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
Your chin doesn't follow a simple dominant-gene rule
Cleft chins range from shallow dimples to deep grooves, with plenty of faces between clearly cleft and smooth. Family studies don't fit the tidy classroom…
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Large intestine follows strict vertical and horizontal paths
The colon runs up the right side of the abdomen, crosses toward the left, then travels down to the rectum. Material moving through it follows that long,…
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Colombia's Las Lajas sanctuary rises across a river gorge
Its stone church sits above the Guáitara River near Ipiales, joined to the canyon side by an arched bridge. Visitors approach a building that seems to grow…
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Versailles once flaunted its mirrors as luxury
When Versailles was built, making large, flawless glass was a closely guarded skill. The mirrors in its grand hall made a striking display of royal wealth.
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Movie cigarettes can contain herbs instead of tobacco
Herbal props let a performer repeat a smoking scene without repeatedly consuming nicotine. They still produce smoke from burning plant material, so…
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USB hubs split limited bandwidth among connected devices
Devices connected through a hub share the bandwidth of its single connection to the computer. If several transfer data at once, they have to share that…
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Why some pioneering women learned to fly abroad
Some countries offered women access to flight training that schools at home denied them. Learning to fly began with a passport, because the biggest obstacle…
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Why people freezing to death sometimes undress
In severe hypothermia, the body’s effort to keep heat in can fail: blood vessels near the skin relax and let warmer blood flow outward. That sudden warmth can…
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When emojis need an expert witness in court
As emojis appear in professional communications, lawyers increasingly hire linguistic experts to interpret them in court. A thumbs-up or eggplant emoji can…
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Your nose can remember thousands of different smells
Smell signals travel from the nose to brain areas involved in emotion and memory, including the hippocampus and amygdala. A familiar scent can therefore bring…
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Myelin sheaths insulate fragile nerve fibers
A nerve’s axon carries a signal, and myelin covers sections of it with a fatty insulating layer. The signal can move quickly from gap to gap along the axon,…
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Paranoid astrologers predicted the end of the world in 1999 due to a rare grand cross planetary alignment in the sky
The feared “Grand Fixed Cross” formed in August 1999, but its gravitational pull did nothing. The prediction also leaned on a vague Nostradamus line about a…
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Drinking unpasteurized dirty water for its earthly energies
The trend involves paying high prices for untreated spring water; enthusiasts prize its supposed earthly energy, though the water can contain natural microbes.
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Cryptography uses salt to scramble encrypted information
A random salt is added before data is hashed, so identical inputs produce different hashes. The salt doesn’t encrypt the data; it makes matching hashes harder…
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Soap operas build their production around keeping up with the next episode
Regular sets, rehearsed blocking and fast shooting let a continuing drama produce far more finished screen time than many prestige series. The difference is a…
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Why strangers' lives look better on social media
Social platforms expose you to polished highlights from strangers around the world, making it easy to feel that everyone else is having a better time.
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Your camera can see infrared—so it has to be blinded
Digital camera sensors can detect infrared, so manufacturers add filters to block it from regular photos. You can test this by pointing a remote control at a…
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The Sims remembers exactly where your sunburn should stop
In The Sims 4: Island Living, sunbathing can leave tan lines matching the outfit a Sim was wearing. Covered skin stays protected while exposed areas change…
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Duck Duck Goose has different rules around the world
In some versions, the tapped player runs in the opposite direction around the circle, making a collision possible.
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A wolverine's jaws let it eat from winter's freezer
Frozen carcasses can remain food when other meals are scarce. Wolverines have powerful jaws and teeth suited to tearing at tough remains, and they cache food…
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Samuel Morse knew the cost of news arriving too late
In 1825, while he was away working as a painter, letters brought news of his wife's illness and death. He returned after her burial. Years later, his…
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Gemini folks abandon their career aspirations every week
In the horoscope stereotype, a Gemini might switch from aspiring baker to deep-sea diver in a single week.
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A duty-free bag can be the wrong souvenir to bring into Kenya
Kenya's plastic-carrier-bag restrictions extend to travelers entering the country. Its environment authority says incoming passengers must leave covered…
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Why sharks bite undersea cables
Sharks have been blamed for biting undersea cables, possibly because they detect the magnetic fields around the lines.
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