege of Mafeking, a locally produced stamp showed cadet messenger Warner Goodyear with a bicycle. The design recorded the role young…
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Why flying to India once meant crossing the desert
Imperial Airways’ Cairo-to-Karachi route took several days in unpressurized planes, with freezing, noisy flights and emergency stops at desert forts when…
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Belly landing a DC-4 without modern fire foam
With the landing gear retracted, the DC-4’s belly slid along the runway instead of having wheels to absorb the contact. The crew had to manage fuel and…
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Russia's debt offered huge returns just before disaster
In July 1998, yields on Russia's short-term government bills approached 200 percent. Such returns signaled how much compensation investors demanded for the…
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The author of Frances the Badger also wrote after the apocalypse
Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker follows life in a shattered future through deliberately altered English. Readers have to reconstruct meaning from the language…
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A dollar bill once depended on which bank printed it
Before America's national currency system, individual banks issued notes promising redemption in gold or silver. A note's reliability depended on its issuer's…
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How Bing Crosby turned German tape tech into golf time
After World War II, American soldier Jack Mullin brought German magnetophon tape recorders to the U.S. and demonstrated them to Bing Crosby. Crosby invested…
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Ernie Kovacs made milk fall sideways by tilting the camera too
He tilted the table and the camera together, preserving an apparently normal scene on the television screen. Gravity still pulled the milk downward in the…
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