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
Why tantalum can stay inside the human body
Finding highly rigid materials that totally survive being permanently buried inside completely hostile meat sacks is remarkably difficult. Tantalum boasts an…
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Why bankrupt companies can keep doing business
Dying is for poor people; corporations just restructure. Chapter 11 allows failing companies to freeze their debt collections, stiff their creditors, and…
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Your hotel key slot may accept any plastic card
Many international hotels require you to insert your room key into a wall slot to turn on the lights and air conditioning. But the slot isn't reading the…
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Two specific monks control the entire Chartreuse production
Corporate trade secrets have nothing on the Carthusian order. The complex recipe of 130 herbs required to make this intensely green, high-proof liqueur is…
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Monopoly's cheap properties reflect real racial inequality
The property values on the board aren't random; they're a grim historical snapshot. The original layout was based on real Atlantic City neighborhoods, pricing…
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Glancing at another screen in split-screen multiplayer
Despite constantly swearing you aren't looking, casting your eyes toward your friend's quadrant is an irresistible temptation. This illicit information…
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Demodulation rips usable data out of carrier waves
Receiving a signal is completely pointless if you can't strip it down. Demodulation acts as the essential deciphering process. When an antenna catches a…
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Fumaroles constantly vent superheated sulfurous steam
The crust has pores, and they desperately need exfoliating. These subterranean vents aggressively blast scalding vapor and terrible-smelling gases straight…
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Why sleeping after studying can protect new memories
Consolidation interference happens when new daily events overwrite fragile new memories. Falling completely asleep immediately after studying pulls the…
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Gnostic cosmology involves dozens of paired invisible rulers
Bureaucracy exists even in the absolute highest spiritual realms. To explain the vast, incomprehensible distance between the perfect source and flawed…
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San Andreas fault is a giant transform boundary
California is not going to suddenly crack off and disappear, no matter what disaster movies claim. The San Andreas fault is a transform boundary, meaning two…
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Why everyone wants a selfie with Australia's quokka
Known as the happiest animal on Earth, this marsupial looks like it's perpetually grinning for the camera. Visitors to Rottnest Island have completely…
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Metal Gear Solid 3 makes you climb one ladder for minutes
You do absolutely nothing but hold forward as a hauntingly beautiful vocal track swells in the background for an agonizingly long time. It is a brilliant…
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Why Hawaii makes pets jump through hoops to enter
Your emotional support Pomeranian is going to spend a month in doggy jail if you try to bring it to Honolulu. Hawaii is totally rabies-free, and the local…
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Mutable earth signs reorganize cabinets just for fun
When boredom strikes, they do not turn to a hobby, but instead empty the bathroom closet to alphabetize the shampoo bottles. Joy is derived entirely from…
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Loves fixing incredibly expensive watches
The Dalai Lama has a remarkably grounded hobby for someone of his status: he is absolutely obsessed with repairing mechanical watches. He frequently spends…
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How a tiny XML file can unleash a billion laughs
Also known as an XML entity expansion attack, this vulnerability is beautifully malicious. A hacker writes a tiny text file where 'lol' is defined as ten…
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Why crying at weddings once promised a happy marriage
Shedding copious tears before the vows wasn't considered an emotional breakdown; it was viewed as proactively draining all future sadness from the relationship.
Discover moreThe dark bathroom where Paul Simon wrote ‘The Sound of Silence’
The opening line 'Hello darkness, my old friend' wasn't just a metaphor for depression. Paul Simon actually used to sit in his bathroom with the lights…
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Why quartz watches vibrate 32,768 times a second
Instead of winding tiny gears, modern cheap timepieces run electricity through a microscopic piece of quartz carved into the shape of a tuning fork. It…
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Rapidly shedding skin mimics reptilian biology
Exfoliating is fine, but dropping entire sheets of epidermis is alarming. Intense dietary extremes occasionally caused practitioners to molt violently,…
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Your lungs hide an astonishing length of blood vessels
If you just measured the microscopic circulatory pipes inside a single respiratory balloon, the total length is utterly baffling. You are hiding…
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In Manhattan, walking can beat driving
Having a car here is basically an expensive punishment. The sheer volume of metal crammed into these streets means that a healthy pedestrian strolling down…
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Punching massive trees yields perfect planks
Viciously assaulting a massive oak tree with your bare fists is the standard procedure for harvesting cleanly cut lumber.
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