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Composers recreate lost music by ear
When poor-quality recordings are all that's left, composers hired to update classic soundtracks may have to reconstruct their own melodies by ear.
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How one apple can ripen the fruit around it
As an apple ripens, it releases ethylene, a gas that signals nearby fruit to ripen too. A paper bag holds more of that gas around a banana, strengthening…
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Texting specific emojis completes a digital ritual
Mystics combine specific emojis in a message and believe sending it launches an energetic request through the cellular network to the universe.
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Numbness can follow a glove-shaped boundary
“Glove anesthesia” describes loss of sensation across the hand rather than the territory of a single nerve. Clinicians examine that pattern alongside other…
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Tony Hawk titles scan actual professional skateboarders
Skateboarders wore suits marked with reflective balls so their movements could be captured and used to animate the game’s tricks.
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Steam locomotives use real steam to blow their whistles
A steam locomotive routes pressurized steam through a whistle, where it sets the air vibrating into a piercing note. The train announces itself with the same…
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Stealing invisible power from local breezes
Energy purists inhale the air's supposed life force, believing it charges the body—a dramatic alternative to morning coffee.
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Retrograde shadow periods stretch drama over three months
Before a celestial body appears to move backward, it reaches the degrees it will later retrace, so the retrograde period includes a lead-in as well as the…
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Phosphoric acid totally strips stubborn rust from iron
Phosphoric acid can react with iron oxide in rust and turn it into iron phosphate, a darker, more stable coating. The reaction works best when the rust is…
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Las Vegas has a Sphinx bigger than Egypt’s original
The Luxor Hotel’s Sphinx stands 110 feet tall—more than 40 feet taller than the ancient original.
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Refused to sit in proper assigned choir seats
Richard Rolle ignored his assigned seat during choir practice, frustrating church officials trying to keep the seating orderly.
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Looking incredibly busy while doing absolutely nothing
The original goldbrickers passed off lead bars painted to look like gold. The fake ingots gave the word its swindling roots; now a goldbricker fakes effort…
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When churches held services at drive-in theaters
In the mid-20th century, some ministers rented drive-in theaters for Sunday services, letting congregants listen to sermons from their cars through the…
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Ignored Nintendogs puppies can forget their names
After a few weeks without speaking to it through the device, a Nintendogs puppy may stop recognizing its name, so you have to teach it again.
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Cosmic sugar daddies handing out free blessings
In this astrological view, Jupiter and Venus bring blessings and pleasures, sometimes encouraging your worst indulgences.
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A barbecue's smoke can leave chemicals on the meat
When fat drips onto a hot surface or flame, the smoke can carry PAHs back onto the food. Other compounds called HCAs form through high-temperature reactions…
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Streaming sold a shortcut around managing music files
Downloading songs meant finding files, storing them, and moving them between devices. Streaming replaced much of that work with a searchable catalog and a…
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Your fear can warn strangers through sweat
Fear can change the chemical cues in sweat, and other people may detect those cues without consciously noticing a smell. Those signals may make them more…
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How a third choice can change an election winner
In ranked-choice voting, votes move only after a candidate is eliminated. If a third candidate draws first-choice votes from people who prefer A to B, that…
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Spiritualism gained massive popularity largely because the Civil War created a high death toll
The Civil War left hundreds of thousands of young men dead far from home, driving grieving families to pay mediums who promised messages from fallen soldiers,…
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Ancient Babylonians originally worshipped a giant cosmic swallow instead of the modern Pisces fish
Early zodiac imagery called it “The Tails,” depicting a giant swallow and a swallow-man rather than the pair of fish familiar today.
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Toyota started by making looms, not cars
Toyota’s roots are in Sakichi Toyoda’s automatic looms, which stopped when a thread broke instead of weaving defective cloth. That simple stop-and-fix idea…
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Sagittarius energy packs heavy suitcases just for fun
Packing a suitcase gives them an adrenaline rush, so they keep luggage handy in case an emergency evacuation offers an excuse to go.
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Vulfpeck funded a tour with an album of silence
The band released Sleepify in 2014 and asked fans to stream its silent tracks while they slept. Plays generated royalties that helped fund free concerts…
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