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Human eyes can distinguish between approximately 10 million different colors thanks to the complex network of rods and cones in the retina.
Human eyes can distinguish between approximately 10 million different colors thanks to the complex network of rods and cones in the retina. Cones respond to…
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Windows began with the working name Interface Manager.
Windows began with the working name Interface Manager. Microsoft developed the graphical environment under that functional label before announcing Windows in…
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Palmistry was considered such a massive threat to the English public that King Henry VIII officially banned the practice of reading hands, labeling it a felony equivalent to witchcraft and sorcery.
Palmistry was considered such a massive threat to the English public that King Henry VIII officially banned the practice of reading hands, labeling it a…
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Empty homes and homelessness can exist on the same street.
Empty homes and homelessness can exist on the same street. A vacant dwelling is a housing unit without occupants, not necessarily one available to someone who…
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Susan Kare designed a weird, blocky icon for the original Apple Macintosh in 1983 that vaguely resembled a dog, but users constantly debated whether the pixelated creature was actually meant to be a small cow.
Susan Kare designed a weird, blocky icon for the original Apple Macintosh in 1983 that vaguely resembled a dog, but users constantly debated whether the…
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Fresh-cut grass releases chemicals from damaged leaves.
Fresh-cut grass releases chemicals from damaged leaves. Cutting breaks plant tissue and releases airborne compounds responsible for the familiar green smell.…
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A cashmere sweater has a grassland footprint.
A cashmere sweater has a grassland footprint. Mongolia's goat population rose from about 4.4 million in 1988 to 20 million in 2008 as livestock ownership…
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Resident Evil's awkward dialogue became part of its identity.
Resident Evil's awkward dialogue became part of its identity. The original game mixed a threatening mansion with strangely stiff English performances and…
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Studies have shown that hedge funds with aggressive, hyper-masculine names or complex financial jargon in their titles actually tend to underperform compared to funds with incredibly boring or generic names.
Studies have shown that hedge funds with aggressive, hyper-masculine names or complex financial jargon in their titles actually tend to underperform compared…
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Doing something good can become an excuse for a later lapse.
Doing something good can become an excuse for a later lapse. Researchers call this proposed pattern moral licensing: an earlier good deed can reassure someone…
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Metroid hid Samus’s identity behind the armor until the ending.
Metroid hid Samus’s identity behind the armor until the ending. Different completion times produced different ending images, with faster play revealing more…
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Hélène Smith, a famous nineteenth-century Swiss medium, convinced thousands of followers she was communicating with aliens by writing out detailed prophecies in what she claimed was the Martian language.
Hélène Smith, a famous nineteenth-century Swiss medium, convinced thousands of followers she was communicating with aliens by writing out detailed prophecies…
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Trinidad has a lake that supplied material for ships and roads.
Trinidad has a lake that supplied material for ships and roads. Pitch Lake is a natural asphalt deposit at La Brea. Walter Raleigh wrote about using its pitch…
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Edison wanted houses poured into molds.
Edison wanted houses poured into molds. His concrete-house scheme tried to turn construction into a repeatable casting process, with a complex reusable mold…
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A passenger flight may carry a coffin below the cabin.
A passenger flight may carry a coffin below the cabin. Human remains travel as specially handled cargo when families need to bring someone home for burial.…
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Julius Caesar made 46 BC last 445 days.
Julius Caesar made 46 BC last 445 days. Extra months brought the drifting Roman calendar back into line with the seasons before the new Julian system began. A…
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Hotel stars don't speak one global language.
Hotel stars don't speak one global language. Rating systems differ between countries and organizations. A star count may reflect required facilities, service…
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Looking down at your smartphone forces your neck to support up to sixty pounds of additional weight, placing a massive structural strain on your cervical spine.
Looking down at your smartphone forces your neck to support up to sixty pounds of additional weight, placing a massive structural strain on your cervical…
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Shuttle crews rode to their rockets in an Airstream.
Shuttle crews rode to their rockets in an Airstream. From 1984, NASA's silver Astrovan carried shuttle astronauts from crew quarters to the launch pad. The…
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Sony's Walkman success came with a decades-long patent fight.
Sony's Walkman success came with a decades-long patent fight. Andreas Pavel filed a patent application for his portable stereo system in 1977, before the…
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First commercial passenger flight booked over the internet occurred in 1995, forever changing the agonizing process of coordinating human travel.
First commercial passenger flight booked over the internet occurred in 1995, forever changing the agonizing process of coordinating human travel. Alaska…
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Founding Father Benjamin Franklin published an astrological column in his famous Poor Richard's Almanack under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, mostly to mock actual astrologers.
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin published an astrological column in his famous Poor Richard's Almanack under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, mostly to mock…
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Pokémon's million-dollar bicycle was priced beyond your wallet.
Pokémon's million-dollar bicycle was priced beyond your wallet. In the original games, the bicycle's listed price exceeds the amount of money the player can…
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Madden NFL 92 sent an ambulance straight through the players.
Madden NFL 92 sent an ambulance straight through the players. When it arrived for an injury, other figures in its path could be knocked down too. A vehicle…
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