The world is more interesting than you think.
Unexpected facts, big ideas, and little discoveries. Find something that sparks your curiosity today.
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Why game studios pay a cut to use free engines
Building a digital universe from scratch is too hard, so developers rent the tools instead. Major engine providers let studios build games on their…
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Heartburn has nothing to do with your heart
Your heart is completely innocent in this fiery internal dispute. The pain of heartburn actually comes from the lower esophageal sphincter failing at its one…
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Why adults buy breast milk on underground markets
Liquid gold is not just a metaphor for new mothers with an oversupply. An entire underground exchange relies on optimizing the lactation outputs of some women…
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Why you think propaganda works on everyone but you
You are exactly as manipulatable as the sheep you constantly mock on the internet. The third-person effect is a beautiful defense mechanism where humans…
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Famous Tibetan Book of the Dead was hidden in a cave for centuries as a mystical treasure text waiting to be found
Some authors fear their books won't age well; others bury them in a mountain for six centuries to build hype. The *Bardo Thodol*, famously known in the West…
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Antares emits an intensely fierce red light in the sky
It literally looks like a glowing drop of blood in the night, radiating pure, unfiltered intensity. Staring at it fills you with an overwhelming urge to…
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MySpace sold for $580 million—and later just $35 million
Let this be a masterclass in how traditional media completely misunderstands the internet. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought MySpace at the absolute peak of…
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Why a bobsled can cost over $100,000
Careening down an ice tube in a fiberglass bathtub requires a disgusting amount of money. The sleek shaping and materials involved in shaving milliseconds off…
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Levitating into tall branches leaves ascetics stranded
Spontaneous floating sounds majestic until you get stuck in an oak tree. Uncontrollable aerial bursts often left practitioners clinging to high branches,…
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Sugary drinks cause chemical crashes that slow reaction time
Borrowing energy from the future with horrible interest rates. That massive spike of liquid glucose inevitably results in an insulin dump, leaving your…
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Distant burning body associated with complaining
A star notorious for bringing out intense victimhood and an absolute, unyielding inability to stop whining about everything, creating the ultimate pessimistic…
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Ultimate weapons demand ninety nine fragments
You cannot simply find a great weapon; you must scour every remote corner of the continent for glowing shards to glue together.
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Lotteries prey primarily on desperate people hoping to win
Selling dreams is a remarkably lucrative business model. By heavily promoting astronomically tiny odds of instant wealth, institutions easily separate hopeful…
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Tugboats utilize recycled tires as boat bumpers
Despite millions of dollars spent on high-tech maritime equipment, the absolute best way to stop massive steel hulls from smashing into each other is still…
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The accidental medical word that created Mad Libs
A frustrated writer was begging for an adjective while his friend blurted out a completely unrelated medical term. That single disjointed exchange birthed an…
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Why cars finally got cup holders
For decades, European car manufacturers scoffed at the idea of putting cup holders in vehicles, insisting that cars were for driving, not dining. However, the…
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Early helicopters shook pilots like jackhammers
Before the invention of complex dampening hubs, bolting a spinning blade to a rigid metal stick resulted in absolute chaos. Test pilots were subjected to such…
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Why Dutch canal houses lean over the street
Not an optical illusion caused by too much local greenery. The narrow facades were intentionally built leaning outward over the street so residents could…
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Basic input output systems initialize hardware on boot
Before your operating system can even stretch its legs, the BIOS has to wake up every piece of hardware and take attendance. It sits on a tiny chip and runs a…
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Amazonian canoes are paddled while standing up
Sitting down is for beginners. In thick jungles, locals pole long, unstable wooden boats by balancing upright, casually gliding past piranhas while…
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Voice actors often record lines without knowing the story
Delivering an Oscar-worthy performance is tricky when you have no idea what you're looking at. Thanks to heavy non-disclosure agreements, voice actors are…
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Pythagoras wasn't first to use his famous theorem
Despite taking all the historical credit, Pythagoras was beaten to the punch by centuries. Ancient Babylonians and Indians were already successfully using the…
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Washing your face in Tuesday rainwater
Old folklore suggests that collecting rainwater on a specific weekday and using it to wash your face will guarantee extreme beauty, completely ignoring the…
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Why charging cables fray near the plug
Manufacturers could reinforce the ends of your wires, but where is the fun in that? The transition point between the rigid connector and the flexible cord…
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