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 spades always win in Spades
Spades is always the trump suit; unlike in some other trick-taking games, it doesn’t change with the bidding.
Discover more
The rom-com myth of dropping your papers
Rom-coms turn a dropped stack of papers into a meet-cute: a stranger helps gather them, eyes lock, and marriage supposedly follows.
Discover more
Burying objects in dry rice violently sucks out bad vibes
Submerging your mystical tools in uncooked rice is believed to strip away lingering negativity, much like the folk remedy of using rice to dry a dropped…
Discover more
Flagpole sitters turned staying put into a public spectacle
In the 1920s and 1930s, performers remained on small platforms above crowds for days or weeks. Supplies had to come up to them while the audience followed…
Discover more
Cancer rules the human stomach and digestive tract
Astrology links Cancer with the belly, casting emotional eating as a cosmic excuse: the sign’s moods supposedly depend on whether it has eaten.
Discover more
Why police cars often stay running
An idling engine keeps the radio, lights, and onboard equipment powered while the car stays ready to move. The cruiser is parked; its engine did not get the…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Women entering the workforce doubled global labor supply
As more women joined the workforce, employers had a larger pool of people to hire from. Compared with a smaller, male-dominated workforce, that added supply…
Discover more
When someone ghosts you but watches every story
A story view lets someone check in without having to say anything. They can satisfy curiosity, keep tabs, or maintain a thin thread of connection while…
Discover more
Sonic's comic-book life lasted 290 main-series issues
Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog ran from 1993 to 2016, building an extended comic world around Sega's game character. Its long run allowed stories and…
Discover more
The original Green Lantern could be vulnerable to a wooden club
Alan Scott's magical ring had a weakness to wood, unlike the different origin and rules of later Green Lanterns such as Hal Jordan. The contrast made a…
Discover more
Use-it-or-lose-it water rules can discourage conservation
Under some prior-appropriation systems, prolonged failure to put water to beneficial use can threaten a right to it. That creates anxiety about saving water…
Discover more
How envy can reveal what you really want
Someone else gets the job, the apartment, or the applause, and your envy points straight at the prize. That sting can reveal what you value more clearly than…
Discover more
Roulette wheels maintain flawless balance to avoid bias
Even tiny dust buildup can affect a wheel's spin, so mechanics use electronic laser tests to detect tilts that could favor one pocket.
Discover more
One missed click can reset an entire game lobby
A lobby depends on everyone recognizing the same moment to act. If one player misses the button, the others see no clear sign that the game is starting. Faced…
Discover more
Player Two's Famicom controller had a microphone
Instead of its own Start and Select buttons, the second controller included a small microphone. A few games listened for sound, giving shouting an actual…
Discover more
Why tuk-tuks sound like their name
The name echoes the rattling sound of the vehicles’ two-stroke engines as they zip through crowded streets.
Discover more
Command-line interfaces demand absolute syntactic precision
A misplaced hyphen or wrong flag can change what a command does. Some destructive commands can erase an entire file system without asking for confirmation.
Discover more
Car defrosters automatically turn on the compressor
The air conditioner’s compressor removes moisture from the air; the defroster then warms that dry air and blows it across the glass. The windshield clears…
Discover more
A historian found barking dogs in early modern public complaints
Research on nuisance dogs in England describes noise, roaming animals, and authorities trying to control them. Samuel Pepys even recorded being kept awake by…
Discover more
A Bollywood star's singing voice can belong to another star
Playback singers record songs that actors then perform on screen. Voices such as Lata Mangeshkar's became famous in their own right, even while paired with…
Discover more
Leonardo da Vinci bought birds just to free them
A vegetarian with deep empathy for wildlife, da Vinci reportedly bought caged birds at markets and released them.
Discover more
Why Sesame Street kept people and puppets apart
Child-development experts feared the mix would confuse young viewers, but test audiences tuned out during human-only scenes. Jim Henson pushed for Big Bird to…
Discover more
Rajas keeps everyone constantly moving
It describes a fiery drive toward passion and action, from starting big projects to sending emails at 3 a.m.
Discover more
Postcards sent from overseas routinely take months to arrive
A postcard can arrive months after its sender gets home, so a sunny vacation greeting may land in the middle of winter.
Discover more