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
An evening workout and bedtime need not be enemies
Timing and intensity matter: finishing moderate exercise earlier in the evening is different from ending a hard session immediately before bed. The body needs…
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Night Trap helped push video games toward age ratings
The 1993 U.S. congressional hearings singled out its filmed scenes of young women threatened by intruders. In the game, the player actually used traps to…
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Romans believed spilling salt summoned evil
Because salt preserved food and was valuable, spilling it looked like both waste and a bad omen. The supposed fix was to toss a pinch over the left shoulder…
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Maintaining trademarks requires endless fees
A logo does not stay protected just because someone registered it. The owner has to keep using the trademark and pay the required fees, so protecting a name…
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Why hotel cereal dispensers crush your flakes
The dispenser’s internal mechanism grinds the flakes as it turns, leaving you with powder instead of whole cereal.
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UTF-8 encoding supports over one million unique symbols
UTF-8 can encode more than a million Unicode code points, covering text in many writing systems as well as symbols and emoji.
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Selfie-heavy social feeds may signal shallow relationships
When a social feed is mostly selfies, it offers plenty of evidence about someone’s image and little about the give-and-take between friends. That can be a…
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Why some cats ignore catnip
Catnip’s active chemical, nepetalactone, sets off a response only in cats sensitive to it. Sensitivity varies, and many kittens are too young to react yet. So…
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Isotonic contractions change muscle length
As you lift a load, the working muscle generates tension and shortens, pulling the bones that move the weight. That kind of length-changing contraction is…
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Lassie's screen dynasty was mostly male collies playing a female dog
The line of canine performers descended from Pal, the original film star. Male collies' coat consistency was useful for keeping the character's appearance…
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Why movie streets are often soaked before filming
Those glistening cobblestone streets in evening shots are not the result of a gentle mist. Crews blast the pavement with massive water hoses simply because…
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The name double-u remembers how W was assembled
W developed from writing two u-shaped or v-shaped letters together to represent a sound Latin's alphabet did not handle neatly. U and V were not always…
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The hidden handrail flight attendants use
A continuous handrail runs beneath the overhead bins, giving flight attendants something to grip as they move through the cabin during turbulence.
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Mount Ruapehu's crater lake is hot and acidic
The danger is that the crater rim may not hold the lake back. If the barrier weakens, hot, acidic water can surge downhill carrying ash and debris, turning…
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Why Sea of Thieves pirates eat bananas with the peel
The game’s pirates swallow bananas whole, peel and all, turning a scurvy-fighting snack into a bizarre sight.
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Doom Eternal hides a Dopefish
A secret corner contains a buck-toothed Dopefish, a goofy aquatic cameo amid the game’s heavy metal soundtrack and intense action.
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Jennifer Lopez's dress exposed a missing feature in Google
After she wore green Versace to the 2000 Grammys, people wanted the picture, not a page describing it. Google says the surge of interest helped inspire Google…
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Card eighteen prominently features a crawling crayfish
The crayfish emerging from the water is often read as submerged thoughts surfacing, while the dim moonlight and barking dogs suggest a path clouded by…
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Katamari Damacy demands players roll up entire continents
You begin with paperclips and thumbtacks, then can be rolling up skyscrapers within about 20 minutes.
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The first commercial handheld cellphone earned the nickname 'the brick'
Motorola's DynaTAC 8000X weighed roughly 785 grams—well over a pound. Its size made a portable call visibly impressive because the whole radio system had to…
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Hot air balloons use a top parachute valve to descend
Pull the control line and the fabric valve at the balloon’s crown opens, letting hot air escape. Less hot air means less lift, so the balloon descends;…
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Why golden rectangles survive every cut
A golden rectangle has a neat disappearing act: remove a square whose side equals the rectangle’s short side, and the leftover rectangle is still golden. Its…
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Soap operas carry their advertisers in their name
Serialized dramas on radio were often sponsored by soap companies, including Procter & Gamble. The programs later moved to television, bringing the label with…
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Why your hotel concierge recommends certain restaurants
Some restaurants pay hotel concierges to send guests their way, giving the concierge a finder’s fee for each referral.
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