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
A disaster warning can lose to the expectation of an ordinary day.
A disaster warning can lose to the expectation of an ordinary day. Research on emergency warnings describes people seeking confirmation or interpreting…
Discover more
Scorpio is unique in the zodiac system because it is the only sign represented by three distinct evolutionary symbols, the scorpion, the eagle, and the phoenix.
Scorpio is unique in the zodiac system because it is the only sign represented by three distinct evolutionary symbols, the scorpion, the eagle, and the…
Discover more
America's 40-hour workweek arrived in stages, not overnight.
America's 40-hour workweek arrived in stages, not overnight. The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act initially set a 44-hour threshold for overtime for covered…
Discover more
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac wheel and is heavily associated with the spring equinox, new beginnings, leadership, and charging headfirst into situations with absolute, unearned confidence.
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac wheel and is heavily associated with the spring equinox, new beginnings, leadership, and charging headfirst into…
Discover more
A hummingbird can turn down its metabolism to survive the night.
A hummingbird can turn down its metabolism to survive the night. Hovering burns energy rapidly, while a tiny body loses heat quickly. Torpor reduces body…
Discover more
Sega actually held a massive software patent on the concept of a floating navigational arrow in a 3D environment thanks to their classic arcade hit Crazy Taxi, effectively…
Sega actually held a massive software patent on the concept of a floating navigational arrow in a 3D environment thanks to their classic arcade hit Crazy…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Star Fox's metal boots spawned an unexpectedly dark fan theory.
Star Fox's metal boots spawned an unexpectedly dark fan theory. Fans interpreted the pilots' shiny footwear as artificial legs and invented a story about…
Discover more
Google’s early search engine was offered for $1.6 million.
Google’s early search engine was offered for $1.6 million. In a 1997 proposal, Larry Page offered his BackRub search technology to Excite for a package of…
Discover more
Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony waited 25 years to be heard.
Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony waited 25 years to be heard. Its planned 1936 premiere was abandoned after the composer came under attack in the Soviet press.…
Discover more
Sitcom laughter was once played from a machine like an instrument.
Sitcom laughter was once played from a machine like an instrument. Charles Douglass built a 'laff box' holding recorded audience reactions that could be…
Discover more
Stephen King completely despised Stanley Kubrick's cinematic adaptation of his terrifying novel The Shining, publicly criticizing the legendary director for stripping the story…
Stephen King completely despised Stanley Kubrick's cinematic adaptation of his terrifying novel The Shining, publicly criticizing the legendary director for…
Discover more
An ounce of gold has no permanent price in suits.
An ounce of gold has no permanent price in suits. Comparing gold with a tailored suit is a popular way to picture purchasing power. But the two prices are set…
Discover more
Some microwaves can be muted without unplugging them.
Some microwaves can be muted without unplugging them. Manufacturers often hide sound settings behind a long button press or an options menu rather than a…
Discover more
Karl Marx's letters repeatedly complained about painful boils.
Karl Marx's letters repeatedly complained about painful boils. The symptoms interrupted his work and supplied a very physical counterpoint to his abstract…
Discover more
French national railway regulations technically require anyone traveling with a live snail on a high-speed TGV train to purchase a separate ticket for their slimy companion.
French national railway regulations technically require anyone traveling with a live snail on a high-speed TGV train to purchase a separate ticket for their…
Discover more
British town planners constructed the profoundly terrifying Magic Roundabout in Swindon in 1972, a deeply chaotic piece of road infrastructure consisting of five smaller…
British town planners constructed the profoundly terrifying Magic Roundabout in Swindon in 1972, a deeply chaotic piece of road infrastructure consisting of…
Discover more
Sikorsky tested a helicopter layout that became familiar everywhere.
Sikorsky tested a helicopter layout that became familiar everywhere. His VS-300 first flew tethered in 1939 and freely in 1940. Its development helped…
Discover more
Final Fantasy VII made storage space part of a console rivalry.
Final Fantasy VII made storage space part of a console rivalry. Square's move to PlayStation let the game use CD-ROMs for its large collection of pre-rendered…
Discover more
Alien borrowed concert lasers for its eerie egg chamber.
Alien borrowed concert lasers for its eerie egg chamber. The production used equipment associated with The Who's nearby lighting work to create the blue layer…
Discover more
The first practical videotape recorder cost as much as a house.
The first practical videotape recorder cost as much as a house. Ampex's 1956 machine brought television recording onto reusable magnetic tape. Rotating heads…
Discover more
Priestesses at the Oracle of Delphi delivered ancient Greece's most famous and consequential prophecies while sitting over a geological fault line that leaked sweet-smelling, highly intoxicating ethylene gas.
Priestesses at the Oracle of Delphi delivered ancient Greece's most famous and consequential prophecies while sitting over a geological fault line that leaked…
Discover more
Game publisher Activision boldly bragged about the advanced "fish AI" during the 2013 reveal event for Call of Duty: Ghosts, promising that the aquatic creatures would…
Game publisher Activision boldly bragged about the advanced "fish AI" during the 2013 reveal event for Call of Duty: Ghosts, promising that the aquatic…
Discover more
People can explain a choice they did not actually make.
People can explain a choice they did not actually make. In choice-blindness experiments, researchers secretly switched a selected face for the rejected one…
Discover more
London's A 1 plate made being first visible on the car.
London's A 1 plate made being first visible on the car. The registration was issued to Earl Russell in 1903, at the beginning of London's numbering system. A…
Discover more