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
How acrylic nails can shelter microbes
Acrylic nails can create protected spaces between the extension and the natural nail. Moisture and debris trapped there may let bacteria or fungi thrive,…
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Solar arcs shove everything ahead
The technique advances every point in a chart by one degree for each year of age.
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Spicy exotic curry feeds the wild Sagittarius ego
In this astrological stereotype, an elaborate, spicy curry signals the worldly, adventurous image Sagittarius wants to project.
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Prancercise relies on springy steps mimicking a joyful horse
The creator of Prancercise filmed herself bounding through a park in ankle weights and called the springy motion horse-like. That galloping image is the idea…
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Ring lights create very specific circular catchlights
The white ring reflected in a video creator’s eyes is a catchlight from the circular light source positioned in front of the camera.
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Earth has more than a billion cars—and counting
The global vehicle fleet is a stock, not just one year's sales. A new car joins vehicles built across many previous years, and the total changes as older ones…
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Salty food is a strict Saturn daily requirement
In astrological correspondences, Saturn is linked with dryness and preservation, so salt and heavily preserved foods fit its austere image.
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Game composers sometimes write themes before seeing the game
They may get only a two-paragraph concept document and a rough sketch, then have to imagine the game's eventual emotional tone.
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Changing time zones during active labor
A train traveling 60 miles per hour can carry a laboring mother across a time-zone boundary, complicating calculations that assume a fixed birth location.
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The dwarf planet hiding in the asteroid belt
Ceres’s own gravity pulled it into a nearly round shape, setting it apart from the lumpy rocks around it. It’s a dwarf planet sharing the asteroid belt, but…
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Why the Tropic of Cancer keeps moving south
Because Earth's axial tilt shifts slightly, the Tropic of Cancer moves south by about 50 feet a year, leaving historic markers out of date.
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Attempting to walk through solid barriers
Some practitioners claim that matching your body’s frequency to a wall lets you pass through it, but the attempt mostly leaves you with a bruised forehead and…
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Maple syrup gets graded by color and translucency
Darker batches tend to have a more intense maple flavor.
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In Queensland, a public insult can become more than an argument
The state's public-nuisance law covers offensive or abusive language when the behavior interferes, or is likely to interfere, with other people's enjoyment of…
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Failing at an endless wheel and starting a casino
An inventor’s failed attempt to build a wheel that would spin forever instead produced a staple of modern gambling: the roulette wheel.
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Why cell towers have a range limit
A tower’s timing limits can prevent it from communicating with a handset beyond a set radius: the signal may take too long to arrive, even with a clear line…
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Why game controllers steer better than digital keys
An analog potentiometer reads subtle voltage changes, allowing a controller to register a gradual turn; a keyboard key is simply on or off.
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Believing all physical diseases are simply mental errors
Because adherents regard the material world as unreal, some treat serious illness or injury as a mental error and rely on prayer instead of medical care.
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Completely opposing thoughts can be held simultaneously
A person can believe two clashing things at once: “I want to leave” and “I want this to work.” Each thought may draw on a different memory, fear, or hope. The…
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Why an astronaut threw his silver pin on the Moon
On the Moon, gravity is about one-sixth as strong as on Earth, and there is no air to slow a tossed object. A silver pin follows a long, clean arc before…
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Case power buttons get physically jammed
Repeated presses can warp the retaining clips behind the button, leaving it stuck and causing unwanted restarts.
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Mercury dictates the success of your short travels
Astrology associates Mercury with short trips, so missed buses and wrong turns may be blamed on the planet.
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Web servers primarily run on open-source operating systems
The infrastructure behind polished apps can depend on free, open-source code maintained by developers working at command lines.
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Local ice cream flavors heavily feature frozen root veggies
Some regional flavors use red beans, corn, or sweet potatoes; a pink scoop may be sweetened bean paste rather than strawberry.
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