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
Some blind patients insist they can still see
In Anton syndrome, damage to the brain’s visual areas can leave someone blind while the brain fails to register that vision is gone. A person may confidently…
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The word mortgage literally means death pledge
The old French phrase behind “mortgage” treats a house loan like a pledge that ends in one of two ways: the borrower pays it off, or the lender forecloses and…
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Text adventures established modern gaming class roles
The tank-healer-damage-dealer trio emerged in 1980s text-based multiuser dungeons, where slow networks encouraged players to specialize in distinct roles.
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Consulting a specific ancient oracle required sheer terror
Suppliants squeezed into a pitch-black underground cave and often emerged trembling and pale; the experience was so notorious that “having visited Trophonius”…
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Strange matter could infect everything it touches
Strange matter is a hypothetical material made from strange quarks, not a substance anyone has found spreading through space. If a stable clump existed, some…
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Westworld brought early computer graphics to the big screen
Westworld's pixelated scenes showed the gunslinger's point of view, with footage processed to mimic a robot's vision.
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Why doctors give surgery patients chewing gum
The chewing motion sends a “food is coming” signal to the digestive system. After abdominal surgery, gum can provide that cue without adding solid food to the…
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The shark jump that gave TV its favorite insult
The phrase came from an episode of Happy Days in which a character water-skied over a shark.
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Roman floors could hide an entire heating system
In a hypocaust, the floor stood on short pillars above a space fed by a furnace. Hot gases passed below the room and could travel through channels in the…
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NASA helped Angry Birds take its physics into space
For Angry Birds Space, NASA and Rovio collaborated on space outreach. Players aimed through gravity wells and weightless stretches instead of repeating one…
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Garlic was worshipped to ward off ancient vampires
Raw garlic bulbs were hung over doorways to repel bloodsucking demons; their pungent sulfur compounds made them seem like a formidable barrier.
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Early massive multiplayer games relied on text only
Players explored vast fantasy worlds by typing commands into text-only terminals, without polygon graphics.
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Voyager carries a recording of a woman thinking about love
Ann Druyan had her brain activity recorded for the Golden Record, thinking about human history and her feelings for Carl Sagan. An hour of recording was…
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The first video game tournament prize was a Rolling Stone subscription
At Stanford in 1972, students competed in Spacewar, and the winner received a one-year subscription to Rolling Stone.
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Benjamin Franklin's fake newspapers targeted the British
Franklin used forged letters and invented reports of British atrocities to turn European opinion against the Crown. He wasn't just arguing the case; he was…
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Why hundreds of Spaniards have the surname Japón
Many residents of Coria del Río trace their ancestry to a Japanese diplomatic mission that visited Europe in the 17th century; some members of the mission…
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Mister Rogers treated fan mail as part of the job
He received roughly 50–100 letters a day and answered them himself or with help from assistants. Children did not simply get a standard form letter. The…
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The first TV commercial cost just nine dollars
Bulova paid $9 for a 10-second spot that aired before a baseball game in 1941.
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Most famous movie alien was originally a guy in a suit
The role was played by a seven-foot-tall Nigerian graphic design student in a heavy, hot rubber suit.
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A spiritual oracle officially advises a Tibetan state leader
The Dalai Lama consults the Nechung Oracle for political and religious guidance. A monk in a heavy trance is said to channel a protective deity and deliver…
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The first wireless TV remote could be confused by sunlight
Zenith's 1955 Flash-Matic used a directed light beam to trigger sensors around the screen. It let viewers change channels or silence the sound, fulfilling the…
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Salk's polio vaccine came without a private patent
When asked who owned it in 1955, Jonas Salk answered that it belonged to the people and compared patenting it to patenting the sun. Manufacturers still had to…
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Why swallowing two magnets is an emergency
Two strong magnets swallowed together can attract even when separate sections of intestine lie between them. They can pinch the trapped tissue, cutting off…
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Thieves dug up Charlie Chaplin for ransom
In 1978, two men stole Charlie Chaplin's coffin from a Swiss cemetery and demanded money from his widow, Oona. She refused to pay. Police recovered the coffin…
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