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 artificial heart that needed a 400-pound compressor
In 1982, Barney Clark received the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, whose pumping action depended on an external pneumatic driver. Air traveled through tubes from…
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How Stuxnet escaped a supposedly sealed network
Stuxnet spread beyond its intended target after an infected laptop was connected to the isolated network at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. The laptop was…
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The news anchor who died by suicide on air
Florida reporter Christine Chubbuck died by suicide during a live television broadcast in 1974. Her death became an especially painful example of the ethical…
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The toy maker who turned TV into an advertisement
A.C. Gilbert sponsored early TV programs built around his toys, turning the shows themselves into ads aimed directly at children.
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Early train luggage rode on the roof
In the early railway era, trunks could be strapped above the carriages and covered with tarpaulins. Later, dedicated luggage space and guarded vans gave…
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The doctor who mapped the brain with awake patients
Electrical pulses let Penfield briefly activate tiny regions of the brain while patients were awake. When a hand twitched or a patch of skin tingled, he could…
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The ferry powered by its own passengers
A cable stretched across the water gives passengers something to pull against; their hand-over-hand effort draws the ferry to the opposite bank. The fare…
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Scholars spent decades putting names back on Victorian articles
Much nineteenth-century magazine writing appeared anonymously or under assumed names. The Wellesley Index reconstructed authorship so readers could connect…
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Dead ghosts created the ultimate paranormal puzzle
Researchers said mediums around the world received separate fragments of Greek and Latin verse, supposedly sent by deceased scholars as an anti-fraud test.
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Lakhovsky built a medical promise out of radio-like rings
His multiple-wave oscillator used concentric open metal rings and was promoted through a theory that living cells could be influenced by electromagnetic…
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The football comeback viewers missed for Heidi
With 65 seconds left, NBC cut away from the Jets-Raiders game to air Heidi; the Raiders scored two touchdowns in the unseen comeback. The uproar overloaded…
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A jet of shampoo can ride on a film of air
In the Kaye effect, a falling stream can slide across a pool and shoot back out instead of merging immediately. A 2013 experiment identified a very thin…
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When cars had to be pulled by horses
When an early car’s engine quit, a horse supplied the dependable power still missing from the machine. Before tow trucks became routine, a stalled automobile…
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A robot's personality was assembled from a woman's recorded stories
BINA48 was modeled using interviews and material about Bina Rothblatt's life and views. The machine can draw on that material in conversation, creating…
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A contaminated batch turned a TB vaccination campaign into a disaster
In Lübeck in 1930, 251 newborns received BCG contaminated with disease-causing tuberculosis bacteria; 72 died. The vaccine had been prepared in a laboratory…
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The Army tested a train that didn't need tracks
LeTourneau's overland train linked wheeled cargo units behind a powered control vehicle, aiming to move heavy loads across remote terrain. Unlike a railway,…
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Wu's experiment showed nature can distinguish left from right
Chien-Shiung Wu and her colleagues cooled cobalt-60 and aligned its nuclei. Electrons from its radioactive decay favored a direction relative to nuclear spin,…
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The route to India once included a desert transfer
Before the Suez Canal, travelers and mail could cross Egypt between Mediterranean and Red Sea journeys. Services organized by operators such as Thomas Waghorn…
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The guidebook for people who wanted to suffer through art
Introduced in the 1910s, Blue Guides were dense, no-frills travel books focused on architecture and art history rather than food or fun. Carrying one signaled…
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How Victorians made electricity with spinning disks
A Victorian electrostatic machine used spinning disks to separate electrical charge. Oppositely turning disks helped build up charge on metal sectors, and…
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The satellite pirate who interrupted HBO
In 1986, Florida satellite-dish dealer John MacDougall interrupted HBO's broadcast of The Falcon and the Snowman with a message signed "Captain Midnight,"…
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Why babies stop at the visual cliff
At the visual cliff, the surface looks solid on one side and like a sudden drop on the other. Babies who can move may pause because depth cues tell them the…
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Video calling arrived before enough people could call back
AT&T launched commercial Picturephone service in 1970, decades before video calls became ordinary. Equipment and service were expensive, and few other people…
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Railway fans saved a line by becoming its workforce
In 1951, the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society took over the Welsh narrow-gauge line. Members supplied money and labor, and the society ran its first…
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