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
Scorpio consumes extremely dark chocolate for breakfast
They supposedly prefer bitter cocoa to sugary cereal, because its sharp taste suits their brooding, morning-averse image.
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Why travelers once distrusted zippers
Bag makers initially ignored the unfamiliar interlocking teeth, sticking with heavy leather straps and brass buckles.
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In the Netherlands, fries come buried in mayonnaise
Street vendors pile thick mayonnaise over the fries, which often serve mainly as a vehicle for the sauce.
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Shanghai's airport train floats instead of rolling
The maglev uses magnetic forces to lift and propel the train along its guideway. Its roughly 30-kilometer route between Longyang Road and Pudong airport takes…
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Why Arthur the Aardvark doesn't look like one
Animators flattened his face because a realistic aardvark’s long snout looked unsettling when drawn head-on.
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Cloudy skies can still give you a severe sunburn
Clouds can block visible light while still letting substantial ultraviolet radiation through, so an overcast sky doesn’t necessarily protect exposed skin from…
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Concentrated sunlight perfectly melts solid structures
A mirror can collect sunlight from a broad area and aim it at one small target. That concentrates the incoming energy in one spot, raising its temperature…
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Why museum audio guides sound so slow
Museum audio guides are often recorded at about 100 words per minute, much slower than ordinary conversation. The deliberate pace gives visitors time to take…
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Starving guests order entirely too much food
A hungry guest doesn’t just want dinner; they’re trying to solve the feeling of hunger before it gets worse. That can make extra dishes seem like prudent…
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Why pumpernickel has such a rude name
The name is traditionally glossed as “the devil’s fart,” a joke blaming dense rye bread for the digestive trouble it was thought to cause.
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Two men's names once outnumbered women among CEOs
A count of S&P 1500 leaders found more chief executives named John or David combined than women chief executives. The striking comparison was not about names…
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Google mapped a desert with a camel
For Street View in the Liwa Oasis, Google mounted its Trekker camera on Raffia, a 10-year-old camel.
Discover moreWhy trying not to laugh makes everything funnier
Players stare at one another with straight faces while others try to provoke them; once laughter is forbidden, even a tiny twitch can seem hilarious.
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Practitioners inevitably spill tea on their diagrams
A lukewarm chamomile spill can turn carefully drawn symbols into an unreadable puddle.
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Venus Return demands a totally new wardrobe update
In astrology, a Venus Return is said to stir vanity, making old clothes feel wrong and a wardrobe refresh irresistible.
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In Ico, you have to hold hands to survive
In Ico, you lead your companion by holding a button to take her hand; let go, and she can fall behind. Keeping her close becomes part of the journey.
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Why bands sue over similar-sounding chords
A freelance composer’s battle track allegedly echoed a famous rock hit so closely that the studio faced an expensive legal fight and settlement.
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Health economists put time and quality of life on one scale
A quality-adjusted life year, or QALY, combines how long a treatment helps someone live with the health-related quality of that time. One year in full health…
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Why bingo balls bounce so chaotically
Forced air creates localized turbulence that tosses bingo balls around unpredictably inside the chamber.
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Rubik's cube white faces rest opposite yellow faces
On a standard Rubik's Cube, the white face is opposite the yellow one, regardless of how the cube is scrambled.
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The stilts that turn builders into temporary giants
Builder’s stilts raise the wearer so drywall and ceilings sit within reach, while straps keep the feet attached to the platforms. The trade is simple: longer…
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America's doomsday plane is a flying command center
The E-4B is built to keep national leaders communicating if ground command centers are destroyed. Its protection includes shielding against electromagnetic…
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How notaries built a career around one stamp
A notary’s fee pays for an official check that the signer is who they claim to be. The stamp makes that verification usable on documents beyond the notary’s…
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Katamari makes you clean up your father's cosmic mess
In Katamari Damacy, the King of All Cosmos destroys the stars, leaving his tiny son to replace them. You roll objects into an ever-growing ball until the…
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