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
Magazine columns are written months ahead
A December issue may have been written in July, as print magazines often work months ahead to meet publication deadlines.
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Paul I tried to keep revolutionary language out of print
Under the Russian emperor, decrees prohibited terms including 'citizen,' 'fatherland,' and 'society' in print. The restrictions reflected fear of ideas…
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Portugal crowned a dead queen
After his lover Inês de Castro was murdered, Pedro had her body exhumed, placed on the throne, and nobles forced to kiss her hand.
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Centaurs are infamous for crashing fancy parties
Greek myths often show centaurs overindulging in wine at weddings and banquets, then causing brawls and disrupting the festivities.
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Continuous prayer requires repeating one line endlessly
Practitioners believe the repeated phrase quiets a distracted mind; some say the prayer can become so habitual that it continues even during sleep.
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Leaving a glass of water out traps wandering frequencies
In this folk belief, the water absorbs negative energy, so it should be discarded rather than drunk.
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Taboo heavily restricts your vocabulary to explain concepts
The game makes you explain a word without using obvious clues, like describing a refrigerator without saying “cold,” “ice,” “food,” or “appliance.” It shows…
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The Statue of Liberty was once copper-colored
When France gave it to the United States, the copper monument gleamed like a new penny. Sea air and pollution gradually formed the green patina that now…
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Why Jurassic Park's dinosaurs can't be cloned
DNA is a chemical molecule that gradually breaks apart after death. With an estimated half-life of about 521 years, it loses intact genetic information over…
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Maine local roads disappear completely under deep snow
Tall stakes mark road and driveway edges when snow buries the usual landmarks, leaving residents to rely on memory.
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Adding more cooks to a kitchen eventually slows down cooking
In a cramped kitchen, every extra cook needs room to move. Eventually cooks start bumping into one another, so adding workers creates a traffic jam instead of…
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Why .aq websites must be tied to Antarctica
To register a .aq website, you must prove that you operate an expedition or science station in Antarctica.
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Nizhny Novgorod cable car swings commuters over the river
The gondolas hang beneath cables stretched high over the Volga, so wind makes them sway like pendulums instead of jolting them like rigid boxes. The commute…
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Myst made a 3D world out of pictures you clicked through
Its locations were rendered in advance and linked together rather than drawn as a fully moving 3D world during play. That let a home computer show rich scenes…
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You can cross from Morocco into Spain without crossing the sea
Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities on the North African coast, with land borders adjoining Morocco. Their political border is a short walk across a…
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C was created to play a space game
In the early 1970s, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson tried to run the text-based game Space Travel on a PDP-7, but found the existing tools cumbersome. Their…
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End-to-end encryption scrambles messages during transit
Your grocery list is turned into unreadable ciphertext on your device before it travels, making it unreadable to anyone who intercepts it in transit.
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Jaws became scarier when its mechanical star broke down
The unreliable shark forced Spielberg to suggest its presence with reactions, movement in the water, and other indirect signs. Keeping the creature out of…
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Safavid kings legally made their population change religions
To distinguish their empire from neighboring powers, Safavid rulers outlawed the formerly dominant sect and used coercion to impose a new religious identity.…
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The saint who joked while being roasted alive
In 258 AD, Lawrence was executed on an iron grill over hot coals. According to legend, he joked, “Turn me over; I’m done on this side,” and became the patron…
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Elizabethans wore painfully massive neck ruffs
The ruff made eating such an obstacle that people used extra-long spoons just to get food past the collar. Fashion had turned lunch into a reach test.
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Esoteric consultation rooms have terrible acoustics
Heavy fabrics and dried herbs can absorb sound, while bulky wooden furniture may further muffle voices in the room.
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Point of sale registers are horribly disguised computers
Under the bulky shell and tangle of receipt cables, a register may run a standard, often outdated operating system.
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Part of Eros calculates your capacity for pleasure
In astrology, the Part of Eros is interpreted as a chart point linked to romantic passion and the pleasures a person enjoys.
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