The world is more interesting than you think.
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A little more wonder
Low-fat diets routinely fail to produce long-term results
Dietary fat helps people feel full, so cutting it out can leave some people hungry and more likely to compensate with carbohydrates.
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The rare rainbows that appear by moonlight
A moonbow’s colors are still there; moonlight is just too dim for our eyes to see them clearly. We often perceive the rainbow as white or pale, while a camera…
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Chanting OM vibrates your skull
In some spiritual traditions, OM is treated as the universe’s primordial sound, and chanting it is meant to harmonize the body with cosmic vibrations.
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Public water fountains remain entirely safe
A public fountain gets its water from a regulated supply, and routine flushing keeps water moving through the system to help limit contamination. The metal…
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Isle of Wight hovercraft is a loud way to cross the water
A powerful fan blows air beneath the craft, lifting it onto a cushion while another propels it forward. The skirt traps that air; the engines make sure nobody…
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Aquarius treats human emotions like a science project
Astrology casts Aquarius as a detached observer who favors logic over sentiment, making the sign seem useful in a crisis but less at ease with emotional…
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Berzelius discovered thorium lurking in black minerals
The clue was buried inside thorite, a dark mineral. Berzelius separated the mineral into its components and found one that did not match any known element; he…
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United States annexed Hawaii using a simple joint resolution
In 1898, lacking the two-thirds Senate support needed for a treaty, pro-annexation lawmakers used a joint resolution that required only a simple majority to…
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Roman Pantheon has a massive hole in the ceiling
The 27-foot oculus leaves the Pantheon open to rain, but the marble floor slopes toward drains that carry the water away. The ceiling has a hole; the floor…
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Your morning coffee connects millions of farming households
The FAO describes coffee as the most widely traded tropical product, with up to 25 million farming households involved in production. Much is grown in…
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Outward personas are just masks for polite company
A polite work voice can feel like a costume, but it also helps you get through a meeting without saying every thought that crosses your mind. We all tune our…
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The tires that shovel sand to move
Their paddle-like treads scoop sand and throw it backward, pushing the buggy forward—but also blasting drivers behind it with sand.
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Super Mario Bros was Hollywood’s first video game movie
The 1993 adaptation turned the colorful game into a gritty cyberpunk film starring Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper. Its critical and commercial failure kept…
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Knotweed can complicate a house sale without breaking its foundations
Japanese knotweed can spread persistently and require a management plan, affecting how a property is assessed and financed. Modern surveying guidance…
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Chess has more possible games than atoms in the universe
The estimate, called the Shannon number, puts the number of possible chess games at about 10^120, compared with roughly 10^80 atoms in the observable universe.
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Tinder data shows that Leos are the most likely to blatantly brag about their zodiac sign in their dating bios
Tinder’s internal data also found that Leos were the most likely to swipe right on other Leos.
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Group theory is the mathematical study of pure symmetry
Group theory turns symmetry into a set of rules: which actions can be combined, and how each can be undone. A triangle's rotations and certain matrix…
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Most birth certificates lack timestamps
Without a recorded birth time, people seeking an exact astrological chart may have to guess that key detail.
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Mystical reference texts weigh more than a boulder
Some ancient esoteric reference books are so massive they can strain a sturdy bookshelf.
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Why you remember a fact but not where it came from
A fact can survive after its origin story disappears. Memory holds onto the content of a sentence more easily than the details of when, where, or from whom…
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Semi-truck mud flaps intercept road debris
The flap hangs behind the wheel to intercept stones and muddy spray thrown off the rotating tire. Its job is to keep the truck from turning every wet road…
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A record-sized arcade cabinet needed its own version of Tetris
MadLab's machine, verified by Guinness in Zaragoza in 2021, stood 4.9 meters tall. A version of Tetris was developed for its screen and controls. Enlarging an…
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Aries chews food with aggressively intense force
Astrology portrays Aries as an impatient eater, wolfing down meals noisily enough that crunchy snacks can disrupt a quiet room.
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Why a digital threat can trigger a real stress response
A digital threat can trigger a real stress response: the adrenal glands release hormones even while you sit still. Your body reacts to the perceived threat,…
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