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Peanut butter meets the airport rule for spreads.
Peanut butter meets the airport rule for spreads. TSA treats peanut butter as a spread subject to the carry-on liquids limit. A large jar can therefore fail…
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Astrocartography is a hyper-specific branch of astrology that projects your birth chart onto a map of the world to determine exactly where on the planet you will be most successful, wealthy, or romantically fulfilled.
Astrocartography is a hyper-specific branch of astrology that projects your birth chart onto a map of the world to determine exactly where on the planet you…
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Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe based the hilariously cynical holiday of Festivus on a genuine, completely unironic tradition that his eccentric father invented in the nineteen sixties.
Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe based the hilariously cynical holiday of Festivus on a genuine, completely unironic tradition that his eccentric father invented…
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Inline skates make accelerating easier than learning to stop.
Inline skates make accelerating easier than learning to stop. Their wheels roll smoothly in one direction, while the common heel brake works only when the…
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Two islands a few miles apart sit on opposite sides of the date line.
Two islands a few miles apart sit on opposite sides of the date line. Russia's Big Diomede and Alaska's Little Diomede are separated by about 2.4 miles, yet…
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Cells have a recycling system for their own worn-out parts.
Cells have a recycling system for their own worn-out parts. In autophagy, material is enclosed and delivered to compartments where enzymes break it down. The…
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Victorian society considered bicycles a bizarre and dangerous menace to pedestrians when they first became popular, leading many cities to pass strict laws banning them from…
Victorian society considered bicycles a bizarre and dangerous menace to pedestrians when they first became popular, leading many cities to pass strict laws…
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Researchers tested Tetris against intrusive memories.
Researchers tested Tetris against intrusive memories. A small trial asked road-accident patients to briefly recall the event, then play Tetris within hours of…
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Magical amulets and talismans are often confused by amateurs, but strict mystical tradition dictates that amulets are meant for passive protection while talismans actively grant the wearer magical powers.
Magical amulets and talismans are often confused by amateurs, but strict mystical tradition dictates that amulets are meant for passive protection while…
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Finland made history in 2010 by becoming the first country in the entire world to declare broadband internet access a fundamental, legally binding human right.
Finland made history in 2010 by becoming the first country in the entire world to declare broadband internet access a fundamental, legally binding human…
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Chris Pratt completely improvised the famous line in Parks and Recreation where he diagnoses Leslie Knope's computer issues by claiming it has network connectivity problems.
Chris Pratt completely improvised the famous line in Parks and Recreation where he diagnoses Leslie Knope's computer issues by claiming it has network…
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Dung beetles can steer by the Milky Way.
Dung beetles can steer by the Milky Way. In planetarium experiments, beetles kept a straight course when shown the galaxy's broad band of light. That helps…
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Cyril Hoskin wrote a wildly popular book in 1956 claiming to be a Tibetan lama named Lobsang Rampa whose profound mystical awakening involved having a literal wooden plug drilled into his forehead to open his third eye.
Cyril Hoskin wrote a wildly popular book in 1956 claiming to be a Tibetan lama named Lobsang Rampa whose profound mystical awakening involved having a literal…
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Tea bricks could pay for things before becoming a drink.
Tea bricks could pay for things before becoming a drink. Compressed tea served as a form of currency in parts of Asia as well as a traded commodity. Pressing…
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A Portuguese fraudster counterfeited the paperwork instead of the banknotes.
A Portuguese fraudster counterfeited the paperwork instead of the banknotes. In 1925, Artur Alves dos Reis used forged central-bank documents to persuade a…
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A kimchi-making shopping basket can make inflation painfully concrete.
A kimchi-making shopping basket can make inflation painfully concrete. A Korean price survey estimated that ingredients for a four-person family's kimjang…
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Your body fat sends messages to your brain.
Your body fat sends messages to your brain. Fat tissue stores energy, but it also releases hormones involved in appetite and metabolism. Leptin, for example,…
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Julian of Norwich survived the bubonic plague and voluntarily locked herself inside a tiny windowless stone cell attached to a church for decades just to write a book about a hazelnut.
Julian of Norwich survived the bubonic plague and voluntarily locked herself inside a tiny windowless stone cell attached to a church for decades just to…
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Roman arena attendants could turn corpse removal into mythology.
Roman arena attendants could turn corpse removal into mythology. The early Christian writer Tertullian described a figure dressed as Mercury checking bodies…
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Heathrow has a ghost story about a missing briefcase.
Heathrow has a ghost story about a missing briefcase. In the airport legend, a suited man linked to a 1948 plane crash keeps searching for his luggage. The…
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Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the original Star Trek theme song solely so he could legally claim half the royalties from the composer, Alexander Courage, despite the fact that…
Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the original Star Trek theme song solely so he could legally claim half the royalties from the composer, Alexander Courage,…
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The Balrog's voice began with a block dragged across a floor.
The Balrog's voice began with a block dragged across a floor. Sound designer David Farmer mixed grinding stone with animal bellows to give The Fellowship of…
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A 1931 Duesenberg already packed 265 horsepower.
A 1931 Duesenberg already packed 265 horsepower. The Model J's straight-eight engine used two overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder—features…
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Tiny pads help cats make surprisingly deep purrs.
Tiny pads help cats make surprisingly deep purrs. A 2023 study found soft tissue pads in cats' vocal folds that help produce very low-frequency vibrations.…
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